Car price comparison sites

MSE_Martin
MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272
First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
Money Saving Expert
Using the web to cut the cost of getting a new car

If you're looking for a new car, a raft of car comparison engines promise to find the cheapest price. And indeed they are a great way to start, it provides a strong benchmark of the cheapest price available.

What to do

Use the sites listed below. The aim is to compare cars across the market to find you the cheapest price. However they don't all include the same companies. Buying a car is a massive purchase. If possible simply do a comparison on all of them (open multiple windows to make it easier). If not just pic three or four.

Car Comparison Services (use all if possible)


What then?

If you're happy to buy on the Net, then there shouldn't be a problem. However, it's also possible to then print off the prices and take them to your local dealer and ask it for a price match. Haggling is an inevitable part of buying a car. You shouldn't be afraid to do it, and being armed with the web's most conpetitive prices is a great way through.

Some other car buying tips:

  • Finance: Often you're offered finance with your purchase. Be extremely careful with car finance. Unless it's a genuine cheapest deal it's rarely the right thing to do. One devious trick is quoting a flat rate of interest rather than an APR. This is hideous. 6% flat rate sounds cheap but is actually a 12% APR and much more expensive than even a bog standard bank loan (see the Cheapest Personal Loan article).

    For most people, the cheapest way to finance a new car (apart from saving for it which is of course the very best option) is a Standard Personal Loan, or even for those who can pay it off quickly, a 0% For Purchases Credit Card.


  • Other car linked savings: There are a raft of other ways to save on cars too... do read the Car Insurance Cost Cutting System and Drive Down The Cost Of MOTs articles.
Please feedback on the car comparison sites

I’d love to get your feedback on which sites are worth their salt. Click reply to feedback on whether it worked for you. And if you're finding the price cheaper elsewhere, then report where and that way we'll build a useful database of that too at which point I will convert this into a more detailed article.

Martin

*Affiliated link: Any link with a star after it means click via this link and a contribution is made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free, sponsorship-free and free to use. This in no way impacts any editorial decisions (what I write), costs you anything or changes the product. For more on how it works, click on the following link to read about the site’s non-profit driven ethical financial policy.
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
«1345

Comments

  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Have been looking, not bought yet. Cheapest I have found, for a C-Max, is :-

    http://www.ukcarbroker.co.uk

    One site (forgotten which now) which did a trawl of other sites came back with a cheaper price than if you went direct to the the web site of the dealer - strange.
  • I recommend you include https://www.dealdrivers.co.uk in your list of comparison sites.

    I purchased a Ford Ka through them last May for only £4795 with no extras! They gave an excellent service, and were much cheaper than some of the other bigger sites. I haven't seen anyone else beat that price since.

    They have a page of "bargains" for their best deals.
  • samw_3
    samw_3 Posts: 21 Forumite
    I found a cheap price on Broker4cars for a 307sw. Unfortunately, after being pestered by the dealership they put me in touch with, I was given a quote which was almost exactly the same as the list price for the same car which was £4k more than advertised on the website.

    I was not impressed. Broker4cars emailed me for feedback, I gave it to them and they've not been in touch since. Not worth the effort IMHO.
  • I'll agree with poster 'Miss Moneypenny' - I've also tried a number of brokers (nearly got stung a couple of times with 2 of those listed above advertising 'new' when they were already registered) but wound up using another broker who I found in 'What Car', https://www.dealdrivers.co.uk. They won hands down for me on their personal service- very good staff, knew their stuff, worked hard and got me good Passat deal. I've just got the car and everything went like clockwork. Their dealer was top rate. I was worried about using an internet price but their process to buy the car is a normal one - you pay a dealer direct, so it was safe and I didn't have to set foot in a dealership.
    My son has just bought a Ford Focus from them. He's had it delivered already, and is well pleased with the whole set up (allowing me to prove I'm still useful despite the onset of dodderiness, I hope).
  • eek
    eek Posts: 84 Forumite
    If we are adding sites to the list http://www.autoebid.com may produce a cheaper deal once you've got that lowest price.
  • eek wrote:
    If we are adding sites to the list http://www.autoebid.com may produce a cheaper deal once you've got that lowest price.
    I suggest doing a search on these forums before using them!!!
  • Wibble
    Wibble Posts: 44 Forumite
    I recently used https://www.DriveTheDeal.com to buy my new car. You pay a deposit on your credit card to the dealer (a proper Audi dealer in my case, not DriveTheDeal) and then the balance on delivery.

    While I recommend checking their prices, along with the other car brokers, I've got to mention that things didn't go entirely smoothly. My car was supposed to take under 3 months to arrive, which was longer than other places but as they were cheaper I decided that was ok. But it actually took 6 months to arrive.

    I suspect that this was down to the dealer and that other people may have perfectly good experiences with them, as other than that (and having to chase up the dealer to find out what was happening!) the car was delivered ok. And the delay meant it was a slightly higher spec as the model had things like electric rear windows added as standard by the time I got mine.
  • I bought a new Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec from Motorpoint and saved approx £3,700 on the list price. I searched most of the websites that are mentioned here, but Motorpoint still came in cheaper than all of the rest the closest was approx £700 more expensive.

    There is a selection of new and used cars and all are either immediately available or you may only have to wait a couple of weeks.

    http://www. motorpoint.co.uk

    :j
  • highguyuk
    highguyuk Posts: 2,763
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Is there any sites like this for used cars? And if not ... why not!
  • Wibble
    Wibble Posts: 44 Forumite
    highguyuk wrote:
    Is there any sites like this for used cars? And if not ... why not!

    The way a lot of these brokers work is that they know they'll get, say, 100 orders for Audis a year. So they can go to a single dealer and say that they'll give them a huge number of orders in return for significant reductions in the price. They'll do the same with a Ford dealer, Vauxhall, etc.

    So it means that they can get huge discounts off new cars by effectively buying in bulk. I went to my local Audi dealer and was only offered £250 off the list price. With DriveTheDeal I got nearly £2k off.

    This will be a lot easier to do than with used cars.

    It's also a lot nicer to be able to choose the spec of your car online and then get a reasonable quote for it without only being able to get a reasonable discount by haggling hard with a dealer, which most people aren't good at or don't like doing.

    One disadvantage, though, is that most of the brokers don't take your car in part exchange, so you have to sell your old car yourself.

    Usually people think that buying a new car is much more expensive than a 2nd hand one as in the first year it depreciates so much. But if you can get a couple of k off the price then that really takes the sting out of it.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards