E-buyer

[Zimmy]

I am proposing to buy an new Avensis in the next couple of months and having seen the bargains available from various Brokers on line I am tending to think that this is the best option. Does anyone have any experience of this type of purchase. Do you get the same level of aftersales service from your local Toyota dealer, ie courtesy car. Lastly are the dealers likely to match the online prices if you show them the quotes.

regards

Zimmy

ps just joined TOC today, great site.

[bristolmotorspeedway]

I am proposing to buy an new Avensis in the next couple of months and having seen the bargains available from various Brokers on line I am tending to think that this is the best option. Does anyone have any experience of this type of purchase. Do you get the same level of aftersales service from your local Toyota dealer, ie courtesy car. Lastly are the dealers likely to match the online prices if you show them the quotes.

regards

Zimmy

ps just joined TOC today, great site.

From what I have heard, the service you get from the dealer will ultimately be just as good.

However, don't be afraid to print off the best online deal you can find and wave it under your local dealer's nose. Just tell them this is what they are competing against and let them get the calculators out. It worked for me, with the dealer ultimately matching the price I had found online. There was finance involved, which gives more room for manouevre, but the cost per month and balloon payment were both lower than any online deal I had found.

Also, made the trade in process fairly painless, and I am pretty sure I got a good price for my trade-in (£700 more than I had been offered 4 months previously against a pre-reg Avensis).

[bjw]

Zimmy

I have posted on this subject before on the forum and I will tell you how I did my deal.

I Used Carfile ( ask for Jonathan)I cannot praise them enough it was a simple call to them and they contacted a Toyota dealer who phoned me back within 10 minutes and the deal was agreed on the telephone and they even took my part exchange in and gave me the part exchange price I had been offered by local Toyota dealers ,

No money was paid until I collected the car and any promotions Toyota were offering was available to me

.

Fortunately I lived within 50 miles of the dealer that they used but I am sure if you spoke to them they may have a dealer in your area.

The strange thing is the dealer were I purchased the car from I had tried to do a deal with previously but would not match the deal I wanted.

Regarding the after sales service I think it does not matter where you purchase your car from at the end of the day a dealer can make money on servicing your car and should want to look after you .

Will dealers match online prices well the formula I have always used in the past is I find the broker price for the car and then find the trade value for the car I then go to a dealership with the cost to change and ask if they will match it if they do I buy but don't forget the trade in price is the price they would sell it to another dealer

Hope it helps

[Dunkelmann]

I bought a 2007 Avensis through DealDrivers (http://www.dealdrivers.co.uk/). I did go round some of the other Internet discount brokers and then went to my local dealer. My dealer couldn't match them.

Some points to note:

Decide whether you want to go for a pre-registered car or a first registered. The former is cheaper but you don't get the registration document for six months. I went for first registered because I was going to France with it next month and les gendarmes require one to have all the car's documents. Also I was getting a personalised number plate. If neither of these is important then you will be cheaper with pre-registered.

Decide whether you want to buy from the broker or the dealer. There are two types of broker. There are those who source a cheap car from dealers, take their cut and sell the car on to you. You pay the broker and if they go bust (one I looked at did) you lose out. The other kind ring round the brokers and put you in touch when you decide to go ahead. The dealer pays the broker a fee. Your purchase is with the dealer and you get the resultant peace of mind that goes with that.

DealDrivers put me in touch with Pentagon Toyota in Barnsley (http://www.pentagon-toyota.co.uk/). I bought from Pentagon's fleet side not the retail side. I dealt with Anson at DealDrivers and found them very much at ease, not pushy, very helpful and a pleasure to do business with. Pentagon were also very businesslike and kept me up to date.

The only downside for me was that the deal included free delivery and 1/3rd of a tank of fuel. Rather than have a delivery driver belting up the motorway I decided to drive down to Yorkshire and collect the car myself. However, despite saving them the bother of arranging a driver and saving the fuel on the delivery, Pentagon didn't even fill the tank. However they did take my old Avensis in part exchange and gave me book price for it.

In all I saved less than I could have with a pre-reg but more than I would have with my local dealer. I am more than happy with the transaction. Subsequently the car will be serviced at my local dealer. Buying through a broker of any kind still means you get the normal service from Toyota.

[Hem-lag02]

I have used Drive the deal when my father bought his Corolla. The service was excellent.

