buying a new car

[maltaseagull]

Very much this, woke up one morning the find the screen wipers going, it hadn't rained for over a week!

So, were you sleeping in the car? Or does the car put the wipers on without anyone in the car?

 

[wellquickwoody]

So, were you sleeping in the car? Or does the car put the wipers on without anyone in the car?

Yep, the car put the wipers on! Fuel pump would randomly fail, internal lights were sketchy to say the least. The car was not new, 8 years old, but even so......

 

[drew]

Don't buy a car remotely French in anyway. They're crap, and soon develop anything from niggle-y electrical faults to major problems.

Out of interest, how many French cars have you owned in order to arrive at this conclusion?

 

[surlyseagull]

Ask a renault dealer if its easy to change the side /head light bulbs and ask how much they would charge to do it .Just a small thing but ask anyway .

 

[surlyseagull]

Thats on a renault by the way sorry !!!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

You right in wanting to do a long test drive in anything to do with renault!!

Don't buy a car remotely French in anyway. They're crap, and soon develop anything from niggle-y electrical faults to major problems.

Out of interest, how many French cars have you owned in order to arrive at this conclusion?

As someone who has owned 4 Renaults I would no longer touch them with a bargepole. They have gradually got worse and worse when it comes to reliability. After 3 years the maintenance costs are horrific.

So so wrong! That is not how you go about buying a car, certainly not if you want to be taken seriously....

Well it's worked for me - have had demo cars for a whole day to test drive. If the dealer is serious it is easy to get them to throw in mats, full tank of fuel, roof bars, free extended warranty and a free first service. I guess it just depends on how good you are at driving for a bargain.

 

[JTR938]

Really ? You'd spend out on new car after a 15 minute test drive ?

Just how do you go about being taken seriously when buying a new car?

I work in the motor trade (selling) and have done for 11 years now… originally started off worth volume brands similar to that mentioned by the OP and now at a high end performance sports car brand in central London so have a fair idea of both the buying and sales process.
It is an utter misconception (thanks to likes of What Car, Autocar, honest John etc…) that dealers are desperate to sell cars, they really are not! Of course they need to but desperation is not a word that I would use.
With volume brands there are fields and fields full of cars around and if you don’t buy one the next person will it is a very simple numbers game. Helped with support from the manufactures with things like 0% finance, free servicing, 5/7 year warranties etc etc…

The brand I am currently with on the other hand is the complete opposite, I have more demand than I can get cars due to the UK allocation being reduced this year. So you can imagine my delight if a chancer dares ask for a discount! And yes, we are constantly asked for ‘extended’ test drives (funnily enough for a Friday evening to be dropped back on Monday morning… how convenient) as ‘how could I possibly part with £xxxxxx’s without a good feel of the car? It’s simple, large deposit up front… at which point they normally s**t themselves and disappear!

My point is that to be taken seriously don’t walk into a dealership with an attitude as you will be literally fu**ed off. If you are pleasant and forthcoming you will be far better treated. If not you will deserve everything coming to you…. Remember if that car has issues/problems who are you going to turn to? And trust me the nice people will be better off (and remembered).

If you really need to have an extended test drive my advice would be to visit your dealers of the vehicles of interest and have an accompanied test drive first, at the end of the day you will want to be shown various features and have questions answered. It would’nt be professional to through a set of keys at you and say go and enjoy it! And after 30/40 mins, however long the TD take you will have a very good idea as to which one (possibly 2) vehicle are in the front running. At which point the best thing to do is agree a deal with the dealer in principle and leave a deposit to show some intent and I’m sure the dealer will give you a car for 24/48hours. It’s all about how you approach the situation, to walk in and say ‘do you expect me to part with £xxx’s after a 15 min test drive’ is just red rag to a bull!

 

[TheJasperCo]

I bought a Pug 107 last summer and haven't had any problems to date. My parents have a 9 year old Renault Espace, which is going fine after 110,000 miles. French doesn't always have to equal shoddy quality and unreliable ride handling.

 

[wellquickwoody]

I work in the motor trade (selling) and have done for 11 years now… originally started off worth volume brands similar to that mentioned by the OP and now at a high end performance sports car brand in central London so have a fair idea of both the buying and sales process.
It is an utter misconception (thanks to likes of What Car, Autocar, honest John etc…) that dealers are desperate to sell cars, they really are not! Of course they need to but desperation is not a word that I would use.
With volume brands there are fields and fields full of cars around and if you don’t buy one the next person will it is a very simple numbers game. Helped with support from the manufactures with things like 0% finance, free servicing, 5/7 year warranties etc etc…

The brand I am currently with on the other hand is the complete opposite, I have more demand than I can get cars due to the UK allocation being reduced this year. So you can imagine my delight if a chancer dares ask for a discount! And yes, we are constantly asked for ‘extended’ test drives (funnily enough for a Friday evening to be dropped back on Monday morning… how convenient) as ‘how could I possibly part with £xxxxxx’s without a good feel of the car? It’s simple, large deposit up front… at which point they normally s**t themselves and disappear!

