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Town1
Written on: 27/02/2014
Hi
The dealers are kept confidential (to protect them from other dealers) but not from you. You will be told who the dealer is along with a contact name at the dealership. I was given updates on delivery every 2 to 3 weeks and car came a week before expected date. You have the option of having a free delivery by road but I chose to pick it up myself as dealer was only about 50 miles from where I live. It was just as if I had ordered directly from that dealership. I expect if they drive it to you it will have that distance on the mileage. Hope this helps.
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Nevis8
Written on: 27/02/2014
Really don't worry. The dealer is kept confidential until you pay the deposit and then you will be introduced to the dealer and deal with them direct.
I understand that this slight secrecy is due to the fact that some dealers have cone under pressure from manufactureres for the discounting, and so like to keep it a little under the radar.
You will probably have the option to pick the car up from the dealer if you like. I did and they gave me a tank of petrol as they had saved a man/day delivering to me.
The only way it would have a thousand miles on the clock is if you lived a thousand miles from the dealer ! ( rather unlikely )
Hope I've calmed your worries - I can't recommend DTD more highly, I found the whole process easy and saved a considerable sum of money.
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PeteSmithChester
Written on: 27/02/2014
The dealer is only confidential up to the point where you hit "Purchase". At this point, Drive the Deal pass your details on to the dealer themselves, and the dealer pays Drive the Deal. The dealer will then get in touch with you directly.
The reason they don't tell you who the dealer is (I'd guess), is that if you know who they are, you could just go straight to them and say "I know you're a DtD dealer, give me the same price, and you can keep the DtD commission for yourself".
At this point, the dealer treats you as if you'd just walked into their showroom, but with the advantage that you'll have paid substantially less.
FWIW, we got a DtD quote (New Focus Estate), went to our local dealer, and asked how close they could get, and we got a figure of £900 more expensive than DtD, which oddly enough, was £900 cheaper than their "absolutely lowest price we can go" that we got when we went into the dealer a week earlier without mentioning DtD.
We went from a list price of ~£22k to "cheapest we can do is £18200 with all the offers" to DtD price of £16400, and the dealer then managed to get down to £17300, but no further.
We'd certainly use them again.
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Hydranger
Written on: 27/02/2014
Purchased through Drive the deal twice since 2011 and about to order 3rd car.
Finance (if you want it) easily organised through supplying dealer.
If you want to change specifications / extras also easily sorted.
If you are uncomfortable with Dealer delivering the car (as I was)and it does keep things simple / avoids any issues you may have on handover; then just collect the car yourself from the dealer.
I have done this twice and made it a day out on the train; as the car is being collected from the supplying dealer they may make some allowance for this.(I got a free tank of fuel and FOC VW mats for my wifes new Polo).
Hassle to collect, No. Pleasant day out and Dealer collected me from Local train station. Thank you DTD.
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s80chris
Written on: 27/02/2014
I was anxious too, but for the saving offered over any other method I thought the potential loss of the relatively small deposit was worth the risk. Turns out I needn't have worried as the deposit is not cashed until the order is accepted and confirmed by the end dealer. Communication through the process was faultless and the car arrived at the dealership two weeks earlier. The car was exactly as ordered and brand new - I was worried it would be old model etc. I took the decision to collect the car myself, but if you do have the car delivered, depending where you are, you will have some miles on the clock. I recommend DTD to all my friends and one has since bought through them and they too have had a very positive experience.
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Luke-C
Written on: 27/02/2014
I have ordered a few cars now from Drive the Deal, and as far as the delivery mileage is concerned it's just a bit of pot luck, depending on were you live and were the car is sourced from, but I recommended a friend to buy a luxury fully loaded car from Drive the deal and did not want the car coming to him with 280mle on clock so he went down to location with wife on train picked up car and drove home, he also saved £14K for his trouble, but I do believe, if you are on a mileage allowance, they take the mileage of your car when it has arrived at your home and not when it leaves the dealership ( if you are worried about losing a few hundred miles on delivery ) I hope this has assisted or Re assured you that there isn't that much to worry about, and you do have options,
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itsavvy
Written on: 27/02/2014
Agree with other posts that the confidentiality of the dealer name is purely to protect the interests of Drive the Deal. Basically to stop you approaching the dealer directly. Whether the dealer gives constant updates is dependant on the dealer. Typically you will have to chase them, but bear in mind you will probably be dealing with the fleet management side of a large dealership, so the updates may not be as frequent as provided by your average 'private' car salesman. There is minimal risk regarding the payment. You pay a deposit to Drive the Deal on your credit card. The credit card company would reimburse you if a problem occured with that. The dealers identity will be revealed once the order has been placed. The main balance is paid directly to the dealer.
Regarding delivery mileage - personally there is no way I would want some unknown person 'running in' my brand new car for the first 300 or whatever miles. In my case the dealer was based in the south so I made the most of a short break, got the train down, stayed overnight and drove the car back myself.
Overall I couldn't fault my experience with Drive the Deal or the dealership. I would definitely use the service again.
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Rollerdave
Written on: 06/01/2015
Dont worry....no money changes hand until literally the day the car arrives. Shortly after agreeing the deal, the dealer then contacts you direct and then you can check them out. I did and found them to be a very large Ford Dealer, although you are asked not to name them publicily...so I will honour this.
The dealer i dealt with then regularly updated me on my factory built car and its progress.