Please bear with me - Im new here !
I have just been for a test drive in a 2004 manual MR2 and am hooked - sort of reminds me of my old spitfire but a lot better !
I'll probably buy new from a dealer uness I kind find a nice, low mile 53 plate nearby.
I havent bought a brand new car for quite some time so not sure what the norm is any more.
So my questions are (particularly from anyone who has just been through this process):-
- what sort of discount should I expect/ask for ?
- will they price match or be swayed by car supermarkets / internet offers (e.g. autobytel) ?
- There's some brand new SMT's at Trade Sales (http://www.trade-sales.co.uk) for 15999. They're european sourced and come with balance of 3 year warranty (they bought them about 6 months ago) - would I have trouble selling an SMT on in a few years time - dealer said they only sell about 1 SMT in 100 MR2's !? Otherwise, is this a good deal ? any other views on SMT vs manual ?
- what sort of lead time are these cars on ? I asked if they could view what stock were available from Toyota but the salesmen seemed to be of the opinion that you just order what you want then wait and see. I would sooner choose from whatever they had available (within reason) and get it sooner than have a factory order.
- any other advice on 'dealing with dealers' ! Im not trading in and will get finance elsewhere as doubt they are the best in that respect !
Thanks a lot s8) 8) s8)
Welcome to the club. I think all of your questions have been asked and answered before. If you use the search button at the top of the page you should be able to find what your looking for.
Hope that helps
I tried the search for a lot of this but didnt have much luck.
For example, searching on SMT brings back all messages anyone with SMT in their signature. You cant search on phrases either (as opposed to multiple words) from what I can tell but would be grateful if someone could tell me otherwise
just ha da quick look in auto express and list for a manual is 17k but you should aim to pay £16k ... so try and get the dealer down also try maybe playing one dealer of another as this has worked for me before with toyota dealers s;) ;) s;) .. try getting things thrown in .. free tank of fuel/mats/tax etc! They will do it if gets them a sale!
You might get their finance deal low as well that is always a good one as they can often budge on this. You can probably get a better deal if you go with their finance etc as this is where they get their cash!
From my expericen they wont price match a car supermarket as they throw the "imports arent worth as much" line at you.
Dont know owt about SMTs as I have never even seen one yet .. hopefully @JAE!
I think lead time varies depending on where you are but not 100% .. I was quoted a 3 month lead time on a standard silver one.
Nick
My tips would be
Shop around you local dealers, never take a single price.
Don't leave it until the summer as I would have thought it is prime time for the car's sales (plus you miss the summer s:wink: :wink: s:wink: )
When I bought mine I was offered 5% off the list price straight away - I would expect something similar at least
Go for the MR2 mats to close the deal s:) :) s:)
If you are buying a HT make sure you are taking the cover & stand into the price as Toyota charge quite a bit for them and I found them invaluable
If you buy an import factor in the security items you may want to add - Thatcham Cat 1 alarm immobiliser purchase and installation and probably also locking wheel nuts although I see Halfords now sell McGuard ones which are respectable and only about £35.
And good choice of car by the way ...
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... t=discount (http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=497&highlight=discount) m
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... t=delivery (http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2908&highlight=delivery) m
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... s+discount (http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1368&highlight=dealers+discount) m
good olde search....
Nick
Try your three nearest Toyota dealers with a phone enquiry for price and delivery.
I reckon they will quote you list less a few hundred. Have an idea what extras you want (hardtop, aircon etc.) and get them to quote as base car plus each individual extra, not all in. Then decide what you want to pay and which extras you require. I would also get a price on an MX5 as they are heavily discounted and you can blag that you may go the MX5 route as they are cheaper. Then ring round your three dealers again starting at the highest and try to get them down to your price. I'm sure you will get one of them very close to your prepared to pay price as long as your realistic. Then say you take it that includes full tank of fuel, tax, mats and flowers for the Mrs s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
The sooner you act though the bigger the discount because once the good weather comes......
I tried internet suppliers and wasn't convinced that the saving was worth the risk. At least if something goes wrong you can visit the dealer and have it out with him.
I'd expect to pay list less 8% plus a couple of freebies thrown in.
Regarding finance, I found the dealers expensive, around 13% APR s:!: :!: s:!: .
Do what I did. Visit all the broker websites and get the prices and print them off. I did that, visited the dealer, told them how much I could get one for from a broker (which included Cyprus imports which I think are not EU spec and don't get full warranty from dealer). Dealer got back to me and was the same price as through a broker for a UK spec car and only 500 quid over the Cyprus sourced one.
