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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Jim_mk7.5 on 11 June 2020, 13:57
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So I parked my GTI up last Thursday, awaiting collection as there's a backlog from Leaseplan at the moment so it's insured but can't be driven. Had a good little drive last week and I've done just over 14k in the 2 years.
If you don't like BMWs, stop reading now... :grin:
My new one was delivered today and got to say, very pleased with the choice. It's a 330e M Sport in Mineral Grey with privacy glass. I couldn't find any lease deals for the M Sport+ version so I'm on the 18s and no adaptive dampers, M brakes etc. But visually, I love it. The 330e seems to have larger brakes than the regular 3 Series so they do look quite beefy, guess they are needed as it will push out around 292bhp on Xtra Boost (petrol and electric working together). Only driven back from the office where it was delivered and did that in hybrid mode. Really quiet and lots of engine braking. As most of my normal driving is in town, think it's going to be a relaxing car to drive. And when run in, it should have a good turn of pace when needed - 0-62 is 5.9 and seen a guy who did some timing and got 5.5 to 60.
Inside is very nice and feels like a huge step up compared to the GTI. Not really had much chance to play around but its got the lastest Connected Drive with lots of tech and wireless Apple Play is standard so that's a nice feature. BMWs seem to be much better spec'd as standard these days so its got a fair bit of kit. Don't think the dash can be configured much but it seems to show everything you need. The iDrive controller is very simple to use and means you can do stuff on the move and the touch screen works very well.
Will be interesting to see how it is to live with. But as a company car driver, the immediate saving in BIK is massive for me and hopefully, once I can regularly charge overnight (we are moving in 4 weeks or so) then I'll be able to make the most of the expected 30-35 mile range using electric only. Also, the reviews seem to say once on the move, it doesn't suffer too much with the extra weight and they are renowned for good handling.
Here are a few snaps for anyone who interested.
(https://i.postimg.cc/6p4CqcBN/804489-A2-EA6-F-44-C6-8954-B3-AC7-CE5-D2-C6.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/VJ1JHjS7)
(https://i.postimg.cc/R0rKHt0J/AD2-E79-CF-DE84-48-AE-847-F-6-BA531-F91-B44.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/TK9K8pgT)
Been great on this forum and I can imagine coming back to a GTI or similar at some point... :smiley:
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Very nice.
Sorry you are off, I've enjoyed your posts :afro:
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Stick around Jim.
Massively biased but I much prefer the looks and size of the Golf, however the 3er will be a great place to spend driving time with a new experience of hybrid motoring coupled with the pleasurable knowledge of more money in your pocket courtesy of the taxman/lady/non-specific-gender
I and I’m sure many others would be keen to hear your ongoing experiences with the ‘e’
It’s kind of odd seeing the 330 badge knowing there is no inline six under the huge bonnet but the instant torque from the leccy motor should provide interesting performance even if the soundtrack is as absent as your company car tax!
I expect there is enough synthesised sound to make it feel like a 3.0 six from inside at least.
BMW’s are always nice solid feeling cars with interiors that are well executed and unmistakably BMW in feel. I’ve never heard a bad word said against iDrive either.
What is the petrol motor only BHP and torque figure? Is it an engine shared with a 1 series with the electric gubbins added?
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Jim, nice car but just because you have swapped from a VW to a BMW, doesn't mean you now need to forget how to use indicators, need to tailgate everyone and generally drive like a nob >:D >:D
I shame they are over £40k list, as it then attracts the £462 per year car tax for subsequent years for us private drivers.
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Looks great Jim, hope you are as pleased with it as the extra money in your bank account! Actually from those two pictures, it doesn't look much longer than the Golf or is that not the case? Anyway, your knowledge and experience even sans GTI will still be valued here and if you do pop by now and then it will give me hope that eventually I'll catch you at a weak moment and somehow get you to offer to detail my car! :laugh: :whistle: :smiley:
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Thanks guys... Sure I will stick around and lurk a bit!
Exonian - its only 181bhp on petrol alone so when the electric is gone, it certainly won't be too rapid. Not sure how it works out but 111bhp electric motor and combines to give around 250bhp with an Xtra Boost function that gives 290bhp (10 secs at a time!). Yes, even the 330i is a 2.0 litre these days. You can adjust the cabin noise so will be changing that depending on how it sounds when pressing on a bit in the Sport mode.
jv - Cheers!
SC - ha, my pet hate is bad driving and not indicating so I'm sure to be flying the flag for indicators! :grin:
Watts - it is a good bit longer - the Golf is actually still parked behind the Beemer! Yes, I'm sure we can sort some detailing at some point :smiley:
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Send us a review in a few weeks- it will be interesting to hear if you miss the drive in your golf, particularly on the great roads you have near you!
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Congrats Jim great looking 3. Having come from the last gen 3 I know exactly what you mean about the interior fit & finish. It is a step above that of VW, it might not be as exciting as the Golf but a very comfy relaxing place to cover some miles. :cool:
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Thanks guys... Sure I will stick around and lurk a bit!
Can we look forward to a rebrand, Jim_330e? :grin:
Does your car have a HUD? Interested in your opinion of it as I have tried it in an M2 and really liked it. Never understood why Volkswagen didn't embrace HUD and put it in their cars (until recently). The perfect blend of usability and tech for me is analog instrumentation combined with a HUD but manufacturers seem to have gone screentastic.
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Nice one Jim.
As a former company car man I understand the choice you made - you'd be daft not to.
Its not like you have ended up in a Zoe.
BMW is nice, the M135i is pretty similar inside and I really liked it. I guess thats the effect of it (and your BMW) being a current generation design. The Mk7 is a bit old skool now and we are still waiting for a Mk8....
Sure BMW is a safe choice, its a popular choice, its not left field or whatever but really a VW Golf being the most popular car ever, I don't think you are exactly being a radical by choosing one of them either.
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Looks great!
I think you will find the iDrive a huge step up from the golf. Its the one thing I wish I could have taken from my old m135 to my TCR. Much prefer the click wheel etc.
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I find BMW much better than VW, better driving position, solid quality cars, glad the GTi is my wifes :evil:
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Cheers for all the posts. Wanted to try and reply to everyone who'd posted.
Yusee - sure will do. Not got out properly yet but hoping to see how it handles the twisty stuff soon.
Niall - yes, the fit and finish and feel inside are excellent and the lack of stop-start around town when in hybrid make it very smooth and quiet.
