I think the fact that Motorpoint are chasing sales like this gives an insight into the way people are really feeling the financial pinch. A year ago vRSs at this price at Motorpoint were on line for about 24hours before they were snapped up.

Thats so true, I'm in no hurry to buy my new petrol vRS, I'm looking for the right deal from a skoda dealer as the PCP agreement is currently 5.2% which is pretty good right now. I really want to do business with a dealer for the after sales relationship and aftercare.

I really want to do business with a dealer for the after sales relationship and aftercare.

Is that really worth £3K+ ?

In my experience you don't get treated any different whether you buy the car from the dealer (or any other dealer) or from a car supermarket.

OK so the sales manager will be miffed he missed out on a sale but the service manager will happily take your money and smile (or in the case of the warranty work take Skoda's money).

update: I've now placed a deposit on a new showroom model at a skoda dealers. Means I get all the goodies I want and before Christmas I think the deal I got was pretty good and the pcp finance deal was excellent.

Only a week and a half to pickup hopefully!

imports are worth less FACT.

if i bought one private and i found it was a import i would want money off. if i take one in as PX i cant offer as much as a proper uk bought car. even if its better spec'd

everyone knows that a imported car costs LESS so why should you pay the same amount as you do for a uk car second hand?

anyone whos thinking of buying from a internet dealer, heres a little true life experiance from a customer of mine:

bought from the internet a 2.0tdi l and k

was told 10 weeks delivery time, and was told what dealer he was going to be dealing with.

10 weeks came and went. dealer wasnt all that great with time frames or promises.

22 WEEKS LATER!! car arrives. the dealer comfirm its arrival but wont talk about when he can pick it up. so he goes round to the dealer and finds his car is actually a 2.0tdi ELEGANCE!!!

22 weeks of waiting for the wrong car to turn up!!! :( as he already had all the money off they could do, he was left with a choice take it or leave it!

so he left it and bought one from me. delivery time under a week, decent discount and everyones happy

Long time lurker, second time poster...

Browsed onto this thread and just thought I'd add my voice to those who've correctly pointed out that buying an "import" should not be a concern.

I took delivery of a new 2.0 FSi Elegance combi from Motorpoint in July for £3.5k less than the UK list price and they gave a realistic p/x on my Golf.

The car is of course to full UK spec via their usual Maltese dealer. I registered it with Skoda UK for it's 2 year warranty, via DM Keith's in Leeds. They were very pleasant and set it up on the long life service option all FOC; I guess they realise it's where I'll probably go to get it serviced...

The thing to bear in mind about Motorpoint is that they make their money selling unneccesary and expensive extras - warranty - key cover - gap insurance etc, But why pay them £300 for an extra year's warranty when you can pick one up for a third of that price on-line?

Steve

Long time lurker, second time poster...

Browsed onto this thread and just thought I'd add my voice to those who've correctly pointed out that buying an "import" should not be a concern.

I took delivery of a new 2.0 FSi Elegance combi from Motorpoint in July for £3.5k less than the UK list price and they gave a realistic p/x on my Golf.

thats the whole point though when it comes to selling it. if you buy a import its because its cheaper, and other people will know that fact. so when it comes to selling it, why should they want to pay the same amount as a true uk car? the problem is there are so many cars out there its just another reason to walk away to find another car.

oh and it will show up if they do a HPI check on the car as they dont include certain figures in case they are different to a uk spec car. so even if you dont tell them its easy to find out. ive seen a few cars now that are imports and in all honesty theres nothing wrong with most of them, but as soon as it shows up on the hpi check the price drops.

thats the whole point though when it comes to selling it. if you buy a import its because its cheaper, and other people will know that fact. so when it comes to selling it, why should they want to pay the same amount as a true uk car? the problem is there are so many cars out there its just another reason to walk away to find another car.

oh and it will show up if they do a HPI check on the car as they dont include certain figures in case they are different to a uk spec car. so even if you dont tell them its easy to find out. ive seen a few cars now that are imports and in all honesty theres nothing wrong with most of them, but as soon as it shows up on the hpi check the price drops.

