Comments on: Buying a car in France http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/ Living in France and daily life for a UK expat in the French blog! Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:28:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15532 Boris Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:14:34 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15532 Sounds like a great bargain Steven! That's somewhere in Britain presumably? I'm not sure where our nearest Chevrolet garage is - don't see many of them round here. Sounds like a great bargain Steven! That’s somewhere in Britain presumably? I’m not sure where our nearest Chevrolet garage is – don’t see many of them round here.

]]> By: Steven http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15531 Steven Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:16:03 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15531 Just to update this further. After much deliberation we bought and collected our new car at the weekend. It's a Chevrolet Lacetti 1.4 SE. The list price is just shy of £11000. We bought a pre-registered (Jan 09) one for £6400. It had 12 miles on the clock, it's roomy, the rear leg-room is impressive, it's reasonably economical and I think it's a bargain. The discount we negotiated on this car made paying more for a diesel irrelevant. I've never considered a non-European car before, but the deal of a new car with 3 years warranty, 3 years servicing amd 3 years AA was too tempting to resist. Just to update this further. After much deliberation we bought and collected our new car at the weekend. It’s a Chevrolet Lacetti 1.4 SE. The list price is just shy of £11000. We bought a pre-registered (Jan 09) one for £6400. It had 12 miles on the clock, it’s roomy, the rear leg-room is impressive, it’s reasonably economical and I think it’s a bargain. The discount we negotiated on this car made paying more for a diesel irrelevant. I’ve never considered a non-European car before, but the deal of a new car with 3 years warranty, 3 years servicing amd 3 years AA was too tempting to resist.

]]> By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15523 Boris Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:07:02 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15523 Hi Graham, thanks for all the good advice - in fact it was rear legroom problems that stopped us buying the 207SW, because we do a lift share to lycée every week with teenagers in the back and it just wasn't big enough. Tried the Honda Insight - and couldn't even sit up straight in the back because the roof was too low, never mind leg room. We ended up with a Honda Civic sport at quite a good price and it's a great pleasure to drive, plenty of space etc. Whether we paid too much and could of paid less through a broker is a question I'll avoid looking into for the moment! Hi Graham, thanks for all the good advice – in fact it was rear legroom problems that stopped us buying the 207SW, because we do a lift share to lycée every week with teenagers in the back and it just wasn’t big enough. Tried the Honda Insight – and couldn’t even sit up straight in the back because the roof was too low, never mind leg room. We ended up with a Honda Civic sport at quite a good price and it’s a great pleasure to drive, plenty of space etc. Whether we paid too much and could of paid less through a broker is a question I’ll avoid looking into for the moment!

]]> By: Graham http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15522 Graham Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:40:10 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15522 Hi. I echo angela's reply having used an online broker to buy a Peugeot 207SW last week and we saved a bundle; it was not an awful lot more than a year old car with its unknown history. Key car broker into your favourite search engine! BTW I spent several months checking mgz such as Top Gear and What Car reviews before deciding on the 207SW. The 207?? well the petrol engine (used in the Mini), is silky smooth, the looks are cool, the load bay is flat, boot has plenty of suitcase space. The only caveat I would say is that the 207 is a 'small' car meaning that if you are big, you will need to push the driver's seat back and not leave much leg space for people in the back. I certainly recommend you checkout the magz above; there are so many cars that they will help. Hi. I echo angela’s reply having used an online broker to buy a Peugeot 207SW last week and we saved a bundle; it was not an awful lot more than a year old car with its unknown history. Key car broker into your favourite search engine! BTW I spent several months checking mgz such as Top Gear and What Car reviews before deciding on the 207SW. The 207?? well the petrol engine (used in the Mini), is silky smooth, the looks are cool, the load bay is flat, boot has plenty of suitcase space. The only caveat I would say is that the 207 is a ’small’ car meaning that if you are big, you will need to push the driver’s seat back and not leave much leg space for people in the back. I certainly recommend you checkout the magz above; there are so many cars that they will help.

]]> By: angela http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15514 angela Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:55:04 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15514 Hi all, When i purchased my new car in UK I used an online broker and saved several thousand compared to the dealers price. Do any of you know of any websites using brokers in France? Hi all, When i purchased my new car in UK I used an online broker and saved several thousand compared to the dealers price. Do any of you know of any websites using brokers in France?

]]> By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15460 Boris Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:59:45 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15460 Thanks for keeping us informed Steven,although Peugeot did manage to offer us 1500 euros (just under 10%) off the list price. We didn't try Citroen but your story seems pretty consistent with ours (part of which was in a later blogpost, the <a href="http://www.francethisway.com/wp/value-of-things/2009/03/" rel="nofollow">value of things."</a>. We're holding off deciding until we see the new Honda Insight later this week (18000 euros after eco-bonus, very efficient hybrid car, with good reviews so far). Thanks for keeping us informed Steven,although Peugeot did manage to offer us 1500 euros (just under 10%) off the list price.
We didn’t try Citroen but your story seems pretty consistent with ours (part of which was in a later blogpost, the value of things.”.
We’re holding off deciding until we see the new Honda Insight later this week (18000 euros after eco-bonus, very efficient hybrid car, with good reviews so far).

]]> By: Steven http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15459 Steven Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:20:59 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15459 OK, our visits to the dealers. Basically Citroen are keener to sell a C4 than Peugeot are to sell a 307. The discount offered on a C4 makes buying a 2008 model pointless. We could have had £1500 off the list price and a good price for our trade in. Peugeot wouldn't offer anything close. OK, our visits to the dealers. Basically Citroen are keener to sell a C4 than Peugeot are to sell a 307. The discount offered on a C4 makes buying a 2008 model pointless. We could have had £1500 off the list price and a good price for our trade in. Peugeot wouldn’t offer anything close.

]]> By: Steven http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15444 Steven Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:42:14 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15444 Boris, I've checked and I can confirm that I'm not you pretending to be you. I'll report back after our visit to the dealers on Saturday morning. Boris, I’ve checked and I can confirm that I’m not you pretending to be you. I’ll report back after our visit to the dealers on Saturday morning.

]]> By: Gerry http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15443 Gerry Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:16:38 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15443 Fair enough. But if you hear of anyone looking for an A6 ...... BTW, I bought it from Kilrush Cars in Guildford in Surrey if you're thinking of going down that route. Talk to Lawrence. Fair enough. But if you hear of anyone looking for an A6 ……

BTW, I bought it from Kilrush Cars in Guildford in Surrey if you’re thinking of going down that route. Talk to Lawrence.

]]> By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/buying-a-car-in-france/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15442 Boris Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:25:30 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=694#comment-15442 Bit bigger than what we are looking for cheers Gerry - although I'd love to say yes, because we had an A6 as a hire car in the UK last year and it was a pleasure to drive. Hopefully someone else will come across it here. Cheers Bit bigger than what we are looking for cheers Gerry – although I’d love to say yes, because we had an A6 as a hire car in the UK last year and it was a pleasure to drive. Hopefully someone else will come across it here.
Cheers

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