Are Q1 plate change “discounts” a gimmick?
Discussion
Morning all
I’m just sanity checking myself here.
My lease ends in May but I’m rushing to swap out the car by 31/3 to take advantage of Q1 discounts - lots of dealers offering discount as long as sales are complete by 31/3.
I’m not in car sales and just wondered, are these really flash sales in an attempt to boost Q1 plate change numbers or are the same discounts likely to be around in April, May, June etc? Is it a gimmick to get people like me to think “oh, better act now”?
Any advice welcome
Rick
I’m just sanity checking myself here.
My lease ends in May but I’m rushing to swap out the car by 31/3 to take advantage of Q1 discounts - lots of dealers offering discount as long as sales are complete by 31/3.
I’m not in car sales and just wondered, are these really flash sales in an attempt to boost Q1 plate change numbers or are the same discounts likely to be around in April, May, June etc? Is it a gimmick to get people like me to think “oh, better act now”?
Any advice welcome
Rick
Spoke to some dealers today and testing out car seats in the back of some large exec cars. Turns out that for car seat placement the 5 series touring is the biggest of the three with the a6 close behind and e class estate actually too small for 3 adjacent booster seats. Marginally, but enough that you’d struggle to sit them flush across the back (largely due to the way the bolsters are positioned).
Asked about Q1 sales. Apparently the forecast and targets are always low for feb as everyone waits for March for the plate change. The March target are usually therefore high, and with Brexit and people not making large purchases there’s a feeling franchises will struggle to hit the head office numbers, hence big deals. There are likely to be deals for Q2, May and June but not as good due to lower target numbers. But again, lower forecasts due to no plate change so all much of a muchness. Big target again for sept (29 plates).
I think you’re right above, it’ll be down to each garages performance to date vs target. Thought Q1 target seems to be, from what I’ve gathered, difficult. I’m likely to press on with a Q1 deal as I’ll likely not get a better deal later and I can have the new toy sooner. It may cost me 2 months current lease at 50% but I can justify that to myself when we’re talking 30% list price discounts. As long as I don’t look in April/May and see the same deals I’ll be blissfully ignorant.
I’m short, yes Q1 looks like good deals to be had but without seeing the future no one knows. Answered my own question I think.
Just need to decide A6, 530d, Q7 or xc90. Leaning towards 530d touring as have a cracking quote for it and not sure I really need the size of the q7/xc90. Not yet. Maybe they’re the replacement
Asked about Q1 sales. Apparently the forecast and targets are always low for feb as everyone waits for March for the plate change. The March target are usually therefore high, and with Brexit and people not making large purchases there’s a feeling franchises will struggle to hit the head office numbers, hence big deals. There are likely to be deals for Q2, May and June but not as good due to lower target numbers. But again, lower forecasts due to no plate change so all much of a muchness. Big target again for sept (29 plates).
I think you’re right above, it’ll be down to each garages performance to date vs target. Thought Q1 target seems to be, from what I’ve gathered, difficult. I’m likely to press on with a Q1 deal as I’ll likely not get a better deal later and I can have the new toy sooner. It may cost me 2 months current lease at 50% but I can justify that to myself when we’re talking 30% list price discounts. As long as I don’t look in April/May and see the same deals I’ll be blissfully ignorant.
I’m short, yes Q1 looks like good deals to be had but without seeing the future no one knows. Answered my own question I think.
Just need to decide A6, 530d, Q7 or xc90. Leaning towards 530d touring as have a cracking quote for it and not sure I really need the size of the q7/xc90. Not yet. Maybe they’re the replacement
Hi Tony.
I was test driving an r line 231 tech. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but it didn’t feel like a £50k car.
Yes, it has leather seats. They look and feel the same as a 2013 Passat cc I had as a pool car years ago. It has a digital dash, but they’ve chosen to make the digital clocks (speedo/rev) look the same as the dials in the old cc. And the switches for the handbrake = Passat. Digital heating controls look similar to the physical ones from yesteryear.
