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car finance compulsory to get a discount

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scotia
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car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97339

Postby scotia » November 20th, 2017, 9:14 pm

I want to buy a car - I don't want finance. But I can only get a £2000 discount if I accept the car manufacturer's finance - which apparently can be cancelled immediately after receiving the car, while still retaining the £2000 discount ("deposit contribution"). So this involves a lot of time wasting and useless paperwork. At one time one used to get a discount for a cash sale - now it looks like its a penalty award. Any others out there with this experience?

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97351

Postby redsturgeon » November 20th, 2017, 9:36 pm

Is this a brand new car? Have you checked the cash price via a broker?

John

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97352

Postby jackdaww » November 20th, 2017, 9:36 pm

by ringing around most of the (nissan) dealers within 100 miles , i got £3000 off a £21000 car , paying cash.

i just ignored all these offers of financial engineering .

i did ring some brokers but was unimpressed .

8-)

scotia
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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97360

Postby scotia » November 20th, 2017, 9:59 pm

Is this a brand new car? Have you checked the cash price via a broker?

Yes - Brand New - SKODA
I haven't tried a broker - but a run around the major garages in this area confirms this policy
But if I want a Seat, thousands immediately fall off the list price - simply for asking, with no need to take a finance package. Same VW Group but substantially different policies

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97380

Postby Clitheroekid » November 20th, 2017, 11:10 pm

Interesting - this tends to reinforce my suspicions mentioned in this thread - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8490

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97390

Postby Howard » November 21st, 2017, 12:21 am

CK if it's the Ferrari you hankered after some time ago, why not pay the cash price and look affluent!

scotia
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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97396

Postby scotia » November 21st, 2017, 1:42 am

I thought about a McLaren - but where do I put the fishing rod, and how do I get it up the cart track to the loch?

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97435

Postby redsturgeon » November 21st, 2017, 9:05 am

scotia wrote:
Is this a brand new car? Have you checked the cash price via a broker?

Yes - Brand New - SKODA
I haven't tried a broker - but a run around the major garages in this area confirms this policy
But if I want a Seat, thousands immediately fall off the list price - simply for asking, with no need to take a finance package. Same VW Group but substantially different policies


A quick check on Drive the Deal shows that for a SKODA SUPERB ESTATE 1.4 TSI S 5DR (just pick at random as approx £21k list) you can get £4,600 off

I have always got an instant quote from them (easy to do online) before buying a new car. Dealers then usually match the price.

John

scotia
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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97459

Postby scotia » November 21st, 2017, 10:19 am

My advise is to just play along with the game.

Yes - that's what I have done.
But am I not correct in thinking that the last major financial crash was caused by this pay-never behaviour.
Maybe the Chancellor should put a hefty up-front tax on all such finance deals.

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97473

Postby bungeejumper » November 21st, 2017, 11:01 am

scotia wrote:But am I not correct in thinking that the last major financial crash was caused by this pay-never behaviour.

Aaah, but that's not what you'd be doing, is it? By cancelling the loan and paying off the debt in cash to the dealer, you're not defaulting on anything and nobody is going unpaid.

Although, come to think of it, you'd want to make sure that you really could walk away from an agreed loan under the cooling-off period rules. I do seem to vaguely remember a discussion on the old Fool board about how this could only be done if you hadn't signed the papers on the dealer's premises. If you'd fixed the finance by post or via the internet, you were home and dry and you could walk away.

FWIW, I took on a five year dealer's loan @ 3% interest when I bought my last car. It was cheap money, and I was pretty sure I could beat that by putting the money into my ISA instead. :D Plus, having a loan on the go improves your credit score, as long as you keep up the direct debits of course.

BJ

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97478

Postby swill453 » November 21st, 2017, 11:16 am

bungeejumper wrote:Plus, having a loan on the go improves your credit score, as long as you keep up the direct debits of course.

Not necessarily, I haven't had any loans for 5 years, mortgage included, and apparently my Experian score is 999 out of 999.

Scott.

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97481

Postby Howard » November 21st, 2017, 11:20 am

I’m guessing from previous posts that CK has his eye on a high-end sports car, and is moving upmarket from a Mercedes two seater.

This is a different market from everyday family saloons which are sold in volume and the same rules don’t apply.

In my (layman’s) opinion the time to do the initial negotiation on a higher value car is definitely before a test drive. Once you have taken the trouble to drive a car in the dealer’s stock the salesmen will know you are really interested. Porsche 911s don’t usually disappoint on a test drive!

Over the last 10 years or so I believe it has been possible to negotiate deals on expensive vehicles occasionally. I don’t know what the key drivers are but sometimes there are pre-registered models with a few miles on the clock which go for a good price. It needs research to see what the dealer has in stock and a casual visit to check the situation without any enthusiasm or commitment. A low key enquiry about free servicing plans is probably best done at this stage.