Basically went on line and got a quote. Phoned them upto place an order. You have to put a £500 deposit down (advised by Credit card), they process your order and then they put you in touch with a Toyota dealer. Apart from the initial call and taking a deposit, you deal direct with the dealer.

If I was to buy a new car I would definitely consider them.

Hem

[runboy]

Drive The Deal are mentioned in What Car? on a regular basis and their prices are nearly always the cheapest.

However do try the local dealer-I know I've just bought a Skoda so don't know what offers Toyota have now, but the dealer got to within a few hundred of the Drive The Deal price and they took my old Avensis as trade-in so that makes life easy. Each to their own!

[Desmond22]

Drive The Deal are mentioned in What Car? on a regular basis and their prices are nearly always the cheapest.

However do try the local dealer-I know I've just bought a Skoda so don't know what offers Toyota have now, but the dealer got to within a few hundred of the Drive The Deal price and they took my old Avensis as trade-in so that makes life easy. Each to their own!

Whenever I've changed cars I've always gone to a non-Toyota dealer first to see what they offer in PX. Last time Skoda were very competitive and their offer forced the Toyota bods to raise their game quite a bit to keep my business.

[bjw]

I know I am stating the obvious but don't forget it is the cost to change that really matters

[Zimmy]

Thanks for all your comments, they have all been very helpful. I will update you as to the outcome when I have purchased the car.

regards

Zimmy

[Cypermethrin]

Zimmy

I used these guys http://www.transmarcars.com/ to source a pre-registered (0 miles registered day before I got delivery) Avensis Tourer and saved about 4.5k. Car was sourced from Toyota dealership in Liverpool and came on a transporter to my door at no extra charge.

Subsequently friend used these guys to source a VW Touran - again with excellent service & results.

I am in no way affiliated with this company - just a satistified customer

Good luck

[Shuggie]

Hi Zimmy

I was really set on buying a new Avensis Tourer. I was going to use DrivetheDeal.com as they seemed very reputable [what car?, various newspapers etc] and they gave the best savings I could find.. The were quoting 17k for the T3x with protection pack and met paint. This is about 3k off the list price.

But then I saw exactly the model/colour that was 10 month old and 10k miles for a further 2.5k less (ie 5.5k off list) from a very friendly Mr T [an ex Rugby Exec's car]. I did feel that the 10k miles was marginal considering the savings. I also figured that 10k was a small mileage in the life time of the car as these diesels can go for a very very long time (going from other posts here). This meant that someone else took the bigger hit on the depreciation for very little difference in the car.

Just something to keep in mind thats all....

Hope you get yourself sorted ok.

Regards

Shaun

[Zimmy]

I have ordered a T3-X Tourer, Silver Steel, from 'Drive the Deal' and I am picking it up next Tuesday. They offered to drive it to my home address ---" I don't think". saved £2900. So far the dealership has been great. Will update after I have collected it. 260 mile trip via National Express and train.

[Zimmy]

Sorry forgot to add ------------------------ Thanks for all the advice, this is a great site------------------though I would like to see more positives than negatives.

Nature of the Beast I suppose.

Will update after I have collected it.

Thanks again.

Zimmy..................Dylan is GOD

[bjw]

Sorry forgot to add ------------------------ Thanks for all the advice, this is a great site------------------though I would like to see more positives than negatives.

Nature of the Beast I suppose.

Will update after I have collected it.

Thanks again.

Zimmy..................Dylan is GOD

Thanks for letting us know the outcome and what part of the country is the dealer you are getting it from

[Zimmy]

Collected the car yesterday T3-X Tourer (Silver Steel). Initial impressions, FANTASTIC. Had a great drive back apart from the weather.. Extras fitted were the Protection Pack, door protection strips which in my opinion complement the car and should be standard fitting, also had the car Superguarded, inside and out.

Regarding the dealer, Drive the Deal(Broker) requested that this information was not given out and I will respect there wishes. I would say that they and the dealers were excellent throughout the whole process and could not be faulted.

[Dunkelmann]

door protection strips which in my opinion complement the car and should be standard fitting

How much did you pay for these? I presume you mean the plastic strips parallel to the road across front and rear doors.

I've seen them for £220 (Toyota I think), £150 (eBay Toyota dealer) and a price I expect to be less than £60 from a strip cut to length without styling (Polish factory on Ebay).

Frankly I think £150 and above is a rip off.