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Hi, looking at a newish car and been looking at car supermarkets - motorpoint / carshop.
Are they a good option or best avoided? Also do they do trade in and if so are they equivalent of webuyanycar values?
Hmmmmm.
so, Arnold Clark.. Hobnobs are go go go!
Have had differing experiences... last car was a 2 year old ex lease yeti, was in great condition.
Went to view an xc60 this weekend and it was a total dog.
So, I guess if you do find the right car, you will get a good price, but the good ones probably move fast
Px value was better than wbac, this was available cars in Leeds. Bought from main dealer in the end
We went to AvailbleCar in Castle Donnington, who were excellent to be fair.
The cars were well prepped and presented, all unlocked with no pressure sales people. Easy test drive protocol and very good trade in prices although I felt the screen price was quite inflated with no haggling allowed.
We ended up buying privately but still sold our old car to them after a fortnight of no action on eBay and they honoured the part ex price (£500 more than WBAC). I spotted it for sale after a couple of weeks and had £1800 added to what they paid us for it, and took them 8 weeks to shift it.
On the flip side, we also went to Motorpoint, and they were horrible, cars badly prepped and fully locked so you had to go and bother a sales person to have a look around it.
They'll not negotiate on price and will try and sell you the magic paint protection and interior protection. If they have the car you want at a good price go for it.
My sister swears by Motorpoint and i’ve always been impressed with their hands off approach although I have not bought from them. Another sister likes Available Car but I was under the impression they were more of a credit to anyone type place? Could be wrong though.
We’ve used Available Car near Cannock and they were great, well presented cars at a reasonable price to the market, Have also used Car Giant many years ago and also Arnold Clark.
Not had any issues with any, usual rules apply give car a good look, in and out, do your own history checks, check docs and service history if due before committing, we’d bought cars still under manufacturer warranty, so check service been done if due so remains valid.
Bought the wife a Renault Clio from Fords of Winsford. Great people that just let you get on with it, if you want the keys, you have to go and get them, and the salespeople down't follow you around like a puppy.
Would recommend if anywhere near Cheshire.
We bought though Arnold Clark.
They were cheapest by a long way. They offered me £1300 compared to £1100 from webuyanycar on the old car.
They were disorganised on paperwork.
The car was poorly prepared - dirty and some minor chips not repaired as promised. We also had an issue of missing parcel shelf.
To their credit they fixed a warranty issue (although Anold Clark main Volvo dealer in Stirling underfilled the coolant, so needing another trip back....) and sorted a new parcel shelf at a shared cost between head office, dealer and myself which seemed reasonable.
The car itself is great - 6mths and 10k miles in and just fine.
I'm so reluctant to ever but from them again, especially in comparing how good local Morrisons SEAT main dealer was when we bought the Ibiza. I might, but would be so careful.
Overall I detest the whole suited and booted car dealer thing - they are not responsive to customers, just see you as a way of shifting another unit/bonus. Slimy.
Bought my wife's last two cars from Motorpoint, and was very pleased with the whole process. No pressure from sales people, but helpful when needed. Good part exchange price. Will be going again next time.
They will generally offer a high trade in value, it's a psychological tool as people generally think their car is worth more than it's worth a dealer giving to take it and move it on (I include WBAC in this, they have never actually offered me the 'internet' price when I've taken it to them). My experience has been that they are then very fixed on ticket price, and really push finance and warranty extras. As long as you go in with your eyes open you can get a decent deal, but after sales has been lacking in the three I've used - bought off a small dealer last time and was a much better experience, but it does all hinge on who has the car you want really.
My Ex-wife bought a car from Carshop which broke down on the way home. After a loooooong diagnosis and a loooooong battle with them that stopped just short of Small Claims, we eventually got the cost of diagnosis and repairs off them.
With that said, they had given us a decent trade in on a car that was fscked, so I should not complain too much.
Bought the wife a Renault Clio from Fords of Winsford. Great people that just let you get on with it, if you want the keys, you have to go and get them, and the salespeople down’t follow you around like a puppy.
Would recommend if anywhere near Cheshire.
Bought my last car from them - it was a bit of a rush job at my end as mine had just given up the ghost. Annoying as I'd driven up from Brum specifically to buy a car, told them that and when I arrived they hadn't got it ready, so had to make another journey at the weekend to collect - and even then they hadn't got it taxed for me.
