Car Buying advice - Citroen C5/Vauxhall Insignia

[Ricey]

My Mazda was 900 under what car valuation and a whopping 2500 under Mazda main dealer prices,I could sell my car now and easily make 500 if not more!

I worked for a main dealer and had access to all their costs including actual price they pay for the car and their mark up was incredible.Main dealers hate cash sales preferring part exchange and throwing in HP to enhance their profit even further.

The screen price is overpriced so many customer's will pay that price whilst the dealer will undervalue their part exchange so they win both ways.

Well done to you then! Where did you buy it from? Private or an independent dealer?

I have never once paid the screen price and never do. I always get big money off the price, year tax, mats and a full tank of juice. Because I know the margins, I have dealt with car companies and have a lot of friends in the industry and know exactly how they work. I used to own and run my own accident repair centre so I know when I'm being taken for a ride.

 

[londonblue]

Main dealers are in the main extremely dodgy,Their secondhand cars are vastly overpriced and they have zero knowledge of the cars history or

Unlike the private seller who will only know their part of the history, and will only tell you what they want to tell you. I really don't see any difference.

if it has come from the rep's pool it was be highly troublesome as the rep/manager will abuse the motor.

You mean like my car (see my previous post) that I've had for 10 years and never had any trouble with?

 

[londonblue]

Thanks JM,

When I had my new fiesta after a couple of weeks the electric folding mirror packed up which Ford duly fixed,Would any dealer had fixed it free of charge if the car was outside manufacturer warranty..I doubt it.

I'll ask again, why did Ford fix it?

 

[mrsblue]

Well done to you then! Where did you buy it from? Private or an independent dealer?

I have never once paid the screen price and never do. I always get big money off the price, year tax, mats and a full tank of juice. Because I know the margins, I have dealt with car companies and have a lot of friends in the industry and know exactly how they work. I used to own and run my own accident repair centre so I know when I'm being taken for a ride.

Private seller,The lady had owner it from new and had spent plenty on maintaining the car,The service record was excellent ,She had even recently purchased 4 new tyres which cost her £500.

My father could find no faults with the car and he even haggled £495 off the advertised price.

 

[united we stand]

I'm sorry but mrsblue and her dad are talking complete crap. I have bought plenty of cars from main dealers and have had no troubles. As long as the car is within the manufacturers warranty they look after you. My engine management light came on on my Zafira. I took it back to Vauxhall in Oxford (bought in Essex) they did a diagnostics check for free and replaced my coil pack and spark plugs for free in 30 minutes of me dropping it off. All because it was under warranty and I only had a month left.

Every car I have bought from a dealer whenever I have had a problem with it within warranty they have sorted it with no charge. You can haggle well with a dealer on price as I always do. I have got better offers from a main dealer than a non mainstream dealer. You have no come back when you buy private hence why the cheaper price. It's a risk buying private and if your willing to spend decent money my advice is to ignore everything mrsblue has just said and go with a main dealer.

Once your warranty runs out don't bother taking it back to a main dealer because service and repair wise they will be more expensive.

it all depends on how you view the whole car buying experience. I don't think you can simply generalise all dealers, or all private sales in one bucket, or what every buyer wants. To some, ease of purchase, financing, trade in,choice, smart showroom etc are important . Personally apart from new cars I have only bought two cars from dealers as in each case they had EXACTLY what I wanted, both were rare cars ( Grand Cherokee Overland LPG converted) and they didn't know how to price it with the LPG conversion so I got a bargain in each case.

But when buying a mainstream car stilll under the manufactures warranty then for me I fail to see the advantage (except choice and hassle free) of paying more at a Main dealer . If you buy it privately you are getting an identical warranty, you also get to meet the owner , and see their house other cars etc which gives you an insight into how the car has been looked after. For me this is important, for others it wont be.

 

[mrsblue]

it all depends on how you view the whole car buying experience. I don't think you can simply generalise all dealers, or all private sales in one bucket, or what every buyer wants. To some ease of purchase, financing, trade in, haggling etc are importatn . Personally apart from new cars I have only bought two cars from dealers as in each case they had EXACTLY what I wanted, it was a rare car (LPG converted) and they didn't know how to price it with the LPG conversion so I got two bargains. But when buying a mainstream car stilll under the manufactures warranty then for me I fail to see the advantage (except choice and hassle free) of paying more at a Main dealer . If you buy it privately you are getting an identical warranty, you also get to meet the owner , and see their house other cars etc which gives you an insight into how the car has been looked after. For me this is important, for others it wont be.

