Motors - The In's & Out's of Purchasing

In’s & Out’s Of Purchasing  

Ok, so you’re needing or wanting to buy a ‘new’ car to replace your current workhorse. How do you go about purchasing said car? Or even what’s the process of getting rid of your old beast?

Do you know what to do when your looking around dealerships? Do you know how much your old car is worth? Do you even know what your looking for or how much it will cost?

Most people, if they’re being honest, have to answer ‘No’ to some or all of these questions and that’s what this, admittedly rather bland, article will be about.

For some, buying a car is a a process that seems as simple as quantum physics, and for a few really unlucky ones, it seems even more complex than that! However it will surprise many to know that it’s a very simple thing to understand and get a damn good deal out of, if you’re prepared to put in the extra bit of effort required.

Ok, so let’s start with the car you currently own.

Most people, including me, can’t buy a new car before selling the old one first. So what do you do? Many will use it as part-exchange on the new one.

Basic part-exchange or ‘part-ex’ is simply a discount on the list price of the car you’re buying, so if your car is worth £1,000 and the car you’re buying is worth £3,000, then the simplest part-ex means you give the trader your old car and the new car costs £2000.

Most people don’t have the cash to pay for a car upfront, so dealers basically loan you the money and you pay it back over time with a percentage on top, so be aware that finance on £3000 means you’ll pay more than £3000. Be aware of this interest rate and be prepared to negotiate on it.

Or you can sell your car privately through eBay, Autotrader or the many many advertising and auction places out there. They all work on a percentage fee basis, allowing you to advertise your car and they take a slice of the price you sell it for.

This is a great way to sell a car as a private sale will usually net at least 10% more than if you used it for a part-ex deal.

Researching:

To get rid of your current car in either of the above circumstances means knowing what your car is actually worth. Do you know what your car is worth?

Again, your honest answer is likely to be ‘No’. Even if you knew what it was worth when you bought it, it doesn’t mean it’ll be worth anything near that now, particularly if you bought it new.

So this is where that little effort is required, as you need to do your research.

The easiest thing to do is to consult the very places you’ll look at when searching for the replacement to your existing car.

Autotrader is one the best places as you can find your exact car, then it is simply a case of finding the trim level and engine of your car and is an excellent place start, however you need to know everything about your car.

You can tell the obvious things like whether it has a CD-Player, Air-Con, and alloy wheels, but how many airbags does your car have? Does it have power steering? What equipment is standard, what is extra? These are things many people don’t know, especially if the car has been purchased second hand.

For this, you need a slightly more comprehensive website, for me personally I go to Parkers.

They primarily review cars, but go into detail about the specifications of the cars they review, which includes detail about the equipment list of the various trim and engine levels of many makes and models. This detailed level of information means you can see what is standard and what, if anything, is extra. Along with this, the review section also shows a rough depreciation graph suggesting what the model would be worth over each year of it’s life.

Now you know a little about your car you need to get on with making it sellable. Firstly you need to give the car a thorough clean, both inside and outside and get the car serviced or ensure basic maintenance has been carried out, such as an oil change/top up, water level check, and fuel & oil filters as well as checking tyre and brake conditions.

For many, the price of a service may seem pointless, but if the car appears clean both inside and out and has recently had some sort of basic maintenance carried out, it can help secure that extra bit of value. Trust me, that little bit of effort will help enormously.

A little research into the value of your current car will arm you well when you come to deal with dealers. If you go in knowing exactly what your car is worth, both statistically and in real, market terms, then you will know whether the dealer is trying to sell you short or is offering you a genuine price for your car.

Be aware, that the dealer has to think about how he will sell the car on, which is why you have to expect to get a little less than you would if you sold the car privately.

At some point you will apply the same research process to finding the sort of car you want to replace yours with. If you don’t, a dealer could tear you apart and sell you a car that isn’t what you really want and sell it to you for several hundred quid more than he should have. Always make sure you know what you want, but we’ll come to that later.