Other than that, they were fine and it lasted another 11 years until someone rear-ended us and it got written off.
I got a car from the car people at the beginning of the year , I got a decent px enough so that it was more than I could have sold it for
I realised about a month later that the air con didn't work so they had a quick look and said new condenser unit required so had to order it. I took it in and new condenser and other bits of a/c replaced so was all working like new.
By this time the car was out of warranty period but the mechanic said he could just hear a noise when up on the ramp testing the system and it was a clutch release bearing he apologised for me having to book a revisit but ordered a new clutch. A week later I had new clutch and master cylinder replaced free of charge
Can't fault them one bit. I even got a courtesy car while they had mine
I bought off Evans halshaw last January as my usual private hunting grounds were not exactly brimming with 3 year old cars of the type I wanted as most were ex motability lease cars.
They tried the hard sell and the scare stories about not taking the warranty upsells. "What would you do if the gear box broke"" if it was outwith the statutory warrenty period I'd buy a new gearbox and fit it "" cars are all computers these days you need expensive tools to work on them" "indeed I have the dealer level diagnostics tools for Peugeot "
They were also a bit shirty when I opened the bonnet and had a good poke about and got under the car and had a good look about, trying to distract me and asking me what exactly I'm looking for "I don't know yet I'm just looking , I'll let you know if I find anything" . Only a fool buys a car without checking it over to the extent of their knowledge
It was a good ticket price , I didn't even try to trade in my motor. But my god I wanted to punch the salesman he was just being a nob .
He came out with a price per month over 5 years and because I'd done my homework I almost instantly came out with that's nearly 7% Apr.
He gave up eventually when I went nob back on him. "Look that's the car I want, I've not haggled on the price it's a good price for the car bur my position is if that's your best offer on finance I'll pay cash and take it now"
He came back with an offer over 3 year that worked out at 1.39%
I think if your nieve or not confident with cars it could be easy to be led up the garden path and missold a shit load of stuff
It's good to hear the that windscreen price is the price - I've never liked the "Vicar's wife" pricing model where the windscreen's got something overegged in the hope that (a) some mugs (the "vicar's wife") will just pay it, and everyone else thinks they're king of the dealmakers cos they got the salesman to move on it.
My experience of car supermarkets was more like that - some years ago and a chain that subsequently went bust. Nice selection of cars, all unlocked etc but the prices all looked about £2K higher than I'd expect. Lo and Behold, as soon as we showed interest in a particular car, but commented that it was outside our budget, the salesman started asking if we'd be interested if it was a bit lower, how about this much lower, what about if it was... £2K off the windscreen price?
Ended up buying the car, after the obligatory "phone my manager" game to confirm the price. A friend went a few weeks later - same thing happened: a brief conversation about "nice but a bit pricey" and £2K came off the price...
My dad worked at Motorpoint Burnley for a few years behind the scenes - shuffling cars about etc. No horror stories with the cars themselves and he bought a few for himself whilst he was there. His current car came from them after he left.
Went with MIL when her husband died and she needed to downsize car. They were fair to deal with and offered decent PX.
Yeah, it’s the Burnley one my sister uses. I’d certainly buy from them if I wanted nearly new.
My experience of Arnold Clark is that they will polish any old dog and try to sell it as mint (always check the MOT history!) and are not interested unless they can upsell something.
Carshop most recently. Fine - no hassle and we found the car we wanted at 'closing time' - the guy stayed behind to get the paperwork done. The car was well prepared, even the engine bay like new.
oh yes forgot to say . Evans halshaw told me they would service the car before i picked it up , they stamped the book to say they had.
being a 1.6 HDI peugeot engine i wanted to be sure of it , soon as statutory warrenty was up i serviced it and found all the filters were manufacturer stamped so as to they must have been replaced when EH said as they were made After the previous service but before the EH service.
its things like that that would make me use them again , i just assume all salesmen are like the one i experianced.
Available car do seem to put a lot of effort into making the cars presentable. They have their own on site body shop and workshops. They don't give you twelve months MOT though unless there is less than six months left. The no admin fee appeals to me as that's something that puts me off many dealers.
If you see a car you like though you need to move quickly as they turn them round fast.
Our last car came from Carshop, no problems. I'm told their main supply is cars at the end of their lease period, which they valet and sell at a low margin, fixed price. No reason why they should be better or worse than anyone else.