Hello All.

I'm just about to order a Yeti in 140 guise either manual or DSG,not made my mind up yet!

What I'm after is owners experiences with ordering through internet brokers and which one you went with?

Cheers

www.broadspeed.com is what some friends have used and are the first online brokers to offer discount cars. Not heard a bad word against them. A Good friend off mine is friendly with the original owner of the company. The discounts offered these days are not as good as they were 5 years ago, still worth seeing what you can save though.

I used www.drivethedeal.com. Ace service. They called me discussed everything, they got the dealer to phone me two days later, the deposit was taken with me on the phone and from then on I have only been dealing with the dealer. And I saved nearly £2,500.

What model do you want and what options do you want fitted to the car?

I used www.carfile.net who have been around for ages.

They sourced me a Yeti from a dealer's stock order - so I saved 10% or so and about 3 weeks wait.

Car came into the dealer today along with 9 others, so there will be 10 more smiling faces next week.

Apart from mine that is - she who must be obeyed declared today that it would be better if I drove her car from now on and she had the SM :'(

I searched the internet and felt insecure with some offers and couldn't get the savings with others but Drive the Deal did the business for me and I saved £2k on the deal. Delivery was as they promised and pick up/handover was very professional from a bonafide skoda dealership. V5 doc arrived 12 days after pick up. So I have no complaints.

Thanks for your comments everyone,Have looked at the websites offered (some I knew,some I didn't) and Drive the Deal seems to be coming out on top .

With options (for a 140 manual) at a few pounds under 20K.

Edited 14 June, 201016 yr by carisbrook

Thanks for your comments everyone,Have looked at the websites offered (some I knew,some I didn't) and Drive the Deal seems to be coming out on top .

With options (for a 140 manual) at a few pounds under 20K.

Hi,

I have bought 3 cars for myself and my dad at carfile. Very easy to do especially if you have no part ex. You just phone or email, they get back with a quote and put you in touch with the dealer, who you pay directly and that's about it. Discounts not as great as a few years back as mentioned previously but still better than most. WhatCar did a feature some months back and some brokers are selling pre-registered cars, so something to ask when ordering. Another thing to point out is that with a decent broker, you should pay them nothing and only pay the dealer (they get paid by the dealer). For full peace of mind pay the deposit by credit card, and this covers you should things go wrong, but in all honesty with a good broker there should be no hiccups. I bought my Yeti from a dealer this time, but I had the part exchange problem.

So the question is, can James at Allam get close to the same deals?

If he can, then no contest. The superior service and clear enthusiasm for the marque would win out.

I'm intending to contact him soon to find out.

So the question is, can James at Allam get close to the same deals?

If he can, then no contest. The superior service and clear enthusiasm for the marque would win out.

I'm intending to contact him soon to find out.

Well, only Allams can tell you at what price they would be willing to sell the vehicle to you. Make them an offer and negotiate from there.

I think that the focus on absolutely lowest price is a little miguided. If you want good service, a responsible attitude and all that goes along with it, you should be willing to pay something more than the absolutely lowest price - no service and no continuing interest in you or your vehicle entails. The dealer has to make some money on the vehicle and by your returning to get it serviced. The additional cost is probably not significant in relation to the total cost of owning the car, so why this very narrow focus on purchase price?

Accomodation and interest in the customer's needs is worth quite a lot in the end.

I see a lot of complaints here on forum about por attitude and service from UK Skoda dealers. The trend is to blame SUK and/or the dealers, but maybe the real culprit is the car buyer? If the dealers are pressed very far down in the profit the make on the car, how the Dickens can you expect them to extend themselves with super service as well?

Edited 15 June, 201016 yr by Agerbundsen

The additional cost is probably not significant in relation to the total cost of owning the car, so why this very narrow focus on purchase price?

I agree to some extent Agerbundsen. But if you are going to own the car for 36 months or more the interaction you have with the dealer when buying it is only supposed to be a few weeks or say 2 months. (More now in my case alas).

I got just under £2500 discount with Drivethedeal. I made the mistake to think I will get standard Skoda service. I've now realised I won't get it and am now far more relaxed about the whole affair. It is the dealer's Corporate arm dealing with me and they are used to fleet managers ordering cars and they don't speak to each other until delivery day (I suspect). Yes, I would have loved James's attention. A million times more than what I have now, but as I say the buying part of the car is small fry in the grand scheme of things in terms of timing.

Will I service my car at the dealer I bought it from? Nope. So James can still make money from me for the remaining 36 months (or more). So good service will be rewarded but perhaps not at buying time. And as far as I am aware it is a known fact that all dealers make little money on selling cars. Money is made on servicing and parts.

I think that the focus on absolutely lowest price is a little miguided...