Completely agree with this,

We looked at several cars and without being snobbish some of the properties where the car lived were shall we say not very nice or in a nasty neighbourhood,My dad would not even take a look and drove on much to my annoyance!

 

[Jam_Man]

Completely agree with this,

We looked at several cars and without being snobbish some of the properties where the car lived were shall we say not very nice or in a nasty neighbourhood,My dad would not even take a look and drove on much to my annoyance!

I definitely do that myself.

The only time Ive paid a lot for a car privately was from some yuppie couple in London with a townhouse worth about a million quid. Best car Ive bought as well. So always buy from well to do types :)

 

[united we stand]

Unlike the private seller who will only know their part of the history, and will only tell you what they want to tell you. I really don't see any difference.

?

You can learn a lot from visiting someones house if you know what to look for and apply some common sense. I really look after my cars , when I sell my adverts are all about the condition and are very very long and paint a picture . When someone views the car will always be spotless and garaged . Any other cars on the drive will also have been washed/detailed that day and the front of the house will be VERY tidy . The Garage is spotless, nicely kitted out and tidy and I make a point of showing them my cleaning products and going through my cleaning regime. Six of the last 7 cars I have sold have been bought by the first person that saw them for the price advertised . To the buyers I think meeting the owner and seeing the cars in their normal environment was very important

 

[mrsblue]

I definitely do that myself.

The only time Ive paid a lot for a car privately was from some yuppie couple in London with a townhouse worth about a million quid. Best car Ive bought as well. So always buy from well to do types :)

My husband viewed a TT in Esher ,The house was beautiful and the car was also beautiful until he HPI'd it,Outstanding finance with the seller promising once he purchased they would settle the HP !

The 3 of us all beat a hasty retreat.

 

[mrsblue]

You can learn a lot from visiting someones house if you know what to look for and apply some common sense. I really look after my cars , when I sell my adverts are all about the condition and are very very long and paint a picture . When someone views the car will always be spotless and garaged . Any other cars on the drive will also have been washed/detailed that day and the front of the house will be VERY tidy . The Garage is spotless, nicely kitted out and tidy and I make a point of showing them my cleaning products and going through my cleaning regime. Six of the last 7 cars I have sold have been bought by the first person that saw them for the price advertised . To the buyers I think meeting the owner and seeing the cars in their normal environment was very important

Agreed again !

We looked at one particular Mazda in darkest Essex,The car was parked on the driveway next to a battered old heap which was jacked up!

Not a very good selling point.

 

[Pubey]

it all depends on how you view the whole car buying experience. I don't think you can simply generalise all dealers, or all private sales in one bucket, or what every buyer wants. To some, ease of purchase, financing, trade in,choice, smart showroom etc are important . Personally apart from new cars I have only bought two cars from dealers as in each case they had EXACTLY what I wanted, both were rare cars ( Grand Cherokee Overland LPG converted) and they didn't know how to price it with the LPG conversion so I got a bargain in each case.

But when buying a mainstream car stilll under the manufactures warranty then for me I fail to see the advantage (except choice and hassle free) of paying more at a Main dealer . If you buy it privately you are getting an identical warranty, you also get to meet the owner , and see their house other cars etc which gives you an insight into how the car has been looked after. For me this is important, for others it wont be.

Well said.

We found buying a car to be pretty stressful, and not particularly straight forward. Buying a house was easier (mainly due to DtS!). In the end we're pleased with our purchase and the car is a dream (VW Golf 2.0TDi 61 plate) but not particularly looking forward to going through the process again. Might have been able to shave off another couple of hundred, or got a tank of diesel, but there are more important things in life than to spend hours quibbling with d*cks used car salesmen.

 

[Jam_Man]

My husband viewed a TT in Esher ,The house was beautiful and the car was also beautiful until he HPI'd it,Outstanding finance with the seller promising once he purchased they would settle the HP !

