Hi
Does anybody have experience of buying a vehicle from either Trade Sales of Slough or Motorpoint or similar. The savings look pretty good but I notice that you need to add about £250 on the road costs to their quoted prices - road tax, number plates, indemnity fees, etc. Am I correct in thinking all the cars they sell are pre-registered so although unused they are officially 'used'?
thanks in advance
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I work in a VW Dealers, and see quite a few of these vehicles.They have all been pre registered. On a Warranty point, VW offers a standard 12mth Warranty on imports:be aware that this starts from the date the car was pdi'd at the supplying dealer. You could have a car that was registered in Jan 2002,but may have been sold or pdi'd many months before.Having seen some of these dealers invoices,they charge for road tax,they have to tax the car when it is registered & obviously return the tax for a refund.They also charge a service charge of around £50,what this covers I don't know.Prices even with these extra costs seem quite good.However when you come to sell the car it has already had 2 recorded keepers, and some dealers will mark down value due to the fact that it is an import.If the car is not entered onto UK importers database,you will not receive notice of recalls etc.I would give careful consideration before purchasing an import, it is possible to get good deals on UK sourced vehicles from dealers & Internet companies.
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I was offered a derisory trade in on my current car, owned by me from new FSH 40K miles,( as it is now 6 years old the dealer just phones for a price to take it off his hands regardless of condition etc), appro £1000 less than whatcar/parkers private sale good candition value. This was against a VW Golf costing £17500 or FOR CASH £245 discount.
Is this the good deal referred to at UK suppliers ?
No wonder car importing is growing. The sooner block exemption ends and Tesco/Asda/M&S start selling cars the better.
Perhaps the idiot who represents the manufacturers on TV, when UK car prices are discussed, defending them with the strength of the Pound/Servicing/warranties/customer service etc can then be sacked.
From E-mails you published most of the aftersales service is crap apart from Mercedes and customer focus is zero.
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I have bought 2 cars from Motorpoint of Derby. They were both very good value. It helps not to be too fussy about the colour or spec. Sometimes the engines are, say, 1.0 rather than 1.4, but the price more than reflects this. They are often imported from Eire, and one came with a year's free membership of the Irish RAC! Check the spec carefully, one should have had power steering but didn't; I pointed this out a month or so later to Motorpoint, who sent me a cheque for £500.
Warranty is 12 months, the standard for Europe, rather than, say 3 years. I write to the UK importer to register the purchase and get on their database for recalls etc.
Being shown as the second owner of a car that has 8 miles on the clock hasn't bothered me greatly.
Big saving on UK prices.
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I bought from Motorpoint at derby and had no problems. Its very business like with no bartering taking place and no pressure selling.
You get the book price for your trade in and a date and time to collect.
At the pre-appointed time you are called from a waiting room to carry out the transaction. handed all keys and documentation and directed to your vehicle.
As the cars are either all new or very near you have no need to go back there as all problems are dealt with by the main dealer.
The cars are well presented although you may find an almost empty fuel tank as both myself and friend did.
Very close to Motorpoint are several main dealers including Mercedes, Vauxhall. Peugot. How they manage to survive with Motorpoint across the road I can't imagine. I went into Vauxhall for an accessory and they entered the car on the database without my requesting it. The savings can be quite dramatic and as Stephen says what difference does a previous owner on the registration book matter when the dates obviously show the story.
Vauxhall had a one year warranty but the service manager at the main dealer said it isn't quite as precise as that. He said that at 12 months it begins to be honoured on a sliding scale according to the problem. He advised that as I do my own maintenance I should keep the receipts for all items such as filters and oil which would be taken as evidence that the vehicle had been serviced.
Alvin
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I purchase our company cars and have bought one vehicle from both Motorpoint and Trade Sales. Also have another on order at Trade Sales. Very satisfied with the transactions. Remember, you have to do all the work and with Trade Sales you will have to obtain tax disc. You will not have the pampering and ego-massage which main dealers will supply. Also only a 12 month warranty. However, a saving of 15% to 20% or more is good compensation.
There have been few newspaper articles about rip-off Britain, in respect of Car Sales, lately. There is still a huge difference in car prices between UK and mainland Europe. Are we going soft on this issue??
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I bought a six month old Fiesta (Ex Channel-Islands) from Trade Sales some 3 years old. shortly after buying the vehicle I telephoned Ford to give them details of the New UK registration, for warranty purposes, I also contacted the original supplying dealer for the Radio Code & Key Number. Every has turned out fine.
However some neighbours bought an Magane Scenic from Trade Sales, everthing was fine until they mislaid the ONE KEY supplied, with the car. When the local Reanault dealer was contacted there was no record of the car on Renault UK's Database, and so the dealer had to supply a selection of exterior
door keys, in order to determine information from within the car, so that they could order an Ignition Key. Luckily the neigbours found the original key some 3 weeks later, at which time the ordered key still had not been supplied!!
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Buying recently I looked hard at local Trade Sales, which sells a vast number of motors. Yes, excellent savings, but ...
There was a distinct touch of the Arthur Daleys about all the folk I spoke with. The firm has had no consideration for local residents. Trading Standards were very non-committal about any probs notified to them - which spoke volumes to me.
Being a pessimistic old B, and not confident of my own expertise, I went elsewhere.
However I understand that its untrue that the MDs name is Soprano.
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I was thinking of buying a new Celica and they seem to be listed on the web sites of Motorpoint and Trade Sales about 2K cheaper than the best UK supplied price I can find BUT when I visited these neither had the cars listed in stock!
I'm wary of paying for a car that I haven't seen and examined to ensure it's UK spec.....Am I just being over-cautious?
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"I'm wary of paying for a car that I haven't seen and examined to ensure it's UK spec.....Am I just being over-cautious?"
Definitely not. You need to check every detail of the car and with Trade Sales check that they have all keys + radio code + card or whatever showing key no. I would also check that the car was sourced in the EU (and ask to see proof as the sales staff are not clued up) and check the date of the PDI to see how much of the 3 year warranty is left.
A 2K saving doesn't sound that good i.e. as compensation for the potential pitfalls of buying there. It goes without saying that it would not be wise to pay for the car before collection and your final inspection (that applies to any dealer, of course but more so for Trade Sales)
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What do you mean, Trade Sales of Slough has no consideration for local residents? When the local pub complained of Trade Sales customers parking in its carpark (there isn't anywhere else) Trade Sales bought the pub.
HJ
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Not sure how to read that, HJ! However I would refer you to several very recent reports in the Slough Express and the Slough Observer.
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