The key word there is 'absolutely'. I don't expect to be able to buy locally at the same price as the best online price. The question is how big a differential I'm prepared to accommodate in order to have the convenience etc of buying locally or regionally (say within an hour's drive). Everyone has to answer this question for themselves, but for me the answer is 2-3% of the purchase price. For the CR170 Yeti** with satnav, Park Assist and one or two other options (that I might even order later today, but all depends on whether I have enough time for the final shopping around/negotiation) this is equivalent to maybe £400-600 extra.

So personally I can see the potential folly of seeking out 'absolutely' the lowest price, but I'm not prepared to pay a premium of £1K or more to deal locally - the premium has to be less than this.

** Yes I finally opted for the diesel on the basis that whichever engine option I chose (1.8TSi or CR170) I was going to be a bit disappointed with the performance. And so I might as well switch to making the decision based on which engine would - every day - feel like it was more economical to run, ie the diesel. (I know that in hard accounting terms there's little to choose between diesel and petrol, but the extra initial cost of the diesel is soon forgotten whereas every time you have to fill up or retax there's a reminder of the petrol penalty.)

I agree. If the dealer is five minutes drive away then a couple of percent is worthwhile maybe three if they are spectacularly good. If the dealer is an hour or more away then I'm not inclined to pay more than around one percent over broker price.

At present, even with the waiting lists, discounts of around ten percent are easily achievable. (Drive the deal around 9%, Broadspeed etc. 10% depending on exact specs.)

(Drive the deal around 9%, Broadspeed etc. 10% depending on exact specs.)

It was the opposite when I bought. DtD was 10% and Broadspeed was about 9%.

Johann, Prodata,

Both well reasoned opinions as I see it.

I can only add that I have absolutely not been disappointed with the performance of the 170 CR. It sorta combines the virtues of petrol and diesel - very rev willing and lots MORE torque. My biggest problem is keeping to within reasonable excesses of velocity in relation to the potential monetary damages from Mr. Hofficer :'( So far it has only been a couple of pics in Germany of all places. they have a nasty habit of putting up a 100 km limit and a camera a few hundred meters after. Not easy to slow down safely with someone on your tail at 180 km/hr. Oh, the rpm in 6th at UK legal motorway speed is 2300 - hardly audible.

I can only add that I have absolutely not been disappointed with the performance of the 170 CR...

[sorry I know this is slightly OT for this thread but let me just respond to this point:]

I do understand what you're saying here and if I didn't think that the 170 Yeti had respectable performance then I probably wouldn't be considering it at all. But it will be a significant step down in performance terms from my present Accord 2.4 (as I've proven to myself with test drives).

So for a while I was havering between CR170 and 1.8TSi as to which would offer the least performance decrement (CR170 having the edge in power curve considerations but 1.8TSi nicer power delivery and refinement during acceleration). Then I realised that it was probably 50:50 overall and it would be more sensible to reach a decision on other criteria than pure performance characteristics.

Prodata,

i don't quite get it. I have looked at the Honda brochure, which specifies a 0-100 of 8.1 seconds for the 2.4 vs. 8.4 seconds for the Yeti 170 - you won't know the difference. Now, it is not about 0-100, but about stuffing your foot in it at whichever gear you happen to be in and go. I'll bet the 170 SM's 350 Nm will beat the Honda's 234 Nm anytime. Maybe it just feels faster when you ´can hear the engine revving and doin' sommat', where as in the Yeti, you just move with no drama at all?

When you compare fuel costs wit the Honda aroun <12 km/l to the Yeti proven (by me) 16.5 km/liter diesel, there is only the gigher vehicle and it's effect on cornering left. But you knew how that would be, right?

Don't get me wrong. I have had two Accords in the past - way past - and liked both of them. Nothing went wrong with either, except the Japanese had convinced the dealer that an unbalanced wheel was NOT possible on a Honda, so they refused to balance it . Ahh, well, it was in the United Bluff anyway.

Edited 15 June, 201016 yr by Agerbundsen

i don't quite get it...

Yeah I know what you mean - performance perceptions can be quite subjective and 0-60/100 figures don't tell the whole story with all sorts of other factors coming into play like gearing.

But back-to-back the 1.8TSi Yeti (with 7K miles on the clock) seemed to underperform my 2003 Accord noticeably, both I and my wife independently commented on this. With the Accord say in 3rd in the low 2000's you can get a continuous surge of power right through to 6500 or higher (still in 3rd) which the Yeti somehow can't quite match. They're certainly not too far apart in performance terms but I'm clear in my mind that the Accord definitely has the edge.

But no matter - the decision is made and I'm sure I'll adjust to the Yeti quickly enough. I just wanted to think through all my reservations before making the final decision - that way there should be no disappointments on delivery.

Good plan - and I can tell you that the 170 now at 26,000 km is a very different animal compared to when it came straight out of the box.

It is also good to be convinced it is OK right from the start, as if you start out in doubt, you doubts will be confirmed - you will make sure they are :wonder: