| Product: |
General Comments / Tips Concerning Your Car |
| Date: |
17/08/00 (32 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: whatever it is at least it'll be new...
Disadvantages: ... if I ever mange to work out which one I want
I want to buy a new car. For the first time in living memory, I have the money to buy a new car so it should be a straightforward affair. So why is it that three weeks after making the decision to buy that I still have no new car and am now seriously considering sticking with my dear little battered and reliable Fiesta.
The thing is, I don't know much about cars. I know what sort of car I would like - relatively small, a nice colour, lots of fun accessories that my ten year old Fiesta lacks - air conditioning, CD player, power steering, brakes (my car doesn't appear to have any). But other than this, I'm easy about what make it is and all the other technical bits like engine size and fuel consumption, etc.
I have tried all the main manufacturer websites. Some of these are quite cool because you can create a car on the screen with all the accessories you want and your choice of paint and upholstery colour. But it doesn't give you a feel of the car so its quite limited in value although I suppose its a good starting point.
I've been to some local car dealers but, to be honest, I know that they are going to try and convince me to buy something regardless of how well it fits my requirements. And after visiting three in a row on Saturday afternoon, I was beginning to feel as if they deliberately set out to baffle me rather than providing clear and helpful advice. I got totally fed up with the pressure put upon me to make a decision - one point to note is that the more you hesitate, the more money they offer you off the price of the car. At one stage, I thought the Vauxhall dealer was going to give me a free car and twenty pounds for my trouble - he dropped the price four times in an effort to get a decision from me and eventually offered it to me for two and a half thousand pounds less provided I agreed to buy it there and then!
What would be really useful is a website that lets you type in all your requireme
nts and then matches you with your ideal car - a bit like computer dating, if you see what I mean. Then you would at least have a starting point. In fact, anywhere that had no interest in selling you a car but that offered impartial advise about the types of car available within your price range and which met your specifications would be good (and, yes, I would pay for this if I was sure that it was proper and impartial advice). Otherwise its a total minefield.
One final point - why do all car salesmen persistently talk to my husband even though he makes it clear that:
(1) the car is for me
(2) he has no knowledge of or interest in cars.
Its rude and patronising.
I had always thought that the hard part of buying a new car was getting the money together but its nothing compared to trying to work out which car to buy. So, if anyone has any helpful hints - don't hold back - all helpful comments gratefully received.
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sidneygee - 27/12/00 Beware, lil' pussycat. It is so easy to buy a car blind, from a website or from a brochure and then find that there is something you don't like about. Why do you think there are so many people who sell/px their cars quickly ? Well, OK some of them have been accident damaged or erequired repair or been 'rejected',but it is surprising how many people are disappointed with their new car.
We are taking delivery of a new car on Januray 10th (delayed because of of shipping probelsm), but before buying it I looked at dozens of motoring magazines , a number of brochures and, the most important part, I took test drives, with Heather, my wife. These test drives must be not less than 20 miles. By doing this, we were able to reject the two cars that we were 'most likely to buy' (Alfa 156, Golf V5) and one of the 'nextr list' (Honda Integra R). The Honda Accord Type R that we are buying, Heather rejected from the brochure description. Also of interest, we had decided on a red one from the brochure, but changed our mind to a black one when we saw the three colours (also it is in silver) side-by-side.
A test drive is also useful since you can make it clear that it is you who will make the decision, not the spear-bearer by your side !!
If you have purchased a car, I hope that you are happy with it. I will expand this commenatry into an opinion, in due course. |
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