Online car brokers

[plain]

Hello everyone,

I've been looking at getting a year old Seat Leon SC 1.4 FR and have been looking at prices and they seem to be around £15,000 - £16,500.

I just happened to look at online car dealers and you appear to be able to get a brand new one for around £16,500 with the tech pack!

I've found this price on two websites which are Broker4Cars£16,346 and Nationwide Cars £16,507.

Now these look to be a brilliant price for a brand new Leon but I'm just wondering if anyone has brought cars from them before or any online car dealer. What are they like to deal with and am I getting a UK spec car?

The prices just seem a bit to good to be true.

 

[bleedsoff]

Big discounts on Seat. I have heard mixed reviews from Broker4Cars, although I have never used them myself. A lot of people are using Drivethedeal which seems to get good feedback. I have used Orangewheels in the past for an Audi and had a very good experience.

 

[class2ldn]

Problem i found though was once you add a few options it soon bumps the price up

 

[dty73]

I'm waiting for a car through broker4cars right now. They got me 20% off a new Cupra, and 20% off all the options too. I'm paying right around £27,000 for what you see in my signature. That's less than the list price of the manual.

I haven't taken delivery yet, and all my dealings have been with the broker, so I have no idea who the dealer is that they're sourcing through.

I ordered on 23/10 and was initially told 28 weeks (which, to be fair, all SEAT dealers were saying at the time). My latest update is now mid-January.

 

[bleedsoff]

I'm waiting for a car through broker4cars right now. They got me 20% off a new Cupra, and 20% off all the options too. I'm paying right around £27,000 for what you see in my signature. That's less than the list price of the manual.

I haven't taken delivery yet, and all my dealings have been with the broker, so I have no idea who the dealer is that they're sourcing through.

I ordered on 23/10 and was initially told 28 weeks (which, to be fair, all SEAT dealers were saying at the time). My latest update is now mid-January.

Did you give your deposit to the broker?

I was always told this was a big no no

 

[class2ldn]

I'm waiting for a car through broker4cars right now. They got me 20% off a new Cupra, and 20% off all the options too. I'm paying right around £27,000 for what you see in my signature. That's less than the list price of the manual.

I haven't taken delivery yet, and all my dealings have been with the broker, so I have no idea who the dealer is that they're sourcing through.

I ordered on 23/10 and was initially told 28 weeks (which, to be fair, all SEAT dealers were saying at the time). My latest update is now mid-January.

That is awesome for that spec mate

 

[gshaw]

Got mine through DriveTheDeal, beat the dealer price by nearly £3k for the same car (literally the same one as it was already built and waiting at the port)

1.4 ecoTSI SC FR with 19" wheels, Full Link and Convenience Pack for £17500 give or take a few pennies. Easy purchase process and dealer wasn't too far away either. Would definitely recommend

It does seem too good to be true but really works, apparently VAG want more SEATs on the road so the dealers are having to go through brokers to meet their targets (and therefore get their bonus). Profit is made on the total sales not per car in this scenario so I was told.

 

[plain]

That good to know that they're legit deals then and VAG just want lots of Seat's on the road.

I've looked at drive the deal and whilst the price isn't to far off the others (£16,829) that is only valid if you take out a hire purchase. I need to make further enq with the others to make sure that isn't the case with them.

Any thing I should watch out for when buying cars the online brokers apart from making sure it's not preregistered and UK sourced. Has anyone even managed to get their local dealer to come anywhere near these prices? I'm going to give mine a try.

I'm waiting for a car through broker4cars right now. They got me 20% off a new Cupra, and 20% off all the options too. I'm paying right around £27,000 for what you see in my signature. That's less than the list price of the manual.

I haven't taken delivery yet, and all my dealings have been with the broker, so I have no idea who the dealer is that they're sourcing through.

I ordered on 23/10 and was initially told 28 weeks (which, to be fair, all SEAT dealers were saying at the time). My latest update is now mid-January.

How have you found your dealing with them so far? Any issues or comments. Are you buying your's cash or on finance.

Has anyone else got any experience of broker4cars?

 

[class2ldn]

I'm waiting for a car through broker4cars right now. They got me 20% off a new Cupra, and 20% off all the options too. I'm paying right around £27,000 for what you see in my signature. That's less than the list price of the manual.

I haven't taken delivery yet, and all my dealings have been with the broker, so I have no idea who the dealer is that they're sourcing through.

I ordered on 23/10 and was initially told 28 weeks (which, to be fair, all SEAT dealers were saying at the time). My latest update is now mid-January.

How much are you paying per month and what deposit was that mate?

 

[dty73]

Did you give your deposit to the broker?