Yeah, you may get less when it comes to selling and you need to take that into account before purchasing. For me, since I intend to run the car for at least 4 years, the difference in depreciated value will be negligable; certainly far less than the initial difference in price. I guess an analogy is the "petrol vs diesel" debate (although of course the price difference is narrowing). The latter costs more intially, is cheaper to fuel in terms of mpg and will fetch more when sold. But if you're not doing high milages the petrol option may well work out cheaper in the long run...

Steve

Looking to sell my WRC, (gutted, but it has to go) it is at the moment on Spanish plates but if buyer wants I can re-register in UK or pay costs - car is still immaculate and not a spot of rust can been seen, it has been in Spain for the past 4 years. Brand new set of decals ready to go on once sold.

2002 Octavia vRS WRC 66/100

50.000 miles since new

One very careful owner

ITV (Spanish MOT) renewed at begining of month

I will of course MOT and TAX it in the UK once I have a buyer.

What kind of money am I looking at?

Does it really show on an HPI check? What will it say exactly?

Woodenspatulas, although my gut feel is against your sentiments I do actually agree with a lot of them.

However I do disagree with your reasoning as to why the car is worth less...again I think you are coming from "the canny buyer needs to be punished for daring to get a good deal" angle!

The fact is that the family we sold the Scenic to have got the same car as a UK supplied car (in fact a better car as it was higher spec), there are no warranty issues as it is over 3 years old, it has a full service history and is a very clean car. They paid £5K for it, a Renault dealer would be asking nearer £7K...I can hardly see how they could want money off!

All said I would actually not buy an import again. My preferred method now is to give local dealers the chance to match Drive The Deal/Broker prices for a UK supplied car and if unsuccesful buy via a broker.

Dan

Does it really show on an HPI check? What will it say exactly?

I would be surprised if it did, I know the purchaser of our car did run an HPI check and he certainly never mentioned anything.

Dan

Woodenspatulas, although my gut feel is against your sentiments I do actually agree with a lot of them.

However I do disagree with your reasoning as to why the car is worth less...again I think you are coming from "the canny buyer needs to be punished for daring to get a good deal" angle!

And exactly the same reasoning would apply when comparing two cars bought in the UK - one where they paid list price and the other where they got a very large discount.

The second car cost less to buy , so does that make it less valuable at trade in time?

I would be surprised if it did, I know the purcaser of our car did run an HPI check and he certainly never mentioned anything.

Dan

I'll find out on Saturday for sure when my buyer comes to collect... HPI done, he never mentioned it.. Not that I'd discount it further anyways - he got a bargain!!

imports are worth less FACT.

if i bought one private and i found it was a import i would want money off. if i take one in as PX i cant offer as much as a proper uk bought car. even if its better spec'd

everyone knows that a imported car costs LESS so why should you pay the same amount as you do for a uk car second hand?

anyone whos thinking of buying from a internet dealer, heres a little true life experiance from a customer of mine:

bought from the internet a 2.0tdi l and k

was told 10 weeks delivery time, and was told what dealer he was going to be dealing with.

10 weeks came and went. dealer wasnt all that great with time frames or promises.

22 WEEKS LATER!! car arrives. the dealer comfirm its arrival but wont talk about when he can pick it up. so he goes round to the dealer and finds his car is actually a 2.0tdi ELEGANCE!!!

22 weeks of waiting for the wrong car to turn up!!! :( as he already had all the money off they could do, he was left with a choice take it or leave it!

so he left it and bought one from me. delivery time under a week, decent discount and everyones happy

Of course this would never happen with a UK dealer would it?

Mmm I wonder? :eek: Hoping all will be well with my new purchase in a couple of weeks time!

