Buying from a dealer

ImThatGuy

Morning,
I'm planning on buying my first car soon and decided I'll probably go with a dealer. I've two questions though:

Do I need insurance to test drive one of their cars? Is this a dealer by dealer basis?

Some dealers offer a warranty am I better off going with a car with one or is it pretty hard to get repairs/maintenance done under it?

Thanks

Del2005

ImThatGuy wrote: »

Morning,
I'm planning on buying my first car soon and decided I'll probably go with a dealer. I've two questions though:

Do I need insurance to test drive one of their cars? Is this a dealer by dealer basis?

Some dealers offer a warranty am I better off going with a car with one or is it pretty hard to get repairs/maintenance done under it?

Thanks

A proper dealer will have trade insurance that allows them to demonstrate vehicles once they are in it with you.

If they let you out alone then there's no trade insurance so it will only be covered by the 3rd party extension on private another policy, since you currently don't have insurance you won't be insured you'll not be insured if buying privately either.

bazz26

If your buying cars from a dealer who is not offering a warranty then why bother buying from a dealer at all? The main reason for buying from a dealer is for the peace of mind of being able to return the car to them for repair for a certain time.

Out of interest what price range are the cars that you looking at? Anything less than around 3.5k and I'd tend to buy private over from a dealer as generally the warranty that comes from dealers on low value cars tends to cover very little.

AnCatDubh

ImThatGuy wrote: »

Some dealers offer a warranty am I better off going with a car with one or is it pretty hard to get repairs/maintenance done under it?

The dealer warranty is imho and from personal experience a must (also, a genuine non fly by night dealer is a must too!!). The other opinion which you'll also probably find on this forum and through verifiable experience is that they aren't worth the paper they are written on but that may come down to the individual that you are dealing with.

With the best of intentions a dealer may turn out a vehicle and polish it, and on the day you buy it they may service it up and everything will be fine. Two weeks later you *could* start experiencing trouble - maybe an engine warning code or the like and at that stage, if it happens, then it is important to be able to return to the dealer and for both you and them to be of the understanding that it is their responsibility - you don't want to start arguing with them at that point because it never ends well. So, talk to your dealer before you buy the car so that you too understand the warranty that they are offering. Have it then confirmed in writing on your sales invoice/docket.

The experience i'm drawing from is a car which I bought as above - and from the dealers forecourt it was fine, but it developed a few issues over the first couple of weeks. Having heard horror stories from other on forums here and elsewhere, I didn't know what reception I would receive on return to the dealer. But, he was a decent guy, and was of the same understanding that this was warranty work and looked after it with no fuss whatsoever.

Engine and gears warranty is what most will give but that's ok too imho again once you understand that this is the extent/scope of your warranty. The bulb that blows in the rear break light or a slow puncture won't be covered under such a warranty be covered.

My story above probably has probably worked out well for the dealer as well as me. Because of the approach taken to the warranty issues which I had and he'd been keenly priced in any event, I've since bought 5 cars from him - each with the very same warranty, an occasional issue here and there but always looked after (and i might add I've never returned with anything stupid ie. i'm only returning to him in the case of reasonable largish issues). Next car I look for, i'll be checking his stock out first. Simples.

Others will know the mechanics of cars better than I but from someone who likes to (mostly) just drive cars - when buying my advice is to go for something in your budget with a recent NCT test (all the better if your dealer puts it through one before you get it) - this, to ensure the vehicle isn't failing anything outside of the engine/gears warranty combination, freshly serviced - to ensure all consumables and general checks are ok, and with a 3 month engine and gears warranty. After that it is very hard luck on you if something major goes wrong.

Again, the above presupposes that your dealer is a decent individual who has been/will be around for a long time otherwise even with a dealer warranty and they may try wriggling their way out of anything that comes up.

You'll come across the alternate point of view though and its probably equally valid. I think its important that you talk it through with your dealer and get a good feel for their approach to such issues.

EDIT: Flipping heck - that was a long post!!

ImThatGuy

Del2005 wrote: »

A proper dealer will have trade insurance that allows them to demonstrate vehicles once they are in it with you.

