I'm planning to purchase a used SIII Superb - probably 2016 or 2017 2.0TDI 150ps L&K DSG - in the new year. Looking at the usual sites, there seems to be a price difference of c£1,000 - £1,500 between the dealers (c£21,500) and the car supermarket sites (c£20,000). Is this legitimate? ie do you get anything more from a dealer than you would from (eg) Motorpoint? Any one have any good or bad experiences using either route?

Thanks in advance.

This thread might help.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/439545-buying-from-motorpoint-advice 

Providing it is über 60K miles it will still be under warranty.... so no difference, go for the better condition car. 

Thanks both, and agreed I will always go for the better condition car. But based on two "identical" cars, I'm wondering if the dealer throws in goodies (updated firmware, servicing etc) to sweeten the deal. Otherwise why would anyone use them? I've never seen a dealer offer that is lower than a supermarket. Is it just fear of spending big money with a "non-specialist"? Anyone got any experience in this?

Dealers have all of their franchise costs to cover, hence labour, sales, spares etc charges all being higher.  Car supermarkets have none of this to cover, not even the warranty (other than under the Sale of Goods Act rules).  Because of this they can simply make a few % on a car and still make a profit.  Dealers need to make more and have more interest in new car sales.

 

Some buyers will only buy through an official dealer to ensure proper coverage and support should anything go wrong.  Whether this protection is truly better is debatable.

Skoda / VW / SEAT / Audi dealership workshops dead busy, some owners are waiting weeks to get their car serviced or warranty actions,

due to those vehicles already booked in getting The Fix and Warranty issues dealt with. 

If the vehicles were better built and quality control measures done and PDI's a bit better there would be more Workshop Time available for 

just Servicing cars and properly. 

Edited 19 November, 20178 yr by Headinawayoffski

5 minutes ago, FelisBengalensis said:

Whether this protection is truly better is debatable.

Agreed FB - and I suspect is very much dependant on the quality of the dealer (probably best left to another thread ).

£1,500 buys a lot of remedial work (thinking it will likely need a service, firmware  update etc). Like Gonzo suggested, I think I will go for the best car and either negotiate the service etc as part of the purchase price if I buy from a dealer, or use the supermarket discount to pay for whatever needs doing to the new car at the dealer.

 

Headinawayoff - interesting. I do a lot of miles in my SII and I've had it dealer serviced twice in the last 9 months (I know - variable servicing - another thread again ). I've booked in a couple of weeks in advance each time and never had a problem. Are the weeks of delay common? And as an aside - are people still having The Fix done? If the one I buy hasn't had it, it certainly won't be done under my ownership... (definitely another thread!)

2 X 18,500 miles services is doing lots of miles.

 

Location location location, 

easy to book Servicing in advance with dealerships with staff and servicing appointments, 

not all have enough staff, and booking 2 weeks in advance or waiting 2 weeks is of little use if you have a warranty issue, safety related or a non running vehicle.

 

Seems less and less are having The Fix, and VW Group seem to think owners are the bad ones not wanting to risk adverse affects while not reducing emissions anyway, 

just helping VW Group out.

That is for another thread though.

Edited 19 November, 20178 yr by Headinawayoffski

Chances are you will be able to haggle the dealer down on price where the supermarket tends to not move on price. Hence the difference in price might be a lot less than the headline figures suggest.

Headinawayoffski - agree completely. 

 

PSM - this is the kind of information I was looking for - thanks. I suspected there would be little movement from the supermarkets. Does anyone have any information on the levels of discount I could expect from dealers? I am in the UK (in case my handle didn't give it away...)

Use the supermarket price to get the dealer to drop his.

 

The supermarkets won't move on price as it is already discounted, the dealer's price accounts for giving some discount if they need to.