My point is that to be taken seriously don’t walk into a dealership with an attitude as you will be literally fu**ed off. If you are pleasant and forthcoming you will be far better treated. If not you will deserve everything coming to you…. Remember if that car has issues/problems who are you going to turn to? And trust me the nice people will be better off (and remembered).

If you really need to have an extended test drive my advice would be to visit your dealers of the vehicles of interest and have an accompanied test drive first, at the end of the day you will want to be shown various features and have questions answered. It would’nt be professional to through a set of keys at you and say go and enjoy it! And after 30/40 mins, however long the TD take you will have a very good idea as to which one (possibly 2) vehicle are in the front running. At which point the best thing to do is agree a deal with the dealer in principle and leave a deposit to show some intent and I’m sure the dealer will give you a car for 24/48hours. It’s all about how you approach the situation, to walk in and say ‘do you expect me to part with £xxx’s after a 15 min test drive’ is just red rag to a bull!

I've worked in the motor trade for 17 years. Trust me, if you have something to sell, you need customers. I do take your point about premium brands though.

 

[BLOCK F]

Really ? You'd spend out on new car after a 15 minute test drive ?

Well ,it was a bit longer than 15 minutes for me ,but I bought both our cars after reasonable test drives,measured in minutes not days!
Had a very good idea of what we were after,loved the cars and haggled.
All worked out well.

 

[Badger]

Don't buy a car remotely French in anyway. They're crap, and soon develop anything from niggle-y electrical faults to major problems.

I have to agree with this, my parents have had a couple of Renault Clios, the first had a failed ECU which cost a few hundred quid to fix. Their last one had a complete failure of the windscreen wiper system (about £700) and then about 2 weeks later the fuel system had to be totally replaced at a cost of £4000 (Renault paid a large chunk of this after finally admitting it was a common fault).

I also used to have a Citroen which had all sorts going wrong with it and cost me a fortune to maintain. The guy at the garage had nothing nice to say about French cars, the majority of them having the same problems.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The guy at the garage had nothing nice to say about French cars, the majority of them having the same problems.

Virtually every mechanic I've ever spoken to has suggested never to by a French car. In fact they always suggest Japanese and Korean.

 

[Icy Gull]

Out of interest, how many French cars have you owned in order to arrive at this conclusion?

You get worse if you own an Alfa, it's the source of much merriment to the know it alls to laugh about impending disaster, but when you ask them how many they've owned to form this opinion, it's nearly always "err none"

 

[upthealbion1970]

Virtually every mechanic I've ever spoken to has suggested never to by a French car. In fact they always suggest Japanese and Korean.

Correct

 

[TheJasperCo]

Virtually every mechanic I've ever spoken to has suggested never to by a French car. In fact they always suggest Japanese and Korean.

You mean the ones consistently recalling their cars because of safety fears or defective components?

 

[Notters]

Why do people by renaults?!

 

[Notters]

We've had Renaults for the past 15 years and love them. Our first was a 3-year-old Laguna, then p/exed it for a brand new one, which we had to sell to go to Greece to live, where we bought a brand new Megane. That got stolen, so we bought yet another brand new Megane, which was still as new 6 years later. Sold that to come home to UK, now have yet another brand-new Megane. All excellent cars.

I'd be interested to know what has gone wrong with them? I always assume that people only continue to buy Renaults because they don't realise how unreliable they are compared to other cars.

 

[Notters]

You mean the ones consistently recalling their cars because of safety fears or defective components?

That's a bit of a red Herring though. My Toyota (which is 12 years old) was recalled and the "fault" was tested and found to be fine. The "fault" has been responsible for 0 injuries worldwide in the millions of cars they've produced worldwide. It's done 110,000 miles and the most complicated thing that's needed doing to it is changing the headlight bulb.

 

[surlyseagull]

The thing that always amazes me is that in France it is a legal requirement to have a set of car bulbs in your vehicle to change if one goes .....have they actually tried changing a renault bulb, let alone at the side of the road .
Have had renaults for years and they have gone down hill imo ,scuse the pun !!!.
This is a good site though . http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/

 

[Badger]

The thing that always amazes me is that in France it is a legal requirement to have a set of car bulbs in your vehicle to change if one goes .....have they actually tried changing a renault bulb, let alone at the side of the road .
Have had renaults for years and they have gone down hill imo ,scuse the pun !!!.
This is a good site though . http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/

How many things do you need in your car in France? Bulbs, breathalysers, emergency equipment, do they like loading people's cars up with crap?