How does anyone buy a new car?????

[V6Passat]

Terrible stories in here, but I'd like to share with you my experience with Denlo VW in Parramatta. Not all dealers are the bad guys.

After agreeing a delivery date, it slipped by a couple of days due to bluetooth kit not being available. No biggie. Then my finance company had some issues processing the finance in time, so I had confirmation of payment advice but no money in the dealer account as of the Friday night. I had been travelling all week, so was pretty tired but obviously looking forward to picking up the new car on Saturday.

As soon as I got off the plane Saturday morning, I called the dealer to see if funds had cleared overnight, but no luck. I suggested there must be a way to arrange delivery, such as a loan agreement and leaving my trade-in, but Denlo wouldn't budge. They had apparently had problems with finance on a recent sale, so weren't willing to release car until funds were cleared. I was pretty upset, probably exacerbated by my tiredness. I lost my cool with 'my' sales guy and a business manager. Not very proud of that.

On the Sunday, Denlo called to say that they had just discovered that the reversing sensors on the car weren't fitted. Needless to say, I was unimpressed but I admired the sales guy for making what I knew was a tough call. He gave me some options - delaying delivery or picking up the car as planned, and then they'd pick it up to fit the sensors. I chose option 2, because I was about to get on another plane and I at least wanted to have the car for a day before I flew out!

Money cleared Monday morning, so I arranged to pick up the car at 10am. When I got there, the car was in the showroom with a big red bow on it and a sign announcing me as the new owner. They had also been able to fit the sensors, albeit unable to match the body colour yet. I got a full run-through, signed the paperwork, and I had the chance to apologise to the sales guy and the business manager for my exchange with them both the previous Saturday. Then the sales manager came over, introduced himself, apologised for the inconvenience and gave me a bottle of Moet champagne. I was surprised and delighted. (They also took a photo of me with the car and emailed it to me that morning - which I promptly sent on to a few mates and family as a skite!)

Since that day a couple of weeks ago, I've only clocked about 400km on the car, due to more travel, and the dealer has sent out their guys to change the reversing sensors plates to match the colour. All up, it's been a good experience with some difficult circumstances and I happily recommend Denlo.

BTW, for those waiting, the GTI is a sensational car. I traded out of a BMW 325i E46 (which I loved) and the new Golf is such an exhilarating car. My biggest concern now is keeping my licence! The only thing I wish I had got was the Dynaudio, but I wasn't willing to order and wait, so I got the car with the nearest spec. albeit a 12/09 build. The Xenons are incredible, DSG is huge fun, and I'm enjoying DCC (although I think over time I will probably leave it in standard setting).

Again, sorry to hear about others' experiences with their dealers, and hope your unhappy delivery doesn't spoil the ownership.

SRL

I am ok flying to Sydney to buy a car! thanks for sharing....

[team_v]

It wasn't Northstar...the other dealership on Brisbane's northside....and not Austral either

Suburb wouldn't happen to begin with a K would it?

[craig_the_german]

Suburb wouldn't happen to begin with a K would it?

As a matter of fact it does.

I have sent a message to VWA this morning...will wait and see

[team_v]

It seems Brisbane do have a pretty bad rep for dealers.

I went with Highway as they are close to my place of residence and they were the only ones who were willing to play ball with my price.
I had also heard good things about them from some other members.

The rest of the dealers either didn't ever reply to me or agreed to a price and then changed it when contacted to arrange a deal.


If i had of waited another month, i would have been contacting some of the dealers on here as they are more than willing to keep contact and are giving some very good deals.

[Maverick]

It seems Brisbane do have a pretty bad rep for dealers.

I went with Highway as they are close to my place of residence and they were the only ones who were willing to play ball with my price.
I had also heard good things about them from some other members.

The rest of the dealers either didn't ever reply to me or agreed to a price and then changed it when contacted to arrange a deal.


If i had of waited another month, i would have been contacting some of the dealers on here as they are more than willing to keep contact and are giving some very good deals.

I have heard consistently good things about highway where they have gone above and beyond what they have to do and regret not going with them initially but instead fell for the lies from Austral and signed with them. Since I've dealt with them I haven't had any problems, the whole experience was good, they communicated well and everything went smoothly which is the exact opposite of my dealings with Austral. It's easy to put up an extra good show up front which Austral do very well but once you sign it's all downhill from there and IMO it's important to look at the dealers track record and not just rely on a flashy showroom and dodgy sales staff.

From reading the forums and talking to customers in Brisbane Highway do have the best reputation across the board, Austral have a shocking reputation in all areas, Ian B has satisfied customers (but not enough to form a real opinion on), there are happy and unhappy customers with southport and a few happy customers with the sunshine coast. The two new ones on the northside (one of which is involved here) really don't have enough feedback to give an idea as to how they are (yet).

[team_v]

I have heard consistently good things about highway where they have gone above and beyond what they have to do and regret not going with them initially but instead fell for the lies from Austral and signed with them. Since I've dealt with them I haven't had any problems, the whole experience was good, they communicated well and everything went smoothly which is the exact opposite of my dealings with Austral. It's easy to put up an extra good show up front which Austral do very well but once you sign it's all downhill from there and IMO it's important to look at the dealers track record and not just rely on a flashy showroom and dodgy sales staff.

From reading the forums and talking to customers in Brisbane Highway do have the best reputation across the board, Austral have a shocking reputation in all areas, Ian B has satisfied customers (but not enough to form a real opinion on), there are happy and unhappy customers with southport and a few happy customers with the sunshine coast. The two new ones on the northside (one of which is involved here) really don't have enough feedback to give an idea as to how they are (yet).

