How do you buy a car these days? I don't get it

[demotedreally]

I was thrilled when I heard that cars have become available for home delivery as I have no fondness for a car dealership, but now I want to change me car I am a bit baffled.

I have a few different vehicles that I am considering, but I do want to have a proper look at them and drive them but there are none available for miles and miles, and those that are local, say on them that the car is not really there, but can be collected from there 🤷

I have a part ex but I want someone to see it and give it a proper value - I'm getting better prices from we buy any car etc so I can't even work out the order to do it.

It feels a bit bizarre to buy a car as if it is a pair of jeans and try it on for a few days - I know they all say you can return but how do you do that in reality if you gave yours away with a part ex???

Humph

Well they hope you don’t return and they hope it doesn’t break before their warranty to you runs out 😝 I buy privately garages make waaaaay too much on you x

I also wondered this when I heard the advert on the radio! I’ve always test driven cars and often eliminated some from my search on the back of it so unless it was something I’d already driven there’s no way I’d buy online. The dealers makes a big difference, I literally didn’t buy an Astra once because the Vauxhall dealer was so patronising and kept implying I couldn’t afford extras like metallic paint. My current car was an ex demo so an easy deal as it was basically a new car at 10% less than the list price and they offered me more than I was expecting for trade in.

I would never buy a car without a test drive, my last purchase, I drove the same make/model similar age, and each drove differently. Obviously if you're buying from new, it's different.

I've bought my last 4 cars that way. 3 from Drive the Deal and one from Car Wow. You can either collect or have it delivered.

Sometimes the dealers are localish, but not always. I've found it an excellent, hassle free way to do business.

There's an added complication currently though in that supply issues mean dealers simply don't have new cars to sell. I'm trying to buy a minibus for work and I've been told July 24 delivery at the earliest.

Bought a second hand Smart Car from garage some way away. I made sure I had test driven the same model locally (preferred the colour on the non local one). It was delivered on a low loader. I drove it for a couple of weeks then discovered that it didn't have the heated seats and steering wheel it had been advertised as having. This was in August so some excuse for not noticing straight away. I rang up and pointed out that it wasn't "as described", no hassles, the low loader turned up with replacement car, picked up the one without the heated seats and all is fine!