Well its a long time now since I dealt with drive the deal (14 months) I can only repeat it was easy. Paid deposit on order to the main volvo dealer and the balance on delivery. Price quoted included all taxes and RFL. No complaints just a really good unbeatable deal.
Car delivered I collected paid money - simple as that. Why bother doing it any other way?

Hi

The point is in these very uncertain times many companies are going out of business and it seems if you have the car delivered to you then you have to pay for it BEFORE it is delivered to you.

Most people are going to be to far away from their supplier and will need to pay the balance before delivery and potentially stand to loose all the money if the company goes out of business.

One of the only companies in the market that seem to fully protect buyers against this risk is www.autoebid.com who moneysupermarket link to. You only pay the balance after the car has been delivered to you and they don't have any dinned pricing.

They also seem to mislead people on their pricing such as :

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews67585.html
http://www.reviewcentre.com/review702812.html
http://www.reviewcentre.com/review624521.html
http://www.reviewcentre.com/review595537.html

They don't even quote pricing for 12 months road tax as standard and seem to have loads of hidden conditions such as having to take finance as a condition of a cash price advertised...

Sure people can make up their own mind about how authentic some very pro posters really are...

Hi, only experience I've had with them is from the other end of the deal. As others have said, they are basically introducers, and like other internet car sourcers, put potential orders out to tender. Dealers then compete for the order, if they want to, and the deal is then brokered between the customer and the supplying dealer. Can't say I supplied many cars to them, as being a prestige dealer, the discount levels were usually too high, so this tells you that wherever they got the deals, they were better than most main agents were prepared to do for a retail individual. This is not to say that you couldn't get a similar deal yourself, but you would be unlikely to better it, and, of course, you would need to shop an awful lot of dealers to do it.

I'm sorry but I do not work or have any affiliation to DTD. I picked up my second new car from a Ford dealership in the midlands 4 weeks ago. This is the second car I've bought this way and had no problems,

There are several well established brokers online (Broadspeed, New Car Discount, etc). I would suggest you only look at the established ones and see who offers the best deal. My own experience was that DTD was the cheapest and I preferred them because I didn't have to pay any money to them at all, deposit and final payment is made to the dealer like a normal purchase. I don't understand 'realornots' comment that the "biggest risk is not paying for the car until you get it". You should never pay the bulk of the money until as close to the delivery date as possible in case the delaership goes bust between you handing over your cash and picking up the car. This applies whether you buy through a broker or not.

I suggest you make your own mind up

Hi

Yes, I have been researching new car brokers and it does seem many posts on this forum and others are written by Drivethedeal or at least someone working on their behalf.

There are a number of very reliable new car discount companies who you can find by simply searching in google using those key words.

It seems the biggest risk is in not paying for the car until you get it...

DTD get a small commission for introducing the customer to their selected dealers, it would undermine the service they provide if people released the name of the dealer they get the car from a nd people went direct to them.

I've just bought my second car through DTD, I like to think I'm a savvy buyer and I have contacts at Ford dealerships but I couldn't get anywhere near DTD prices. As previous posters have said, there is nothing to fear, you are buying the car from the main dealer and you pay no money to DTD.

When you place you 'order' (it's really an expression of interest) with your choice of colour, spec, etc they will call you back to confirm. The dealer then contacts you to confirm details, if they can't exactly match the spec from stock they will offer you similar or a factory build. (I wanted a certain spec so I'm waiting for a factory build)

The only potential downside is if the dealer is far away as they only have 1 or 2 per brand (in my case the Ford dealer is 150 miles away) but if you call them and give them your post code they will give you an indication of how far away the dealer is. But for the savings you can make a nice day out of it.

If you don't want the hassle of trying to negotiate with a saleman who will give a whole range of reasons why he can't match the DTD price then give DTD a go.

