How to find the best new car deals
Nobody likes to pay over the odds for anything and the days of walking into your local dealer and paying the manufacturer’s list price for a new car are long gone. There are savings to be had on almost all new cars from Nissan Micras to Aston Martin DB9s. But how do you go about finding the best new car deals? This short guide aims to give you some pointers on where to look for the best new car deals, what to look out for, and explain any terms you may not be familiar with.
Where to start
First lets take a look at the different places that you can buy a new car:
- Franchised New Car Dealers (e.g. Perrys, Pentagon)- These are the dealers you see in towns and cities with flash showrooms.
- New Car Brokers (e.g. Buy A Car, UK Car Discount) - These usually do most of their marketing on the internet and don’t have showrooms for you to have a look around at the cars they sell. They will normally be able to source all makes and models although each broker’s competitiveness may vary greatly between manufacturers.
- Car Supermarkets (e.g. Car Giant, Motorpoint) - These guys will buy large numbers of the same vehicle from a manufacturer to obtain big discounts. They also sell nearly new and imports, so be careful and ensure you check all the details if buying a new car from a supermarket.
Each of the above has its pros and cons and the new car deals you will find at each may vary greatly and the best deal could come from any of them, so lets take a quick look at the benefits of each:
New Car Dealers
Pros – Security and peace of mind from dealing with a well known name and having a showroom where you can view and test drive the vehicles.
Cons – Not impartial when giving advice and have large overheads so you will have to work hard to get the best new car deal from a franchised car dealer.
New Car Brokers
Pros – New car brokers are not tied to any particular manufacturer so will be able to give good impartial advice about the best new car deals available. They will generally have lower overheads than new car dealers as they sell most of their new cars online. The way most brokers work their pricing policies is to add a fixed amount (usually approximately £500) onto their buying price of a car so it is of no benefit to them to sell one car to you over another.
Cons – Most dealings with new car brokers will be carried out either over the phone or by email and as such you probably won’t visit their premises, so a certain amount of trust is involved. It is a good idea to do your research on the company if you are thinking of placing an order. A good source of information could be people on motoring forums such as Honest John’s.
Car Supermarkets
Pros – Car supermarkets usually have a large number and range of new cars in stock to choose from, so there are no delays waiting for a factory order. However, they will probably be unable to get you a vehicle to your exact specification if you require a lot of optional extras. Car supermarkets are able to offer discounts by buying in bulk and pre-registering cars (what is a pre-registered car?), so you may in effect be the second owner.
Cons – Could be buying an imported vehicle, may not receive all the benefits of the car being supplied by a dealer, such as full warranties.