Terminology:

This is the area where most people are seriously intimidated. All those abbreviations and terms that seems to be a list of gibberish. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, and if you can learn a few of the basics, you make sure you have the best chance of finding the car you want.

Of course, almost everyone knows what ‘ABS’ means, or at least what it represents, but what about ‘EBD’ or “ESP’? ‘TC’? ‘EW’? How about ‘PAS’?

Didn’t think so, so below is a nice little table that’ll help you get the common ones, and a few less common ones as well.

This is by no means a complete list, but this is a list of most common abbreviations. Some you don’t see any more and are now just written out except in classified papers where space is at a very premium.

Learning these 20 or so abbreviations will give the ability to appear as if you know your stuff and all you need is for it to look like you know your stuff.

Also be aware things like Traction Control have many different names as quite a few manufacturers give their own name to their own system.

Negotiations:

Ok, your car is ready, you know what you’re car has on it and how much it should be worth, time to get out and onto the forecourts and to meet the dealers and salesmen.

When it comes to negotiating, or ‘haggling’, many people are either too scared, too lazy or feel they have no bargaining room to be able to haggle. The first two are easily solved by realising a few simple facts; firstly, no matter how nice and friendly the dealer might be, they are still wanting to give you as little as they can for your old car and sell the new one for as much as possible because this is how they make their living. Secondly, you are the one with the power, not the dealer. You are the customer. Without you, they sell no cars and make no money and go out of business. Finally, never be afraid to tell the dealer ‘No’ and walk away, you are the customer, it’s your money that’s going on the car, not theirs so don’t be told what you want or need. Keep these facts in mind when you go out to any dealer.

Don’t be afraid to tell the dealer that your car is worth more than he’s offering. If you know your car can be sold for £1000 and they are offering £500, you know they are trying to con you out of your car’s value, so tell them. Tell them it’s worth £1000, or that you’ve been offered more somewhere else. You’ll be surprised how quickly they’ll change their offer to you. The other thing NOT to do is admit any damage or faults with your car. If one of the electric windows doesn’t work, you haven’t got it repaired and they don’t check it, then that’s their problem. You want the maximum value you can get for your car and if they can’t be bothered to check the car properly, then why should you tell them? They might be lovely, very friendly people but they are still a business wanting to make profit from you, don’t help them any more than you have too.

Again, don’t be afraid to negotiate, if you’re sitting there thinking your car is worth more than what you’re being offered, say so. If it’s got plenty of optional extras and you’re being offered the value of a stock example, tell them so. Remind them that your car has those extras and ask them why they’ve offered you that price and ask them to reconsider.

An experienced dealer will know the signs of an easy sale and even if you are an unsure buyer, there is no need to advertise that. You’ve taken the time to learn about your current car, but what are you looking to replace it with? A car, obviously. But what car? A saloon, a hatchback, an estate? A petrol, a diesel? What does it need to have? CD Player, air-con, power steering? Do you want to get the same brand or are you put off certain brands? And importantly, how much are you willing to spend?

Again, do your research, know what kind of car you need and find out who are the good, the bad and the terrible models in the category. If you want a city hatchback, is a Vauxhall Corsa the best choice or are there alternatives that are as good or better that you don’t know about? If you’re armed with this information, you are in a position to be able to tell the dealer exactly what you want and need. It will tell them several things; firstly, you know what you’re talking about, even if you only know about a few cars that you’ve put onto a short-list, and secondly they’ll know that they can’t just sell you anything at any old price.

It will probably surprise you to know that most dealers know surprisingly little about cars, they in fact usually know about the cars on their forecourt and very little else. I’ve come across dealers that sometimes don’t even know that much and I’ve been able to tell them about the car I’m interested in.

Test the dealer, do a little looking around, go away and research the cars you might be interested in then come back and question them on those cars, you know the answers, but do they? If they don’t, you strengthen your position even more, so when it comes to negotiating the price you are the one with the power.