AGB - Ha, might have to consider a name change! Not got HUD as wasn't able to get a car with any additional packages spec'd. The instruments are very clear and well laid out and enjoying the speed limit display in the dash rather than in the main screen on my GTI. It even flashes when you creep over as a reminder, so I'm told... :smiley:
Fred - makes a lot of sense for me as didn't want to just pick a plug-in for tax reasons alone so think this is a good compromise. Would agree that the 3 Series is certainly a car BMW never really get wrong. The interior is certainly newer than my Golf in terms of tech but it also feels very premium as well. The volume knob is proper aluminium and feels expensive. Not sure about wireless Carplay yet as it seems to just drop off sometimes and can be slow to respond. Plus I don't have wireless charging although being connected doesn't seem to hammer the phone battery.
CookieMonster - Definitely enjoying iDrive, the click wheel is very easy to use and the whole system simple to get to grips with from the off.
Jaceboy - it's got a great driving position, you sit quite low but it feels nice and the seats are good. Not been any distance yet so not sure how that will be but lots of my driving is short trips etc and this is where the 330e makes a lot of sense.
Actually had a sunny day yesterday and the colour and paintwork look great. Going to give it a once over with the rotary when I get chance and get a ceramic sealant on. I did really miss my Indium Grey GTI and parked next to my Tungsten one, I can see why and think grey does suit the 3 very well if perhaps a little boring.
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It's goodbye to my (Polo) GTI on Friday.
We have a Labrador on the way (1 week old, getting it in 7 weeks) and the kids are getting bigger, so made a decision that we need 1 big car in the household.
So I started doing a bit of research - discounted BMW3/4 Estates straight away - found the seating position of the 4 series awful when I got one as a courtesy car for my R's scuffed bumper ( so low, I felt like I was sat on the floor pan with very hard seats).
Was drawn to A4 Avant but looked at Tiguans/Q3s too. Decent boot volume on the SUVs, but mainly due to depth rather than footprint. A4 was a winner. Ridiculous RRPs, and huge initial depreciation made buying new an expensive proposition.
The car I settled on is £41.3k RRP, 11.5 months old but, but got it for £25.2k after haggling £600 off sticker price (I tried hard for more but it was competitively priced with others across the country and in stock on my doorstep at Newcastle Audi). Will take the PCP to score for 2 services and settle within 14 days. Got £15k for my Polo (offered the same by place that bought my R).
Only downside is the luxury road tax (my main tool for negotiating £600 off).
So Friday night I'll be in an Audi A4 Avant "40" TDI (2.0 190ps) S-line Quattro in Manhattan Grey, 10k miles and not a scratch on it (10k miles). Slightly boring, but still nippy and hugely practical.
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Skoda Superb estate no good for you Matt? Brilliant cars and mountains of space.
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Skoda Superb estate no good for you Matt? Brilliant cars and mountains of space.
I gave it a quick look, but only marginally lower RRP new than the A4 in same(ish) spec, but lower levels of discount and even higher initial depreciation %. Just like the A4, you'd be nuts buying new and taking that initial hit when 1 year old is 40% cheaper than RRP and then depreciation gets sensible after that.
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They had a used fully loaded L&K estate at Pulman Skoda not that long back. Looked like someone had ticked every box they could :grin:
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They had a used fully loaded L&K estate at Pulman Skoda not that long back. Looked like someone had ticked every box they could :grin:
I had nowt against the Skoda except the depreciation cost being marginally higher and the A4's interior is a big step up. Considered the Kodiaq too. Bottom spec Skoda vs bottom spec VW/Audi gap is significant, but once you go up the trim levels and the more expensive engines, adding Skoda's Quattro equivalent, there's about 10% in it which is eaten up by higher depreciation.
Higher depreciation on Skodas has always negated RRP savings vs VW/Audi for most models.
That fully loaded Skoda estate will lose someone a fortune if it's not a demo.
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It was 1 year old i think so already lost a big chunk.
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Mr MH proving as usual he's the sharpest accountant on this forum :laugh:
Good hit though, makes sense to this tight fisted Yorkshireman.
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They had a used fully loaded L&K estate at Pulman Skoda not that long back. Looked like someone had ticked every box they could :grin:
I had nowt against the Skoda except the depreciation cost being marginally higher and the A4's interior is a big step up. Considered the Kodiaq too. Bottom spec Skoda vs bottom spec VW/Audi gap is significant, but once you go up the trim levels and the more expensive engines, adding Skoda's Quattro equivalent, there's about 10% in it which is eaten up by higher depreciation.
Higher depreciation on Skodas has always negated RRP savings vs VW/Audi for most models.
That fully loaded Skoda estate will lose someone a fortune if it's not a demo.
Who buys at RRP prices these days? Most Audi's, VW's & Skoda's, etc, have anywhere between 10 and 20% discounts new. As do most other manufacturers.
Relating depreciation to RRP is a pointless exercise and it almost never matches reality.
As for Skoda's, we've always done really well at resale time. In the case of a Yeti, it actually only depreciated 28% from what we paid new over three years and 36K miles. Another vRS Octivia estate lost 51% of its new cost after nearly 4½ years & 48K miles. I'd be surprised if many Audi's and BMW's, etc. would have done any better.
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Jaceboy - it's got a great driving position, you sit quite low but it feels nice and the seats are good. Not been any distance yet so not sure how that will be but lots of my driving is short trips etc and this is where the 330e makes a lot of sense.
Take some time to get used to it, when I used to jump from my 3 series to my wife's GTI it felt such a high position, and I didnt feel sat 'in' the car, more like on top :undecided:
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With a Skoda vs Audi or VW, you do get a bigger car though in most cases.
A Superb estate has a bigger boot than an A6 Avant. A Kodiaq is bigger than a Tiguan and my Octavia had loads more room in the back and in the boot than my GTD does. I get that the modern day Skoda' s aren't as much of a bargain as they used to be, but it's a bit unfair to boil it down just to numbers and posh plastics. If practicality is top priority the Skoda range is pretty hard to beat on a £ per dm3 basis.
How does the depreciation of the Superb estate compare to the depreciation of an A6 Avant?
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They had a used fully loaded L&K estate at Pulman Skoda not that long back. Looked like someone had ticked every box they could :grin:
I had nowt against the Skoda except the depreciation cost being marginally higher and the A4's interior is a big step up. Considered the Kodiaq too. Bottom spec Skoda vs bottom spec VW/Audi gap is significant, but once you go up the trim levels and the more expensive engines, adding Skoda's Quattro equivalent, there's about 10% in it which is eaten up by higher depreciation.
Higher depreciation on Skodas has always negated RRP savings vs VW/Audi for most models.
That fully loaded Skoda estate will lose someone a fortune if it's not a demo.
Who buys at RRP prices these days? Most Audi's, VW's & Skoda's, etc, have anywhere between 10 and 20% discounts new. As do most other manufacturers.
Relating depreciation to RRP is a pointless exercise and it almost never matches reality.
