New Aygo For Old?

[benjaminaygo85]

Okay so I've been thinking about getting a new aygo to replace mine which has become a bit battered of late with a few key scratches and a dent from some lovely little kid at Asda car park! However nothing else wrong with lil' growler and hes done v.few miles. I'm also nearing the end of my 3 year finance deal.

A while ago Mr T advised me that to get a new one i'd have to significantly increase my monthly payment and another big deposit as well as growler to get a new one. Now Mr T has called me and said I can keep the same monthly payment no more deposit just a straighforward swap for a new aygo blue (with a new 3 year finance deal obviously)

so should I be v.suspicious, or take it that they are trying to flog as many cars as possible to get their sales quota due to dwindling numbers of people wanting new cars at this time or should I hold out for a bit save up a bit more and get a yaris with a boot that is a bit more usable that growler....and do I want an Aygo blue, im still unsure if I like the new slate blue or not? ooh decisions decisions what to do what to do???

[Lister2020]

as an owner of the slate blue, I absolutely love it. If I needed a car with a huge boot I would have got one with a huge boot.

I've had it doing 90 (on a closed road not used by the public at all of course!!!!) and it didn't complain at all. I can squeeze through traffic in town, get down side streets i wouldnt normally be able to, and the acceleration is deceptively awesome.

I will be keeping my aygo till the bum falls off of it!

[daveyjp]

However attractive it looks Mr T will still be making money. His first offer of your car, plus deposit, plus 3 more years of payment simply made him a lot of money.

Ask Mr T what the cost to change is (new car price minus trade in), what the APR is and the terms of the loan. Forget anything about 'keeping monthly payments the same'. You are buyng a car not a finance package.

[Guest]

However attractive it looks Mr T will still be making money. His first offer of your car, plus deposit, plus 3 more years of payment simply made him a lot of money.

Ask Mr T what the cost to change is (new car price minus trade in), what the APR is and the terms of the loan. Forget anything about 'keeping monthly payments the same'. You are buyng a car not a finance package.

Wise words Davey, Wise words indeed. Although if you are buying new, you should be able to batter the dealers down at the mo, I work for a major finance company and we deal with several dealers who have gone bust in the last few weeks, so whatever they offer, say you want better or just walk, they will come running after you.

[Parts-King]

However attractive it looks Mr T will still be making money. His first offer of your car, plus deposit, plus 3 more years of payment simply made him a lot of money.

You are buyng a car not a finance package.

For some people daveyjp, you are correct, however, buying a car for a lot of people is all about monthly payments and how much they can afford, just the same as high street shops who advertise "weekly prices" where you go in and pay cash on a weekly basis for your new TV or whatever. Those types of packages will always be more expensive, simply because of the type of customer being attracted to that type of offer. There are a lot of customers who only buy this type of finance package. If that package is right for you, go for it, but dont knock it if thats the only way of you getting a new car (or anything else for that matter)

The second point to make is how much profit do you think there is in an Aygo? I could tell you, but it wouldnt be correct to discuss dealers margins on here, however I can tell you it is peanuts, relevent to turnover. Dealers make money on cars when they hit targets, and as mentioned elsewhere many dealers are going bust. They sell cars with no profit in the hope to reach target, they fail to reach target and have made no money on the cars they sell. It is all well and good saying the dealer will chase you down the road for your business, he might, but in hard times, what is the point of selling something for nothing? There will be a lot of know alls scoffing at these words, but I know of no other business where you are expected to give away all of your profit margin in the hope of reaching a target to get bonus, it is just a stupid way of doing business and cannot last forever. Finance, extended warranty, GAP, Superguard, are all extra ways your dealer can earn money, but if your selling cars at a loss, it doesnt matter how much money you make elsewhere, the fact is you will go bust.

There has never been a harder time in the motor trade, but the likes of Toyota do have some cracking deals out there at the moment, subsidised by Toyota not your dealer, we want your business just like everybody else and will do all we can to secure it, but there comes a point where there isnt any more in the pot to give away, especially on the likes of Aygo, a model a dealer can sell all he can get hold of, and a model where you will be lucky to get this side of Christmas

I dont expect any sympathy with your dealers plight, but I do want to make people aware that the days of 35% profit in a new car went out with the Austin Maxi!