Worked it out and for my spec (manual silver '04, red cloth, hardtop + aircon, TTE springs, mats, flaps, full tank petrol), I saved around 11% on RRP which I was happy with. I could have possibly haggled them down another 500 quid or so, but I was happy with the price so paid it.
A good dealer will want your business. Just set your target price and go in armed with backup material.
In terms of reselling an SMT equipped car, I wouldn't worry - my old silver car was sold within about 20minutes of it going on the forecourt when I traded it in last year (IIRC it was a rainy April morning so didn't even need a sunny day to help!)
Have you driven an SMT yet? I would suggest you want to before making your decision - it's a system you either love or hate - there doesn't seem to be any middle ground in peoples opinion of the system.
Whereabouts in the country are you - maybe you can get along to the Treasure Hunt tomorrow in Essex, and I'm sure there will be more than one person willing to let you blag a ride - I for one am quite happy to let you experience the '03 SMT.
HTH
Thanks for all the advice.
I am keen to buy from a local UK dealer for obvious reasons. I wouldnt want the worry from buying from a broker but the dealer doesnt have to know that so Im quite happy to use it as ammunition to beat them down !
Anyone got a useful link for the best UK brokers ?
Regarding the SMT, I havent driven one and cant find a dealer that has one to drive. I was only considering it because Trade Sales has 6 of them at what I thought was a good price but it sounds like the Toyota dealers will be more 'flexible' than I had thought so will probably give Trade Sales a miss !
Anyone paid a large proportion of the car value with a credit card ? Thought Id take advantage of one of the many '0% interest for 6 months' deals and leave my cash in savings for longer.
Nick
Quote from: "NickA"Anyone paid a large proportion of the car value with a credit card ? Thought Id take advantage of one of the many '0% interest for 6 months' deals and leave my cash in savings for longer.
My dad does this sort of thing all the time.
QuoteMy dad does this sort of thing all the time.
with car dealers too for high values (i.e. many thousands) ? I can see why they wouldnt be keen as the credit companies impose about 1.5% charge on all transactions.
Quote from: "NickA"Anyone paid a large proportion of the car value with a credit card ? Thought Id take advantage of one of the many '0% interest for 6 months' deals and leave my cash in savings for longer.
Only thing to note is that some dealers (mine wanted to) might make an additional charge of say 1-2% of the total bill... which for a £15k car is an extra £150+
Quote from: "NickA"QuoteMy dad does this sort of thing all the time.
with car dealers too for high values (i.e. many thousands) ? I can see why they wouldnt be keen as the credit companies impose about 1.5% charge on all transactions.
Yeah... but he's a much much higher credit limit than I've got, otherwise I'd do it too.
I used Litchfield Imports (http://www.litchfieldimports.co.uk) to get mine in from Denmark, they were easily the best at the time - he's got himself a really good reputation now too, and supplies a lot of the major car mags with specialist Jap stuff, Scooby's and EVO's etc.
Quote from: "NickA"Regarding the SMT, I havent driven one and cant find a dealer that has one to drive.
Yes, I had that problem too. I called Toyota Customer Services, and they found a couple of dealers with demo SMTs. Might be worth trying that route - although I did have to go to the Wirral (fortunately I had work up there anyway). I'd recommend you try one out. I wouldn't be without it now.
Quote from: "NickA"would I have trouble selling an SMT on in a few years time - dealer said they only sell about 1 SMT in 100 MR2's
I think that the dealers feel an SMT will alienate half of their potential buyers - basically they think that ladies won't be able to use it. (I suspect that the MR2 may be viewed as a ladies car anyway, I dunno.) SMT is a little unconventional if you're used to a either a full manual or a full automatic, so there is a period of familiarisation. ISTR you can drive an SMT if you hold an automatic licence, so even if it does alienate the ladies, it opens up a whole new market anyway. It's worth remembering that if they want your money off you, they'll find a way to do a deal.
The ones I got quotes from (and get a quote for the full spec you want) were,
Trade Sales (which you already know)
http://www.drivethedeal.com/
http://www.ukcarbroker.co.uk/
Think there was another one but can't remember what it was (sorry).
Print them out with details, go in and tell them you are interested and you can get one for price X, can they beat that deal, and then take it from there.
You should be able to get a decent baseline price out of that though. Get them to agree on the price for the spec you want, then mention you want mats, flaps and a full tank of petrol (all in one fast sentence) and in my case they just went <sigh> OK then. s:D :D s:D
You don'y buy from the broker. The broker puts you in touch with a normal Toyota dealer who can offer you a UK sourced car at the discounted rate.
No different from buying from your local Toyota dealer, but because they get hundreds of orders from the broker, they can afford to pass on big discounts.
