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Does anyone have any views - good or bad - on car supermarkets - I am looking at buying new Golf TDi at around £3K less than list from trade-sales, motorpoint etc...is it a risk, is it worth the risk
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Sorry, I have absolutly no experience whatsoever of car supermarkets,
but I heard somthing on the radio about some Euro ruling saying that car showrooms and/or dealers were no longer tied to a single maker or group and that the likes of ASDA & Tesco (the supermarket link) would be able to sell cars for similar prices to our European cousins... i.e. cheaper than 'normal' UK prices.
I did not hear all the details, does any one have any further information?
Thanks,
John R.
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As I understand it, Car supermarkets are not currently able to sell brand new models (of UK cars). Trade sales/motorpoint etc are all imported. So what you see are nearly new/used models.
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Steve
You can save a lot more by importing!
Andrew
www.hispecgolfs.co.uk
>
> Does anyone have any views - good or bad - on car
> supermarkets - I am looking at buying new Golf TDi at around
> £3K less than list from trade-sales, motorpoint etc...is it a
> risk, is it worth the risk
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I bought a Vectra with 88 miles on the clock from motorpoint Derby.
Absolutely no problems with a saving of £4500.00.
No problems with vauxhall over registering it on their database for recalls etc.
My mate bought a new Laguna from a batch destined for Cyprus with a similar saving. Again no problems. Many of their cars are bought from Southern Ireland.
Very business like with huge sales at these places.
Across the road is the Vauxhall, Peugot, Mercedees showrooms. How they manage I can't imagine. Its woth a trip to have a look round.
Alvin
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I think you may be getting the wrong idea of a car supermarket and comparing it perhaps to a normal main dealer or even a large garage.
The Motordome you saw in "garages from hell" bears no relation whatsoever to what I saw at Motorpoint.
The emphasis apart from dishonesty that I saw last night was only matched by their determination to make a sale regardless and should be put completely out of your mind.
I can only describe what I have seen and the following applies.
You will not have a smart young salesperson trying to flog you something in fact it is perhaps the opposite. If you are there at a busy time and most of it is you have to push to find a salesman. He will not be like your main dealer salesman who will have a leisurely half hour to show you round the car. They have so many cars they know nothing about them and will simply pull a master list from their pocket and if you want to know what gizmos it has on it they would have to get the keys and have a look. They are moving huge amounts of metal usually brand new or as close as you can get, so they aren't in the business of telling you to come back if anything is wrong but to go to the main dealer under warranty. In fact they know little about cars or any particular marque.
If you want your hand held in buying a car these are not the places. There are no cups of coffee and coloured brochures showing optional trims and colours.
There is no persuation or otherwise. If you have a trade in they simply refer to their guide and there is no bartering or negotiation but simply the deal.
They seem to buy in batches and one week you may see for example twenty lagunas in a row. If you know what you want and are not concerned in having an oily salesman who treats you as if your'e the most important person on earth until he's made the sale these are the places for value.
Think of them more as a Tesco than a corner shop.
For sheer value there can be no comparison.
Alvin
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Thanks for your input alvin. It makes me feel a bit more positive about using
them. I might just give it a go.
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I'm in the same position as you Steve - I am tempted by a Toyota Yaris with a saving of at least £1000.
The trouble is, that after seeing "Garages from Hell" last night, in particular the item on "Motordome Car
Supermarket" I find it increasingly difficult to trust anybody in car sales or the motor trade in general.
I did phone "Motorpoint" before seeing this programme and enquired about the car. The process seems
simple enough, but the telesales person couldn't tell me anything about the car. For all I know it's LHD
with a metric speedo, I don't know. It wouldn't take a great deal of effort for "Motorpoint" to put some
info about their cars on their site. I know it's an import, but by how much would it differ from a non-import
model?There is nothing I could see about any terms or conditions of business. Nothing to make me feel I was
dealing with a bonafide company who were trustworthy. They were very keen to take a deposit without even
checking on the stock for my particular car. I don't know, after last nights programme, I think I'll spend some
money on my old car and keep it going a little longer in the hope that the whole car business gets a good shake
up before too long. Don't get me wrong "Motorpoint" may be a great place to buy a car. But if they are, there is
very little if anything written about how good they are on the web.
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Clearly you did not see the TV prog last night on a certain car supermarket. Horror stories abound. 700 complaints to Trading Standards.
No doubt there are genuine ones but try to check with your chums to see if they saw Garages from Hell on ITV last night.
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Foxfield Motor Village Wigan
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I didn't like the after service
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New imported Golfs from www.greattradecentre.co.uk now carry a two year manufacturer warranty.
HJ
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Like anything else in life,its your money,your choice,not every sales outlet suits everyone and not everyone likes to buy a car like they buy their groceries,do what suits you.
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Honest John wrote:
>
> New imported Golfs from www.greattradecentre.co.uk now carry
> a two year manufacturer warranty.
>
> HJ
or I can import exactly what you want.
Andrew
www.hispecgolfs.co.uk
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I think advice given by traders on this site is acceptable but this is nothing more than blatant advertising and is not in order in my opinion.
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When you have invested in a stock of around 5,000 cars (as the GTC did last year) you are not going to let yourself become the subject of horror stories. The Motordrom guys were in and out merchants with a relatively small stock. But when you own vast tracts of West London real estate and 5,000 cars (an investment in cars alone of around £40,000,000) there is no way you can afford to muck people about, much less rip them off.
HJ
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Thanks everyone - I'll let you know. Trade-sales is the best so far - £11,999 for a brand spanking (albeit import but UK spec+ according to their rep) Golf 1.9TDi S. That includes air con and is almost £3k under VW's UK list!
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Just out of interest, is that the PD 100 hp model?
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Check that it comes with a TWO YEAR manufacturer warranty. If not, it's not a this year's car.
HJ
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I bought a S/H car from a big supermarket (GTC) about 6 months ago. Extensive research on the net first, so I knew what I wanted (I suppose this helps quite a bit). Then I went along, had a good look round. I wasn't hassled; no one even came up to me (which was exactly what I preferred). When I wanted to look inside a car, or open the bonnet, I just went to the desk and swapped my car keys for those of the car I was interested in. I was also able to get the usual details of the vehicle; previous owners, service history and the like. Again, no pressure - just asked if I was interested. I found the process painless.
In all I went twice to look round (over a period of a few weeks), and on my third visit I made a purchase. The only pain was spending the money!
As a footnote, I also went to a main dealers to look for 'approved' S/H. More expensive (to be expected, I suppose). Again, no pressure, but much less choice.
Richard
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