As for Skoda's, we've always done really well at resale time. In the case of a Yeti, it actually only depreciated 28% from what we paid new over three years and 36K miles. Another vRS Octivia estate lost 51% of its new cost after nearly 4½ years & 48K miles. I'd be surprised if many Audi's and BMW's, etc. would have done any better.
Relating depreciation to RRP isn't pointless - it adds context to the reason to buy new or not buy new. Buying a £40k RRP car new that'll be worth 60% of RRP after less than a year is nuts, unless you're getting a 30+% discount.
My last 11 cars have been bought brand new because they've been slow and steady depreciators, bought with 12-16% discount and still worth more than half RRP at 3 years old.
Almost all big cars (including the Skoda Superb ad Audi A4) are bought new by fleet at big discounts, rather than with private money, and plummet in value initially.
My experience when viewing the alternatives to Golf GTD/GTI/R etc within the VAG umbrella has been that it's just not worth buying a new Skoda or Seat over the VW or Audi equivalent because the lower RRP has been countered with lower levels of discount and higher levels of expected depreciation.
If an Octavia VRS is similarly equipped to a Golf GTI, but RRP (or for used, current selling price at the same age) is £5k less, is it a cheaper car? Yes and no. If you can get £1k bigger discount on the Golf and it's worth £5k more 3 years down the line, you're better off with the Golf.
Same principle applies to the Superb vs the A4 when I was doing my research about what big cars to consider.
Right now, if I were to buy either car, we're pitching an A4 Avant 190TDI Quattro S-line S-Tronic against a Skoda Superb Estate Sportline Plus 190TDI 4x4 DSG.
The Skoda has an RRP of £40740, has a 4 year GFV of £11394, and if you shop around, you can get about £8k off a brand new one, or £10k off a pre-registered one with a few hundred miles. A 9-12 month old one is £24k.
The Audi has an RRP of £41300, has a 4 year GFV of £15780, and if you shop around, you can get about £8k off a brand new one, or £10k off a pre-registered one with a few hundred miles. A 9-12 month old one is £25.5k.
They have similar levels of tech/spec.
So you can see above, if you buy new or pre-reg, the initial hit is about the same for both cars. Buying a year old and keeping for 3 years, you're going to be a grand a year better off with the slightly dearer A4. The interior (not just talking about door card plastics here, but seats, dash etc.) is far nicer on the A4, but mechanically they're the same.
Unless you massively prefer the exterior looks of the Superb over the A4 (I think they both look ok,- hard to get excited about a barge of a car like these are - not a fan of the Skoda front grille shape), why would you buy the Superb in preference?
Cheapest car isn't necessarily the cheapest car if you think about what it costs you over the time you have it. I picked that A4 over the competition because it'll lose me £3k a year in depreciation and I liked it more than anything else in the same segment at price point. The Skoda would cost me more than that.
The Yeti does hold its value well - it's a niche car that's far more popular on the used market than the rest of the range. Most marques have a car that bucks the depreciation trend - for Ford it used to be the Puma, Fiat has the 500, I did very well out of my Sciroccos vs what the MK6 Golf was fetching.
If I could get the Skoda for a grand a year less depreciation than the A4, I might've picked the Skoda, but that's not the case.
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With a Skoda vs Audi or VW, you do get a bigger car though in most cases.
A Superb estate has a bigger boot than an A6 Avant. A Kodiaq is bigger than a Tiguan and my Octavia had loads more room in the back and in the boot than my GTD does. I get that the modern day Skoda' s aren't as much of a bargain as they used to be, but it's a bit unfair to boil it down just to numbers and posh plastics. If practicality is top priority the Skoda range is pretty hard to beat on a £ per dm3 basis.
How does the depreciation of the Superb estate compare to the depreciation of an A6 Avant?
When you don't have a super strong preference for either car, and they're basically the same under the skin, you do play the numbers game. Putting the 2 next to each other at even the same cost to own, i'd pick the A4 because the seats and dash look miles better on the A4.
Skoda can play the "you're getting a bargain" card at the lower end of their car ranges, but when the Skoda is pennies cheaper to buy to start with (as is the case with Superb vs A4 on a like-for-like engine/trim) and loses more money, you've got to really want the Skoda to end up paying more for it overall. The superb has a bigger boot (I had a saloon one as a hire car once and I could've almost laid out in the back of the boot), but the A4's boot is big enough for my needs.
I did consider the Kodiaq and Tiguan, but wasn't really keen going down the SUV route.
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With a Skoda vs Audi or VW, you do get a bigger car though in most cases.
A Superb estate has a bigger boot than an A6 Avant. A Kodiaq is bigger than a Tiguan and my Octavia had loads more room in the back and in the boot than my GTD does. I get that the modern day Skoda' s aren't as much of a bargain as they used to be, but it's a bit unfair to boil it down just to numbers and posh plastics. If practicality is top priority the Skoda range is pretty hard to beat on a £ per dm3 basis.
How does the depreciation of the Superb estate compare to the depreciation of an A6 Avant?
When you don't have a super strong preference for either car, and they're basically the same under the skin, you do play the numbers game. Putting the 2 next to each other at even the same cost to own, i'd pick the A4 because the seats and dash look miles better on the A4.
Skoda can play the "you're getting a bargain" card at the lower end of their car ranges, but when the Skoda is pennies cheaper to buy to start with (as is the case with Superb vs A4 on a like-for-like engine/trim) and loses more money, you've got to really want the Skoda to end up paying more for it overall. The superb has a bigger boot (I had a saloon one as a hire car once and I could've almost laid out in the back of the boot), but the A4's boot is big enough for my needs.
I did consider the Kodiaq and Tiguan, but wasn't really keen going down the SUV route.
I see what you're saying. My point though was that even though they may be based on the same chassis, the Skoda's are always half a size up from VW or Audi. So if you really needed the boot space of a Superb but wanted 4 rings on the bonnet, then an A4 isn't going to cut it. But if the space isn't so important, then why not at least consider an Octavia estate. Not much smaller than an A4 (the boot is actually bigger), but ££££ cheaper.
Then there are other factors too; the cost of options, the cost of servicing. Both more expensive with Audi.
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No harm to Skoda, but I don't think I'd go into that much detail to justify choosing an A4 over a Superb (as good as it is).
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No harm to Skoda, but I don't think I'd go into that much detail to justify choosing an A4 over a Superb (as good as it is).
If you have teenage kids or a big dog the superb is what you need we have an A4 avant and it’s tiny compared to a mates superb that was only car suited for him as his kids are really tall
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Yeah, I can see if you need the extra space that Superb might do the trick.
