Unfortunately, RickW, you've hit the nail fairly & squarely on the head - all that modern Stealerships are seemingly interested in, in is making maximum profits for minimum effort.    When I initially booled in to replace my 2015 SE-L, there was no genuine attempt at valuing it: all the Salesman did was to throw a cursory glance at it: (check that there were 4 wheels on it & that the PID was still there), & inquire just how much was outstanding on my PCP, & that was the trade-in value he trotted out - I've since checked their website & there's now my little ex Tonka Toy on offer at some £1300 (20%)  more than they offered me - you've a hope guys.  What the Salesman didn't check, (obviously either too idle or too thick) was that since the date of me enquiring about a new Citigo, & actually completing the deal & taking my car in, I had paid a further instalment of the PCP & consequently his trade-in figure was some £100 out (I got a refund of that directly from VW), so my actual trade-in figure was £100 more.

 

Either way, their implied attitude of "here's another mug to fleece - don't need to do anything more than simply go through the "motions" as there'll always be someone else to screw if he doesn't return " has really put me off them, & may (just "may") be instrumental in me going down a non-Skoda route on the next occasion.    What these guys tend to forget is that although I'm old (My God, I'm old) I have seen lots & lots of seamy life, & I'm not as green as I'm cabbage-looking. Neither do I "forgive & forget" - as the vindictive note running through this thread implies.

My personal motto has always been "in victory, remorsefully revengeful - in defeat, maliciously vindictive", & as its' served me well through many decades, I'm going to stick to it - a Sicilian vendetta has nothing on the way that I nurse a bitter grudge .

I can certainly identify with the valuing of the part exchange vehicle. Took about 3 to 4 minutes to say ok and give a price on it. (They didn't'notice there was no engine in it thankfully).

 

There was little interest in going through the new car and its features but very quick at getting to the desk to do the figures. The new car was incidental and almost irrelevant.

 

Day 4 of 'Binnacle Gate' by the way.

My part exchange conversation consisted of the question "Is the car ok? No dents in it?"

They still haven't physically seen the car.

Pick up the new one tomorrow.

4 minutes ago, scr64 said:

My part exchange conversation consisted of the question "Is the car ok? No dents in it?"

They still haven't physically seen the car.

Pick up the new one tomorrow.

wow amazing!

Do you know, my experience was exactly the same - they gave me a Part Ex price WITHOUT looking at my car!

Very odd I thought.

Plus the fact that they took its mileage of me by ‘word of mouth’ - that was it!!!!

I had to wait 3 months for my new Citigo to be made & delivered & in that time I went on Holiday on 2 occasions for some hundreds of miles.

So, before I picked my new Citigo up I put on about 1,500+ Miles.

in fact I was so concernered that I went into the Dealership & explained the miles I was putting on my car & that the mileage will be far greater than when I sealed the deal.

I was told by the Salesman - not to worry about it & just use the car as I wanted to.

Very reassuring but also, very strange.

31 minutes ago, Ronn said:

Do you know, my experience was exactly the same - they gave me a Part Ex price WITHOUT looking at my car!

Very odd I thought.

Plus the fact that they took its mileage of me by ‘word of mouth’ - that was it!!!!

I had to wait 3 months for my new Citigo to be made & delivered & in that time I went on Holiday on 2 occasions for some hundreds of miles.

So, before I picked my new Citigo up I put on about 1,500+ Miles.

in fact I was so concernered that I went into the Dealership & explained the miles I was putting on my car & that the mileage will be far greater than when I sealed the deal.

I was told by the Salesman - not to worry about it & just use the car as I wanted to.

Very reassuring but also, very strange.

 

Good to know as we have a 3 month wait. I'm guessing we'll be putting at least another 1200 miles on the clock and I did wonder.

53 minutes ago, Ronn said:

Do you know, my experience was exactly the same - they gave me a Part Ex price WITHOUT looking at my car!

Very odd I thought.

Plus the fact that they took its mileage of me by ‘word of mouth’ - that was it!!!!

I had to wait 3 months for my new Citigo to be made & delivered & in that time I went on Holiday on 2 occasions for some hundreds of miles.

