Cutting out the Middleman

[Rick]

I'm quite a fan of dealing direct if I can do. There are pro's and con's but I usually find there to be a net benefit.
Most here will be NVA users already. Just wondering, when else have you, cut out the middleman?

For me

Mobile phone - OnePlus - https://oneplus.net/uk/2
Avoid them shiny suited 18yr old salesmen in the shops and order direct from China.
Excellent unit with comparable specs for a fraction of what the latest 'iphone 27S' costs.

Mobile network - giffgaff - https://www.giffgaff.com/
Not quite direct, as 02 overlords but again, avoid the shops and importantly the long contracts.
Been with them for several years. Community/forum run. Feels more like a co-operative. No unexpected bills.

Banking - Handelsbanken - http://www.handelsbanken.com/
Cost a little monthly but no crappy call centres and no 'computer says no mentality'
Old fashioned banking, one person to deal with and I have his mobile number if I need to speak to him.

Car - https://www.gateway2lease.com/
No dipshit salesman, frustrating negotiations or derisory trade in offers
Clear fixed pricing often with manufacturer support made this the cheapest and easiest way to run a new car.


You'll find none of the above on the high street. All operate online. I have already eyed up an online estate agent for when we need them. Would never use a bricks & mortar one again, total rip off.

[George Hincapie]

There are actually a lot of positives with leasing, provided that you are comfortable with the notion of 'renting' a car. It isn't for everyone.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I buy a car on ebay for about £2000, don't service it or spend money on it until it badly fails MOT and then I sell it on ebay as spares or repairs for about £500 and buy another one. My average annual cost to buy the car over the 10 years I have now been doing this is £500 or less than £10 per week

More holidays

[Rick]

You have to do whatever suits.
I've somehow managed to accrue five cars and am looking forward to two going soon as I simply don't have the space.

Anyway, I can appreciate both ends of the spectrum. For my previous job I was doing 20K+ a year of motorways and needed something I was happy to spend a lo of time in. It needed to be reliable and the on board tech such as ACC was a big plus. Thankfully have changed job now so come the end of the term, it will be going back come end of the term.

On the other side I have a Volvo V70 which i purchased in May last year for the princely sum of £630 (less than 2 months payment of the Golf ) and it been utterly fantastic. Great workhorse, can do skip runs, take kids to the beach, camping. Don't mind it it gets dinged, in fact it's usually left on the street unlocked, nobody would pinch it! It's had a lamp at £3 and thats it. Just hoping it can get through MOT without too much fuss.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

My fav at the moment is the fiat doblo, so much room for things. I am on my second one.

[George Hincapie]

Our main family car is a Volvo XC90, which we love dearly. It's just done over 100,000 miles and I won't replace it until it dies. It's an amazing family car with a stupidly large load area and a high degree of comfort. We also have a leased Citreon C1 our au pair uses to drive the children to and from school. We change the au pair every 6 months and the lease every year

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Sometimes a middleman of sorts is essential like with general groceries, there are just so many different types from fresh to packaged, too many to source direct, so on line deliveries from wholesale warehouses will be the way that goes. The best industries to get rid of the middle man are those where because of lower turnover and specialist markets then the middle man takes too big a chunk of the pot, to the point it is just a rip off - AS WITH HI-FI. 40 to 50% of your money going in his pocket just to have a dem room and a stock room and to sell you what HE wants to sell you, stupid! The future is on line either through forums with controlled loan stock or through Ebay / Amazon or manufacturers websites with a free return period to compensate for lack of dems. There is one big problem with this, look at those that sell both through shops and direct, they still sell to you at retail price, so they are perpetrating an even bigger rip-off by taking both their profit and the retailer profit. The TRUE bargains companies are those that ONLY sell direct and charge you trade price so removing nearly half the price you pay. It needs a little intelligence and exploration to find these suppliers as the industry is still mostly populated by crooks and rip of merchants.

[jammy395]

Big savings too be had, if your prepared to do a little groundwork.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

You also have to go careful of the rump of retail apologists and status quo promoters on the forums. A classic example is yer wanker (YNwhatever) who in one of his historic NVA dissing attacks on PFM announced that the only reason I didn't have any dealers was that my products weren't good enough and nobody wanted them

[jammy395]

Oh pleanty of dealers out there Doc who would be only to happy to have a nice big slice of the NVA pie.