Hi,thanks for that but still wondering which dealership sorted the deal for you,

I have posted a report but just in case you did not see it - bought black xc90 D5 exec latter part of 2009 through drive the deal got over 11k discount and the service was excellent though really they are just order takers for the volvo dealer. they operate by having 1 uk dealer for each make and in return for passing mass orders through negotiate a good price. DTD take card details for deposit but they do not take any money that is done by the dealer. dealer either delivers or you collect. I got treated like a vip by the dealer when I collected the car saw the piles of xc90 orders from DTD on the desk (they get £250 from dealer). so I rate them 10/10 no problems. Extras were also discounted by 10% (side steps privacy glass). xc90 6 months on still trouble free nice car mpg real world is 30 mpg motorway 24 mpg on city. Note for any modern diesel buyer they are all fitted with PARTICULATE filter for cleaner emissions and need a 15 min run over 50mph every 400 miles to clear the filter.
xc90 exec looks great drives great (though 19" alloys give slightly firmer ride than 18") I hear that like all large SUVs tyre costs are high (19" kuhmos/yokohamas £520 pirelli £750) and only last 15 - 20k miles. Buy 3 year service package for £300 for 3 services that is cheap. So running costs are higher than family saloon but it feels like a rock on the road in USA it is in the top 10 safety pick of all cars. Square body, high driving position and rear parking sensors make it easier to drive and park than my celica. Absolutely fantastic motorway cruiser eats miles in comfort. Wood trim is nicely done and interior of exec is worth the money(standard sat nav works so well) heated front and rear seats so nice in the cold weather. Massaging front seats is a gimmick never use feels strange being massaged by a seat. Thats it so far, lets hope it stays trouble free

Hi looking to buy an XC90 from DtD how did it go and which dealer did they appoint.carol

Hi Chunder, I used to work for Volvo, great discount although you prob would have got that just going into the dealer. Fantastic car for the money, especially the exec spec, will go through tyres for fun though!

took delivery 3 weeks ago of black xc90 executive purchased through drive the deal. 42k list 31k paid yes 11k discount and the deal was pain free no hassle no haggle just paid deposit to dealer and waited for delivery of uk supplied car from uk main dealer. great service was treated like a vip so this has to rate as the best deal I have ever made. Extras purchased running boards, rear privacy glass, 3 year service package all subject to good discount as well. car is great deal by the way 30mpg looks and drive like a 60k car.
(plenty of black paint / glass and chrome) big bling factor for just over 30k. I would now use drive the deal as my first option when buying. Did not PX or use dealer credit so that aspect untested.

Not blaming anyone just leaving impartial information regarding the process - quoting an attrative price draws customers in but following it through to conclusion is simply good customer service - whether it's advising a customer of negative or positive information regarding the said transaction.

Personally when a company promises something and fails to deliver you have to consider their overall customer satisfaction credibility. I would never chase a company - if they dont want the business then it's not my problem.

So you are blaming Drive the deal rather than the dealer?

The quote they provided sounds very competitive.

Did you let DTD know that you hadn't been contacted, or had they told you which Dealer should call?

I'd go back to them about it.

Sparky.

looking for a new peugoet 107 verve, list price is £9845. Thru drive the deal, they quoted £7845. Filled in the details required on Fri 2/10, rec'd phone call from them on the Sat 3/10 saying the dealer will contact us within 2 working days, not heard a thing from them at all. Wouldn't bother with these guys, they certainly don't fulfill their promises.

I have looked at Drive the Deal over the past few years when but had never used them until last year. My main Ford Dealer Macrae & Dick in Inverness were offering £2200 off the price of a new S-max. I checked the price on DTD and with all the options on the car the Discount offered was £5000 less £400 for delivery to the Scottish Highlands. The car was supplied from a Birmingham Ford Dealer. After agreeing the price with DTD, my main point of contact was with the dealer. It was an excellent transaction and if I was in the same position again(i.e. no trade in) I would use them again. In the end the main dealer never charged me the £400 delivery to the Scottish Highlands.

Hope this helps