It’s ok, don’t get me wrong. Fairly big, fairly nice, fairly practical etc. But 50 grand?
With regards to quality, a Q7 will have Alcantara door panels which are soft and nice to touch. Inlaid wooden finishing trim. Leather up to the Alcantara, softer leather, it’s own Audi interface which doesn’t feel out of place in a 50k car.
Gle has nice finishing touches too; wood effect and leather everywhere.
There are scratchy plastics everywhere in the Touareg, with a big plastic trim piece next to the vents running the length of the dash. In the Bmw it’s leather, in the gle it’s wood. The VW is 10k cheaper list price but fees it. And with massive discounts on Q7 through drive the deal .com and 30% of Bmw at 3.9 to 4.9% apr, why wouldn’t you.
Then the practically. A 5 series touring is as wide in the back. Overall external dims (excl wing mirrors) is, from memory, 6cm smaller for the 5 series than the Touareg. Same space in the back for the kids, still a massive boot and cheaper, nicer, faster, more fun, better I drive system, and looks so much better from all angles.
I’ve not managed to get an X5 down to an equivalent value yet; best I’ve seen is Inchcape doing x line 3.0d X5 on a 69 plate pre reg (<100 miles) for 3k deposit and £549 pcm. So for 40 quid and an extra 1500 deposit you can have an X5.
Then compare the X5 to 530d m sport x drive touring with tech pack AND save another 80 quid a month with the original 1500 deposit. For the same internal size (excl headroom and leg room but this was/is for kids so it’s only width I need) and you can have a really really nice car.
Where am I at now? Touareg is out of the running. List price compared to list price, it’s cheaper than X5/GLE/Q7 so expect lower quality. But, with deals like there are out there today, the gap becomes £50 a month (£2400 over 4 yrs) and it’s not 2400 less car, it’s 10k less car.
Hope that helps?
The bmw has even more leather and higher quality finish. Few pics below illustrate the point.
I was test driving an r line 231 tech. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but it didn’t feel like a £50k car.
Yes, it has leather seats. They look and feel the same as a 2013 Passat cc I had as a pool car years ago. It has a digital dash, but they’ve chosen to make the digital clocks (speedo/rev) look the same as the dials in the old cc. And the switches for the handbrake = Passat. Digital heating controls look similar to the physical ones from yesteryear.
It’s ok, don’t get me wrong. Fairly big, fairly nice, fairly practical etc. But 50 grand?
With regards to quality, a Q7 will have Alcantara door panels which are soft and nice to touch. Inlaid wooden finishing trim. Leather up to the Alcantara, softer leather, it’s own Audi interface which doesn’t feel out of place in a 50k car.
Gle has nice finishing touches too; wood effect and leather everywhere.
There are scratchy plastics everywhere in the Touareg, with a big plastic trim piece next to the vents running the length of the dash. In the Bmw it’s leather, in the gle it’s wood. The VW is 10k cheaper list price but fees it. And with massive discounts on Q7 through drive the deal .com and 30% of Bmw at 3.9 to 4.9% apr, why wouldn’t you.
Then the practically. A 5 series touring is as wide in the back. Overall external dims (excl wing mirrors) is, from memory, 6cm smaller for the 5 series than the Touareg. Same space in the back for the kids, still a massive boot and cheaper, nicer, faster, more fun, better I drive system, and looks so much better from all angles.
I’ve not managed to get an X5 down to an equivalent value yet; best I’ve seen is Inchcape doing x line 3.0d X5 on a 69 plate pre reg (<100 miles) for 3k deposit and £549 pcm. So for 40 quid and an extra 1500 deposit you can have an X5.
Then compare the X5 to 530d m sport x drive touring with tech pack AND save another 80 quid a month with the original 1500 deposit. For the same internal size (excl headroom and leg room but this was/is for kids so it’s only width I need) and you can have a really really nice car.