My previous car was a MK4 golf estate which I bought second hand. It was sourced via motorpoint originally and although it said 1.6s on the log book and registered new in the uk as mentioned above. The actual specification didn't exactly match a UK sourced car. When I went to VW for parts and servicing the car was also not recogised as a UK sourced car. I couldn't get rid quick enough! That's why I now drive my Skoda.

We bough a Saab 9-3 Aero from a little garage in Sweden. We spec'd it, were given a build date, waited patiently while it was built on the production line with the UK cars and then the car was shipped to the UK on a transporter full of UK dealer bound cars.

I picked it up from Harwich and as I pulled out of the port the engine warning light came on. this is when I had that "What have I done?!?" feeling. I called the dealership in Sweden, they checked their maps and made some calls and told me that Chelmsford Saab were on my way home and were expecting me. Called in, diagnosed a dirty plug and was told to give it some stick on the way home to clean the dirt out, so did just that after being sent on my way with no charge. Never had a days trouble in the 2 years we owned that car.

Justified the near £11,000 saving over the UK list price just on that one incident. The Saab dealers were more than happy to take my money for servicing, but did offer me less for the car when we came to sell it because it was an import and "could have been built in Malaysia", even though they know exactly where it was built from the VIN.

How much less did they offer than a UK sourced car - £1000-£1500. We ended up selling privately for £4K less than I paid for the car.

Moral of the story, just go into buying an import with eyes open and expectations set. If you save a fortune, don't start throwing toys around when they offer you little less in p-ex when it comes to a trade up.

Regards

Mark

PS My other car is a JDM only, i.e. you can't even pretend it was a UK car because it was only ever made for sale in Japan. No servicing problems, even with Mitsubishi and had a 3rd party warranty on it for the first 2 years of ownership.

Just ordered a new petrol hatch vRS from carsandfinance.com

Basic cost £15,299 (including current free upgrade - 18 inch alloys, jumbo box, rear electric windows and dual zone climate control)

Black magic pearlesent paint £295 extra

UK Main Skoda Franchised dealer supplied vehicle with 3 year warranty.

12 week delivery schedule (factory shuts down over christmas period) so have opted to wait until 1st March to get 08 plates!!

We had considered buying from motorpoint.co.uk for £14,299 but decided against an import with 1 years less warranty

If you have the chance to add a couple more options I would seriously consider Maxidot and Rear Parking Sensors.

Also make sure you have the price fixed for the free options and in writing as they are only supposed to be for cars registered before 31st Dec.

*Offer applies to all new Octavia (A5) vRS models. Offer is available from participating retailers, is subject to availability and applies to model year 07 vehicles that are registered from 29 June 2006. For registrations up to 31st December 2007 and is subject to availibility. Please ask your retailer for full details. Upgrade equipment; 18" Zenith alloy wheels, Rear electric windows, Dual zone air conditioning and Jumbo box. Jumbo box includes air-conditioned storage compartment with an adjustable armrest between the front seats and 3.5mm jack socket. Model shown is New Octavia vRS Hatchback 2.0 FSI 200bhp at £18,075RRP including optional metallic paint at £350RRP.Retail sales and any eligible business user customers only.

If you have the chance to add a couple more options I would seriously consider Maxidot and Rear Parking Sensors.

Also make sure you have the price fixed for the free options and in writing as they are only supposed to be for cars registered before 31st Dec.

We have the free upgrade in writing from the company. Apparently this applies to all cars ordered before 31/12/07 .......

We have asked for rear parking sensors to be fitted (whoops forgot about those £260).

Will look in to maxidot.

Thanks

Make sure you specify factory sensors and not dealer fit.

Make sure you specify factory sensors and not dealer fit.

Yep ... factory fitted option and colour coded (received in writing from the company).

Glad I got mine with maxidot (thanks to stu's recommendation).

I'm also looking for a petrol vrs at the moment, one thing to be careful of with carsandfinance.com is that the cars come through the fleet dept of the dealer and they insist on holding onto the V5 for 6 months, so effectively you can't sell it. This put me off.

Chris