So, before I picked my new Citigo up I put on about 1,500+ Miles.

in fact I was so concernered that I went into the Dealership & explained the miles I was putting on my car & that the mileage will be far greater than when I sealed the deal.

I was told by the Salesman - not to worry about it & just use the car as I wanted to.

Very reassuring but also, very strange.

My previous Citigo wasn’t viewed. As I was wanting to part ex with a dealer I’d never been or heard of before (I’d done my research though, looking at reviews etc). They asked about the condition, mileage and spec and didn’t see the car until the 3rd party delivery company delivered my new (new to me 66 plate) Citigo first. The 3rd party delivery company then drove it down to Southampton where the dealer is, the next day. Worked very well and I was more than pleased with the process. I’d Definitely use that particular dealer again! 

Edited 8 March, 20188 yr by Jonny118118

Very trusting on both parts. 

21 minutes ago, RickW said:

Very trusting on both parts. 

Only ever bought cars via the Internet. Much better deals across the country rather than the county. First car I bought was a white Citigo from Middlesbrough - 60-70miles away, never saw the car in person and didn’t have a part ex! Still gave free delivery which I was surprised about. All went smoothly, I’d have no hesitation in doing another internet buy.

On ‎08‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 14:02, RickW said:

I can certainly identify with the valuing of the part exchange vehicle. Took about 3 to 4 minutes to say ok and give a price on it. (They didn't'notice there was no engine in it thankfully).

 

There was little interest in going through the new car and its features but very quick at getting to the desk to do the figures. The new car was incidental and almost irrelevant.

 

Day 4 of 'Binnacle Gate' by the way.

All these comments simply seem to be a "mirror image" of each other - just goes to show that virtually all the Stealers are interested in, is flogging a new car with minimum effort on their part, and minimum interest towards the buyers & their needs.   The stock response as far as valuing my actual car (& as far as I was concerned) was offering me just the outstanding PCP balance, & getting me to then sign the paperwork as fast as  humanly possible.   No wonder that I don't trust them an inch (or 2 1/2 centimetres for those who have gone down the metric route) - wherever I go for my next car (possibly/probably a Citigo, as I rate them so very highly) it will not be the Stealership that I used on this, & the previous occasion - I'd rather undertake a 50-odd miles journey & simply take "pot luck" at another Dealer, than let these Bozo's delude themselves into thinking that I'm bound to them & will automatically return "no matter what".    

It's taken a while, but the worm has finally turned.   

Day 5 of 'Binnacle Gate'. 

 

I must be a low priority,no one called to say we can or cannot have a trip computer fitted to our new Citigo.

Picked up the new car today. First impressions are really positive. I'm not sure how much is simply "newness" and spec, but it seems quieter, more refined, more adult than the 15 plate it replaces. There is a BIG perfomance difference between a new engine and my run-in 20,000 miler, but we'll  get there. Admittedly, the quietness may have something to do with the repairs after "Daughtergate", ( when my daughter drove into our gate causing £1300 of front-end damage); there was always a noticeable high speed air-flow noise thereafter.

As predicted, it is chucking it down for the foreseeable future, but will try to put some pics online.

 Day 6 of 'Binnacle Gate'.

 

Thanks to Jonny118118 I've had another look at the configurator and it seems the trip computer can only be added as an option to the Greentech model.

 

Stand to be corrected but maybe we can't have it on our non Greentech order after all?

Edited 10 March, 20188 yr by RickW

13 hours ago, scr64 said:

Picked up the new car today. First impressions are really positive. I'm not sure how much is simply "newness" and spec, but it seems quieter, more refined, more adult than the 15 plate it replaces. There is a BIG perfomance difference between a new engine and my run-in 20,000 miler, but we'll  get there. Admittedly, the quietness may have something to do with the repairs after "Daughtergate", ( when my daughter drove into our gate causing £1300 of front-end damage); there was always a noticeable high speed air-flow noise thereafter.

Had to smile a little there, scr64 - my daughters' idea of driving seems to be little more than aiming her car at the far distant horizon, & being ruthlessly prepared to demolish anything & everything that stands between her & it.   The difference between a member of the OFB & modern (ish - she's 40+), youth, I suppose!