Again, don’t be afraid to tell the dealer you’re not interested in their offer and walk out. Which ever way you cut it, they’ve just lost a potential sale. Certain cars, because of their popularity or brand are difficult to haggle and the dealer will know this. It’s at this point you have to be rather clever.

Negotiate in stages, it’s hard work and can be tiring but persevere. Negotiate your old car first, press them for as much value as possible, pitch part-ex offers against each other and see if you can wangle a good price.

Then move onto the price of your new car. If they are refusing to budge on the up front price, see if you can get a better finance rate. If at any point they have to go ask their manager, it means you pressing them hard. Asking to speak to the manager is card you can play yourself with a stubborn salesman, but it’s a one time hit, use it on the value of your car and you’ll struggle to get them to budge further on.

With the prices fixed, the dealer will think he’s got his sale, now it’s time to really turn the screw and discuss extras. This is usually the point buying any car is finished, but there are still certain things to be gained.

Lets say you’ve just agreed a deal for you old car and your new one, how long is the tax going to last on the new car? When will it need an MOT? How much fuel does it have on board? Main dealers usually have MOT and servicing facilities on site and often get discounts on fuel, so use that. Most dealers do now service and MOT a car as a matter of course, but make sure ask the question, test them. A short amount of time left on the current MOT means the car has had a year to develop issues and problems, you don’t want to buy a white elephant after all so make sure an MOT and at the very least a service is done before you take the keys.

As for fuel, well prices at the pumps are bloody expensive and you still want a good bargain. If you’ve noticed that car your buying is nearly on reserve fuel, then make sure you point that out and point out that you’d prefer a full tank, safe in the knowledge you’d be happy with half a tank.

The same can be done with your old car. Why give them a full tank of fuel? Run the car as close as you can, don’t give it away with anything more than quarter of a tank of fuel. Why? Because the dealer is thinking the exact same thing.

With that done, no matter how intense the negotiation has been and whether you have come to an agreement or not, be sure to smile and shake the dealers hand. At the end of the day, their job is to make money from selling cars and you want the best deal for your money. It’s nothing personal at the end of the day.

Conclusion:

This is simple, and hopefully this message will have stood out; do your research and know what you’re negotiating on and for, whether it’s your current car or the one you want.

All this may sound like hard work and to some extent you are right, but then a car is an significant purchase. It’s not like you’re buying a toaster or a kettle, statistically only buying a house or having a wedding is larger financial investment.

The other thing to remember, is the car you buy will be your car, so taking the time to know what you want and how to get it is important.

Simply follow these points and you should get a decent deal:

1. Know what your car is worth in the current second hand market.

2. Lavish a bit of TLC on your old car before selling it.

3. Know what sort of car you want to replace it with, draw up a short list of 6 or more cars and research their value.

4. Go out and look at some cars, get yours valued, then go home and think about it all.

5. Go back to the dealers who offered you good deals and bag a test drive.

6. Negotiate. Negotiate your old car, negotiate you new car, negotiate the finance and negotiate the extras.

Follow the process and you’ll generally be pleased with what you end up with and you might even find it an enjoyable process. And if you are still too scared, take someone with you who knows and understands the process and provide you with moral support.

MD

Formula 1 - Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton 

 

With the British Grand Prix now over, the post-mortem can begin. Ferrari seem to have worked out which drawer they hid their mojo in, while McLaren continue to slip backwards from Red Bull’s pearless march towards consecutive Drivers and Constructors Championships.

McLaren’s problems currently stem from the inability to get both drivers to the finish. In the last three Grand Prix’s, McLaren have had one car fail to make the checkered flag two times. And on both occasions the reason is the same: everyone is trying too hard.

Candian GP 2011

At Button’s pit stop, the chief mechanic is so desperate to get Button out of the box as fast as possible, he reacts to the front right wheel man’s movements to grab his spare wheel gun, releasing Button with only three wheels attached.