The 3 of us all beat a hasty retreat.

Sounds well dodgy.

Funnily enough I bought an MG from an amazing house in Esher. Private gravel road off a country road up to a massive secluded country house.

They said it was up fro sale as they were emigrating which sounded a bit dodgy but they seemed nice people. Ended up being a great car and never had any issues.

What was funny was I hadnt driven one before and when I drove off I didnt realise how powerful they are (relatively speaking) and did a massive wheel spin in their gravel. Must have looked really impressive!

 

[mrsblue]

Sounds well dodgy.

Funnily enough I bought an MG from an amazing house in Esher. Private gravel road off a country road up to a massive secluded country house.

They said it was up fro sale as they were emigrating which sounded a bit dodgy but they seemed nice people. Ended up being a great car and never had any issues.

What was funny was I hadnt driven one before and when I drove off I didnt realise how powerful they are (relatively speaking) and did a massive wheel spin in their gravel. Must have looked really impressive!

Haha good 1,


Only thing which is very annoying when buying private it takes an awful long time in buying the right car.

 

[Jam_Man]

Thats my problem. I like the Citroen C5 but there doesnt seem to be many of them for sale, and nearly all are trade.

Plus to make it worse I want a particular model and I can only see one of them for sale at the moment.

 

[mrsblue]

Thats my problem. I like the Citroen C5 but there doesnt seem to be many of them for sale, and nearly all are trade.

Plus to make it worse I want a particular model and I can only see one of them for sale at the moment.

Autotrader has a few private C5's but depends if you wish to travel to view them,Good luck anyway.
,

 

[londonblue]

You can learn a lot from visiting someones house if you know what to look for and apply some common sense. I really look after my cars , when I sell my adverts are all about the condition and are very very long and paint a picture . When someone views the car will always be spotless and garaged . Any other cars on the drive will also have been washed/detailed that day and the front of the house will be VERY tidy . The Garage is spotless, nicely kitted out and tidy and I make a point of showing them my cleaning products and going through my cleaning regime. Six of the last 7 cars I have sold have been bought by the first person that saw them for the price advertised . To the buyers I think meeting the owner and seeing the cars in their normal environment was very important

I'm not denying any of that, but even someone like you could "forget" to mention an accident that has been repaired for example.

The simple rule of thumb really should be take everyone on their merits, be they private or trade, and to generalise is foolhardy.

 

[londonblue]

Sounds well dodgy.

Funnily enough I bought an MG from an amazing house in Esher. Private gravel road off a country road up to a massive secluded country house.

They said it was up fro sale as they were emigrating which sounded a bit dodgy but they seemed nice people. Ended up being a great car and never had any issues.

What was funny was I hadnt driven one before and when I drove off I didnt realise how powerful they are (relatively speaking) and did a massive wheel spin in their gravel. Must have looked really impressive!

Was that an MGF? I had one of those. Lovely cars, and yes the VVC version could certainly shift. I was at a set of traffic lights once with the roof down and a couple of guys pulled up in a van and started looking at the car. One of them then offered me 2kgs of skunk for it. I said no, and as soon as the lights changed I made use of that engine!

 

[mrsblue]

I'm not denying any of that, but even someone like you could "forget" to mention an accident that has been repaired for example.

The simple rule of thumb really should be take everyone on their merits, be they private or trade, and to generalise is foolhardy.

Dealership's sell damage repaired cars,They even sell ex learner cars,Yet they overcharge customers who believe they are getting a good deal.

I can only generalise because I worked at a main dealer and before working there another main dealer tried to sell me an expensive car with many faults.

 

[Ricey]

Dealership's sell damage repaired cars,They even sell ex learner cars,Yet they overcharge customers who believe they are getting a good deal.

I can only generalise because I worked at a main dealer and before working there another main dealer tried to sell me an expensive car with many faults.

You worked at one main dealer? So are you saying all of them are the same because I very much doubt it.

 

[mrsblue]

You worked at one main dealer? So are you saying all of them are the same because I very much doubt it.

I can only comment on my experience and information from friend's,One purchased an ex learner car which she was never aware of at time of purchase and another friend purchased a very poorly repaired accident damaged car.From 4 main dealerships they either sold or tried to sell poor quality cars.