 

But I too maintain that I noticed a distinct improvement of noise levels & refinement between my '15 Plater & this new one - I have gone on record stating that I think that the "quality" has moved up much, much more than a notch or two - its' further improved the desirability of the Citigo in my mind.  Can't put it all down to simply larger wheels (although I suppose that does help) as there seems to be a tad more sound proofing - or perhaps the engine has also been refined a little???   I'm still glad that I opted for the 60PS laggy band, as having had the 75PS for 2+ years, and although I've but a cursory 400 miles on this new one, there doesn't seem to be any noticeable fall-off in performance - economy seems to be a little better too on the 60.   Don't miss the lack of the PID (although I do miss the lack of the CD Player) as the Garmin SOTA sat nav that I bought, continues to impress me.  Also, my original Heko wind deflectors seamlessly transferred themselves to the new car, so no more wet arms/neck/bum for me.

2 hours ago, Michaelski said:

   Don't miss the lack of the PID (although I do miss the lack of the CD Player) .

 

Just out of interest, I don't want to use my phone in the cradle so I unclipped it. Could not find the little blanking plate for the hole  which my old PID equiped car had. Phoned the dealer who said they don't come with one any longer. Am I being spun a line? Did you get one?

TBH, CD’s are very ‘last year’.

In the last 2/3 Cars I’ve had there’s always a SCD Card slot.

You can get loads of music on them.

A 32GB SCD Card will hold a loads of music off CDs.

And they’re so small & practical to store.

I make my own compilations of my favourite music.

Great Technology!!!

47 minutes ago, scr64 said:

 

Just out of interest, I don't want to use my phone in the cradle so I unclipped it. Could not find the little blanking plate for the hole  which my old PID equiped car had. Phoned the dealer who said they don't come with one any longer. Am I being spun a line? Did you get one?

Been down the same route as you and can confirm you do NOT get the blanking plate with the car.Costs aprox' £ 6-50 to buy .

3 minutes ago, Ronn said:

TBH, CD’s are very ‘last year’.

In the last 2/3 Cars I’ve had there’s always a SCD Card slot.

You can get loads of music on them.

A 32GB SCD Card will hold a loads of music off CDs.

And they’re so small & practical to store.

I make my own compilations of my favourite music.

Great Technology!!!

I was a bit sad when the CD player became obsolete but like you have made up my own compilations on SD card and flash drives, much better to use.

12 minutes ago, leckman said:

Been down the same route as you and can confirm you do NOT get the blanking plate with the car.Costs aprox' £ 6-50 to buy .

 

Ah.... the buggers!

Manufacturing cost approx £0.05 if we're being generous?

Suppose I will have to pay and forget.

Do you have a source or part number, by any chance?

Hello Leckman, Ronn here.

No I didn’t get a Blanking Plug for the Hole left when you take out the phone cradle.

I couldn’t find a satisfactory place to store the cradle when I took mine out, it’s all Arms!!

So I put mine back in the hole in the top of the dashboard & just put up with it there.

Try 1S0035491.

Morning everybody.

 

I've been lurking trying to find out as much as I can about the Citigo since ordering mine in the middle of January. Got a call to say it was built on Wednesday this week (build week 10?) and is waiting for a friendly lorry to pick it up and start it's journey to the UK. Didn't add the trip computer so I'll report back in a few weeks on the new binnacle. 

Just uploaded some photos to the picture thread. Tempted to include the binnacle, but resisted!

Ooh you can still see a bit of it! I really like the interior of your car. I opted for the bog standard interior because there wasn't a huge difference on the online configurator but having seen yours, it definitely looks more luxurious. 

30 minutes ago, MillyS said:

Ooh you can still see a bit of it! I really like the interior of your car. I opted for the bog standard interior because there wasn't a huge difference on the online configurator but having seen yours, it definitely looks more luxurious. 

 

Of all the possible extras this was the hardest to pin down. Seem to be very few actual images around. I thought it was just the seats, but the gloss dash, sports steering wheel and privacy glass are included. Think it was an extra £150 over SE L spec. Seems very good value. BTW as others have said, the car is noticeably more civilised and insulated than my 3 year old trade in.