One of the salesmen from Northstar was a member on here a few months ago and was willing to give good deals however he moved on and Northstar wouldn't validate any of the offers he had given unless the contract was already signed.
The cheapest they would go when i contacted them after the forum member left was $1400 over the RRP advertised on tv.

Never spoke to Southport or Kedron and Ian Botcher didn't get back to me.

I went to the Austral open night and test drove both the diesel and petrol tiguan, expressed my desire to purchase one and notified the staff that i had the money ready to go then and there if they could orgasnise something.
After a few weeks of emails and calling to find out if a car in my spec was on order or how long it would take to get here after i ordered i gave up and went to Highway.

1 phone call (5 minutes) and i signed the contract for less than drive-away price which none of the other dealers would do.
Every 2 weeks i would email them and they would get back to me within an hour or 2 with any information they had.

I would gladly reccomend Highway for anyone in the Brisbane area who doesn't want to travel interstate to get a good deal.
Otherwise i would definitely be hitting up Central Coast VW (NSW) or Dermot (WA)

[Rocket36]

Then came the crunch..."don't expect us to hold the valuation of your trade-in"......."we all know the valuation will drop by the time your car arrives"

I understood that as long as the car was in the same condition as when valued...the deal stood....apparently not.

You are correct although the same condition requires that it not be used at all from the date of the valuation. Any more km (amongst other things) would mean the condition has changed. You can keep the value of your trade if you trade it then and there and go without until your new car arrives. Which a lot of people are happy with if they don't have just one car.

Think about it. "it's worth $4,000 as a trade". Your reply "no worries, I'll keep using it for two months and you can give me the $4,000 trade value then". LOL!!! I don't think so...

[bmck]

The two new ones on the northside (one of which is involved here) really don't have enough feedback to give an idea as to how they are (yet).

I have mentioned here before that I found Michael Short at Kedron to be very knowledgable, professional and courteous throughout all phases of my 118TSI purchase. He promptly returned emails and phone calls and was a pleasure to deal with.

Brian

[V6Passat]

Rocket, that's exactly what happened to me with Austral in Brisbane. To their credit, the trade in price was exactly the same when i handed the car over 6 months later (thats how long it took for the V6 Highline to get here). I was very surprised, but it was in the contract and they honored it no questions asked. Given that i look after my cars very well, i still had it serviced, cleaned etc not a huge risk for them. However, i am sure they got less for it when they on sold it which would have reduced their overall profit on the sale. It did have more km's on it, but as i said, to their credit they honoured the deal.

[team_v]

Rocket, that's exactly what happened to me with Austral in Brisbane. To their credit, the trade in price was exactly the same when i handed the car over 6 months later (thats how long it took for the V6 Highline to get here). I was very surprised, but it was in the contract and they honored it no questions asked. Given that i look after my cars very well, i still had it serviced, cleaned etc not a huge risk for them. However, i am sure they got less for it when they on sold it which would have reduced their overall profit on the sale. It did have more km's on it, but as i said, to their credit they honoured the deal.

Most likely becasue they still made quite a profit off the V6 Highline that they sold to you.

[V6Passat]

yep possible BUT given my change over price which was lets say 'quite' below RRP it would not be huge and there was $6k negative equity on my focus turbo. When i shopped them against other VW Dealers in SE QLD, one said i was making it up and without written proof the chat was over. I must disclose, though that between my cousins and i we bought 4 vehicles in the space of 3 months with them (2 R36s, CC v6 and my V6 highline).

At the end of they day, they honoured their deal and my change over price could not be matched!

[Rocket36]

Yeah if you can get the CHANGE OVER price into the contract then GREAT!

[craig_the_german]

I have mentioned here before that I found Michael Short at Kedron to be very knowledgable, professional and courteous throughout all phases of my 118TSI purchase. He promptly returned emails and phone calls and was a pleasure to deal with.

Brian

Michael Short was the salesman who we signed our deal with. I agree that he was very knowledgeable, courteous and helpful...unfortunately between signing the deal and the delivery he moved on....there you go, now you know which dealer "dropped the ball"

[srl]

Glad I could help a few people, and good to hear others have found Denlo to be equally professional. One thing which strikes me about buying a car - and apologies if this sounds a touch Zen - is that the experience is by nature an emotional one. It's a large purchase, we've typically done a bunch of research and we're usually pretty excited about the purchase.

As I re-read the story I wrote, I realised I could have just as easily given a negative review of Denlo. Think about it - I could have written: "those b**stards couldn't fit the bluetooth, then didn't let me pick up the car, then they didn't fit the sensors and then when they did fit them, they got the wrong colour!" I got lucky because I realised my anger was just going to screw up the experience of getting a new car. And trust me, I was ready to send a dirty letter to the dealership when they wouldn't deliver the car. But luckily I cooled down. And all the 'problems'? Hey, I was getting a new car!

The folks whose car wasn't pre-delivered? Yeah, they have cause to complain. But if a car is delayed by a day or two, or something doesn't go perfectly, maybe we all just need to cool it with our negative opinions. Enjoy the trip. We only get to buy so many new cars in our lifetime, and we're going to be paying for it for a long time. Don't let the dealer experience spoil the joy. And when a dealer does do the right thing, thank them for it. To be honest, I wouldn't want to sell cars for a living to people like me!

[AznGti]

I dealt with the Highways. To be honest they weren't that bad. But when we were signing the contract they promised a full tank. that didnt happen. i asked them to take off some stickers off the windows (because it was a demo car). i came and picked it up and realised they didn't take it off. Also, they have lost my spare key and they didnt even realise it until i called them up and asked where my spare key was. It's been a few weeks now and i still dont know where my spare key is. I know i may sound a little bit picky but still....