Carwow!
Posted by: hungryhalibut on 26 November 2015
We recently decided to ditch our trusty Skoda Octavia diesel and replace it with a Golf SV. So off I go to the local dealer to try to negotiate a deal. After over an hour of the old rigmarole of going to see the sales manager etc etc I was offered a deal that was about 3% off 'sorry, it's the best we can do, it's all our margin gone, blah, blah, blah'.
I'm rubbish at negotiating deals on cars (unlike on Hifi!) but I wasn't convinced I couldn't do better. While googling the SV for reviews I came across a result for Carwow, where they were mentioning much bigger discounts.
Nothing to lose thinks I, so I pop the details in Carwow, who promise that they will send the request to five dealers for their best prices, and that they only use pukka franchised dealers. After a day of so the various offers arrive: three offering 9.5%, one offering 14.5% and the best one offering 17.5%. After half an hour on the phone it's all sorted out, part exchange and finance arranged, with delivery in January. No haggling required of course, as they make an offer and I take it or leave it.
So 3% or 17.5%? Hmm. The only slight drawback is we need to travel 140 miles to collect it, but it's in a nice place and we can have a night away as part of the process.
If anyone's looking for a new car, it's certainly worth giving Carwow a go.
I used Carwow when I bought my wife a new Qashqai earlier this year and managed to get a massive 20% discount quote from a dealer in Essex which my local dealer eventually matched. It's worthwhile using Carwow if your in the market for a new car but remember to 'challenge' your local dealer with the offer, it may save you travelling to collect your car.
We recently decided to ditch our trusty Skoda Octavia diesel and replace it with a Golf SV. So off I go to the local dealer to try to negotiate a deal. After over an hour of the old rigmarole of going to see the sales manager etc etc I was offered a deal that was about 3% off 'sorry, it's the best we can do, it's all our margin gone, blah, blah, blah'.
I'm rubbish at negotiating deals on cars (unlike on Hifi!) but I wasn't convinced I couldn't do better. While googling the SV for reviews I came across a result for Carwow, where they were mentioning much bigger discounts.
Nothing to lose thinks I, so I pop the details in Carwow, who promise that they will send the request to five dealers for their best prices, and that they only use pukka franchised dealers. After a day of so the various offers arrive: three offering 9.5%, one offering 14.5% and the best one offering 17.5%. After half an hour on the phone it's all sorted out, part exchange and finance arranged, with delivery in January. No haggling required of course, as they make an offer and I take it or leave it.
So 3% or 17.5%? Hmm. The only slight drawback is we need to travel 140 miles to collect it, but it's in a nice place and we can have a night away as part of the process.
If anyone's looking for a new car, it's certainly worth giving Carwow a go.
I bought a new Polo GTI off carwow in March having been given the same line by my local dealer - who couldn't even be bothered to get one in for me to try.
It was ordered through Listers in Northampton and included them delivering it on a low loader and a tank of fuel. I saved just over 10% (£2000) on a car that was very in demand at the time.
I can't fault the service provided, though have still to take the car to my local stealer for its first service or to rectify any faults (if they occur...)
Actually, I did call the local dealer and ask if they could match the offer. They promised to call back but didn't, so I went with the dealer making the offer. Fuel, a meal and a stay in a nice hotel will probably be about £300, but it makes for a nice little break in January.
You should have gone to the showroom in person. The manager wouldn't want to lose a sale. It's not like VW have a hungry market atm.
I used Carwow when I bought my wife a new Qashqai earlier this year and managed to get a massive 20% discount quote from a dealer in Essex which my local dealer eventually matched. It's worthwhile using Carwow if your in the market for a new car but remember to 'challenge' your local dealer with the offer, it may save you travelling to collect your car.
I did a similar thing when buying our BMW X3. I haggled with the dealer, then went on-line & got a quote from Broadspeed which was considerably cheaper. I went back to the dealer and, respect to them, they managed to match it. The dealer was an absolute pleasure to deal with & I was very pleased with the purchase.
Bought a new Volvo in the summer, third car from the dealership so they know me well. They had a simple approach; we know you can use the internet so tell us the best price you have and we will get close or match it, plus give you the personal service you have had from us so far.
23% off plus decent trade in. Deal done.