Kingo

[geoffb]

At the end of the day it is all about going away, as a customer, feeling you got a good deal. But deals in the big scheme of things needs to be a reasonable balance so that everyone wins - the customer, the dealer and Toyota. I do think customers should bargain as much as possible with a dealer but, at the end of the day, the dealer has to run a business. There may be opportunities for 'loss leaders' in the new car business I wouldn't know, but you can't expect a dealer to constantly give cars away or beg you to take one. Especially not one that is selling extremely well like the Aygo.

I know a Toyota salesman and know, from what he has said, that the margins on the Aygo are not exactly big (but to respect a confidence I will keep it to myself).

[PaulT]

Finance, extended warranty, GAP, Superguard, are all extra ways your dealer can earn money, but if your selling cars at a loss, it doesnt matter how much money you make elsewhere, the fact is you will go bust.

I think for some time there hasn't been much money to be made on selling new cars. It's the service business and used car trade-ins where the margins are better.

Whilst I sympathise with dealers who are struggling to sell cars, £80 per hour for a year is £160k per annum! And that's not including parts, so there is a bit of cash to be made there.

Paul.

[Parts-King]

So your £80 per hour theory is pure profit is it Paul? We dont pay wages, heat, light, power, rent, equipment, licences, computers, admin etc etc charges out of that then?

That is just the sort of "Havnt got a clue" remark I was eluding to above. You charge £80 per hour and the first thing people say is "Bet you dont pay your technicians that" Well the answer is of course we dont, but they are paid top notch for a top notch job and once all the above charges are paid, the owner would like to pay a bit back to the bank as well...........Oh and make a profit ;)

Kingo

[SJandMR2]

When I bought mine it was on the Drive Plan which meant at the end of the three years I could either pay the remaining sum and keep car, give back car with no other payment to pay or swap car for the newest plate edition with a revision on the monthly payments.

Sounds like a good plan to me, if you want a new car then you have to pay for it, oddly. Although it does feel more like a lease system than purchasing the car.

[benjaminaygo85]

Thanks for the input guys, indeed I took out the drive plan thing too, though I'm not sure why it’s been a bit of hassle to date. I was attracted by the option of "just being able to give the car back" but of course you can't do that, mileage must be under 30k or you get fined. Must be in tip top condition or you get fined, so I won't be doing that again.

I have made my mind up that I will definitely go for another Aygo (obviously! don’t know why I even questioned that bit!) and will see what I can do on the old price. Just like above comments mention, I wonder what the delivery time would likely be...seems like I probably wouldn’t be in a new one by crimbo so is there any point in changing at the moment?.....

well I will visit Mr T and see what he says, he reckons if growler is in good nick (which he unfortunately isnt) then the payment maybe cheaper, so obviously it won’t. I have a bit of cash saved up so I might just buy my way out of the contract and at least then I can decide what to do and the equity in the car is all mine so no worries about more contracts and finance rubbish.

[gordonh]

I looked at the pay-as-you-go type deal and thought there were too many possible pitfalls and exceptions. My mother had one of these deals on a Clio (I think) a while back and it just ended up costing more money to keep the car rather than just walk away and go somewhere else at the end of it.

[shuffly]

Well, my dealer has given me £6000 for my 25,000 miles 57 plate blue, which is amazing considering I paid £8250 for it. They've just gone up £250 too!

That will pay off my finance, no carry over. If you don't go for the low rate finance you get £500 towards you deposit, so my new blue 5 door is costing me the same per month as my old one, with no money from me. I also miss a month of finance, WOO!

I can hardly believe it. So Aygo rules for running costs!

Ian

[daveyjp]

£2250 depreciation in less than a year is hardly a good advert for low running costs!

"my new blue 5 door is costing me the same per month as my old one"

For the same number of months?

[shuffly]

Yep, same everthing, term, extras etc. As for depreciation, mine's high mileage, and thousands less than my Yaris's depreciation from a few years back.

I was just saying that its a good deal, and shows how bargains can be had in these tough times. (relatively speaking)

Ian