Newish Owner

January 26, 2020

Hi everyone,

I am the owner of a 2019 Rav4 Mk V Excel model with no upgrades except a dog guard.

Originally, I test drove this car originally in July last year. It had a telematics system on it so it could work out what mpg I was doing. I chose the around town test drive. Trying to keep my eyes on the road and on all the information in front of me (being somewhat sceptical that the cars emergency brake would kick in if I got to close to another car). I was amazed at where the power was flowing from and too on the central screen.

Eventually we got back and I said to my wife that the seating, all round view and positioning of the controls was the best of all that I had test driven so far (being a Peugeot 3008 and Citroen C5 Crossback which is what it had to beat). Then I was given the around town print out of what I had driven. All I remember seeing is the 62mpg. WOW!! That toppled it Sale done and finished, where do I sign?

Then came the crunch. The model we wanted was still in Japan (probably awaiting to go on a production line). We were told that the earliest that we would get it would be October/November.

That was no good for us as my Kadjar was three years old in September and I wanted to have part exed it in by then.

It was back to Citroen who did have a car in stock, and I could have it within ten days. As it was a Friday afternoon the salesgirl could not check dealer stock properly as the admin staff had gone home. She said that as soon as she came in in Monday, she would phone group admin and check stock for me and let me know.

Now I used to work for a few Renault garages for over 25 years and know that when you had a sale ongoing you don't let customers off the hook when they are there with you. Getting group admin staff to check stock? If it shows that it is on your computer, you phoned the garage and got it released. Arranged either a driver or transport to get it to your garage. That was the salesman’s job and done while the customer was there.

Any way we waited till Monday morning and nothing. Monday Afternoon nothing. Then the phone rang. It was Simon from the Peugeot garage who had an offer for us if we could pop down that afternoon. Okay no problem in for a penny in for a pound.

The offer simply put was that they would buy the car from me. Put the MOT on it and service it as per the logbook and let me drive round in it till my car was due for arrival, now 16^th October. Which worked out great as we came back from holiday the day before. It was arranged that I would drop my car off before I went away, and they would pick me up to collect my new car. Sold!!

Luckily the Citroen garage was just across the road. I asked for the salesgirl and was told that it was her day off. I relayed what had gone on and my choice now to cancel the car.

So that is my story of how I bought my Rav4. Oh, and the collection went well. The only niggling point is the mpg now. I suppose that if I turn the heater off and the cruise off and any other electrical element on the car the mpg might go up. But I suppose that is depriving me of the quality of life that I am accustomed to, and a warm botty is nice every now and then.