Hello again all,
Have been out in the cars for a spot of test driving following my earlier thread: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=25...0.
Basically, the Nissan Almera has won hands down.
Sure, it\'s an old-man car which a 25 and 22 year old really shouldn\'t be considering as their main car, but was highly impressed with the equipment in the SE that I drove, but let\'s be honest, it doesn\'t take much to impress me having owned my P reg Civic for three years now.
Anyway, cut to the chase. I\'ve never bought a brand-new car before, let alone considered buying one off of the Internet. I\'ve tried to look up reviews etc about the following:
www.uk-car-discount.co.uk
www.new-car-discount.com
I\'ve found plenty of reviews on here on the latter, but am awaiting a callback from them following initial enquiries. Nothing about uk-car-discount, however.
The former, however, has been incredibly prompt and has offered me a good price on my part ex (Fiat Punto). I\'m very nervous about going for it. Part of me says that the discounts they\'re offering me on the car are great, but I\'m suffering from the Great British \'what if?\'
Went to my Nissan dealer and laid down my quote from uk-car-discount. He basically said he couldn\'t match it \"apart from a silver model, and that\'s based on us seeing your Punto\". I got the impression that he resigned himself from the start to me buying elsewhere.
I shall pursue new-car-discount for a quote, I hope that they can come up with something along the lines of uk-car-discount... unless anyone has bought from them and can recommend or warn me off??
Thanks in advance.
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Have a look at the What Car? figure to buy new listing - it will give you an idea of what to aim for and, in addition, that offer figure will be obtained for you if you wish.
By the way, I notice that the recent certain consumer magazine's best buys in the class is topped by the Almera....
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Mmmm, "What Car?"'s target price is £10587 for the 1.5SE 5dr that I've got my eye on.
uk-car-discount have quoted me £8275 for the car, and have offered me a very good part ex price on the Punto...
I'll await new-car-discount's callback tomorrow (Mon) and see what they have to say - they list the car at £8288, and I'd happily pay the extra £13 for peace of mind (seeing as new-car-discount comes Backroom recommended!)
I've also researched JamJar's part ex price on the Punto, as new-car-discount are prepared to beat that.
I don't think I've been off of the comp all weekend, save for the actual test drive!
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From what I gather you never know just when a car bought over the Web will turn up in some instances....:-)
You'll also need to ensure that it's a UK spec model and not a grey import.
Other online possibility:
www.oneswoop.com/index.aspx
and some advice on the subject:
www.is4profit.com/busadvice/buy.htm
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Content removed because it was a repetition of previous post.
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What cars target price is for a new vehicle, whilst both of these websites deal predominantly in pre-reg cars. The problem with this is that you may not receive your log book for several months and come re-sale time because there is an extra owner on the log book it won't be worth quite as much.
I'd also recommend that you speak to them and find out who you pay your money to - them or a dealer? It's much safer for you to pay everything to the dealer directly rather than the broker.
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Aha, that solves my initial confusion over the 'low price'.
I am planning on speaking to both companies tomorrow to ascertain the process of the sale.
Until then, I'm off to my second local dealer in Bristol to see if they can get anywhere near the price. Pre-reg or no pre-reg, I'm not actually *that* fussed as I plan on keeping the car long enough to warrant two owners :-)
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I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks now but havn't found anything that I could reply to as yet. But I hope you don't mind me reccomending where I bought my 54 plated Nissan from a couple of weeks ago. So, I couldnt help but notice that you mentioned you were from Bristol. I'm not from Bristol but strangley enough, that is where I bought my new car from.
I looked at ukcardiscount and similar places for my Nissan Primera. After playing about with Google a bit I found this company called BL-Autosource. I nearly didnt ring them because the prices on their websites were a bit steep. But I gave them a ring and they came right down on their price. In the end I paid £9995 for my Nissan Primera 1.8S model which was a pretty good price. I paid some bits and pieces on top of that for my Metallic paint and the car tax. However, the best bit about it was that I only had to pay a £500 deposit and I actually picked the car up from their place in Bristol. I paid the rest of the money when I picked it up. I was happy with the service but even happier I didnt have to pay all the money up front. Whilst I didnt part exchange my car (Handed it down to my son!) they do take part exchanges but I don't know what sort of rates they give i'm afraid.