In a high-end dealership near me, my casual enquiry has been treated with haughty disdain on one occasion and a few years later, I have been treated royally and given a good discount and a good trade-in price.

Car salesmen dealing with upmarket marques would probably consider that a customer who has chosen a car won’t be too concerned about £2k. If they have had a good sales month they will imply that if this amount is important, the potential buyer may not be suited to an expensive car!

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97620

Postby DrFfybes » November 21st, 2017, 6:23 pm

Howard wrote:Car salesmen dealing with upmarket marques would probably consider that a customer who has chosen a car won’t be too concerned about £2k. If they have had a good sales month they will imply that if this amount is important, the potential buyer may not be suited to an expensive car!


The Aston salesman made a similar comment to us.

I drive a Maserati.

Paul

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97905

Postby mearnsfool » November 22nd, 2017, 6:11 pm

Basically some manufacturers have a low dealer mark up and do the discounting via manufacturer finance, therefore the dealer no longer has the money to give you a discount. You have to play the finance game or in certain cases they route certain cars via other finance houses on great lease deals therefore give a discount without advertising the fact.

No use getting a great 2 year hire rate if you want it as a 8 to 10 year car.

Others like Seat as advised have a higher markup for the dealer, therefore you get the discount off them as they have more money across the bonnet of the car.

With regards to swill453's comment about a great credit score due to no mortgage / car loans etc.

I also have a high credit score for that very reason but I was refused 0% credit at Halfords when we bought a £1,000 electric bike for the good lady, I did not ask for it but the staff said do you want the bike on 0% finance and I said yes.

A week later I bought an electric bike for myself from another dealer and was offered 0% finance without asking for it. This time I got the finance. Therefore a high credit score and no debt does not always convert into being able to get finance in all cases.

scotia
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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#97929

Postby scotia » November 22nd, 2017, 7:29 pm

Basically some manufacturers have a low dealer mark up and do the discounting via manufacturer finance, therefore the dealer no longer has the money to give you a discount. You have to play the finance game

Yes - the SKODA dealer was very open about this, and made it clear that he had repeatedly complained about it. Instead of the finance deal, he could only offer a considerably smaller discount - and so was informing all customers that the best deal was the finance package - and just cancel it after delivery of the car if you want to effectively make a cash purchase. And as for Seat - I was astonished at the way in which the dealer, without any pressure, reeled off the various discounts he could offer without any recourse to finance packages. Two manufacturers, same group, diametrically opposite policies!

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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#98582

Postby Gaggsy » November 24th, 2017, 4:45 pm

scotia wrote:
Basically some manufacturers have a low dealer mark up and do the discounting via manufacturer finance, therefore the dealer no longer has the money to give you a discount. You have to play the finance game

Yes - the SKODA dealer was very open about this, and made it clear that he had repeatedly complained about it. Instead of the finance deal, he could only offer a considerably smaller discount - and so was informing all customers that the best deal was the finance package - and just cancel it after delivery of the car if you want to effectively make a cash purchase. And as for Seat - I was astonished at the way in which the dealer, without any pressure, reeled off the various discounts he could offer without any recourse to finance packages. Two manufacturers, same group, diametrically opposite policies!


Yes, it's crazy isn't it. I was looking to change my Skoda Superb for a newer model a year ago. Skoda were running some 'Golden Ticket' event which they were really pushing hard - I had emails, phone calls, texts, you name it. I succumbed and made an appointment - yes it was so popular I had to make a special appointment :roll: . Before going along I had to give them lots of information about myself including how I would pay (cash), what exact model I was interested in (Superb), exact details of the car I was trading in, etc etc. I looked up new prices on Drive the Deal before going and had offers from dealers of about £3,400 discount.

Cut to the chase - when I got there they made me give all my details again and tried to price everything on finance deals. Hardly any discounts were available and nobody could tell me what the Golden Ticket actually entitled me to. Possibly some 'free' car mats - whoopdy do.
Worst of all they didn't even have a Superb in the showroom let alone let me drive one. Waiting times were 3 months from order.

I endured the bullshit for almost an hour and a half and eventually walked out.

The following weekend I went to the approved Mercedes dealer down the road and bought a 1 year old E Class, that looked like new, for £2k less than the cheapest Drive the Deal price for the Superb. I never felt under any pressure to take out a finance deal with them. Can't even remember if they mentioned it. I also sold my old car privately for £1.5k more than Skoda were offering (£35 on Autotrader and £13 for a valet in Asda car park paid huge dividends).

I liked my Skoda but I won't be going back in a hurry.

scotia
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Re: car finance compulsory to get a discount

#110022

Postby scotia » January 12th, 2018, 10:36 pm

I can now confirm that the SKODA Discount policy works. I signed up for the finance package, and received the £2000 discount.
Then I terminated the finance agreement by phone, and effectively paid cash via an electronic transfer - but still retained the £2000 discount. And SKODA Finance were not surprised, and made no attempt to persuade me otherwise.


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