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I see what you're saying. My point though was that even though they may be based on the same chassis, the Skoda's are always half a size up from VW or Audi. So if you really needed the boot space of a Superb but wanted 4 rings on the bonnet, then an A4 isn't going to cut it. But if the space isn't so important, then why not at least consider an Octavia estate. Not much smaller than an A4 (the boot is actually bigger), but ££££ cheaper.
Then there are other factors too; the cost of options, the cost of servicing. Both more expensive with Audi.
I'd considered size, the A4 is big enough for us, an extra 4 or 6" length on the boot won't matter to me. The wife probably won't touch it as it is (it was hard enough to get her to drive the Golf R, when she had her A1) because it's too big for her, a Superb wouldn't help that issue.
If i'd wanted bigger again, it could've been a toss up between the Superb and an A6, as the price difference between a nearly new A4 and A6 at same engine/trim level is tiny - the A6 has an even heavier initial depreciation, but they're a lot rarer on the used forecourt.
Buying nearly new (first time in a very long time), options aren't a consideration unless I wanted to retro-fit. I'm buying outright. I own the Polo outright and I've just about scraped together the other £10200 needed for the cost to change. However, the current Audi solutions used deal is that you get 2 free services, so I've gone for the finance and will withdraw for the finance deal next week and retain the free services. Out of warranty, there is a good VAG Indy nearby who i'd use for servicing.
The kids are 5 and 7, so they're not hugely tall, there's loads of rear legroom and headroom for them.
Just got reamed for insurance though. On the comparison websites, my current insurer "quotemehappy" comes in at around £440 vs £280 paid for the Polo to November. With that in mind, was thinking that i'd have to put in about £50. They have decided that annual policy would be £632, so they want £129 off me to Nov. No reason for the huge disparity and other insurers coming in at about £380 so i'll kick quotemehappy into touch at renewal time.
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Just got reamed for insurance though. On the comparison websites, my current insurer "quotemehappy" comes in at around £440 vs £280 paid for the Polo to November. With that in mind, was thinking that i'd have to put in about £50. They have decided that annual policy would be £632, so they want £129 off me to Nov. No reason for the huge disparity and other insurers coming in at about £380 so i'll kick quotemehappy into touch at renewal time.
Ended up with QMH for the Beemer as they were cheapest but tried to change the start date due to a slight delay getting the car and it was almost impossible to do and had to resort to a Tweet to get a response!
They really have you over a barrel with any changes mid policy, it's one of the things that makes me hate almost all insurances companies no matter what it is you are trying to insure. I was with LV for 2 years on the GTI. We moved house and it jumped up by £150 (On a £450 policy) but to be fair, we had moved closer to the city centre. I tried to argue that the risk must be lower as the car was more secure overnight and I was doing fewer miles but it's a pointless exercise.
The only company I've had a positive experience with is Hastings for my Ducati. They are the cheapest I can find and 2 years on the trot now their renewal has come in cheaper than the current year. Just renewing now and their price was even cheaper than their own price on Compare the market which never happens!
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^ The insurance companies are going to make bumper profits this year as most drivers mileage has been slashed with COVID-19. I've only seen 1 car accident in the last 3 months, I used to see one 2 or 3 times a week. Hopefully (hugely optimistic) they'll reflect that in reasonable premiums on next renewal.
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^ The insurance companies are going to make bumper profits this year as most drivers mileage has been slashed with COVID-19. I've only seen 1 car accident in the last 3 months, I used to see one 2 or 3 times a week. Hopefully (hugely optimistic) they'll reflect that in reasonable premiums on next renewal.
You'd hope there would be a lot fewer accidents but with more people come back onto the roads, some of the driving I've seen is really bad. Not picking on delivery drivers especially but lots of small old cars been driven around with almost zero driving ability. One turned in front me to pull park on my side of the road outside a pizza shop the other week when I was riding my bike up the main road. I was only doing 30 and had brake to avoid him as he did it last minute after the car in front had passed him. :rolleyes:
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My good friend and neighbour is an insurance assessor for one of the bigger UK car insurance companies (who shall remain nameless) and he told me a week or so ago that they were creaming it in, and their Q2 profits were the best that had ever been seen. Obviously as MH says, they have you over a barrel as unless you SORN your car, you must have insurance for it, even if over the last 4 months people have hardly used them. When I sarcastically said to him would they be lowering their premiums them, he just looked at me with a rye smile and said "what do you think"
Interestingly as well he told me that during the middle of the pandemic, due to all the body shops being closed, there were a far greater amount of customers vehicles being written off and paid out on (even though in normal times they were more than economical repair costs), due to not being able to get them repaired or get parts. He said that means a lot of his body-shops and their holding centres, will be having a lot of lightly damaged, repairable cars entering the used car market in the weeks and months to come, as Cat C or D write offs.
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My good friend and neighbour is an insurance assessor for one of the bigger UK car insurance companies (who shall remain nameless) and he told me a week or so ago that they were creaming it in, and their Q2 profits were the best that had ever been seen. Obviously as MH says, they have you over a barrel as unless you SORN your car, you must have insurance for it, even if over the last 4 months people have hardly used them. When I sarcastically said to him would they be lowering their premiums them, he just looked at me with a rye smile and said "what do you think"
Interestingly as well he told me that during the middle of the pandemic, due to all the body shops being closed, there were a far greater amount of customers vehicles being written off and paid out on (even though in normal times they were more than economical repair costs), due to not being able to get them repaired or get parts. He said that means a lot of his body-shops and their holding centres, will be having a lot of lightly damaged, repairable cars entering the used car market in the weeks and months to come, as Cat C or D write offs.
Not one of the body shops I’ve worked in take anything to do with selling salvage cars they all go to the insurers preferred salvage company i.e copart or northern salvage and I’ve seen stuff written off for the smallest of bumps it’s a cost driven business
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The annoying thing with writeoffs is that the repair cost they compare to the (under) book value to make the decision includes all sorts of numbers.
If you imagine that a bodyshop is paid £2500 for a scraped plastic colour matched bumper you are living in a dream world.
The "cost" includes a massive backhander to the insurance company itself. Basically the bodyshop pays to be an insurer approved agent with every repair they do.
Which is why car insurance is so expensive.
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The annoying thing with writeoffs is that the repair cost they compare to the (under) book value to make the decision includes all sorts of numbers.
If you imagine that a bodyshop is paid £2500 for a scraped plastic colour matched bumper you are living in a dream world.
The "cost" includes a massive backhander to the insurance company itself. Basically the bodyshop pays to be an insurer approved agent with every repair they do.
Which is why car insurance is so expensive.
If the body shops paying the insurance company then who’s paying the body shop :undecided:
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The insurer.... the fee is built into the quote and the bodyshop receives the money minus the fee which is withheld.