If they let you out alone then there's no trade insurance so it will only be covered by the 3rd party extension on private another policy, since you currently don't have insurance you won't be insured you'll not be insured if buying privately either.

Thanks for the help, I shall check beforehand!

bazz26 wrote: »

If your buying cars from a dealer who is not offering a warranty then why bother buying from a dealer at all? The main reason for buying from a dealer is for the peace of mind of being able to return the car to them for repair for a certain time.

Out of interest what price range are the cars that you looking at? Anything less than around 3.5k and I'd tend to buy private over from a dealer as generally the warranty that comes from dealers on low value cars tends to cover very little.

My worries were if a dealers warranty was actually valuable or if it was the same as them throwing in a free air-freshener, I decided on a dealer as they're a bit easier to arrange viewings with and quite a few offered warranties which to me seemed like they had some faith in the car! I also thought there'd be a chance I could test drive on their insurance which I won't get with private cars, it seems in some cases I might.

Budget is around 5k.

AnCatDubh wrote: »

The dealer warranty is imho and from personal experience a must (also, a genuine non fly by night dealer is a must too!!). The other opinion which you'll also probably find on this forum and through verifiable experience is that they aren't worth the paper they are written on but that may come down to the individual that you are dealing with.

With the best of intentions a dealer may turn out a vehicle and polish it, and on the day you buy it they may service it up and everything will be fine. Two weeks later you *could* start experiencing trouble - maybe an engine warning code or the like and at that stage, if it happens, then it is important to be able to return to the dealer and for both you and them to be of the understanding that it is their responsibility - you don't want to start arguing with them at that point because it never ends well. So, talk to your dealer before you buy the car so that you too understand the warranty that they are offering. Have it then confirmed in writing on your sales invoice/docket.

The experience i'm drawing from is a car which I bought as above - and from the dealers forecourt it was fine, but it developed a few issues over the first couple of weeks. Having heard horror stories from other on forums here and elsewhere, I didn't know what reception I would receive on return to the dealer. But, he was a decent guy, and was of the same understanding that this was warranty work and looked after it with no fuss whatsoever.

Engine and gears warranty is what most will give but that's ok too imho again once you understand that this is the extent/scope of your warranty. The bulb that blows in the rear break light or a slow puncture won't be covered under such a warranty be covered.

My story above probably has probably worked out well for the dealer as well as me. Because of the approach taken to the warranty issues which I had and he'd been keenly priced in any event, I've since bought 5 cars from him - each with the very same warranty, an occasional issue here and there but always looked after (and i might add I've never returned with anything stupid ie. i'm only returning to him in the case of reasonable largish issues). Next car I look for, i'll be checking his stock out first. Simples.

Others will know the mechanics of cars better than I but from someone who likes to (mostly) just drive cars - when buying my advice is to go for something in your budget with a recent NCT test (all the better if your dealer puts it through one before you get it) - this, to ensure the vehicle isn't failing anything outside of the engine/gears warranty combination, freshly serviced - to ensure all consumables and general checks are ok, and with a 3 month engine and gears warranty. After that it is very hard luck on you if something major goes wrong.

Again, the above presupposes that your dealer is a decent individual who has been/will be around for a long time otherwise even with a dealer warranty and they may try wriggling their way out of anything that comes up.

You'll come across the alternate point of view though and its probably equally valid. I think its important that you talk it through with your dealer and get a good feel for their approach to such issues.

EDIT: Flipping heck - that was a long post!!

Thanks for the in-depth reply, very helpful! I thought bulbs, tyres etc wouldn't be covered and I'm happy enough to do that myself.

The main things I'm looking for is a car that I like, NCT, warranty (>6 months if possible) and tax is a bonus.

I'll be sure to get some kind of documentation outlining the warranty coverage so I'm hopefully not stung in the future.

bazz26

How valuable or good a warranty is depends very much how good the dealer offering it is. Some dealers have terrible after sales service while others are better.

colm_mcm

At 5k id take my chances privately!