FREE MOT's from Citroen...

[andmcit]

Yes, I kid you not.

http://www.citroen.co.uk/dealer-locator/mot-offer/

I can't see it yet, but there's got to be a catch!
The normal test's full price is a bit chunky mind...

are they planning to lace your coffee in the waiting
area so you buy a new car when some unfixable
nasty is discovered on your pride and joy?

More to the point, would any Citroen dealer now even
recognise a Xantia let alone an XM?

Andrew

[jorgy]

Hi Andrew

...story of bringing a targeted consumer group into the showrooms...with the hope of selling them a new Citroen. Not bad an idea, not bad....I'd hate to think they could go to the length of failing the old car to.."motivate" the buying of a new one.

Sadly I think if u booked in for an XM they'd reject u bec they sure got to know what nutters we are...unless they're thinking of pushing some redundant C6 they might have in their backyard (what happenned to thee btw? they sudenly dissapeared from the dealers...did they throw them in the English Channel ?? )

cheers
G

[onthecut]

Two strands to it, I'd say.
As mentioned, first is to get would be buyers onto the premises; second will be that they know the value of repairs it will generate will far outweigh the cost of doing the test for free. Bet the small print says you agree to leave the car with them for the work, if it fails. I also imagine there will be a pretty stringent application of the rules.

Last dealer C6 I saw was at the tyre place by the main Cit dealer in Brum; usual handful of miles, stickered at £16k. There have been a trickle through BCA in the course of last year -- strangely, a number of them registered on the same day -- what a coincidence ! I shall never understand the absolute lack of marketing, given that they have bothered to do a rhd version. As far as I can recall, there hasn't been a single eye catching poster in any of the local dealers since the launch and the model is never mentioned in any local press advertising they do. I'm afraid their marketing guy for the segment wouldn't last long if he worked me.

Mike.

[Dean]

I think Citroen have been very brave and clever with this tbh, why would they not push advertising the car? because they wouldnt want to sell many?.........it could be the whole exercise is about creating a class leading wow car that will be rare as rocking horse droppings in a few years to improve the company image down the line????? you dont spend Millions developing a car that everyone including Jeremy Clarkson likes and not spend a few quid on advertising without a damn good reason............

[Peter.N.]

Mmm, the all the garages listed fo 'my area' are about 30-60 miles away, My usual man is about four!

[Dean]

Guernsey or jersey are where my nearest participating dealers are according to the link posted by Andrew

[andmcit]

It's quite brilliant really. Its a great way to bring a private car owner (dying breed these days) with their vehicle
older than 4 years into the showroom and have them wait for over an hour while it's being tested. With all the
price stickers two grand less having been scrappaged and an offer of a test drive in the shiny new C5 outside the
salesman's job is done for them - ie. motivating people to go to the dalership in the first place and target older
car owners in particular! I got the heads up from Citroen because I've asked for news emails in the past so clearly
I'd be ripe to entice in too...

And what's a £50 loss leader incentive when you're signing up for a £15k car?

Like I say, brilliant, there probably isn't a catch. It certainly won't hurt either if people see old Citroens
passing MOT's at a Citroen garage either!

Andrew

[Peter.N.]

It's quite brilliant really. Its a great way to bring a private car owner (dying breed these days) with their vehicle
older than 4 years into the showroom and have them wait for over an hour while it's being tested. With all the
price stickers two grand less having been scrappaged and an offer of a test drive in the shiny new C5 outside the
salesman's job is done for them - ie. motivating people to go to the dalership in the first place and target older
car owners in particular! I got the heads up from Citroen because I've asked for news emails in the past so clearly
I'd be ripe to entice in too...

And what's a £50 loss leader incentive when you're signing up for a £15k car?

Like I say, brilliant, there probably isn't a catch. It certainly won't hurt either if people see old Citroens
passing MOT's at a Citroen garage either!

Andrew

Its a good marketing ploy without doubt but it would be wasted on me, I have never bought a new car in all my years of motoring, and why change the habit of a lifetime

Peter

[Ciaran]

This is an interesting one.
Locally, other dealerships have been running this kind of thing for a while. My cousin is a mechanic in Peugeot and told me about their one a few months back.

The way it works, is you pay them a tenner, they book the MOT (the fee for that being some £35), collect the car from you, examine it, then they give you a list of work they think is required for it to pass. At this point you have the choice of letting them do the work (which will no doubt total a fortune), or you can tell them to just put the car through the test anyway, and see what it fails on. They then take the car to the MOT centre, put it through the test, then return it to you, regardless of the outcome.
There's absolutely no obligation to have any work done, or to buy anything, he says its a ploy purely to get (some) work into the service dept, and to get people into the showroom, as a few of them may actually buy a car while they're there.

What a lot of people here are doing is paying the 10 quid, ignoring the list of recommended work, and having their cars put through. At the very least, even if it fails, they then have a list of what the car requires to pass MOT, and have saved £25, plus the inconvenience of having to wait ages for an appointment, and visiting the test centre themselves.

Its so attractive in that regard that I'd be tempted to do it myself..... if I could bring myself to trust the uninitiated stealer 'technicians' with an XM, a car which is probably older than they are....

Ciarán

[robert_e_smart]

Interesting Ciaran,

I didn't know they did that over here, it is a cheap pre MOT check. I wouldn't let those pricks anywhere near my cars though! The MOT tester asks the spotty youth how the parking brake operates, you can hear the response now, "dunno mate".