Buying from Brokers

[the zacster]

I spotted reference to an online broker (www.drivethedeal.com) and out of curiosity did a quick search for an E-class 280CDI estate. Bottom line is that the broker appears to be able to offer the car at a very significant discount to the dealerships.

I'd never come across these types of brokers; are there any disadvantages related to buying from them. Any other brokers that people might recommend?

Thanks

 

[robbo]

We bought our A class through drive the deal. Everything went very smoothly, and we got a 20.5% discount of a brand new W169 model (see pics in gallery). It was a very easy and simple process. I'd certainly recommend these guys.

A friend used http://www.transmarcars.com/ to buy his new VW Touran. Saved over 20% on one. These are the sites I can recommend from personal or friends experience.

The only disadvantages that I can see is that you cannot test drive the car. Thats alright if you know what you want, but if you need to test drive, the only thing to do is to go to a local dealer and use him for a test drive, which is a bit cheeky.

The other disadvantge is that often the deals are on retailer stock so you preferred choice of colour and extras may not necessarily be available.

 

[the zacster]

Thanks Robbo. I went onto the drive-the-deal site and was stuned to see that I'd save c.£7k on a new E220/E280 CDi. I had planned to buy a newsed car (c.12 months old) from a dealer or MB Direct. MB Direct only provide 1 year warranty, and a 1 year-old car will be c.£6-8k cheaper than list price. So the drive-the-deal option actually is a really attractive option, as a car woudl come with the full 3-year warranty.

I'm not remotely bothered about being cheeky, test driving the car at a dealer and then ordering from a dealer via drivethedeal. I'd rather than £7k stayed in my pocket than theirs!

Z

 

[robbo]

At a £7K discount, it doesnt really make any sense to buy a nearly new/ex demonstrator car. You are better off buying a new one. Even if you end up not liking it, you can drive it for a year, sell it on and buy another car as you wont lose much in depreciation!

 

[Rory]

Thanks Robbo. I went onto the drive-the-deal site and was stuned to see that I'd save c.£7k on a new E220/E280 CDi. I had planned to buy a newsed car (c.12 months old) from a dealer or MB Direct. MB Direct only provide 1 year warranty, and a 1 year-old car will be c.£6-8k cheaper than list price. So the drive-the-deal option actually is a really attractive option, as a car woudl come with the full 3-year warranty.

I'm not remotely bothered about being cheeky, test driving the car at a dealer and then ordering from a dealer via drivethedeal. I'd rather than £7k stayed in my pocket than theirs!

Z

I've never seen the term 'newsed' before!

MB direct (or anybody else, as long as the cars service history is OK) pass on the remainder of the 3 yr w'tee - so if you buy a 1 yr old car, you get 2 yrs w'tee.

You ought to be able to save more at MB Direct, depending on the spec of the car (options don't hold their price very well) - my pretty well loaded C270 Estate would have listed at about £33500 new, but I bought it at 5 mths old, 6000 miles (and to intents and purposes it looks brand new) from MB Direct for £23,500 (screen price was £27000).

If you're not bothered about being cheeky then take the Drive the Deal quote to your local dealer and ask them to match (or come very close to) it.


Edited to add: I did see a comment somewhere in the last couple of days that MB are doing the E class estate for the same price as the saloon, so presumeably that knocks a bit off before you start.

 

[jberks]

Interesting - If I'd known about the brokers, I may have gone that way instead of my 11 month old one. I specced up a 280 to the same level as my 270 and list was £39k. Their price was 33 so extremely good value and certainly reduced the saving quite dramatically. However for accepting 12 months old and a few k on the clock (car is mint, I have my own plate etc so there really isn't any other benefit buying new), I paid 28, and that included an extended warranty to take me back to 3 years so I'm still £5k better off. The main thing appears to be the spec. If you want a well specced motor, extras aren't worth anything on used value so you save more on the extras buying used. If you're happy with fairly standard spec or really want new then I'd probably go with the broker.

 

[television]

If you buy new,one day it will come onto the secondhand market. At the Bridgewater BCA auction a few months ago I went to a special sale from a Scottish Bank, there were around 50 MB's, 1 to 3 years old with milages from 8k to 38k, A lot of the mid range, low spec cars did not sell, but the high specs went just over bottom book, the sale showed that the more expensive the car was new, it needed to be loaded in order to sell at all. At the bottom end the A class basics all sold at just over bottom book, A 2000 SL with 7.5k miles with not one extra did not sell, a loaded 1 year old S class sold 8k under book at £34k. whilst in london a few years ago I had some hours to kill and went to the Car Warehouse in Scrubbs lane, they had 65 E class cars, all basic,all manual, all black and high milage, I sometimes wonder if they are still there. As Jberks says you do need to have a reasable spec in order to sell it, and the cost is the same or a little more than a basic. So a 7k saving on a new basic can go down when it comes to sell or PX, plus your children have not had the pleasure of opening the widows all day long with a push button.

malcolm

 

[mercmonkey]

optional extras may not increase the price 2nd hand, but it will make it easier to shift when u want to get rid of it. Same goes for colours, odd colours can make a car harder to shift.

 

[the zacster]

I absolutely agree with all those points. The £7k saving I was mentioning was AFTER adding all the need-to-have extras (leather, parktronic, rear facing seats etc)

 

[Rory]

I absolutely agree with all those points. The £7k saving I was mentioning was AFTER adding all the need-to-have extras (leather, parktronic, rear facing seats etc)

Right - but the point is that if you buy used, you can get those extras practically for free. They don't really add any value to the car but they're expected to be there.