I was always told this was a big no no

Yes, even though their website says otherwise. I paid the deposit and their broker fee by credit card, so I should be covered if they fail to deliver. I have no reason to suspect they will though.

 

[dty73]

How have you found your dealing with them so far? Any issues or comments. Are you buying your's cash or on finance.

No complaints. The sales guy I dealt with was pretty knowledgable (considering he deals with all marques, I'd say he was more knowledgable than the local SEAT dealer I'd spoken with!). If he didn't know something he spoke to his dealer and got me an answer quickly.

I'm paying cash from his perspective. I couldn't use the SEAT 0% PCP offer or I probably would have.

 

[noel2014]

I had a great experience wit broker4cars, bought a brand new FR184 in March 2014 and I picked the car up from an Autoworld Seat. They are totally legit and offer legit deals. I believe they have much more buying power than the dealers as they place very large volume orders. Good luck.

 

[dty73]

How much are you paying per month and what deposit was that mate?

I'm putting £8k of my own money in. This is the approx value of my current car which I'll sell privately after the Cupra arrives. Effectively this is a "roll your own" PX.

The remaining £19k is on a personal loan. 6 years from First Direct at 3.6%. Payments work out just under £300 pcm. But I won't keep the car that long. I'll probably keep it for 3 years. On that basis, the outstanding loan amount will be around £9k, which is significantly under the GMFV of the SEAT PCP. So if the PCP is expected to leave you with equity, I should have even more equity (to the tune of £1500-£2000). The only risk is if the numbers are way off and it's worth less then I won't have the ability to hand it back and walk away.

Even with paying 3.6%, the monthly payments and the GMFV are both lower than taking SEAT's 0% PCP because of the ridiculously low starting price.

So, "roll your own" PCP - with extra flexibility, no direct over-mileage fees, lower payments, more residual equity, BUT sacrificing a bit of insurance.

In summary: £8k down, £300 pcm set up to be very similar to a PCP deal.

 

[dty73]

I had a great experience wit broker4cars, bought a brand new FR184 in March 2014 and I picked the car up from an Autoworld Seat. They are totally legit and offer legit deals. I believe they have much more buying power than the dealers as they place very large volume orders. Good luck.

Yeah, they told me they put all their business for a given make through a single dealer (as fleet deals too), so they get all the buying power. Dealers cut down on hassle of dealing with public, and have pretty reliable and strong sales figures. So they make a little bit on lots of deals rather than a lot on a few deals, but that helps them hit sales bonuses.

 

[plain]

I had a great experience wit broker4cars, bought a brand new FR184 in March 2014 and I picked the car up from an Autoworld Seat. They are totally legit and offer legit deals. I believe they have much more buying power than the dealers as they place very large volume orders. Good luck.

That's good to hear. Did you pay everything through the broker or was it only the deposit?

 

[noel2014]

Yes everything through broker. Dan I think I dealt with. Absolutely brilliant and well worthy of their broker fee due to money saved.

 

[w8699]

Broker4Cars arranged a good deal and gave me the option of a factory order or a stock car. They arranged for me to speak direct to the dealer regarding towbar fitting and I found the dealer to be equally helpful.

 

[Ewan]

I have used BuyaCar twice now and have no complaints. Only thing I would say I'd pay your £500 deposit using a credit card not PayPal as if you do the whole cost of the car is covered.

This gives you peace of mind.

 

[gshaw]

Any thing I should watch out for when buying cars the online brokers apart from making sure it's not preregistered and UK sourced. Has anyone even managed to get their local dealer to come anywhere near these prices? I'm going to give mine a try.

I got DTD to confirm the dealer was within my definition of a reasonable distance to travel. Can't say where as part of the terms but it was close enough to not be a problem.

Confirmed multiple times the car wasn't a pre-reg and I picked it up from the SEAT main dealer. My local dealer couldn't get anywhere near and were quite resigned to losing to DTD, shame really as they were helpful but £3k difference is impossible to ignore.

Would be very surprised if car dealers in their current form are still going in 5-10 years' time. Imo it would make more sense to have less "glass houses" on expensive land and more of the business done online with servicing and pick-up in central depots to get prices down. Would take a brave brand to start the change though.

 

[andrew_myers]

Brokers4Cars and most other online brokers will retain the v5 cert for a certain period AND the car will be registered to their name 'care of'. They really do make it as difficult as possible to find this out as it is buried in the tcs.

This of course means you arent the first or even official owner of the vehicle initially. I cant remember the specific aop, but there is potential to (unknowingly) commit a c offence here.

Happily, not all brokers operate in this way. I found that both drivethedeal and carwow operate as a proper ******** service. As it happened when i ordered i took the best broker price, called up every dealer within 50 miles and gave my business to the first one which matched it.

Hope that helps others who were in my situation