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My good friend and neighbour is an insurance assessor for one of the bigger UK car insurance companies (who shall remain nameless) and he told me a week or so ago that they were creaming it in, and their Q2 profits were the best that had ever been seen. Obviously as MH says, they have you over a barrel as unless you SORN your car, you must have insurance for it, even if over the last 4 months people have hardly used them. When I sarcastically said to him would they be lowering their premiums them, he just looked at me with a rye smile and said "what do you think"
Even if you SORN your car, you still need to insure it (laid up cover). A SORN car is still at risk of being stolen, and there’s a legal requirement to have insurance against the risk of it causing injury or damage to third parties or their property - e.g.
- potential injury claim if someone with impaired eyesight happens to walk into a SORN car while it’s parked up
- potential property damage claim if a SORN car is parked up on a slope, the parking brake fails and the car rolls into another person’s property
On the subject of partial premium refunds for people who weren’t using their cars at the height of lockdown (like Admiral did), I have a contact in one of the major insurance companies (who shall also remain nameless) and I asked them if that company were considering following Admiral’s approach. They told me they weren’t, but ‘premium rates would increase less than normal next year‘. Yeh, and pigs might fly.............. :grin:
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Even if you SORN your car, you still need to insure it (laid up cover). A SORN car is still at risk of being stolen, and there’s a legal requirement to have insurance against the risk of it causing injury or damage to third parties or their property - e.g.
- potential injury claim if someone with impaired eyesight happens to walk into a SORN car while it’s parked up
- potential property damage claim if a SORN car is parked up on a slope, the parking brake fails and the car rolls into another person’s property
If the car's SORNed, surely it has to be sat on private land? If it's on a public road or kerbside, it needs to be taxed. With that in mind, i'd expect insurance to be optional if you own the car (if it's leased or PCPed its not really yours and they require you to insure it) and it's on your land.
With that in mind, i'd be a bit miffed if a short sighted trespasser or burglar scaled my fence and tripped up over my car on the way to breaking into the house! :grin:
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Even if you SORN your car, you still need to insure it (laid up cover). A SORN car is still at risk of being stolen, and there’s a legal requirement to have insurance against the risk of it causing injury or damage to third parties or their property - e.g.
- potential injury claim if someone with impaired eyesight happens to walk into a SORN car while it’s parked up
- potential property damage claim if a SORN car is parked up on a slope, the parking brake fails and the car rolls into another person’s property
If the car's SORNed, surely it has to be sat on private land? If it's on a public road or kerbside, it needs to be taxed. With that in mind, i'd expect insurance to be optional if you own the car (if it's leased or PCPed its not really yours and they require you to insure it) and it's on your land.
With that in mind, i'd be a bit miffed if a short sighted trespasser or burglar scaled my fence and tripped up over my car on the way to breaking into the house! :grin:
My GTI is sat awaiting collection in our apartment car park. Re-insured it for just Fire and Theft only. £106 for a the year and it doesn't use your no claims bonus so started a new policy on my 330e. No need for any third party cover.
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Even if you SORN your car, you still need to insure it (laid up cover). A SORN car is still at risk of being stolen, and there’s a legal requirement to have insurance against the risk of it causing injury or damage to third parties or their property - e.g.
- potential injury claim if someone with impaired eyesight happens to walk into a SORN car while it’s parked up
- potential property damage claim if a SORN car is parked up on a slope, the parking brake fails and the car rolls into another person’s property
There's no legal requirement in the UK to have insurance for third parties entering your property.
If the postman trips over something on my path and decides to take me to court, sure, insurance is a good idea, but its not a legal requirement.
As for my SORN car causing damage... again, not a legal requirement.
If it rolled onto the road, I'd be legally liable but not in trouble for not having it insured for the road.
Stolen? My loss, again no legal requirement to be reinbersed for the value.
Stolen and used as a car bomb to kill 27 kids, 4 nuns and 6 (cute) kittens? No, my insurance doesn't cover drivers not listed on the policy, its their fault, not mine.
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Even if you SORN your car, you still need to insure it (laid up cover). A SORN car is still at risk of being stolen, and there’s a legal requirement to have insurance against the risk of it causing injury or damage to third parties or their property - e.g.
- potential injury claim if someone with impaired eyesight happens to walk into a SORN car while it’s parked up
- potential property damage claim if a SORN car is parked up on a slope, the parking brake fails and the car rolls into another person’s property
There's no legal requirement in the UK to have insurance for third parties entering your property.
If the postman trips over something on my path and decides to take me to court, sure, insurance is a good idea, but its not a legal requirement.
As for my SORN car causing damage... again, not a legal requirement.
If it rolled onto the road, I'd be legally liable but not in trouble for not having it insured for the road.
Stolen? My loss, again no legal requirement to be reinbersed for the value.
Stolen and used as a car bomb to kill 27 kids, 4 nuns and 6 (cute) kittens? No, my insurance doesn't cover drivers not listed on the policy, its their fault, not mine.
My mistake :embarrassed: - apologies, no legal requirement to cover third party injury or damage risks on a SORN vehicle, but as you say, it’s a good idea.
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Had my last spirited drive of the Polo GTI in an effort to hand over to the Audi garage with just fumes in the tank.
Here's my A4:-
(https://i.ibb.co/7zYqKL5/fronta4s.jpg) (https://ibb.co/9v87WSL)
(https://i.ibb.co/FqkKh9K/backsidea4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/84n0mJ0)
(https://i.ibb.co/Jnqgtnb/sidea4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7vQLCvT)
(https://i.ibb.co/SNgwTT7/interior1a4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Zdrzss1)
(https://i.ibb.co/ZWHPynY/interior2a4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3BfqtDM)
It certainly feels odd having no "new car" smell, might have to buy a black marker scented air freshener to make up for it! :grin:
Getting used to the MMI dial and press unit rather than touch screen. A lot of the little things on there are quite flash, but will be a PITA if they fail, little things like the electric withdrawal of the cargo cover over the boot when you open the boot, and the electric closing mechanism for the boot.
Diesel power delivery is a welcome return for me, that initial diesel torque shove makes the car feel quicker than it probably is.
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That’s really nice :smiley:
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That’s really nice :smiley:
The lighting was a bit iffy last night when I took those pics, we'd been having hot rain - dark clouds, light rain then massive evaporation from the hot pavement - there was water vapour billowing from the pavement.
I don't think the pics captured the colour well - its like Anthracite grey. Really pleased with the car and overall condition. £475 car tax is a kick to the balls though!
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Lovely car Monkeyhanger and fantastic view of the Tyne :smiley:, this would be my choice if I needed more space.
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Lovely car Monkeyhanger and fantastic view of the Tyne :smiley:, this would be my choice if I needed more space.
