Tips on buying a car

I replaced the Lotus back in February, yes I know I should have told you sooner.  Now those who’ve had to listen to me rant about the terrible service I got at the car dealership will be wondering how I could possibly give advice since I sat for 8hrs like a zombie waiting to be given the keys to the only car in a 150mile radius that met my specification requirements.  The answer my friends is in the advice I can give you before you go car shopping, and also a few tips on striking the deal.

1. Know what you want.  Make a wish list, look at magazines, the road around you, anything, but have in your mind the exact things you want.  Getting to the dealership and then pondering out loud on whetehr you need sat-nav or not is a sign to the dealer that you are uncertain on what you want and will encourage them to try and load the deal with expensive “options”.
2. Do your homework.  Don’t just visit the dealer’s website, or the manufacturer’s website, also visit owners clubs, forums, and review sites.  Be diligent and read as much as you can, and then assess what you’ve read.  For my car the most often mentioned negative feature in press reviews was road noise, but a quick check of the type of tyres installed as standard told me that the tyre was mroe likely to be at fault than the suspension.  Check out those little details, if the car-talk forums are awash with complaints about rattles and cracked trim know what you’re getting into.  If the biggest moan is that the cup-holder is the wrong colour you know you’re onto a safe bet.  Also check out YouTube, and Google for the crash test results.  Watching your prospective new car crash in slow motion might tell you more about the safety than any number of stars on a spec-sheet.
3. Do your homework.  Again, even when you’ve picked a car or two there is more research to do.  Find all the available dealers in your area, request quotes from all of them.  If they don’t have the exact car you want, ask them how long it would take to get and get a quote.  Don’t expect different garages in the same chain to give you the same answer, ring them up even if they are just across the street from each other because you’ll be amazed how stock inventory gets reported.
4. Know what you can afford, but don’t tell the dealer.  Know what you want to pay for the car (less than what you can afford and less than the price on the sticker) and now subtract at least $2000 (if the car is over $25000 subtract $5000)  from that number.  The number you are now thinking of is the number you will tell the dealer you want to pay for the car.   Don’t be afraid to say this number, the dealers job isn’t to sell you a car, their job is to extract as much money from you as possible while selling you a car.  Remember the car costs drastically less than the sticker price to build, so don’t be afraid to haggle, if your research revealed “dealer incentives” from the manufacturer (money the dealer gets for selling certain models) subtract that amount from the car’s price too (no point in paying the dealer twice).
5. Be sensible, never haggle over change.  I’ve heard people haggle over $14 dollars on the car’s price.  Don’t bother, haggle in large round numbers.  The dealership sells in volume and to them the difference of $100 is far less than it is to you, so if you find yourself haggling, make it for a reasonable sum, deal in hundreds if not thousands.
6. Know when to stop.  Watch the staff, and their management, if the negotiations are dropping to small change, and the delays are getting longer, know that you’re reaching the end of their haggle zone.  If the price is one you want to pay, pay it, otherwise tell them you want to think about it and walk away.  Walking away is a powerful tool if you have the option, especially towards the end of a month when the dealers are trying to make up sales figures.  Let them call you with a counter offer.

So there you have a few car buying tips.  Just remember that some people feel happy haggling, some don’t, if it doesn’t come naturally you should practice.  Run the scenarios in your head and learn how to react.  Don’t be pressured into a deal you don’t want, and know you can always walk away.

The Ferravo

I was sat at the traffic lights in January and saw something so funny I almost fell out my car laughing.  Can you spot it?

Just in case your 10x magnification vision isn’t working, here is the source of my mirth.

Adding a Ferrari badge does magically make it "Not a Volvo"!

Yes, if you squint carefully you might just spot that that is a Ferrari logo, in luminous Ferrari yellow stuck just behind the front wheel arch of a black Volvo V40.

It does make you wonder what went through the owners mind:

You know what, my reliable lump of Swedish metal just isn’t sporty enough… If I stick these Ferrari logo stickers on it everybody will be impressed by my stylish, sporty ride!

Idiots!

10 ways to a better drive home

The BBC News Magazine site has a brilliant list of 10 ways to rediscover the joy of motoring.

Just what I need to make the drive home more fun, although according to the article my commute is at the limit of what is healthy at about an hour on a Friday evening!

I’m a big believer in their tip about not changing lanes in slow moving traffic

You’re on a motorway and the traffic has slowed to a crawl. Why do the other lanes always seem to be moving faster?

They don’t really, says Mr Vanderbilt. They only seem to because of something called “loss aversion” which means our brains are more sensitive to loss so we tend to notice the cars that overtake us, not the ones we leave behind.

And changing lanes is counter-productive. It increases the risk of an accident, makes a driver more stressed and doesn’t make much difference.

BBC News Magazine – 10 ways to rediscover the joy of motoring

I’d also like to encourage drivers to keep to the inside lane if it is free, don’t hog the middle or outside lanes.  It will keep the traffic flowing easier, and stop people from getting bunched up behind you when you start those long and illegal cellphone calls!

Review: Mercedes B150

We’d hired a car from Europcar for our week in England. We’d expected a Mercedes A-class, and so were presently surprised to be directed to a brand new Mercedes B150.  Over our eleven day stay we racked up the miles with high-speed driving on the motorway and some spirited blatting down country lanes.  Here are our thoughts…

Plus Points:

• Good quality seats and interior.  A lot of plastic was used, but it was quality plastic and gave wipe-clean reassurance.
• Good suspension, comfortable at motorway speeds and on narrow lanes.  Whether it was the throb of the motorway, or the potholes of rural Warwickshire, the ride was comfortable and the suspension offered the right trade off between controlled firmness and people carrier smoothness.
• Large capacity, a big boot swallows luggage, and the car easily seats 5 adults.  Not huge from the outside but definitely a good family MPV.
• Rain sensitive wipers, a lovely surprise in a sudden downpour.  These worked well, speeding up with heavy rain, then adjusting the intermittent wipe as the shower passed.

Negative Points:

• Underpowered, the small engine makes pulling out, or overtaking, a rare and risky experience.
• Automatic gearbox; the 7 speed auto-box would be ideal with a powerful engine or if it worked the gears logically.  All too often the car seemed to change gear early, leaving the car feeling tired and sapping what little power was there.  In “semi-automatic” the car could be encouraged to perform but even then the auto-overide would jump in too often.
• Daft stalk layout; a single stalk controls turn signals, main beam, and windscreen wipers. The complex layout takes some getting used to if you are more used to a standard 2 stalk approach.  Laura and I both had arguements with the controls when trying to turn on wipers, etc.
• Lack of full size cup holders and storage cubbies.  I must have been in America too long, but if I am in an MPV I expect to be able to carry a couple of bottles of water and some sweets and maybe a box of tissues without having to resort to having them in footwells or sliding on the back seat.  The mesh net on the wall of the passenger footwell was the ideal CD store though.

Overall I was happy with it for a rental, but would have wanted either a bigger engine or a six-speed manual gearbox if they’d wanted me to keep it!

Glorious Goodwood – Festival of Speed

With all the fuel worries (see below) it is good to just relax and not worry every once in a while. So here is a YouTube capture of a video promoting the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed, starring 12 times Trials World Champion Dougie Lampkin

I’ve really got to get out there sometime, but damn it my trip doesn’t line up this year. Oh well, I can always watch the highlights online!

If you’ve no idea what the festival is all about, and if you love the smell of high octane fuel, and the roar of a race tuned engine or five hundred, watch the

official Goodwood Festival of Speed “The Movie”

in high quality here! Sheer motoring bliss!