Puggman
Get a copy of What Car magazine - in the back under the new car listings they quote a What car target price, which is a good price to aim for. They also quote the best brokers price, which, again is a good bartering price to have in mind - bear in mind that the borkers price is for a UK sourced car from Toyota dealers and thus all the usual bullshit of non-UK spec that the dealer may try and churn out will not be valid.
I bought a brand new Astral black 2 last year for £15,800 with no options but I've heard of people getting down to about £15,200 and obviously the more you can get thrown in the better.
Finance wise, just bear in mind that if you search the internet there are companies offering loans at 5.9% APR, which will shit all over Toyota's offerings - when I last looked about a week ago I think More Than offered this sort of rate. This site is a good source of the best finance deals m http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/ (http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/) m
Hope that this helps you secure a beautiful new 2, in Astral Black of course - the fastest colour! s:P :P s:P
I agree Whatcar will be the best investment you can make for a tool for info on brokers and bringing down the price.There used to be a site called autohit which got dealers to tender for supplying the car in the spec you want at the best price,not sure if that's still around ,but saved me a bundle on my last new car.
Credit cards,a dealer may shy away from a large credit card payment due to the fees they have to pay as the other guys have said,but some companies do credit card cheques which you can use just like a personal cheque.Most companies charge a commision to the account holder to use these ,but sometimes this fee is waived for promo purposes. Got my 2nd hand 2 this way. One other point,if you get 0% for 6months or so watch how much minimum payments are, some companies want it back in large chunks. Good luck! s:) :) s:)
Don't knock the Trade Sales deal.
I bought mine from there 2.5 years ago at a £4k+ saving.
I've never had any insurance (DIG) or 3yr waranty issues (it's currently in getting a second new set of alloys fitted).
The saving isn't quite so good now that the prices have come down a bit, but it's still a good saving.
You need to be happy with the 6 month old bit though. Does this mean its a "53"? (Mine was only 8 days old, so I didn't have this problem).
The other thing to check is whether it has leather or not.
Plus, you will probably need to factor in the cost of a stereo (but you get to pick a good one!) and alarm. These costs will close the gap to a discounted UK one.
Oh yeah, check whether they have leather.
Finally, try calling the "Toyota Shop" who advertise in the Saturday Telegraph Motoring section, they may get you a very good brokered price on a UK one. I got my Celica this way.
PM me for more info about the trade-sales experience
Another place to try is Motorpoint - Derby...
I got mine from here November 2000, they pre-ordered it for me and at present it dosen't look like they have any in stock (but phone them and ask for a pre-order price) This will ensure you vehicle is brand new and brought in from europe.
In 2000 I saved approx £4k on list price and also got black cloth with silver which wasn't avilable in the UK at that time.
As Jonny said, you will probably need to budget for a Alarm (Cat 1, Thatcham) to keep the insurance company happy, but they are very willing to sort this out for a fair price.
If you looking to keep it and want to save on the front end, then Motor point and Trade sales are well worth a look.
As with Jonny, Warranty and insurance have been excellent, not even a moan, remember we are in the EU and are free to buy from any of our sister states... don't be told otherwise by insurance companies trying to fleece you...
Cheers
Darren
so when taking out insurance and asked the question 'import yes or no' then what would the anwser be for a euro sourced (but not uk sourced) car ? Obviously they are built in the same factory but I imagine if it came to a claim if you havent been 100% accurate in your policy then they might not pay up !
Quote from: "NickA"so when taking out insurance and asked the question 'import yes or no' then what would the anwser be for a euro sourced (but not uk sourced) car ? Obviously they are built in the same factory but I imagine if it came to a claim if you havent been 100% accurate in your policy then they might not pay up !
Just make sure they understand it's an EU import. A lot of insurance companies aren't happy to insure Japanese imports for some reason but the EU imports are ok most of the time. My Danish import was insured ok with ESure until I got a bit keen with modifying it.
If you buy from Trade Sales or Motorpoint, you have bought a car from within the UK, as far as you are concerned it's been resister (remember they are pre-owned) to get round the registration and tax issues.
therefore just tell them you have an MR2 and if they say where did you buy it, say the UK. your not lying are you ! (becaouse Motorpoint and tradesales are UK companies)
And just to clairify - you didn't import it, the garage did, all you did was buy it....
neadless to say i've never had a problem with Warranty or insurance, just make sure you drive stright round to Toyota and get them to register it for UK warranty, just take all your papers, they know what they need from you.
Cheers
Darren
Makro Motoring have some 2003 53 reg SMT's with hardtops and aircon for £14199 (ex vat - about £16700 inc). Seems a pretty good price to me.
m http://www.makromotors.co.uk/ (http://www.makromotors.co.uk/) m
(under used cars but they have delivery milage on them).