Further to my post re towing with a 1.2 TSI I have decided I will go with the Greenline diesel. Weighed up all the pros and cons and for me I think it will be the better choice. When I last bought a new car I did an on line deal through Dealdrivers, they were really good, unfortunately they are no longer dealing. I have looked at the various online dealers/brokers and at the moment I am considering Carfile and UK Car Discounts. I think I saw some posts on here saying Carfile are good, I am wondering if anyone has any experience of UK Car Discounts? Any info would be really appreciated.

My local dealers discounts are nearly non existant!

I spoke with Drive The Deal today and unfortunately, they lost their Skoda supplier a few weeks ago and that is why they are not able to offer any Skoda deals at present. They are currently trying to source a new supplier.

I can recommend Carfile. The whole experience was painless, efficient and I saved well over £2k.

Thank you MarieK, I know anyone can have a super website, but I thought theirs was very informative etc and all their connections with mags etc inspires more confidence than some others!

spelling correction to my post non-existent I meant not ....ant it was late when I wrote it!

Drive the deal used to use the Doncaster dealer. Maybe contact them directly and see what they can do. I can't remember the guys name but the salesguy there was pretty good. I know others on here have used them too.

Carquake.co.uk is also another site I've looked at for an idea of prices (suggest £3-£4k) but never used them personally. Their site seems to link to a skoda dealer near Walsall so maybe try them too.

Skodastore.co.uk

 

worth a try ..... directly linked to Maria's dealer

Thanks for your suggestions, have asked Skodastore for a quote. I looked at Carquake but discovered from asking for a quote, that although they say you are passed to a main dealer, there is yet another company in between that handles the deal and to whom you pay your money. Not keen on that set-up.

Depending on what response I get from Skodastore, I am most likely to go with Carfile, their price is not quite the keenest but their profile seems excellent. Jonathan, whom I spoke with this morning, instantly remembered you MarieK!

Yes Jonathan was very nice to deal with and I dropped him an email to let him know I was impressed with the dealer (rainworth).

I would happily deal with them again.

 

As far as I'm aware with carquake you are not always the first registered owner, which is why I avoided them.

I have booked my test drive for next Tuesday in Exeter- excited!

I am going to take a tape measure with me,I need to know the floor area of the boot, as looking at dog cages. I have looked at all the specs but have only found boot capacity in litres. Does anyone know how width and depth please? In old money would be appreciated!!

Are you getting the raised boot floor with spare wheel?

Single or double dog cage?

There have been several threads/posts about dog cages here over the last year or so.  (Where's Bobdog when you want him?!)  Try a Search?

just found this with the search, in the new money though,

 

 

width between the wheel arches is 100.5 cm
depth, front to back at boot sill height with rear seats all the way back, is72.5cm
height, with low boot floor and no spare wheel kit, is70cm

Not quite decided about the spare wheel yet- I have no experience of the mending foam. Would the spare alter the floor area or just the height?

I have two dogs who share my Focus in a tail gate /guard set up. I prefer to go down the cage route this time as it would be easier to remove. My current set up is a pain to remove and put back. It would be a shared cage with no divider.

I shall do a search re cages on here. Thanks.

38" wide at narrowest part

26" deep

33" high with spare wheel kit

 

Obviously go a bit less than these with your cage for manoeuverability.

Wow! Thanks wakev, brilliant! I was posting as you were.

And wow to you MarieK! Many thanks!

I've got this cage in medium size, divider is removable.

 

http://www.dog-online.co.uk/3-Door-Dog-Car-Crate..html

 

It fits easily in behind the seats. Without the spare wheel the boot is lower than the sill so you have to take that into account for opening cage doors. With the spare its flush with the sill so opening is easier.

this is it in situ

 

I have booked my test drive for next Tuesday in Exeter- excited! I am going to take a tape measure with me,I need to know the floor area of the boot, as looking at dog cages. I have looked at all the specs but have only found boot capacity in litres. Does anyone know how width and depth please? In old money would be appreciated!!

 

As it happens I went in to Exeter when considering buying a Yeti.  They had a Muscovado one in the showroom and so that was the colour sorted. Unsurprisingly they didn't have a DSG demonstrator Yeti (nor a manual one...but Yetis were a bit more scarce at that time).  However, they did have a petrol DSG Roomster that I drove.  The fella at Exeter was pretty laid back and not at all pushy....but neither he nor the other dealer local to me (Dartmoor-ish) were happy to negotiate to the extent that others were and as I considered I'd prefer to have almost  £2k discount rather than a £400 one, I bought elsewhere.  I will, at some time, replace the current one with another but will do my usual research and homework to decide where it'll come from and past experience indicates that it won't be sourced locally.  The money comes out of my back pocket, not a company car, so I consider it worthwhile getting the best deal, especially as my local dealer has a service department which is very happy to service and maintain it and provides good service (for which I pay, of course). The sales department has a choice (presumably) as to how much it charges for it's cars and I have a choice where to buy.

Thank you so much for your detailed info MarieK. I suspect I will have to go down the tail gate/ guard route again as I don't think I will be able to fit a large enough cage in for my two retrievers. They are not huge and curl up together, but I feel they might be too cramped in a cage. You info has been really useful. If they have the whole boot they will be fine.

Oldstan, my experience with the dealers down here is the same as yours. I was told "they fly out as soon as they come in- why would we need to discount" Exeter has offered a smallish one, but not really enough. Hence the reason I am looking to Carfile.

Oldstan, my experience with the dealers down here is the same as yours. I was told "they fly out as soon as they come in- why would we need to discount" Exeter has offered a smallish one, but not really enough. Hence the reason I am looking to Carfile.

 

Carfile have an excellent and very longstanding reputation.  As has been said, DrivetheDeal are a useful presence and are also longstanding and reputable and, in my own experience, trustworthy and approachable but aren't showing Skoda at present. (but that changes often).  I'm duty bound to remind you about the site sponsors who are often recommended and must be worth a call before finalizing a deal.  I'm not keen to be seen to overtly favour or publicise any one source but if you send me a PM I'll briefly let you know of my own thoughts. A train from the SW to the smoke isn't a great deterrent for me and shouldn't necessarily put you off.

I've got this cage in medium size, divider is removable.

 

http://www.dog-online.co.uk/3-Door-Dog-Car-Crate..html

 

It fits easily in behind the seats. Without the spare wheel the boot is lower than the sill so you have to take that into account for opening cage doors. With the spare its flush with the sill so opening is easier.

 

Is that in case you ever come across BobDog MarieK?

 

Fred