Carsoholic - For those people addicted to cars and motoring

Review of the new Mazda MX-5 2.0

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Liam Jones

Mazda launched the MX5 nearly 25 years ago and to date this little roadster is still fighting off the competition. With its superb chassis giving tight handling, its modern styling and high street affordability, the Mazda has never struggled with sales and has a loyal base of buyers coming back and back for more with each incarnation.

Sales of the MX5 are the strongest in the United Kingdom and today we are going to look at the new 2.0 158bhp model which is expected to be the biggest selling variant of the two models that will be available.

For an additional £850 over the standard 1.5 litre model you will gain an extra 29bhp which although doesnt sound like a massive hike, when you are talking about a car that weights just over 1000kg it makes a huge difference to performance, knocking a whole second of the cars 0-62mph time at just 7.3 seconds allowing the car to move onto a top speed of 133 mph.

Another bonus with the 2.0 litre variant is the limited slip differential which under heavy thottle puts the rear end out a lot better and more rewarding to drive. This along with the exciting exhaust note encourages all but the most sensible driver to rev the engine to the rev limit of 7,000rpm.

Residual values of the Mazda have always been strong so if you are lucky enough to own one already there are sure to be some great part exchange deals to be done at your local Mazda dealers in the UK or as an alternative sell your mazda to a dealer direct and take advantage haggling with no part exchange.

Crosslands Vehicle Sales

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Liam Jones

We are kicking off our dealer spotlight section today with Crosslands Vehicles based in Huntingdon and Peterborough.

I recently decided it was time to move away from my boy racer image with my Renault Megane Sport and to grow up into the mature man my missus wants me to be and to get an MPV or 4×4, something with more room for when we go away occasionally for a weekend break with the kids.

After some considerably squabbling about the vehicle we should go for we mutually agreed on the new Land Rover Freelander, when I say new I mean second hand.. I make no money from this blog you know.

Anyway, first port of all “autotrader.co.uk“. We decided we didn’t want black this time as it is a complete nightmare to keep clean so went for “white” – not my logic the missus… but I digress.

We narrowed the search down to a few leggy ones to keep the price down and obviously didn’t want to travel to the end of the country so did a search within 60 miles and a number of vehicles popped up.

I’m ex motor trade myself so I understand how things work but before we made any long journeys with the screaming kids I made some phone calls to the handful of dealers we had found with Freelanders that might fit the bill.

This is where things became interesting. The first couple of dealers had sold the cars and although had others available were a little bit out of our budget as they were lower mileage. Moving on to what looked like to be the perfect car for us at a dealer in Cambridge (who shall remain nameless) I called only to be told that the sales guy was out on test drive and he will call me back.

Two hours pass, no phone call so I phone back. “He said he was going to call you” the receptionist said and promised he would call back within the hour if only to say he hadn’t forgotten about us.

Another hour passes… no phone call and to this date, roughly a month later… still no phone call.

I often wonder what happened to that sales person, either something horrid or he earns so much money our enquiry didn’t really matter.

This is where we come to used car dealer crosslands in peterborough.

There were plenty of photos of the Freelander on their website to look at but you cant beat viewing a car in the metal so I dropped a call to Crosslands midday on Saturday to see if we could pop over and have a look.

I spoke to Hugh on the phone who was a lovely bloke and even said he wouldn’t let the car go anywhere until we had been to take a look as he knew we were travelling some distance.

We arrived at the garage (after going to their other branch in Huntingdon by mistake) a couple of hours later and how refreshing it was to meet someone as nice and polite as Hugh.

He took us around the car, showed us how everything worked and even showed us a couple of marks he had booked in to be repaired on the Monday. We went through the service history and then took the car for a test-drive. It was superb and we had to have it.

Negotiation time

I knew the car was up for a good price so didn’t expect to get hundreds of pounds knocked off but I did have a part exchange because I didn’t want the hassle or have to time sell privately so we had a look around it to see what Hugh could offer.

Hugh was really nice here, there were a couple of marks to the bumper and alloys but instead of pulling the car to bits he was complimentary and we worked out a price. To be honest the price was fair and I would have accepted the change figure Hugh offered but he suggested as we had a week until we could collect the new car (due to the paintwork) I might want to put it on the dealerbid website of which he was a buyer on.

I had never used this way of selling before, id used webuyanycar for some offers prior to even looking at a new car but this was a new concept to me and one that I have also now added to my blog on car buying websites as I have been pleasantly impressed.

I was offered a number of figures on the following monday and agreed a price with Kingstons who offered me another £600 more than what Hugh could allow me in part exchange.

Keeping in mind Hugh could have took my car off me for the lower figure I thought this was quite honourable and the whole experience of buying a new car was relaxed and refreshing.

We now have the car which is perfect and great fun to drive.

I’ll end this post with a Thumbs up to Crosslands Vehicles in Peterborough and if you are ever up my neck of the woods Hugh, I owe you a Beer.