As for Hamilton who tried one too many audacious overtakes at the Canadian GP, causing a drive shaft failure for himself and almost taking out eventual winner and team mate, right under the nose of the team after having a collision earlier with Mark Webber.

However, rather than berating the young Brit, Webber in simply pointed out that the checkered flag isn’t on lap three.

This is Hamilton’s problem. It’s no secret that has made more overtakes than anyone else this season, and that the McLaren isn’t a match for the Red Bull, but he suddenly feels the need to over take the entire field within one lap.

Is this arrogance? An expectation that other drivers will jump out of his way? Or, as legend Niki Lauda suggested, is Lewis just “completely mad”?

Turkish GP 2012

Personally, I believe it’s none of these things. What he needs to do, is relax. There is no denying that Hamilton is one of the best drivers ever to take to a Formula 1 car. His eye for an overtake, his bravery and composure are breathtaking to watch and when he is relaxed and enjoying his racing, he has a maturity that allows him to make sure his overtakes are fair. Just look at the racing he and Button have had against each other. On several occasions we’ve been left admiring the respect and fairness the two McLaren drivers have for each other while their wheels are a card’s width apart. This includes the 2010 Turkish GP after the two Red Bull’s smashed into each other, the two McLaren’s got very up-close and personal, but not even a puff from touching tyres was seen.

This is Lewis Hamilton when he is relaxed, composed and having fun.

However, jump forward to 2011 and we see a frustrated Lewis Hamilton who can’t win races, can’t keep up with the Red Bull’s and now is falling behind the Ferrari’s after starting the season with a notable advantage over the scarlet cars.

The problem is, Hamilton is a racing driver of the purest type. He is the sort of racing driver that you simply stick into a car, place that car on a track, and let him go. That driver will then haul said car around said track as fast as it can be hauled. No more, no less. Ask him to slow down to save tyres or fuel, he’ll either ignore you, be confused by the concept of going slow, or rant and rage at how the car isn’t good enough.

And we have seen Hamilton ignore the team call to slow down and we have seen him ruin tyres quicker than his rivals, but setting astounding lap times in doing so. Hamilton is a driver that races a car at 100% of it’s abilities, and this inevitably leads to him demanding more than that from his car.

It’s not all doom and gloom. In China Hamilton made some incredible overtakes and was rewarded for his exceptional drive with the victory. But as the season has ticked away, he has watched the Red Bull team streak away and frustration has set in.

Monaco GP 2011

This has been evident since Monaco. Not only did he start from 9th while his team mate started 2nd, he was taken on Lap 1 by Schumacher at the hairpin. His body language has screamed ‘frustrated’ for a while and this was shown when he attempted a pass of Massa at the hairpin.

However, because he is trying too hard, wanting to make overtakes that can’t be made, he ran out of room as was always going to happen, banged into the side of Massa and we then got to watch the McLaren understeering, needing a paint swap session with the Ferrari to make the turn.

It’s not as if he can’t make the mouth-open overtakes. At Monaco, he later got one back over Scumacher at Turn 1 thanks to the DRS, getting up the inside, making the apex and making the overtake stick.

Monaco GP 2011

This is the sort of racing that has earned Hamilton plenty of fans, including myself. He can make moves that most other drivers wouldn’t dream of, or would never be able to manage without smashing the car into little carbon-fibre shards. Anyone remember Takuma Sato? A brave and daring driver who made some extremely brave moves, quite a few ending in a mess.

Unfortunately, in his current state of mind, Hamilton is prone to moments of madness, and after the restart attempted the same move from much further back on Pastor Maldonado, the impressive Williams rookie. The Williams driver decided he was going to defend his position, as he is perfectly entitled to do, taking an early apex. Hamilton, with his death-or-glory move, ends up jumping the kerbs, tagging Maldonado, who ends up with broken rear suspension and front wing from the resulting accident.

Monaco GP 2011

Personally, I think this is racing. You’ve got 24 of the best drivers in the world sharing a few miles of road. It is inevitable that they are going to collide. This doesn’t absolve Hamilton from blame, despite his protests, on both occasions, Lewis shouldn’t have had the nose of his car where he put it and was lucky to finish the race.

