New Car v Used Car

Information and questions about driving in Andalucia, buying or importing cars and motorbikes plus legal issues surrounding taxes and licenses.
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Devils Advocate
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:12 pm

Never bought a new car in Spain, why would I do that? I was interested in the strange way business seems to be done over there which Si has explained nicely without taking the hump and flouncing like you. Cars are cheaper if you finance them lol!!!
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markwilding
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby markwilding » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:16 pm

El Cid wrote:When I bought my latest car I was on at least 6 months delivery with an order book as long as your arm and after 2 years since launch it’s still pretty much the same. Absolutely no chance of a discount at all without taking the finance deal with a minimum loan of 10k. With the finance deal you got a pack of discounts and free offers. At least 3k off plus an extra 2 years warranty and 4 years free servicing and EU roadside assistance etc.

It was a no brainer having worked out the figures.
Last edited by markwilding on Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:19 pm

So they won't take a customer spec order unless you take finance? What if they were receiving more with a cash offer from a bloke? Do they chase him? Don't get all stroppy, I'm just totally baffled and eager to learn after doing the job for years.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:30 pm

I repeat, the dealer only has a certain amount of money in a car. He'll push you in the direction where he takes the most profit from it.

The list prices I see posted here are inflated, if the dealer only takes 16k (including the finance ) from a 21k car what cell is missing where he won't take a 17k cash bid at it?
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby El Cid » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:40 pm

Devils Advocate wrote: As for your deal would you have saved money if you'd payed cash but got the same perks? I know you don't need to finance so I'm guessing you wouldn't have.
No way would I have got a discount and the extras for cash. the rules are set by the manufacturer. The salesmen will look up this months deals on the manufactures website and tell you what you can have. At the end of the month they change again. The dealers have very little they can offer personally and even the part exchange price is worked out on the manufacturers site.

As a result, the salesmen are useless as they are not motivated to sell you anything. I once spent half an hour looking at cars in a showroom before anyone even approached me.

The best bet it to spend an hour on the online configuration, print off the offer and take to the dealer. All you need to do is say this is what you want. It’s pathetic. It’s not just the car industry, it’s seems to be the same apathy everywhere. I recently decided to change my 70m2 lawn to Astroturf and got 4 quotes and went ahead with a local company. 4 months later only one of the other 3 companies has bothered to chase me up on it! I can’t be bothered to reply!

I recently bought my wife a VW UP city car. I contacted the SEAT dealerthat I have dealt with for 18 years and bought 3 new cars from asking for a quote on a SEAT Mii. I got no response so I bought a VW from the dealer across the road.

Sid

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby costakid » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:41 pm

Got a funny feeling this topic may soon be closed by uncle Sid.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby El Cid » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:44 pm

Why? As far as I can see all the posts are very relevant to the car buying process, both new and used.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby markwilding » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:46 pm

I can’t tell you the whys and wherefores. Maybe the days of cash is king are dying.
I knew the possible discounts before I visited the showroom because I saw them online but they don’t say how to get them until you visit. Obviously, you don’t sign up before you think a couple of days and as you say the whole thing seems a little odd so I rang the main office to ask how the discounts work and they confirmed it.They also told me what Sid has confirmed that the deals change monthly. I configured my most recent one a couple of months after I had bought It and the discount was quite a bit less.

Sid’s experience is similar to mine. Some differences on the extras.

I’m not clear what you mean by a cash bid. If you mean you go in with all the cash in an envelope, I already asked that when bought my first one in full and would only accept a bankers draft.

Don’t forget my intention was to pay for the new one in full as well and the offer convinced me to do it on finance.
Last edited by markwilding on Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:47 pm

Salesmen can't win Sid, approach you and they get blamed for pestering, leave you to browse and they get accused of ignoring you.

A fine line for the guys to balance depending on who the customer is I reckon.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby markwilding » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:54 pm

I have to say that the guy who sold me mine was fine and even phoned me up a couple of times after delivery to check everything was OK with the car.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:58 pm

Mark going back a post or two a cash bid is not taking their finance. Sounds like a good salesman you had to but it will be part of his brief and monitored he does it. However some will strike a relationship with a humble customer and go that extra mile.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby markwilding » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:07 am

It must be a bit odd when I go into a car showroom. I know very little about the car but often know much more about the entertainment system and it’s capabilities than the salesperson.
This current one is just over 2 year old and has done around 13,000 kms and that includes a round trip to Costa del Sol last year.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby 1bassleft » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:18 am

Apols for butting in - ignore this post by all means as my experience/insight is limited.

