Ive learnt so much from this forum, and after much deliberation, im really itching to order my 500, now that ive cleared a few obstacles. I still have one in the way though.

I need to sell my current car before I can go for the 500. Part-exchange isnt an option.

Having never bought a built-to-order car before, i'm not exactly clued up on the process, and I have some queries im hoping you guys have some answers for. I know I could ask the dealer, but its more reassuring when it comes from people who've been there as a customer.

Now, as I could potentially be waiting a very long time for the car, I thought about ordering it now, even though im yet to sell my current car. Hopefully the car will be gone long before the 500 arrives. It would also be great to have it in time for Christmas.

So, my questions are:

1) What happens if the 500 is ready to be collected, but I havent yet sold my current car? (and therefore cant afford to take on the 500 until such time as its sold)

2) What happens if between me ordering and taking collection of the 500, something unforeseen happens, and I have to cancel the order?

3) My private plate will be on retention, and therefore ready to go onto the 500. Am I better off having the car delivered with a standard registration, and putting the private plate on myself at a later date, or to have it put on from new? It wont cost me any extra doing it either way (except maybe a new set of plates), but i'd hate for the plate to introduce any delays.

4) If I was to buy a 3 year servicing pack, is it tied to the dealer that I buy it from? e.g. what happens if I move to a different part of the country after a year?

Thanks in advance!

RobTuck said:

2) What happens if between me ordering and taking collection of the 500, something unforeseen happens, and I have to cancel the order?

3) My private plate will be on retention, and therefore ready to go onto the 500. Am I better off having the car delivered with a standard registration, and putting the private plate on myself at a later date, or to have it put on from new? It wont cost me any extra doing it either way (except maybe a new set of plates), but i'd hate for the plate to introduce any delays.

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I had to put a minimum of £250 deposit down when i ordered my 500, so if i canceled my order, i would loose my £250.

Also, my plate meant i had to wait an extra 2 days for my 500, 2 days of waiting is nothing compared to the weeks i dad to wait for her to be made.
Hope that helped a little.

RobTuck said:

1) What happens if the 500 is ready to be collected, but I havent yet sold my current car? (and therefore cant afford to take on the 500 until such time as its sold)

That will depend on your dealer. They may offer to keep the car for as certain period of time for you to sell yours. Will depend greatly on company policy.

2) What happens if between me ordering and taking collection of the 500, something unforeseen happens, and I have to cancel the order?
Worst case senario is you lose your deposit. Which is fair enough really isn't it?

3) My private plate will be on retention, and therefore ready to go onto the 500. Am I better off having the car delivered with a standard registration, and putting the private plate on myself at a later date, or to have it put on from new? It wont cost me any extra doing it either way (except maybe a new set of plates), but i'd hate for the plate to introduce any delays.

I personnaly would change it myself. Deler can do it and it will be slightly less hassle for you. But if you want to make sure it's done right and doesn't delay your car. Gt the car then put the plate on yourself.

4) If I was to buy a 3 year servicing pack, is it tied to the dealer that I buy it from? e.g. what happens if I move to a different part of the country after a year?

Is it the Fiat servicing pack or the dealer servicing pack. For instance my old dealer has there own packs which are valid at any garage withing the group. No matter what marque aslong as it's the same company.
Thanks in advance!

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Hope that helps.

Have the plate put on before you get it, otherwise you have to tell insurers, Fiat etc of the change and its hassle. Even now, after telling Fiat 3 times of my number change they still have it down under its old number

There is a timeframe for picking the car up when its delivered and its in the small print on the order form. If you leave it too long then the dealer is entitled to keep your deposit and sell the car.

£100 deposit on mine... Its about 8+ weeks for a 500 from the factory so i would expect that you would have sold the car in that time

Puntostar said:

£100 deposit on mine... Its about 8+ weeks for a 500 from the factory so i would expect that you would have sold the car in that time

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I would hope so too. I may need to get it MOT'd soon though, which is a bit poo, but hopefully it will pass OK, and I can make the money back from the sale.

Thanks everyone for the answers. Ive been wanting to order this car for months, and I think its time!

Mine was a £200 deposit and it arrived 2 months exactly to the day I ordered it.

Like yourself I have never bought a 'built-to-order' car, however, its very satisfying, especially when another customer is there taking delivery of theirs and its SOOOO different to the one you've picked and designed.

Steve

WhitePOP said:

Like yourself I have never bought a 'built-to-order' car, however, its very satisfying, especially when another customer is there taking delivery of theirs and its SOOOO different to the one you've picked and designed.

Steve

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That's what I'm looking forward to )

I've only ever had one brand new car, and it was a Peugeot 206cc which I bought from a car supermarket. I liked it at first as it was the summer, and it was a convertible, but the novelty soon faded and I was beginning to miss certain things I used to have on my old car.

I've specced the 500 with every option I could want, and it's perfect as far as im concerned. I just wish I had ordered it sooner!

Personally I'd make sure you can sell your car first. I ordered my 500 at the end of June thinking I'd find it easy to sell my car. I had it written into the order that I wouldn't take delivery any earlier than 1st September. The car was delivered to the dealer mid August, only six weeks from ordering! however, I still hadn't sold my car. The dealer wanted to register the car by the end of September even if I wasn't ready to buy - beware of this as once the car is registered you may find yourself liable to complete the deal. If you have only placed an order then you are free to walk away and lose the deposit.