Webuyanycar and the Alternatives

Posted on July 25, 2015 by Liam Jones

(Image from wikipedia)

With so many websites online now to help sell your car quickly without the hassle of selling privately its no wonder more and more people are moving away from trading in their cars in part exchange or spending lots of money on advertising privately through the likes of autotrader.

In the UK the without doubt the most popular car buying service is webuyanycar who promise to make selling your car both a lot easier than selling privately but also much quicker.

This first site of its kind as far as we are aware was launched back in 2006 and quickly became the market leader and the largest car buying service in the UK with over three quarters of a million cars being purchased to date.

With over 200 branches across the UK you could enter your details on their website and if you were happy with their offer arrange an appointment at one of their drop off centres for one of their staff to confirm the details you had given for the car and arrange payment into your account.

HOW TO USE THE WEBSITE

The website itself couldn’t really be any easier to use. You simply visit their website at webuyanycar.com where you are presented with a registration plate where you can enter your vehicle registration number.

This should then load up the basic details about your car, make, model, colour etc. The next stage is to enter the final information that the system wont know about, things like the mileage and service history of the car before having to enter your personal information which includes your email address, postcode (so they know your whereabouts in the UK) and a contact number.

Once this information has been completed you will be presented with their offer to buy your car along with your nearest branch (based upon the postcode your entered). If you are happy with the offer they have given you can then arrange an appointment at a local drop off centre for you to take your car for inspection and to complete the sale.

How do they make their offer without discussing your vehicle first?

When you are given your offer from the site this is made with the assumption that your car has at least six months MOT, more than one key and is in top condition with no preparation required (damage).

This is when you need to be totally honest with yourself about the condition of the car and if there is ANYTHING that you think wouldn’t be classed as perfect you need to add to the description using their “change assumptions and add damage link”.

This is probably the most important thing to do when listing your car as if the description is not accurate and honest you will be in for some disappointment when you take your car along to your local centre to be appraised as they will pick up on anything that hasn’t been mentioned and will adjust the price accordingly.

Not only will this be disappointing but it could also be a complete waste of your day should the offer drop massively from what was originally offered and put you on the back foot.

So answer any questions as honestly as possibly and once done you will be presented with a revised offer taking everything you have disclosed into account.

Arranging an Appointment at your local centre

So you’ve entered your car details, been honest with your description and are happy to make an appointment at your local webuyanycar centre to finalise the sale.

The site will present you with a number of available appointments at your local centre on screen. You simply select the one that is most convenient for you and that’s you all booked up to take your car along on the date and time you selected.

At the appointment someone will give your car a thorough inspection inside and out and will either make any adjustments to the price or confirm the price you have already been given and if you’re happy payment will be made directly into your account by bankers transfer.

Bad press

If you are looking at selling your car this route you have more than likely done some homework and checked out reviews online to see how other sellers have experienced the process and will have probably come across many articles criticising the valuation process by saying that manner of the original offers are not honoured.

Being ex-motortrade myself I have to say that I would imagine that the majority of these change in valuations are going to be down to inaccurate descriptions of cars. Time and time again whilst selling cars I would hear customers say how lovely their current vehicle is and its “Immaculate” when it comes to actually appraising the word immaculate is somewhat overused.

This is why a company like this is always going to struggle in keeping the customer happy.

I would have clients wanting to part exchange a car they didn’t have with them and beg and plead for me to give them a “guide price”. On occasion and very reluctantly I would do this and nine times out of ten the description they would give me of their car was nothing like the car in they would bring along a few days later.

This is when people start to get upset. “You told me the car was worth £—- ?” but what the customer failed to tell you was the back door is a completely different shade of red and has clearly been painted, they only have one key and that the “full service history” they have turns out to be partial with their handy next door neighbour carrying out the annual oil change.

So again, this is where it is vital to be as honest with your description as possible up front to avoid any disappointment and wasting anybodies time.

Webuyanycar Alternatives

Its no surprise that since their launch in 2006 that many copycat companies have appeared online all offering a similar type of service. Below are a couple of sites you might also want to visit before accepting any offers for your car

We Want Any Car at wewantanycar.com – This site works pretty much exactly the same as webuyanycar in that you simply enter your registration number to receive a valuation and then arrange an appointment at a local centre to have your car inspected.

UPSIDE

Nice quick comparison to what webuyanycar will offer you with same process.

DOWNSIDE

Still have to visit one of their drop off centres

We buy any car at dealerbid.co.uk – An interesting site that has around 5,000 vehicles listed each month. The system works in an entirely different way to webuyanycar in that it has a big database of motor dealers that subscribe to purchase vehicles for stock.

When you list your vehicle you can add things like photos and a lengthy description and the details are then immediately sent to dealers that have registered to buy cars like yours for cash. Your vehicle details are also live on the dealerbid website for 6 weeks for dealers to browse.