The website is www.newauto.co.uk I've told quite a few of my friends about the service down here in Devon but so far nobody else I know has dealt with them. But overall, I was happy with the price and service.
I hope you don't mind this reccomendation but just thought it might help as they are local to you and you dont have to pay the money up front. However, please excuse me if you have already heard of them.
Stuart.
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Extremely good decision there.
Its nice to know that there are still people who use their brains before buying a car!
Most of us seem to think that buying a status symbol laden car would enhance their social standing, get them loads of new friends and be the envy of all and sundry.
On the other hand what matters most is whether it is reliable and wont get you to trouble the already busy breakdown services!
And is fantastic to drive!
Try whipping it around corners/driving on bendy countryside roads and youll realise what Im talking about!!
Just one word of caution though.Apparently the Almera is due for a facelift model later this ear , so the used/nearly new car price is bouund to have a larger drop after that.
This shouldnt however be of any concern if you are planing to keep it for a longer time.
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Extremely good decision there. Its nice to know that there are still people who use their brains before buying a car!
Why thank you - despite being incredibly envious of all my friends earlier this year who took delivery of new/nearly new cars, I've spent hours researching my vehicle and reading up on prices/depreciation etc.
I know that women are supposed to have their hearts ruling their heads, but I'm attempting to redress this situation!
Most of us seem to think that buying a status symbol laden car would enhance their social standing, get them loads of new friends and be the envy of all and sundry.
I couldn't care less what people think of me for choosing an Almera ;-). At the end of the day, it's how you drive the car that matters. I'm only a girly driver by genetics! ;-)
On the other hand what matters most is whether it is reliable and wont get you to trouble the already busy breakdown services!
Spot on - I was once told 'once you've bought Japanese, you'll always buy Japanese'. I didn't think that true, but I understand now (having owned the Civic, the Punto's my other half's fault!).
And is fantastic to drive! Try whipping it around corners/driving on bendy countryside roads and youll realise what Im talking about!!
Looking forward to doing so!
Just one word of caution though.Apparently the Almera is due for a facelift model later this ear , so the used/nearly new car price is bouund to have a larger drop after that. This shouldnt however be of any concern if you are planing to keep it for a longer time.
Nope - 4 or 5 years at least, enough not to trouble me.
So - to cut to the chase.. I went to Wessex Garages in Bristol and laid down my quote from uk-car-discount. I also laid out my 'we'll match it but only in silver' from the Weston-Super-Mare dealers. Wessex took one look, told me that they couldn't beat it for even an 03 plate, and advised me to get back to Weston.
Walked into Howards in Weston, attempted to eek more out of them (it so wasn't happening), and got a slightly-less price on the Punto.
However, for peace of mind, I opted to pay the couple of hundred extra to a dealer rather than an internet-based 'faceless' company who I don't know much about.
So, I've bought an unregistered 1.5 SE 5 dr for £8600 including metallic paint and 6mths road tax (asked for 12 but got laughed at).
Did I get a good deal??? Picking the car up on Friday...
As an aside...
StuWindy - thanks for the tip. I do - through a mutual appreciation of football - know one of the lads who works at BL Autosource. He's been looking out for me for the last week or so, but hadn't come up with anything so far..
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Hi girlydriver, sounds like a good choice of car, hope you're happy with it. And it sounds like a good deal to me!
The only question I'd ask is how you got on with the clever display-driven gadget for controlling ventilation etc. Qhen I tried one in an Almera Tino, I was a bit befuddled by it.
I know that women are supposed to have their hearts ruling their heads, but I'm attempting to redress this situation!
I read something a while back about some research which showed that men were the ones driven by their hearts when buying cars, while were the ones who would check the real cost and the fuel consumption and whether it would fit in the garage etc. That certainly fits my experience!
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