If there is one car company in South Africa that has actually managed to get things right from a sales and service perspective it has to be Toyota.
I have never experienced a quality of service quite like what we get from Toyota - prompt, friendly, efficient and the bloody car actually doesn't come back with problems that weren't there before it got checked in.
Well done to those who are responsible for ensuring the quality of the Toyota brand in South Africa - you've done an excellent chop.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Would you buy a car online?
So as some of you know, I’m on something of a mission to work out how online consumers (Both private and corporate) in South Africa think and I guess what they would and wouldn’t buy online.
My two part question for today is pretty simple:
- WOULD YOU BUY A CAR ONLINE?
- WOULD YOU SOURCE A CAR TO BUY ONLINE?
Upfront I would say I wouldn’t buy a car online simply because I hadn’t seen it or done a test drive in it so I wouldn’t be able to make a fair assessment of the car.
But then car sites like Auto Pedigree (See right) and Carfind wouldn’t do the business they do.
At the same time, people use an auction site like BidOrBuy to actually buy cars on auction. There is this competition they have running here.
Here are some examples of prices that people have paid for cars on BidOrBuy recently - as you can see not exactly chump change:
2008 Chery QQ3 8.0 TE. Market price: R59,900.00; winning bid: R50,051.00
2008 VW Tena City 1.4l. Market price: R75,300; winning bid: R68,000.00
2008 Suzuki Swift. Market price: R131,900.00; winning bid: R123,506.00
2008 Toyota Yaris. Market price: R100,300.00; winning bid: R88,200.00
Looks like you can get some nice deals there!
Dunno - tell me what you think - would you buy a car online?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tires / Yaris
An enquiry from one of our community members!
My wife has a Toyota Yaris which (in South Africa at least) apparently comes with some funny sized 15" wheels / tyres which cost around R1200 a tyre to replace (Thats the same as my BMW!)
Nobody can explain to me why we can't simply but a smaller wheel / rim / tyre on the Yaris to accommodate 14" tyres which cost about 1/3rd of this amount.
Can somebody possibly explain to me how this works and why this is the case?
My wife has a Toyota Yaris which (in South Africa at least) apparently comes with some funny sized 15" wheels / tyres which cost around R1200 a tyre to replace (Thats the same as my BMW!)
Nobody can explain to me why we can't simply but a smaller wheel / rim / tyre on the Yaris to accommodate 14" tyres which cost about 1/3rd of this amount.
Can somebody possibly explain to me how this works and why this is the case?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Ford Falcon XR6, clutch story
This is my story.
I have a long history of trying to repair a 2000 model Ford Falcon XR6. A dog of a car, but its my collectors item
The clutch and gear box had recently been done by a supposedly reputed dealer. Due to work stuff I left the car standing for a year, got back into town, charged the battery and my clutch went again.
Took it into the dealer and they charged me the better part of R9000 to repair their clutch. They argued that because the car had been standing dead still for the last year, the clutch had been wearing out.
I asked how it was possible that the clutch could be wearing out when the car has been standing still (almost literally on bricks).
They responded saying that the clutch is always under pressure and when it stands still (i.e. the clutch is not depressed) then this creates additional pressure on the clutch and results in wear and tear.
Honestly I think this is BS. I mean how can the clutch be under strain if nobody is pushing the pedal?
Is this Ford dealer talking crap? Anyone out there?
I have a long history of trying to repair a 2000 model Ford Falcon XR6. A dog of a car, but its my collectors item
The clutch and gear box had recently been done by a supposedly reputed dealer. Due to work stuff I left the car standing for a year, got back into town, charged the battery and my clutch went again.
Took it into the dealer and they charged me the better part of R9000 to repair their clutch. They argued that because the car had been standing dead still for the last year, the clutch had been wearing out.
I asked how it was possible that the clutch could be wearing out when the car has been standing still (almost literally on bricks).
They responded saying that the clutch is always under pressure and when it stands still (i.e. the clutch is not depressed) then this creates additional pressure on the clutch and results in wear and tear.
Honestly I think this is BS. I mean how can the clutch be under strain if nobody is pushing the pedal?
Is this Ford dealer talking crap? Anyone out there?
Open Questions
Post your questions here and we will transfer them to the main body of the blog to be reviewed and answered as we go along
LAME CAR QUESTIONS BLOG
A bit of history - I'm probably the least technically minded person I know - heck my wife doesn't even trust me to change a light bulb unless she supervises - ITS NOT SOMETHING I'M PROUD OF but such is life...
To cut a long story short, I have regular unhappy dealings with car dealerships. I think their service consultants talk absolute bull and they get away with it because I don't know enough about how cars work to be able to question what they are saying.
As a result they give me crappy service, I know in my head what they are saying is bull but I don't have any body to fall back on.
So for that reason we've created the LAME CAR QUESTIONS blog for idiots just like me.
If you've got a question, post it on the blog and we'll try and get it answered.
If you think what the service consultant is telling a reader is absolute rubbish - help the reader out!
This is the power of the web. You have the opportunities to tap into the skills and knowledge base of professionals across the world and they can help share ideas, thoughts, comments and provide you with real world feedback that can help put you on an even footing when you feel like you are out of your depth.
Post your comments via our Open Questions segment and I will transfer them to the main part of the blog for the community to review and try and support. Please try and include as much information about the model of car as possible so that people can provide appropriate responses.
To cut a long story short, I have regular unhappy dealings with car dealerships. I think their service consultants talk absolute bull and they get away with it because I don't know enough about how cars work to be able to question what they are saying.
As a result they give me crappy service, I know in my head what they are saying is bull but I don't have any body to fall back on.
So for that reason we've created the LAME CAR QUESTIONS blog for idiots just like me.
If you've got a question, post it on the blog and we'll try and get it answered.
If you think what the service consultant is telling a reader is absolute rubbish - help the reader out!
This is the power of the web. You have the opportunities to tap into the skills and knowledge base of professionals across the world and they can help share ideas, thoughts, comments and provide you with real world feedback that can help put you on an even footing when you feel like you are out of your depth.
Post your comments via our Open Questions segment and I will transfer them to the main part of the blog for the community to review and try and support. Please try and include as much information about the model of car as possible so that people can provide appropriate responses.
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