To me, this is where a good, strong team boss is needed. After Monaco, Martin Whitmarsh should have sat Lewis down, had a few words about chilling out, relaxing and not worrying. Ok, the boy wants to win, and so he should. McLaren are as big and successful as Ferrari and Lewis is a talented driver who has all the stuff a champion needs.

However, McLaren should be pointing out that the 2011 championships are gone. There is almost no possible way for McLaren to take either title. And neither do they deserve them, they have not had the fastest car or the best package this season and are now only third best thanks to Ferrari’s revival.

I’d be telling my driver to get out and enjoy himself. Forget the title, forget beating Vettel, forget everyone. Just get in the car, go out and drive the wheels off of it.

Instead, we arrived at Canada and Hamilton still had that frustrated look to his body language. And what happened? He collided with Webber almost instantly, and was lucky not to damage either his car or the Red Bull.

Not long after that came one of the talking points of the season; Hamilton’s attempted overtake on Button.

The story is well know by now: Hamilton gets a better drive off the last chicane, pulls outside of Button to get the best position for Turn 1, just in time for Button to move onto the normal line. Touch, bang, Lewis is out.

Somehow, as Hamilton’s front right wheel touches the rear left of Button’s car, Jenson’s doesn’t end up smashing into the pit wall, something that would have resulted in both McLaren’s retiring. Button’s radio message of “What is he doing?” is a damn good question and the answer is simply that Hamilton, in his desperation to make something of his season is pushing too hard, expecting to make too many overtakes.

The Now Infamous Hamilton/Button Collision

As a result, Hamilton ends up with a bent drive shaft and retires. DNF.

How Button’s car remained undamaged is a mystery to me. While the suspension of F1 cars can absorb plenty of lateral movement, they do not like being placed under compression, i.e. Being hit by another car. Any fan of F1 will know how easily suspension components break, even over a seemingly innocuous touch.

And so here we are, with Hamilton now having dropped to fourth in the Drivers Championship from a clear second, with 95 points between himself and run-away leader Vettel. And even worse? Hamilton still appears frustrated and angry. He has even begun to respond to the criticism of pundits and commentators, saying he “couldn’t give a toss.” when asked about his thoughts on Lauda’s comments.

I take it as a bad sign when a driver has this sort of response. It suggests that he is not happy at all and that this anger is spilling out into the unforgiving media spotlight.

Again, this isn’t something I think I Lewis’ fault. Of course you get frustrated. Vettel and Webber had some seriously unsporting moments with each other during 2010, and Webber took several swipes at his team that season. Equally, Michael Schumacher has looked fed-up on more than one occasion since his return and Jenson has sounded very despondent this season, but this is where a strong leader is needed. Racing drivers want to win, and when they don’t or can’t, they are going to be unhappy. If the team just can’t provide a car to change that, then a leader who can restore the peace is needed.

Schumacher went from sounding like someone ready to retire (again) to sounding like he was enjoying racing again, and Webber has looked and sounded content through 2011, a miracle after some of the problems through 2010 and this is what is needed from McLaren.

For whatever reason, they can’t provide a consistently winning car to Jenson and Lewis, so Whitmarsh needs to get Lewis enjoying himself behind the wheel again.

This means taking the flack from the media, reducing the demands on Lewis, who has said he is being worked hard between races and giving him the opportunity to see in his own time, that the whole team is as frustrated and angry with the lack of victories as he is.

Hamilton is enough of a team player to respond to this and has in the past made a big thing of feeling loved by the team.

If he comes back after the summer break having been able to rest, gather his thoughts, and find that ice-cool attitude that makes driving a Formula 1 car fun, then we will see the champion Lewis Hamilton and his array of talent.

If not? Then sadly, perhaps his days at his boyhood team are numbered, a situation that I would be deeply saddened by.

MD