Car buying experience

[Flatcoat]

Over the summer we were looking for a new car resulting in visiting dealerships for Toyota, Seat/Cupra,  Hyundai, Volvo, MG and VW.  A few others (L/R, Jaguar, Audi) were contacted by phone and email however  I did not follow up for a variety of reasons.

MG: a good value offering often spoiled by clueless sales staff, lies, indifference/ignoring when we turned up for appointments. Some good experience from telephone and email enquiries however in the end concluded the HS PHEV is not suited to our needs (lack of power).

VW: enquired about the newly launched Tiguan PHEV. With the exception of Leeds dealership all the local ones were not interested and basically said come back in 6 months. Why is it less than a month later they all now have a Tiguan PHEV demonstrator available and phoning up chasing my business? Snooze, you lose…
SEAT/Cupra: reasonably ok with test driving a Formentor PHEV and very keen to deal but as with the Tiguan and MG concluded it was a bit underpowered and small. However If I had not wanted a towcar we would have ordered a Formentor, fabulous car! 
Volvo: called in to enquire about a used XC60 PHEV (sold about 5 mins before we got there). No follow up even though I know they have had others on their forecourt since……

Hyundai: the local family dealer was quite good but the nearby Hyundai and multi franchise dealer group that cover other locations are simply con-artists. Advertising offers they subsequently change when you sit down in the showroom. Will not touch with a barge pole if they had the last car in England. In the end decided a bit underpowered for our needs albeit a very enticing package. 
Toyota: the least pushy and (along with Leeds VW) the most consistently professional to deal with at all dealerships we visited: York, Huddersfield and Doncaster. Bought from the latter albeit no reflection on the others, mostly due to a colleagues experience of buying cars from them. 

[ernieb]

I have to say that my dealings with the Toyota dealer were during peak covid but were very good at following up on any promise. When we finally got demo car in the country to drive they had sanitised and gave us the keys. When I asked when they wanted it back they just said before they close. Full tank and 60% Battery.

[Flatcoat]

The first MG test drive was a joke, second better. Hyundai we’re both fine with me using our own route as was Toyota. Haven’t actually driven a PHEV we have ordered. All based on a drive of the HEV and copious research. 

[nlee]

Got to give enormous credit to Toyota (Inchcape) Derby. The best car buying experience I've had. Miles ahead of the previous JLR experience. Having said that, I don't necessarily think it was a Toyota thing in general.

After a search on Carwow, the first dealership I dealt with were pleasant enough and I had a test drive in a HV. They had told me that there was no chance of getting a HV or a PHEV until March/April next year. He offered me the bosses PHEV on a 21 plate, then when I returned from the test drive, I asked him what the deal was and he said it had been sold while I was on the test drive (for 30 mins). In the meantime I'd made contact with Toyota Derby via AutoTrader and they claimed they could get the PHEV that I wanted in 2-3 weeks and arranged a test drive for the next day. The first dealer tried to get me to sign up for an order but I said I would see what Derby had to offer first. He claimed to have "checked the system" and told me there was no way Derby would be able to get a car and I was wasting my time. I went to Derby the next day, did the test drive, told them what the first dealer had said and they assured me the car was due with them in 2-3 weeks. I placed the order (at the reduced price and a £1600 dealer offer). My Toyota instantly pinged and showed the car "in transit" at the Toyota factory in Derby. Sure enough, 2 weeks later I collected it.

Can't fault the guys and girls in Toyota Derby, they were all fantastic but especially the main person I dealt with, Josh. They couldn't have done anymore. It's a 200+ return trip but if the wife decides on a Toyota (thinking Yaris) next year, we will definitely go back to Derby.

[nlee]

9 minutes ago, Flatcoat said:

The first MG test drive was a joke, second better. Hyundai we’re both fine with me using our own route as was Toyota. Haven’t actually driven a PHEV we have ordered. All based on a drive of the HEV and copious research. 

If you're anything like me you won't be disappointed. I was going to get the PHEV based on the test drive of the HEV (which I thought was great) but when I drove the PHEV the next day, it was even better. So glad I got the PHEV after 3 days and 3 long journeys in it.

[flash22]

VW the dealers are clueless they only get so many build allocations and VW tell them what they can have

Worst dealers so far, Nissan, Vauxhell and Mini/BMW - Toyota dealers can be hit and miss, sales can be a bit arrogant, service is like getting blood out of a stone at times, Parts Dept i have no issue with, My local dealer is a bit ***** TBH, and they have a large franchise, so a bit stuck without having to travel

[Flatcoat]

I contacted Derby Toyota by phone too but they wouldn’t shift on the £1600 discount and by the time they replied the Dynamic Premium cars they had in stock had all sold. I got around £2000 discount from the Doncaster dealer by pushing them to try and match Drivethedeal (who by then had stopped selling Toyota). Possibly will be here next month….. 

