After a long long time of talking about buying a new vehicle I'm about to do just that. I'am about to buy a new Renault Trafic and have trawled the net and main dealers trying to get the best deal.
The Renault main dealers price for an identical vehicle is £1100 more than that from a vehicle broker. By broker I mean the type of firm that has full page colour spreads in the Trader pushing leasing. They also will sell the vehicles outright and like I said will undercut the main dealer on an identical vehicle by £1100.
£1100 is a big saving but my question is; what sort of back up do I get with buying from these broker type people, if any, compared to the main dealer? How easy is it to deal with warranty issues with the main dealer should they arise?
Any issues or pitfalls with buying from a "broker"? Is it worth paying £1100 more at a main dealer for peace of mind?
btw I didn't want a Renault but Vauxhall seem to be making buying a new Vivaro as difficult as possible with currently a 2 month wait for factory orders whereas apparently Renaults Trafics are sitting at the docks with electric packs and air con almost thrown in with the price.
Any views?
|
|
Buy from a main dealer via a broker. Best of both worlds, I used uknewcars.co.uk, but personalcarfinance.co.uk were also helpful.
|
|
Correction. No I didn't, it was uknewcars.com.
|
|
How does that work exactly? I thought any kind of buying using a main dealer = more ££££. I must admit, I'm struggling a bit with how all this works!!
|
I think... The broker can act like a big fleet buyer, and trigger the volume discounts that private customers don't get.
What happens is that you specify the car you want, and they come back with a price and availability date. In my case I went for PCP with them, and they arranged that thru RBoS.
Once that was signed, the broker put me in touch with the main Honda Dealer who I was actually buying from. All funds went straight to the dealer, who presumably pay the broker a commission / introduction fee etc, and I picked up the car from the dealer.
Completely hassle and pain free, car was precisely as I ordered, and I've got all the main dealer network backup that I would have wanted. And I saved a fortune on the car.
I'd recommend either company that I listed above. I got a long way down the road with PCF, adn it was only that they couldn't find me the right colour car that made me try elsewhere. Both PCF and UKNC were communicative, helpful and professional, and the only people who got near my money were the Royal Bank of Scotland and the main Honda Dealer. So no real risk.
Gord.
|
|
|
How does that work exactly? I thought any kind of buying using a main dealer = more ££££. I must admit, I'm struggling a bit with how all this works!!
>>
Its simple really, the brokers 'sign-up' with a number of dealers/dealer salesmen, and agree to bring customers to them etc. For the dealer it is a good way of giving a big boost to their unit sales in a short time period or when needed. I will buy my next Audi this way. However, you could try getting a broker price and getting your local dealer to match it, although I've found my local dealers too arrogant to bother with this !
|
|
Roly has pretty much hit it on the head - the dealer knows that the broker will supply enough customers for him to hit his sales targets so they can afford to do only the best (most profitable) deals on the retail side of things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Renaults Trafics are sitting at the docks with electric packs and air con almost thrown in with the price."
maybe its because the Renault is not a good seller and its resale value might be poorer.
|
But are the Renault, Vauxhall and others (I can't remember) idential, built on the same line with the same engines and everything other than badge and trim.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
yes espada, the Trafic, Primastar??, and the Vivaro are basically the same van. I take the point about depriciation but if the buying price is lower then presumably it all equals out?
Anyone know where the Trafics are built?
|
|
|
|
With a good broker you pay the main dealer. Back up is as with buying from main dealer.
Get the brokers prices and ring/fax as many main dealers as possible & ask if they can beat this quote.
Car supersite is another option.
In all cases check if it is import or pre-registered. Import may have inferior warranty. Pre-registered may impact a 'total loss' insurance claim in the 1st year.
|
I have sold large amounts of vehicles through main delaers via brokers. As long as the depost and final amount is paid actually to the main dealer it doesn't really matter too much about the broker - your contract is technically with the maind dealer.
The Trafic, Vivaro and Nissna Primastar are all the same vehicle made on the same assembly line so go for the best deal you can get although do check what you get with each vehicle as i think at present the Nissan offers a slightly better spec than the others.
At the end of the day if the car is sourced via a UK main delaer you will still get 3 years warranty and very few are now sourced via imports.
If you want any info/confirmation prior to order drop me a quick mail.
Regards
Kev
|
I used
www.drivethedeal.com/
recently for a Citroen Picasso. Could not have been easier. Available from main dealer 4 days after I gave the broker my specification. If I had wanted delivery to the door (with payment on delivery/ after inspection) I would have to have waited another 48 hours for a delivery driver to be available. Payment of balance made on a debit card on collection of vehicle. I suppose that if it is delivered by road it at least guarantees that it drives !
They do not advertise vans but maybe worth a phonecall since they do have relationships with Renault main dealers.
The only advance payment was a deposit on a credit card of £500 which was processed by the main dealer, although details were passed through the broker.
Call them and mention HJ site and my recommendation.
--
pmh (was peter)
|
|
|
|
|
Have you taken the broker's ad to the dealerships and asked them to match it? They may not match it, but might come down close to it. Maybe down by £500 would make it less hassle to buy from a local dealer?
|
|
My understanding of going thru a broker is that you very often find yourself dealing with a 'local dealer'. The only difference is the price you pay, in many cases
|
|
|
....would make it less hassle to buy from a local dealer....
My broker purchase was less hassle than dealing with any of the local dealers round here who have salesmaen who dont even seem to want customers. They dont seem to know their cars, their stock and when you mention discounts they just want to walk away!
--
pmh (was peter)
|
I've had a very interesting experience all round with this - main dealers that don't ring back, stock that ins't actually there, a 10 day wait for a test drive!!, main dealers always seems to quote on the road prices whereas "brokers" seem to quote the bare minimum ie RFL and reg fee extra. All pretty predictable in this day and age I guess! Looks like I'll finally be choosing this week and it'll be a main dealer as the saving made by using someone else isn't worth it bearing in mind (hopefully) the back up I'll get from the dealer should I buy from them. Seems to me if you start quoting brokers prices to dealers, they match it very closely. It may be different with commercials compared to cars as I think the margins are tighter. Thanks for all the replies.
|
|
|
|
|