Bruce
We recently decided to ditch our trusty Skoda Octavia diesel and replace it with a Golf SV. So off I go to the local dealer to try to negotiate a deal. After over an hour of the old rigmarole of going to see the sales manager etc etc I was offered a deal that was about 3% off 'sorry, it's the best we can do, it's all our margin gone, blah, blah, blah'.
I'm rubbish at negotiating deals on cars (unlike on Hifi!) but I wasn't convinced I couldn't do better. While googling the SV for reviews I came across a result for Carwow, where they were mentioning much bigger discounts.
Nothing to lose thinks I, so I pop the details in Carwow, who promise that they will send the request to five dealers for their best prices, and that they only use pukka franchised dealers. After a day of so the various offers arrive: three offering 9.5%, one offering 14.5% and the best one offering 17.5%. After half an hour on the phone it's all sorted out, part exchange and finance arranged, with delivery in January. No haggling required of course, as they make an offer and I take it or leave it.
So 3% or 17.5%? Hmm. The only slight drawback is we need to travel 140 miles to collect it, but it's in a nice place and we can have a night away as part of the process.
If anyone's looking for a new car, it's certainly worth giving Carwow a go.
"Going to see the sales manager" - this is a very commonly used but old trick. As the person you're dealing with doesn't have the authority to change the deal and the sales manager won't speak to you directly it makes haggling much harder.
Timing also makes a difference when purchasing. If you are close to their month or quarter end, if they are under target they are more desperate to close deals.
Also remember that the important figure is actually the cost to change, assuming you are part exchanging an existing vehicle with them. Some people (not suggesting this is you) think that they've got a great deal when offered a big percentage off new but don't realise they've been given a rubbish PX figure.
Despite all that, seems like you got a good deal.
We recently decided to ditch our trusty Skoda Octavia diesel and replace it with a Golf SV. So off I go to the local dealer to try to negotiate a deal. After over an hour of the old rigmarole of going to see the sales manager etc etc I was offered a deal that was about 3% off 'sorry, it's the best we can do, it's all our margin gone, blah, blah, blah'.
I'm rubbish at negotiating deals on cars (unlike on Hifi!) but I wasn't convinced I couldn't do better. While googling the SV for reviews I came across a result for Carwow, where they were mentioning much bigger discounts.
Nothing to lose thinks I, so I pop the details in Carwow, who promise that they will send the request to five dealers for their best prices, and that they only use pukka franchised dealers. After a day of so the various offers arrive: three offering 9.5%, one offering 14.5% and the best one offering 17.5%. After half an hour on the phone it's all sorted out, part exchange and finance arranged, with delivery in January. No haggling required of course, as they make an offer and I take it or leave it.
So 3% or 17.5%? Hmm. The only slight drawback is we need to travel 140 miles to collect it, but it's in a nice place and we can have a night away as part of the process.
If anyone's looking for a new car, it's certainly worth giving Carwow a go.
"Going to see the sales manager" - this is a very commonly used but old trick. As the person you're dealing with doesn't have the authority to change the deal and the sales manager won't speak to you directly it makes haggling much harder.
Timing also makes a difference when purchasing. If you are close to their month or quarter end, if they are under target they are more desperate to close deals.
Also remember that the important figure is actually the cost to change, assuming you are part exchanging an existing vehicle with them. Some people (not suggesting this is you) think that they've got a great deal when offered a big percentage off new but don't realise they've been given a rubbish PX figure.
Despite all that, seems like you got a good deal.
The best haggle I managed locally was £12K off a £38K car plus £11K p/ex so £15K cost to swap, this was done by going in and seeing what was available.
Car had 50 miles on clock but was the end of the registration cycle for that year so in a month it was 1 year old essentially. This impacts resale value but factored in.
Sometimes just going in can pay off, but timing and accepting a car you may not ideally purchase or with a spec not exactly to your taste can pay dividends depends how much you are happy to compromise perhaps?
I take the point about matching offers by the local dealer, but quite honestly I didn't want to spend another two hours trying to get a price match. We actually like the idea of a weekend away, so buying elsewhere makes sense in this case. As an accountant I like to see all the numbers laid out clearly, so when the dealers try to confuse and make a bad deal sound good, I just walk away. The Carwow deal takes away the tedium of haggling entirely, which gas got to be worth something.
I'm complete rubbish at negotiating deals. I'll bet I left $10,000 on the table when we bought our X5.
$10,000 would be pretty cheap for one of those.
I think that was the discount, not the initial price ...
No shit, Sherlock!