[BigR1ch]

TBH WR Davies are great I got my RAV4 from their Telford Dealership and have it serviced at their Shrewsbury Dealership.
Both really friendly, (cannot comment on the Sales side as it is a company car so didn't deal with them direct). But have been very helpful and knowledgeable.
Will use them again as the wife is due a new car in the next couple of years and hopefully they will have some full small sized EV models by then.
 

[Cyker]

It's nice to know that good Toyota dealers exist, if only 'up North'  

Alas me and flash and other southerners seem to be stuck down here with all the bad ones!!

 

[Roy124]

You went to more dealers than we did.  Purely by chance we went to  Toyota, opposite our first choice Kia.  We visited a few other dealers in the Toyota demonstrator and finally walking to Volvo. 

Neither Kia nor Volvo showed any interest in even showing us a car. In contrast Toyota matched the Spec of their Corolla to give us the equivalent Specification to our Mercedes even though we were downsizing. 

Haven't regretted it for a moment supported by a great user forum. 

[ColinB]

We've used our local Toyota dealer for quite a few years now and have generally been happy with them. No problem with test drives, they just give us the keys and tell us to bring it back. I think that they are beginning to take us for granted now, though. Ordered our RAV4 at the end of July, was told a November delivery date but noticed on the app where I was following the car's progress that it had arrived at the dealers with "Where's my car" showing it sitting in their car park. Asked the sales guy but he said it hasn't arrived yet, but should be available next week. As it happens we're going away this weekend and am happy with going in our "old" C-HR, but I feel that they are beginning to take us for granted.... 

[Cyker]

TBH I'd take the tracker with a pinch of salt... According to the tracker my car arrived in Hull from France 2 days after ordering, then took a month to get from Hull to Burnaston  

Actually has anyone ever been to the Toyota factory? I wonder if they would take a ToC tour group?  

[philip42h]

27 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Actually has anyone ever been to the Toyota factory? I wonder if they would take a ToC tour group?

The factory for UK RAV4s is in Japan ...

[Cyker]

No the Burnaston Factory you goof!!  Although if they paid for us to fly out to japan I wouldn't say no...   

[ernieb]

I think they used to do tours for certain groups but obviously with covid etc.  They had also been doing extensive building work I think.

[Flatcoat]

I would be good to look around although with so much robotic/automated production it is probably a bit limiting in terms of interest. Thinking back to when I did a Jaguar tour about 20 years ago…. And I suspect it will be a while before anyone does factory tours again. 

[ernieb]

During my apprenticeship at EMI back in the day we did a number of trips out memorable were Corby continuous pipe making factory and a car manufacturing factory. The car factory was massive and full of people so different now.

[Catlover]

I think it would be interesting to see what the robots do and how fast they do it.

[BigR1ch]

do you mean like this

 

[ernieb]

There is some great stuff on YouTube.  I liked the point in the video above when the operator was opening and closing doors as a tight fit on the production line was coming into play, totally unfazed but the potential issue.

I remember very well the first time I had some CNC mills and lathes installed at our factory pure magic. But probably more spectacular was the first series of pick and place component machines we installed, large bands of electronic components being fed and placed on circuit boards and ceramic substrates and then being flow soldered or bonded.  But then when I started out there were designs still using glass valves so I’ve seen a version of Moor’s law working in not just the computer industry.

 

[Catlover]

25 minutes ago, BigR1ch said:

do you mean like this

 

Yes, it’s amazing how they got the robots to look like humans.

[FROSTYBALLS]

 

2009 Camry production

2021 Rav4 production (Canada).

[Flatcoat]

All that automation and they still have a paper check tick list! How many locations do they build the RAV4? I am aware of Japan, Russia and Canada. Anywhere else? 

[nlee]

17 hours ago, Cyker said:

TBH I'd take the tracker with a pinch of salt... According to the tracker my car arrived in Hull from France 2 days after ordering, then took a month to get from Hull to Burnaston  

Actually has anyone ever been to the Toyota factory? I wonder if they would take a ToC tour group?  

I thought the order tracker was quite accurate for me, although my car was already in Burnaston when it was ordered. It certainly arrived at the dealers exactly when the app pinged me (although it briefly showed it going back to Portbury docks that day!). If Hull is anything like Portbury, it is probably sat on the dockside awaiting a transporter for a few weeks before it is actually "in transit" to Burnaston.

I've seen on another forum (think it might be the Yaris GR) that they take the tracking to a whole new level with someone posting daily updates on every ship currently on route from the Toyota factory in Japan that has their cars on! There was even someone who took a photo of a transporter going up the M5 and those that had an update that day that their car was heading to Derby were picking which one on the transporter was theirs!

[nlee]

Here's an example of the next level tracking!.....

https://gr-yaris.co.uk/forum/threads/list-of-vehicle-carriers-in-transit-to-europe.995/page-96