UPSIDE

The great thing about this method of selling is that it does two things. It firstly enables you to put your car in front of lots of different buyers (only motor dealers – not the public) – this clearly increases your chances of receiving a good price as dealers will know they will be competing with each other.

The site has a message and offer system so dealers can message you through the site for further information about your car on a one to one basis, this should eliminate any disappointment should you decide to sell as everything has been discussed by a person rather than a computer.

If you are happy with an offer the dealer can place the final offer via the offer proposal system which includes a section to list what has been agreed as well as how you expect to be paid (usually bank transfer). You simply accept the offer and the site will generate an invoice to the buyer who will arrange collection of your vehicle. (Another nice point… you don’t have to take your car anywhere). Once the car has been collected you can leave feedback about the dealer for other sellers to view, which means they are going to be even less likely to mess you around on price.

The second reason this system is good is that if you are not in a huge hurry to sell you your vehicle will be listed for 6 weeks. This means if a dealer has an enquiry for a particular vehicle they don’t have in stock they could easily browse the site spot your car and make you a very strong offer knowing they have someone lined up for the car.

DOWNSIDE

The only real downside is that you are not guaranteed to get an offer for your car and there is a small fee of £10 to unlock your enquiries board – although in most cases this is neither here or there as if you are offered a better price is most likely going to be a few hundred pounds more at least I would think.

Sellyourjamjar – Similar listing process as webuyanycar etc but seems to be some sort of affiliate site as when I have tried listing a couple of cars the system simply says they recommend money4yourmotors.com so it looks like this site has probably gone from their own car buying business into an affiliate making commissions from successful sales to money4yourmotors.com although I dont know for sure.

UPSIDE – Quick to get a price and they do state they will collect your car

DOWNSIDE – Might as well just visit money4yourmotors.com

Government back electric car sales with Go ultra low campaign

Posted on February 5, 2014 by adamtaylor

The Government has announced a new “Go Ultra Low” campaign for the UK motor industry, designed to give wider push towards greater adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles, with a £9.3m investment into funding expansion of the UK’s charging network.

The “Go Ultra Low” initiative has been backed by major car manufacturers BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall and aims to encourage motorists to switch to pure electric, hybrid vehicles or extended range cars – “Ultra Low Emission Vehicles” (ULEVs).

Over the last three years nearly 20 electric and Hybrid plug-in cars and commercial vehicles have been launched in the UK, including the BMW’s purely electric i3, the Nissan LEAF and Vauxhall’s Ampera – and with this new initiative it is the Government’s aim to make it even more desirable to buy one.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg explained that the use of electric vehicles is one of the most promising industries to help us reduce our carbon footprint and he wants to make sure that the UK is at the forefront when it comes to not only production but also the acceptance of these types of vehicle.

He went on to explain that it is the very low running costs of these types of vehicle that will help drivers save money, and is going to help boost the number of charging points in the UK by dedicating more than £9 million to towards the installation of new points.

The Government has signed off a £5.8m investment to create over 140 new fast chargepoints that can charge an ULEV from flat in 30 minutes. The aim is for these to go into areas having a deficiency of chargepoints in order to give the UK a wide spanning network of 500 fast charging access points.

An additional £600,000 will be spent on 80 points in train station car parks while grants worth £2.9m have be given to public sector organisations, including the NHS trust, the Ministry of Defence and fire services, to install a further 450 chargepoints on their own acreage for staff, business fleets and visitors.

The Government has recently just dedicated £5m to invest into electric vehicle for its own fleet of cars this year.

The ‘Go Ultra Low’ campaign will be the first time vehicle manufacturers have been brought together with the Department of Transport, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Director of energy and technology – Michael Hurwiz said “To many people, an EV is still a G-Wiz” the indian built electric car. But with the big car manufacturers such as BMW and Nissan working hard together to drive up sales of electric vehicles in the UK, it gives you a good idea of the fact that a strong and majority sector of electric car sales in the UK isn’t far away. And it is infact probably the first time so many large manufacturers have worked together.

Suzanne Gray, head of BMW’s electric programme said BMW expects to sell over 2,000 units of its all electric BMW i3 and range extender city car next year, around 5 percent of the manufacturers sales but has warned that this number would not be sustainable should the government subsidies stop and in fact it was likely that the entire marketplace would quickly dry up.

She added that it is encouraging however to see the Government create the “Go Ultra Low” campaign to increase the number of charging points in the UK. Selling cars is one thing but is wasted if there is no infrastructure in place to support an increase in sales.

One interesting point Niki Gear blogged about recently is the fact that an official for the DfT (Department for transport) has said that the Government subsidies available on ultra-low emission vehicles will continue until they “were part of everyday life”.

Let’s hope that this new campaign will spread the word on why buying an ultra-low emission vehicle is a good idea and that buyers will be listening.

The 2014 initiative will be promoted nationwide through print advertising, radio, celebrity endorsement and fleet businesses.