I put a deposit on a new (pre-registered) Panda TA Lounge, in sunset red, today. Collecting the car next week. It's one of Motorpoint's pre-registered (62 plate) cars for £7,799, with only 11 miles on the clock before my test drive. The downsides are that 6 months' warranty is already gone and I am buying with no options.
The car is good, the price is good, but the sales spiel was less impressive:
The salesman knew nothing about the 3rd year dealer warranty - as far as he was concerned, there is a 3-year Fiat warranty, full-stop. He wasn't aware (and wasn't particularly interested) that the 3rd year is in the name of the first owner, so I will probably have to transfer it into my name.
Tried to sell GardX protection @ £299
https://www.gardx.co.uk/index.php?page=shop&cid=84
Seems a bit of a rip-off compared to occasional waxing, or buying GardX products and applying them myself. He talked about a lifetime guarantee, but the Motorpoint brochure states a 5-year guarantee.
Very keen to sell me GAP insurance, basing his argument on a Black Horse valuation of the car (for 3 years' time), for insurance payout, at just over £3,000 ! Something tells me that this figure has been massaged to make the GAP insurance look more worthwhile.
Seems to be insurance companies telling us that they can't be trusted to pay out what the car is worth, so we should pay them an extra premium to make up for it. I'd rather bear the risk myself than pay an insurance company to take that risk.
Tried to sell me parking sensors, but gave up easily when I told him I am familiar with them on my Multipla, and I wouldn't have bothered to specify them as an option on a Panda if ordering from a Fiat dealer. Maybe if it was a big car ...
Roll on next Friday.
The car is good, the price is good, but the sales spiel was less impressive:
The salesman knew nothing about the 3rd year dealer warranty - as far as he was concerned, there is a 3-year Fiat warranty, full-stop. He wasn't aware (and wasn't particularly interested) that the 3rd year is in the name of the first owner, so I will probably have to transfer it into my name.
Tried to sell GardX protection @ £299
https://www.gardx.co.uk/index.php?page=shop&cid=84
Seems a bit of a rip-off compared to occasional waxing, or buying GardX products and applying them myself. He talked about a lifetime guarantee, but the Motorpoint brochure states a 5-year guarantee.
Very keen to sell me GAP insurance, basing his argument on a Black Horse valuation of the car (for 3 years' time), for insurance payout, at just over £3,000 ! Something tells me that this figure has been massaged to make the GAP insurance look more worthwhile.
Seems to be insurance companies telling us that they can't be trusted to pay out what the car is worth, so we should pay them an extra premium to make up for it. I'd rather bear the risk myself than pay an insurance company to take that risk.
Tried to sell me parking sensors, but gave up easily when I told him I am familiar with them on my Multipla, and I wouldn't have bothered to specify them as an option on a Panda if ordering from a Fiat dealer. Maybe if it was a big car ...
Roll on next Friday.