That's the end of my street. It's a great car, but less consistent on the mpg than the Polo GTI is. It does 30mpg on short journeys around the doors and 55mpg on my commute (drive down to see a cousin very close to work this morning). I'd forgotten how thirsty diesels can be until they've warmed up.
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That Audi looks like a nice car. Is the Virtual Cockpit still on an extremely expensive option on the A4?
Mine got it's first clean today, which turned out to be a 4-hour detail.. :smiley:
(https://i.postimg.cc/1XNjJXYT/ni-Hqdw-WCSROBbf1-VX556-TQ.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/q64w7JrX)
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That pic of your bmw makes me bit jealous
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Was the factory fresh paint in fairly good condition Jim?
The ‘e’ looks nice in that colour sat in the sunshine :cool:
Nice Audi too MH.
That was a surprise to see you swapping out the Polo but i don’t think you warmed to that one as much as the first one(?).
With numbers being so similar I’d have gone for the Audi over the Skoda too owing to the interior being such a nice place to sit.
You didn’t fancy a manual version then?! :grin:
Was a GTD Variant not on your radar or did I miss something a page or two back?
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Was the factory fresh paint in fairly good condition Jim?
The ‘e’ looks nice in that colour sat in the sunshine :cool:
Nice Audi too MH.
That was a surprise to see you swapping out the Polo but i don’t think you warmed to that one as much as the first one(?).
With numbers being so similar I’d have gone for the Audi over the Skoda too owing to the interior being such a nice place to sit.
You didn’t fancy a manual version then?! :grin:
Was a GTD Variant not on your radar or did I miss something a page or two back?
The paint was pretty good to be fair. If I’d have more time I’d have machine polished it but I used AF Tripple which I find gives a really good finish and then popped on a single coat of ceramic sealant. There were a couple of small marks which came off but paint now feels very smooth and got a good depth of shine.
That pic of your bmw makes me bit jealous
:grin: Must say, a very different car to the GTI but I am really enjoying it and definitely picked the right colour :smiley:
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Looks very smart Jim :smiley: Are you enjoying the change?
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Looks very smart Jim :smiley: Are you enjoying the change?
I am to be honest. Haven’t got back to the office yet so no regular commutes but it really excels round town or in traffic where is just a great place to be.
Did open it up a bit last night going to over to some friends a BBQ and you can definitely feel the weight in the corners, certainly not like GTI but it shifts! Not a great noise unfortunately and my GTI with the res delete did sound so much better.
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That Audi looks like a nice car. Is the Virtual Cockpit still on an extremely expensive option on the A4?
I think it's standard on the facelift that's just happened, but it's not something anyone seemed to have readily specced 2016-2019. The analogue dials are nice and the MFD display between the dials is quite big, but i'd have had the virtual dash for nowt if there were enough cars to pick from! :grin:
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Nice Audi too MH.
That was a surprise to see you swapping out the Polo but i don’t think you warmed to that one as much as the first one(?).
With numbers being so similar I’d have gone for the Audi over the Skoda too owing to the interior being such a nice place to sit.
You didn’t fancy a manual version then?! :grin:
Was a GTD Variant not on your radar or did I miss something a page or two back?
Another model where manual is hard to find.
I looked nationally at the used A4s and would've driven 200 miles for the right one, but if you get Quattro, it must have 7 Speed S-tronic (DSG). Wasn't too bothered about Quattro, but anything above base spec seemed to have Quattro option ticked.
Anything nationally that wasn't Quattro or DSG seemed to be bare bones basic with 150ps TDI or TSI engine that'll be worked hard a lot of the time.
I had a shortlist of 4 cars nationally and one was right on my doorstep with 2 in Crewe/Liverpool and one in Birmingham. They were pretty similar in spec, the one in Newcastle was lowest mileage, a few hundred quid cheaper and had 19" wheels, in a colour that was as good as any other on offer. I managed to beat the salesman down £600 citing the luxury VED tax being off-putting (everything else in my shortlist crossed that threshold too) - if you get an A4 with more than 150ps in S-line trim and above, if you add metallic paint then you've crossed that threshold. I got exactly what I wanted for the Polo in px, the same as was offered by the place that bought my R. Cost to change was £10200. The quoted GFV for 3 years time was coming out at £9200 less than the amount I paid , effectively losing £256 a month if offered only GFV in p/x down the line. That's very reasonable for the car - the hard depreciation is done.
The luxury tax thing is so avoidable - if the car companies were honest with RRPs reflecting realistic purchase price after discount, you'd have a lot of cars avoiding it. The new RRP on my A4 is £41.3k. There's not a cat in hell's chance anyone paid more than £35k for it new, probably closer to £32k going off DTD new prices.
On the other hand, the Government should be increasing the threshold in line with inflation, as they are raising your VED year on year.
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Not so long ago before the Germans started chasing the fleet markets it was fairly normal to pay more or less list price for a German car knowing the resale values were cast iron (assuming you didn’t spec a hideous colour).
Profit margins were therefore higher, which meant quality was higher and the factories probably made at least as good €€€€ as now.
Maybe the unions were less happy as less volume meant less overtime and less employees too (therefore lower union subs).
Maybe it’s to do with interest rates being low meaning they have to shift more volume of credit agreements, or maybe the markets are so cut-throat now that they’re scared another manufacturer will jump in and steal sales.
More realistic list prices now would address the stupid tax threshold, you’re right. I hope manufacturers are taking notice as it’ll only take one volume marque to realign list prices and reduce discounting for others to follow.
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^ Yes, BMW were the first German marque to start chasing fleet sales. As soon as they did that, they killed residuals across the range. Then Merc, then Audi.
Excluding the 1 series, going rate discount on new BMWs is about 25% off list through brokers like "coast2coast cars", chances are, decent sized fleet buyers are probably getting another 10% off if they buy 5+ at a time.
A mate of mine lives in Dresden and up until rlabout 10 years ago, the concensus over there was - Mercs are taxis, BMWs are police cars and private buyers buy VWs or Audis.
There are certain narques where you'd struggle to get more than a set of floor mats and a full tank of fuel when buying new enquiries made with Kia, Hyundai, Skoda and Seat have been pretty much a straight refusal of any meaningful discount. Any offers on those marques generally seem to be coming from the manufacturer rather than getting a bit of the dealership's margin. Maybe sales volume incentives are just so much less with those.
I remember looking at Leon Cupras when chopping in my MK5 Golf 170TDI. The salesman baulked at the mention of discount and pretty much wanted me committed to buy the car before he'd let me test-drive it. I took one look at the hideously cheap interior and declined.
