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I'd say it very much depends on the dealer. Main dealer, you should get good service, but there are still some horror stories. A very good independent is probably better than a poor main dealer, in terms of aftercare.
Mickey Mouse dealers, non specialist, usually give a mickey mouse warranty, which exclude wear and tear, and have a low claim limit. This is in order to fulfil their obligations under the sale of goods act. Then you'll get really shonky dealers, who will give you no comeback whatsoever, and will probably just abuse you or worse if you quote the sale of goods act at them.
I'd say a good private seller will be much more reliable than a lot of dealers, in terms of knowledge of, and honesty about the vehicle. You'll usually know when you've found a private seller you can trust, based on your 'gut', and the state of the vehicle, and the paperwork.
Then of course you'll find plenty of dodgy cars being sold off by private owners, or pond life dealers who pretend not to be trade.
In terms of the pricing differentials in S/C's, I think the very high prices are just boosting profits for Autotrader! Of course anybody is at liberty to price their car as they like, occasionally you may even get a sale on an overpriced car, but most of the time, people just start high, and edge down and down, and end up selling it a lot cheaper when they started. Sometimes it may be because they are just really not wanting to face up to the depreciation hit!
I would say in my experience the correlation between price and quality is not automatic certainly, some real crap can be totally overpriced, and some good cars go for low money.
My advice would be, just find the best car for the least money, get it inspected, and warrantied! That's what I've done, and will be doing again. I pay £80 for Warranty Direct to inspect the car before I buy it, then £60 per month, for full warranty, including wear and tear, from day one. Range Rover-less at the moment - Pining!
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9th May 2013 8:12pm