Where am I at now? Touareg is out of the running. List price compared to list price, it’s cheaper than X5/GLE/Q7 so expect lower quality. But, with deals like there are out there today, the gap becomes £50 a month (£2400 over 4 yrs) and it’s not 2400 less car, it’s 10k less car.
Hope that helps?
The bmw has even more leather and higher quality finish. Few pics below illustrate the point.
Thanks for that, much appreciated.
Interesting what you said about space in the back for the series 5. I just had a lease go back for the e-class and wife and kids hated the back seats. Seats don't move at all, from the Touareg reviews I've seen, they can go back individually. The wife has a preference for SUVs also but hey-ho.
Ta
Interesting what you said about space in the back for the series 5. I just had a lease go back for the e-class and wife and kids hated the back seats. Seats don't move at all, from the Touareg reviews I've seen, they can go back individually. The wife has a preference for SUVs also but hey-ho.
Ta
Seats in e class estate. Full back seat comes all the way across to the arm rest
Audi A6 s line - marginally better
5 series significantly wider
Gle - pretty good and reclining seats (note this car seat is massive)
Tried the car seat in the reclines position but still fouls
Q7 is massive. This was SQ7. Several inches between seats which none of the others achieved (unsurprisingly)
Audi A6 s line - marginally better
5 series significantly wider
Gle - pretty good and reclining seats (note this car seat is massive)
Tried the car seat in the reclines position but still fouls
Q7 is massive. This was SQ7. Several inches between seats which none of the others achieved (unsurprisingly)
Worth noting I don’t use all 3 seats at the same time but seemed a good way to compare car sizes.
I’ve got one of these sunny seats when we have all 3 kids for short tips (shared custody so sometimes have 3, sometimes 2, sometimes 0).
https://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/car-seats/child...
Also, my eldest is now 149cm so out of a booster all together which creates space. But, the kids won’t stop growing and in 4 years will be 10, 12 and 14 so I need something with some shoulder room.
The only issue now is the missus moaning about prices so have my work cut out there. May end up in a bog standard a6 or 520 instead of the 50tdi s line/black, or 530d m sport. Wanted a 50tdi s line q7 2020 plate but not sure I really need that just yet. Maybe a 530d touring on a 36m deal and the q7 for when they’re 9, 11 and 13 until 13, 15, 17.
I’ve got one of these sunny seats when we have all 3 kids for short tips (shared custody so sometimes have 3, sometimes 2, sometimes 0).
https://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/car-seats/child...
Also, my eldest is now 149cm so out of a booster all together which creates space. But, the kids won’t stop growing and in 4 years will be 10, 12 and 14 so I need something with some shoulder room.
The only issue now is the missus moaning about prices so have my work cut out there. May end up in a bog standard a6 or 520 instead of the 50tdi s line/black, or 530d m sport. Wanted a 50tdi s line q7 2020 plate but not sure I really need that just yet. Maybe a 530d touring on a 36m deal and the q7 for when they’re 9, 11 and 13 until 13, 15, 17.
Norfolk B-roads said:
No Cayenne on the shopping list? It's the clear winner in this category, even at very basic spec to keep the price sensible.
With the new shape out, there might even be some nearly new stock around you could find a deal on.
Only way to get a cayenne near the price point is 2nd hand and 3 years old. And if we’re doing that, then we can look at Maserati Levante, cayenne, Range rovers, or be sensible and open up to Xc90 T8 hybrid and V90 t8.With the new shape out, there might even be some nearly new stock around you could find a deal on.
Hoping to take something on a 69 or 20 plate and <500 miles on it (new or delivery miles). But, if the missus plays hard ball then we might well start looking at used.
Reason for new is Bmw offering 3.9% apr on 5 series, 4.9 on X5. Audi at 0% on an A8’s, 5% a6, 6.4% q7.
Used apr start from 11% up to 15, so for the same money you finance a lot less. A 60 grand A8 (a8 prospective owners, check out drive the deal .com) at 0% is roughly 600pcm. A 35 grand car with lower GMFV and at 14 % is 650pcm. Why pay the bank when you could buy more car.
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