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I know everyone here is a salesmans worst nightmare, but I'd expect enough people pay close enough to rrp that it is still worth it...
I've tried pushing for broker level discount many many times and never get anywhere near it over the desk. Even showing them the quote from the broker they still stick at a grand off and a free paint protection as their final offer.
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List prices are an irrelevance for many buyers these days. They either PCP, or lease, or buy used to avoid the worst of the depreciation.
For those leasing or PCP'ing, your typical punter just looks at whether or not the monthly payment is affordable.
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Of course you need to be able to afford it but if my budget is five hundred a month, I'd still sooner pay four hundred a month and that's entirely dependent on what the agreed purchase price is.. Whether its cash or PCP or hp. Lease is the only time purchase price is irrelevant and pch is still not common...
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Of course you need to be able to afford it but if my budget is five hundred a month, I'd still sooner pay four hundred a month and that's entirely dependent on what the agreed purchase price is.. Whether its cash or PCP or hp. Lease is the only time purchase price is irrelevant and pch is still not common...
Buying outright, my aim is about £250 a month these days (for each of 2 cars). Given the amount of interest on PCPs generally, £250 a month depreciation on a cash buy probably amounts to almost £400 a month PCP. at 6% APR.
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That's because you're savvy. Not everyone is.
I recall my last visit to a VW showroom to negotiate a purchase. The salesman wasn't interested in telling me how much discount he was giving me, he simply wanted to know what my monthly budget was and he would make it suit.
Lots of people buy their car like this. We don't because we know better, but it's why dealers still have fancy showrooms and why people still ask whether companies like Drive The Deal are legit.
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But how can he make a hp or PCP deal "suit"?
He can't change the interest, he can't change the gfv (for PCP), all he can change is the agreed price...
I suppose he can try to tempt you into taking four years rather than three and hope you are daft?
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But how can he make a hp or PCP deal "suit"?
He can't change the interest, he can't change the gfv (for PCP), all he can change is the agreed price...
I suppose he can try to tempt you into taking four years rather than three and hope you are daft?
There's 4 years instead of 3, as you suggest (more and more people seem to be doing this as prices go up and up), or alternatively, if the salesperson gets you a deal that can come out at £380pm and you've said you have a £400 budget, they'll make damn sure they find a way to get you to spend the other £20pm by slipping in a high commission product like lifeshine or gap.
My favoured salesman at Pulman told me he'd make £41 commission on my Golf R , but he makes £60 on every lifeshine he sells or manages to give "free" if there's enough margin left on your deal to do so.
Another way to clinch the deal is variable GFV. Not seen this at VW, but saw it going on at Audi when we bought the wife's A1. We took finance to score for the deposit contribution and settle within 14 days. I was playing along as an interested PCP buyer. He was pushing the "hiw much a month can you afford?" angle and I said if the deals right, the monthlies look after themselves. He increased the GFV figure by £600 to save £15pm, but I bet there's a flag on the system to remind them to offer very little equity at p/x time.
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I didn't think gfv was set by a dealer, it was set by vwfs...
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I didn't think gfv was set by a dealer, it was set by vwfs...
I was surprised myself (as I'd never seen it done by VW dealers), but the Audi salesman definitely had movement threshold on the GFV. He upped GFV by £600 rather than discount by £600 to get close to DTD figure I had.
The initial and revised GFV used didn't match the one on the website for finance examples.
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Maximum Gloss level now :cool:
(https://i.postimg.cc/ryN1p7Q2/fullsizeoutput-4c1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/8ssJKK2Z)
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I didn't think gfv was set by a dealer, it was set by vwfs...
I was surprised myself (as I'd never seen it done by VW dealers), but the Audi salesman definitely had movement threshold on the GFV. He upped GFV by £600 rather than discount by £600 to get close to DTD figure I had.
The initial and revised GFV used didn't match the one on the website for finance examples.
I am sure that you understand that emperilling the equity in a PCP deal reduces the chance of getting a serial PCP customer, which is pretty much the point of PCP. "oh look you already have the deposit for a new car and the monthlies are the same - no brainer, buy a new car from us!"
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I didn't think gfv was set by a dealer, it was set by vwfs...
I was surprised myself (as I'd never seen it done by VW dealers), but the Audi salesman definitely had movement threshold on the GFV. He upped GFV by £600 rather than discount by £600 to get close to DTD figure I had.
The initial and revised GFV used didn't match the one on the website for finance examples.
Dealers have absolutely no control over VW GFV's. It's set by VWFS centrally and built into the algorithms used for their forecasting. The finance tool they use can be altered manually (which he may have shown you), but that manual change gets put into grey and is for illustration purposes, it cannot be set. If a BM wants to change a GFV they have to go directly to VWFS, but I've never known of them agreeing to anything as it upsets the car's value later down the line especially as margins are very small these days. The dealer/BM normally just hides the money in the PX or discount given etc etc so it levels out to the agreed 'cost to change' amount overall.
The only way a GFV can be directly manipulated by a dealer is by them offering another product from another provider such as Black Horse finance where they work with that provider to tailor the finance accordingly. Blackhorse in essence give them stretch bands to work in for GFV's.
:)
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I didn't think gfv was set by a dealer, it was set by vwfs...
I was surprised myself (as I'd never seen it done by VW dealers), but the Audi salesman definitely had movement threshold on the GFV. He upped GFV by £600 rather than discount by £600 to get close to DTD figure I had.
The initial and revised GFV used didn't match the one on the website for finance examples.
Dealers have absolutely no control over VW GFV's. It's set by VWFS centrally and built into the algorithms used for their forecasting. The finance tool they use can be altered manually (which he may have shown you), but that manual change gets put into grey and is for illustration purposes, it cannot be set. If a BM wants to change a GFV they have to go directly to VWFS, but I've never known of them agreeing to anything as it upsets the car's value later down the line especially as margins are very small these days. The dealer/BM normally just hides the money in the PX or discount given etc etc so it levels out to the agreed 'cost to change' amount overall.
The only way a GFV can be directly manipulated by a dealer is by them offering another product from another provider such as Black Horse finance where they work with that provider to tailor the finance accordingly. Blackhorse in essence give them stretch bands to work in for GFV's.
:)
I can only tell you what happened with me. The Audi guy was able to manipulate the GFV upwards to the tune of £600 on an Audi solutions agreement rather than give me the £600 discount I wanted. It happened.
Never known VW do it or be able to do it, ever (7 new VWs PCPed).
I don't know how he did it, perhaps taking into account options on the order that weren't accounted for previously? There were £1700 of options on that car.
As Fred has said (and I was fully aware of - these GFVs are usually well on the cautious side so you always have "equity" (you'll only see that equity at another VW or Audi garage, they can get the most for your car on the used forecourt) to hook you into buying another.