DA, here's a Gedankenexperiment you might want to try, as I did a few months back when I wondered if an honest used car existed in Malaga Province. I considered a new smallish car and the obvious ones were the 2018 Ibiza, Fiesta and Fabia. Take the Fabia and look into it on both the UK and ES websites. On the face of it, they follow the same protocols (quite handy for learning the Spanish for "Hill Start Assist") and, like for like, the ES car comes out around 2k cheaper although the servicing appeared to be choose+pay extra whereas the UK site looked built-in and mandatory. I wondered, but didn't confirm, if ES taxes and registration costs might make up the difference.

The thing is, though, new car dealering might have changed quite a bit. Whereas my AX/Uno/Renault 5 choice was decided by look and feel, dinero and "oh hey, you've got a red 5-door in the showroom, that'll do!" the process now looks more like an online version of ordering a sandwich in New York - answering a dozen questions about white, wholegrain, rye, butter, unsaturated etc. The dealer's showroom, to me at least, seemed to be relegated to a place where you look at a "typical example" and collect what you really ordered online, some weeks/months later. Aside from 0kms etc, I wouldn't be surprised if their best margin does come from signing someone up to a lifetime of financial services offers thrust at them.

I haven't looked at new cars in the UK for more than a decade - has the game changed a lot in Blighty now or is it still much as it was for haggle room?

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby gerrynag » Mon Nov 12, 2018 8:51 am

Interesting posts about people's experiences buying new cars using finance, but has anyone actually bought a new car here for 'cash', i.e. without using finance and what were their experienes ?
As I have said prvious posts, just hate the idea of owing money and knowing that you are locked into a credit deal for two or more years, especially when the deal you are signing is in Spanish and you are not quite sure what you have signed up to.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby markwilding » Mon Nov 12, 2018 9:51 am

I have bought outright twice. The problem is that both times I bought cash, the finance deal wasn't on offer.

I did try to see if I could the have discount by paying it all up front so as to avoid the interest payments, therefore get a better deal but was told it wasn't possible. What is impossible to say is had I walked away from the deal, would they have relented and given me the discount without having to take out the finance?

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:08 pm

Just read an article saying 80% of new car sales last year in the UK were PCP, don't know whether that's a trend happening in other countries too. If true then I'm staggered.

A salesman must now look in disbelief when someone walks in to actually buy a car.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby katy » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:55 pm

gerrynag wrote:
markwilding wrote:10K over 4 years
247.49€ per month = 11.879€
There might have been a set up charge as well because I remember I worked out the overall saving to have been just under 200€
That's crazy...so how do they make a profit ? :crazy:
That's what I can't work out, surely the Dealer only gets a small amount of commission from the finance company. all around the world cash is usually king.

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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:58 pm

Many moons ago a salesman of addressing machines where I worked left and went to a main Volvo dealer. On duty a few Saturdays after starting a somewhat scruffy guy complete with lurcher on a lead wandered into the showroom and looked at a new large estate on display. Friend, more worried about the dog scratching the paintwork went over to him...”How much is one of these?” asked the traveller, “and can you fit a towbar?”. “This model s £20,000.” Can it be ready in a week?” “Certainly...” man and dog leave.
Fast forward to the next Saturday, in walks man, says “Is it ready?” and plonks 20 grand in cash on the desk!
Lessons learnt in my first day if sales training “Always ask for the order” and “Assume the sale is made”!
On subject, we bought our Toyota Auris Hybrid for cash, got a good trade-in for OH’s Ibiza, an excellent discount on the car, and it was ready for delivery within three weeks.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:01 pm

Sounds like you got a good deal there than Peter.
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Re: New Car v Used Car

Postby TorreDelAguila » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:05 pm

There is a good reason not to want to actually own a new car these days: the sheer technical complexity of them.
The more there is there (and engine, transmission, emissions, navigation, lighting systems have all multiplied), the more there is to go wrong, while at the same time being virtually impossible for most owners to even diagnose, let alone fix. Even some independent workshops now struggle. Main dealer 'first diagnosis' can cost €50-100, before anything is actually repaired.

Add to that the basic need to add fluids to the car (DPF, AdBlue, coolant even...), and that often involves a dealer visit and an eye-wateringly expensive plug-in 'reset'.

Given all that, the appeal of used cars to those who do their own maintenance is dropping, and many non-mechanic secondhand buyers wonder what they might be inheriting.

So, given that it is a dead certainty that the car will require seriously expensive dealer work (inside and outside warranty), makes a compelling case for leasing/PFP or an all-in deal.
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