Luckily I found a buyer and managed to pick up my new 500 four days ago, but it was a stressful experience, the used car market is in dire straights and you are unlikely to get your asking price.

I wouldnt exactly say its dire. Its certainly not great. Particularly if you're trying to sell a larger engined car, with higher CO2 emissions. I had been looking for a cheap runaround, but they are just non-existant. People are keeping hold of their small high-mpg cars at the moment.

Luckily my car isn't too bad. Its immaculate, well-specced and returns a decent MPG. It has also dodged the car tax hike. I'm looking for its worth, rather than an over-inflated value, but I'd take less to be honest, as all I really want is to be able to clear its remaining finance, which is much lower than the cars value - which itself is quite low anyway. I've seen them on auto-trader for over £1000 more than I'm looking for, which is crazy. The only bad point about it, is that the MOT runs out in December.

RobTuck said:

I wouldnt exactly say its dire. Its certainly not great. Particularly if you're trying to sell a larger engined car, with higher CO2 emissions. I had been looking for a cheap runaround, but they are just non-existant. People are keeping hold of their small high-mpg cars at the moment.

Luckily my car isn't too bad. Its immaculate, well-specced and returns a decent MPG. It has also dodged the car tax hike. I'm looking for its worth, rather than an over-inflated value, but I'd take less to be honest, as all I really want is to be able to clear its remaining finance, which is much lower than the cars value - which itself is quite low anyway. I've seen them on auto-trader for over £1000 more than I'm looking for, which is crazy. The only bad point about it, is that the MOT runs out in December.

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I am assuming you tried to trade it in.
Might be worth explaining to the salesman that you have x amount left on finance and you want x amount to put down on 500.

I am assuming you tried to trade it in.

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Yep. I was offered about £1000 less than I'd get privately.

When I sold the 206cc, I got £11,000 for it. I was offered £8,500 part ex. I've never had a good experience part-ex'ing cars unless they're old cars. i.e. worth less than £1,000.

RobTuck said:

Luckily my car isn't too bad. Its immaculate, well-specced and returns a decent MPG. It has also dodged the car tax hike. I'm looking for its worth, rather than an over-inflated value,

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Fair point, I was selling a car which fits your description above, a mid size diesel estate I thought wold be an ideal antidote for someone downsizing from a larger car, but the general uncertainty is making people think twice and I was surprised at the poor response to my advert in AutoTrader. I'm not suggesting your car won't sell, just advising you take a pragmatic view of the valuation, which it sounds like you have.

Hopefully you're right about smaller cars and the 500 will hold it's value.

RobTuck said:

I wouldnt exactly say its dire. Its certainly not great. Particularly if you're trying to sell a larger engined car, with higher CO2 emissions. I had been looking for a cheap runaround, but they are just non-existant. People are keeping hold of their small high-mpg cars at the moment.

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Like you say Rob, it's not great, but for anything with £400 tax and associated emissions, I think dire is probably a bit tame if anything......

The used car market is even worse than people think and its not jus about the £400 tax which has killed off sme cars to almost nothing.

dont expect the prices currently written in guides like parkers as they dont seem to be able to keep up with the rate things are falling.


We are about to place an order for a 500 for my wife this weekend if the numbers work out. However, as we have finance outstanding on our current car im not sure the selling privately option is open as the car is not ours to sell. Its a Dodge Caliber diesel SXT - its a great car but much bigger than our needs now and we dont need the diesel economy for my wifes new commute.

I havent got the money to clear the finance before I sell it on so a trade in with the dealer clearing the finance is the only option I can see available, but there will be a deficit which Ill have to clear.

Also I f I could sell it privately we are then without a car until the 500 will arrive. I suppose we could hire soemthing cheap?

Anyone have any ideas?

Rather than hiring you would almost certainly be better of buying a banger with a couple months mot and tax. then scrapping it later on.

Roadsterchinsk said:

I havent got the money to clear the finance before I sell it on so a trade in with the dealer clearing the finance is the only option I can see available, but there will be a deficit which Ill have to clear.

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It's a very similar situation to mine. If I could get the dealer to give me a part-ex deal that cleared the existing finance (its a loan, not HP), then I'd definitely part-ex it. It would also save me servicing and MOT'ing it. I still think I'd get more selling it privately, which would go towards the 500, but at this stage, I dont mind.
If I sell privately, I would also then be without a car until the 500 arrives. At the moment, I should be able to borrow my dads car. I can manage without a car for a few weeks, certainly on weekdays as I catch the bus to work, but long term, especially closer to Christmas, I need a car.

When I sold my dreadful Micra the dealer wanted it right then, and offered top money. I had to wait nearly 3 months for my new Panda and in the meantime bought a Triumph Dolomite for £150... was a right laugh and sold it when the Panda arrived for £100.

Yeah, big gas guzzling cars are really in the pits now... I've bought my Subary Outback at the hight of 4x4 craze (and paid £13000 for 3 year old car 2 years ago) and sold it 3 months ago for pittiful £3,500 back to the dealer. I wanted to cry...

Melanabb said:

Yeah, big gas guzzling cars are really in the pits now... I've bought my Subary Outback at the hight of 4x4 craze (and paid £13000 for 3 year old car 2 years ago) and sold it 3 months ago for pittiful £3,500 back to the dealer. I wanted to cry...

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Thats terrible!!
The market for big petrol cars (and 4x4's) has collapsed by the look of it.
Not helped it has to be said by the price of fuel and the gov's intended hikes in Road tax.