I have p/xed 7 VWs on PCP into another and have never failed to get at least 115% of the GFV, so even upping the GFV in this case on a car that had an unmanipulated 3 year GFV of £8700, getting to £9300 is not going to make a loss for the dealership for Audi/VW FS.
I can only assume that there are discretionary allowances visible to the salesperson that are almost never exercised. I have no other explanation for what definitely did happen.
Are margins that small for used cars?
Whenever I've chopped a car in, it is up for 25% more than I got in p/x. If you chop in early enough, there's still at least a year's warranty they don't gave to pay for, they usually leave cosmetic damage alone (I once saw a used Viper Green Scirocco for sale at Pulmans that had aftermarket wheels that were scraped to hell and one was visibly buckled - they didn't rectify out of their own pocket to make it more saleable, but they'll have offered the bare minimum they could in p/x no doubt). Add to that, if you do buy on finance there's a juicy kickback with that hefty 10% APR. Plenty of money to be made on an approved used car.
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Maximum Gloss level now :cool:
(https://i.postimg.cc/ryN1p7Q2/fullsizeoutput-4c1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/8ssJKK2Z)
I need to get mine properly polished up once I sort 2 bonnet stone chips. Nice.
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It literally was Bye Bye GTI today as it was finally collected.
No damage so straight forward collection. Two wheels had small scrapes on which he was fine with and white worm was on 2 or 3 of the wheels, quite bad on one in particular.
The 'e' is looking better now with the OEM gloss black grill and some new plates on :cool:
Before:
(https://i.postimg.cc/25BrLqKJ/fullsizeoutput-4b2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/HJHffLH4)
After:
(https://i.postimg.cc/hj3bwQPg/fullsizeoutput-4c3.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/R6KHJFHb)
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Warning - Non-Golf chat!
So I'm 4 months into 'e' ownership and thought I'd do a little summary as I'm sure there are a few people who may be interested (or not... :whistle:).
I've only done just over 2100 miles since it arrived in June, mainly due to working from home a lot and not many client meetings that aren't via video calls. But living with the 330e is very easy.
What do I like? The quietness, which I wasn't expecting as I made the GTi even louder with the res delete but as most trips are mainly around Sheffield, its very relaxing to drive especially in traffic. Not having stop-start is amazing and you just creep along in traffic with no fuss or noise. The cabin is excellent and the iDrive is so easy to use and having the rotary dial as well as the touch screen means you can do everything you need on the move without losing concentration. As the weather has turned, the a mbient lighting is briiliant and gives the interior a real lift making it feel very high end for what is a fairly low-level BM. The cost - my monthly company car tax bill has dropped by at least £200 plus my fuel bill is much lower as well. Now we have moved house I can make use of charging overnight as for the first 2 month I was unable to charge it much. Even still, it's averaged 59.9 in the 2100 miles I've done, of which over 1200 have been on electric.
Wireless Carplay - this is decent but tends to crash the first time you ask it do something such as get Siri to make a call. Then it reconnects and is fine after that. You can plug in and there are no issues so need to get that looked at.
On street parking and some council carparks are free in Sheffield for low emmission cars which is a bonus!
It also shifts. I haven't had many opportunities to really stretch it legs but we were away in Norfolk last week and coming out of the some of the villages, the acceleration was very impressive. It would certainly give the GTI a run for its money in that situation when it's using the full 290bhp. Still managed 66mpg over the 450 miles we covered in the week. Corners - probably not keeping up with a GTI! It's planted and does handle reasonable well but you feel the extra weight. I need to check the pressures to see if I can drop them a bit a noticed it can skip over bumps.
What don't I like? Boot space isn't great and the opening/height nothing like the hatchback of the Golf. Guess a Touring would solve this but that wasn't availble. The boot space is robbed a little by the batteries as well but seats go down and we filled the car last week and got everything we needed for a week away for 3 of us.
It's not a car I've just jumped into a drive like I did on loads of occasions with both GTIs. I'm going to try and get out for a proper drive at some point but I do have the Ducati for fun and noise.
I genuinely think a pluggin hybrid is a great option for those not ready to go full EV but would be nice if it was a little more sport-focused and a hybrid M340i would be brilliant. You can waft around the city centre on full electric and then switch to Sport when required plus its got a decent range when fully charged and fuelled up.
Can't really undertsand why VW didn't make the GTE more appealing so would be keen to try a MK8 GTE at somepoint.
Makes me wonder what I'd get next... But I do still fancy a TCR at some point :cool:
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Thanks Jim - I was only having a look the other day to see if you had reviewed your beemer!
What is the ride quality like compared to your GTIs? What wheel size do you have? Runflats?
ta
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Thanks Jim - I was only having a look the other day to see if you had reviewed your beemer!
What is the ride quality like compared to your GTIs? What wheel size do you have? Runflats?
ta
Mine is on the 18s, no run flats with no adaptive dampers (bog standard spec!). The M Sport doesn't get M suspension either so the ride is very good and not as harsh as the GTI but also sits a bit higher than a regular M Sport.
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Good to read the update and your current thoughts Jim.
It’s no TCR but it certainly sounds like it’s a nice daily.
Glad you’re enjoying the car :afro:
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what you go for once the lease is up on this one
I did write a biggish update on my own car but never got round to posting it! :rolleyes:
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It’s nice to read experiences of other cars. No car is all things to all men, if you find one that is “ most things to me ( most of the time)” then that’s a special car.
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Interesting comments about how the "e" corners.
I currently have a 420i Grand coupe as a courtesy car while my car is being repaired (someone drove into the back of it - luckily wasn't too much damage & no one hurt). This particular car lacks power over the GTI, it feels very sluggish but I also think it just doesn't feel as engaging to drive. Around the bends it doesn't feel as pointy and direct as the GTI, its not fun which surprised me as I was expecting rear wheel drive to handle better. Maybe I need to spend more time driving it in a more spirited way.
Otherwise its very comfortable and effortless, very cabin quite. The ride is kind of the same as the GTI I reckon, this one has run flats and m sport suspension so its crashy on bumps but being bigger its probably slightly better (plus non of the creeks that my GTI has). I guess I wouldn't be disappointed if I owned it, but deep down I would still miss the GTI!
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It’s nice to read experiences of other cars. No car is all things to all men, if you find one that is “ most things to me ( most of the time)” then that’s a special car.
Agreed. I think the GTI is that sort of car. Suits so many different people for different reasons.
My decision was financially led as wanted to reduce my BIK tax bill. So it ticks a lot of boxes but isn't a car you want to jump in to go for a blast but it's a very enjoyable place to commute in. Plus as it's a 2-year lease so I get to change again in 2022!