After taking our long list of possibilities, we narrowed it to a short-list of only 2 cars: a Honda Civic and a Seat Leon. The Civic put up a good fight, but in the end, we are now (or will be in another day) proud owners of a Seat Leon (which I've been told repeatedly is just a VW Golf in Spanish badging).
It's a 2006, 2.0 T FSI Sport 5-Door Hatchback in Black Magic Metallic. For me, it has heated front seats, bluetooth capability, stereo controls on the steering wheel, dual climate control, and back-up sensors. For Ben, it has a manual transmission and a turbo.
Couple more comments on the UK car buying experience:
- We didn't drive off the lot with our car! So, we went in, said that's the car for us, did some negotiating...talked finance, got everything sorted and then were told when we could come get the car. What? Honestly, the sales guy at Toyota told us that it took them 10 days from signing paperwork until car delivery (Seat is doing it in 2 days), so we were prepared, but still, what is it that takes them so long? I just don't get it. Ben drove by the dealer today, the car is still parked out front- same as it was yesterday (and it's still listed on the dealer's website).
- Dealerships are only open until 5 or 6 pm; some not opened on Sundays. When do (employed) people find time to buy cars??
- This is just a UK thing, but since we don't have SSNs here, their credit check was... sketchy? We told them our names and where we lived. From that alone they gave us a financing option. How does that work!?! We could only finance the car in one name (since we're not married), so we opted for Ben (good thing, cause apparently one can't get financing without at least a learner's driving licence (spelled British-ly). The sales guy wasn't sure if we could register the car in both our names (again, since we're not married), but he'd try.
Doesn't matter! At noon tomorrow, we'll have a previously-used, new-to-us Leon. We've already decided where we're going this weekend. ;)
3 comments:
Strangely one of the things I found odd when we bought cars in MN was that none of the dealerships were open on Sundays (by law), whereas in the UK it was mostly determined by whether the dealership was large enough to have the staff. In general though you're going to find a lot of people here who don't get the whole "I give you money, you give me stuff" thing.
Your address is used because everyone has to be on the electoral register, so it's a pretty reliable check on who you are. The license thing sounds bogus though - it's a good proof of address/identity thing, but there are over 25 million people in the UK who don't have a driving license.
Congratulations on your new car. May it bring lots of happiness and no parking tickets!
Ced (aka fred roth)
How neat! Wishing you lots of happy traveling!
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