For Toyota's read Toyotas (I hate it when other people do this - e.g. local greengrocer advertises apple's and banana's - aargh!!!
Pedantically,
Martin :-)
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Well said(typed) Martin. Now let's get after all the others ..
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Thanks all, suggestions taken on board. I didn't realise the Saab was only group 12 insurance, I'd always assumed them to be higher than that. We'd already discounted Audi A4s (no apostrophe Martin, ha) for not having a hatchback, so unfortunately the Camry goes the same way, nice drive though it is. Also I've not driven an Avensis, but I did drive a Carina E in my early cabbing days (and, memorably, an E-reg Carina II, for one frightening weekend!) so I'll bear in mind the lack of interior space. After running a Peugeot 405, I think it will be noticeable.
So it's a choice between the Mondeo, Primera, Accord or Saab 900...
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Requirements were:
Aircon
ABS
Quiet, smooth petrol engine!
Fair bit of poke, at least 120bhp, preferably more
Some toys to keep me happy, ie elec windows, cruise control would be nice
5 doors
Luxury rather than outright sportiness
Group 14 insurance or less
Cheap to service
Reliable
Not too thirsty
Decent size boot for all the clutter that goes with kids of 4 and 2
Manual, not auto gearbox
Remote central locking
No more length than the 405, that's difficult enough to park
And yesterday we landed up visiting the GTC, now £3799 later we have a 99T Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 5dr! Picking it up next Saturday. (Could get it earlier, but Saturday is more convenient.)
Fulfils all the requirements apart from cruise control, but hey.
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DTD - what was the GTC customer experience like ?
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Volvoman,
It was pretty much exactly what we expected, to be honest. Efficient, if rather complicated. It goes like this:
Park outside (very busy at weekends, but plenty of dedicated carparks within 500yds, they have an agreement with several nearby office blocks for weekend customer parking)
Find the particular car we looked at on the website
Get keys from nearby kiosk, play with car
Find salesman, get taken for (5 minute) test drive
Get ticket for part-ex valuation
Bring our car onto premises
Find part-ex valuer to suck teeth and listen to engine
Get valuation
Find salesman, sit down to sort out invoice
Add £51 sales fee
Add mechanical warranty (we declined, it would have been £449 for two years cover)
Add £199 GAP insurance (pays the difference between insurance payout and outstanding finance in the event of a write-off)
Subtract minimum £200 deposit (cash or debit card only)
Subtract part-ex allowance
Queue to see finance man
Apply for, and (much to our amazement) get accepted for finance
Find salesman to finalise paperwork
Book appointment to collect car
Go home, pinching self to confirm reality
Phone GTC 24hrs before appointment to confirm car is ready
Turn up with all relevant docs, drive away in new car!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It's a big place, I should think we must have covered over a mile walking back and forth to the various offices! Very cold too, unheated buildings except offices.
They were very keen once it was clear we were serious buyers, but constantly polite, courteous and professional.
Yes, the salesman did try very hard to sell us a mechanical warranty, with the leaflets, the script etc, but he took No for an answer without being pushy at all.
It seemed that some of the staff around us were a little more agressive in their techniques, but the two guys we dealt with left us feeling happy and not ripped off or pressurised at all.
It does take time, we were there from 3.30pm until 7pm, but there are vending machines dotted around the place and a burger van right outside!
If it's any help, we went in the Fleet dept sales office and dealt with Syed, and the finance guy was called Brian. From our experience yesterday they would be the ones to approach.
Hth,
Dave.
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Thanks DTD - a very good insight for the novice like me. Feels like I was there too ! Hope all goes well and you'll post aagain if any problems arise.
Good luck with the motor.
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Dave thanks indeed for such an informative account of your experience. I will suggest to my daughter she goes the same route. Buying any vehicle nowadays seems to be such a potential quagmire and she's a neophyte in this regard and I'm too far away to help her.
THe BR spirit at its best. Many thanks!
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i put myself through the GTC experience before Xmas. DTD's account very true to my experience.
I ended up buying the 2 years warranty but mine only cost £199 on a basic spec micra so I presume you have to pay more on a car with lots of bells n whistles. However, they WERE very pushy on the warranty and I had all the papers written out with me insisting on not buying it and the salesman just wouldn't let go, making me out to be mad for turning it down. In the end I buckled - rather undignified since I'd gone in mentally prepared for all this.
Still don't know if I've done the right thing, of course, only time will tell.
All the same, I'll very probably go back later in the year to replace car no.1...
splodgeface
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Enlighten me - GTC? I've just searched GTC+vehicles on Google and nothing came up. Ta
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Great Trade Centre NWS - see the news section and the links to various dealers.
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I understand their trade-in prices are very low, and there is no opportunity to haggle down their prices. Is that right?
Their prices seem very keen, but there are quite a few high milers on their stock. A friend bought a Mondy a year or so back and was well pleased with the price etc (and has only had the renowned Mondeo leaking light cluster problem)
I'm also told that their turnover of cars is very quick so if you like something you should buy it there and then, as it probably won't be there next week.
I was there last weekend just browsing with SWMBO. Great place to look at all brands of car, such huge stocks.
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I understand their trade-in prices are very low, and there is no opportunity to haggle down their prices. Is that right?
Yes, Yes!
My trade-in price was low but the car was coming up for MOT and would have needed at least a few 100 spent on it plus servicing so I couldn't complain. Also the cat relieved himself in it about 6 months previously and I gave up trying to get rid of the smell!!!! Otherwise, I would suggest trying a private sale although, thinking about that, I'm not sure if I could be bothered with the hassle for a not guaranteed extra few 100.
Haggling - there was no haggling on their asking price and, regarding the trade in, he tried to make me think I'd moved him from 800 to 1K but this was definitely in his calculations all along.
Splodgeface
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