AutoQuake 2nd hand car sale - any one brought from?

Frostyy

Whoever purchased a car on finance and successfully received the car can you post me a detailed walkthrough of your process please as im interested in purchasing a car from AutoQuake , but these unbalanced posts are worrying me.
Thanks.

Upfront_DJ_Services

Firstly, I've just joined the forum after reading this whole thread. I intend to buy a car from Autoquake (probably) when the contract on my hire vehicle ends in Feb 2010. I realise this is quite a way off yet but I'm doing my research early.

I've looked around at prices and they do seem to be pretty good so that's the main reason I'm interested. I'm looking for a really cheap estate around the £3,000 - £4,000 mark and the site usually has plenty on it.

After browsing the site for a few months now (sad I know but I'm interested in cars so it keeps me amused) I've noticed their stock go from around 650 to nearly 1000 so they're obviously expanding very quickly so I can understand if there are a couple of minor problems along the way and if I save enough money then that's fair enough.

Luckily I live in Manchester (so not far from the Leeds site and not massively far from the Birmingham site), I spend my weekdays working from home with very flexible hours, and I have access to my wife's car so I won't be spending much on travel to the sites and won't have much problem having to try to get the car in a small time scale. Also as it's a cheap car I don't require finance so all of these mean AQ should be OK for me (unless they're horrendously bad!).

I haven't had any dealings with them yet but it seems to me that a few sensible ideas would be to try to get an appointment early in the day so you have time to get tax, and that might help you get a better road test (maybe?), take someone knowledgeable or get an RAC inspection, have a good long look at the car yourself and test everything (both keys, A/C, etc.), try to get a favour from someone regarding travel - I wouldn't go buying train tickets/ flights etc.

Also, the £100 deposit doesn't seem like a bad thing (as long as you can get it back). I'm self employed (I hire out sound systems) and I take a deposit to stop time wasters too.

A friend recommended the site after buying a £11,000(ish) BMW 320d and he's happy that he got a good deal and good service from them. I'm going for a cheaper car so I'm going to be very careful to check everything. If anyone would like to comment on some useful ways to deal with them, as well as adding more experiences with them then that would make good reading for people who are considering using them.

I'm in two minds about the warranty. It seems to only cover if something breaks down for reasons other than wear and tear, and doesn't cover water damage even if it's due to another fault that it does cover. If anyone has advice on this that would be well received.

Like someone mentioned before (sorry I forget who) - this is a moneysaving site and you usually have to make some sort of compromise to save money. In this case it seems to be difficulty getting hold of them and a less than luxury showroom and buying experience.

danfearn77

First off, yes i am new and i have just joined and i do not work for Auto Quake. Although it is obvious a few early posters do.

I was all ready to go ahead and reserve an Astra but my dad found this forum earlier today, and i have to admit it has rather put me off. One thing i have noticed is the Leeds Branch is fairing a little better than the Birmingham branch when it comes to getting slagged off, and the two cars i have seen are in Leeds, which is ok.

I stumbled across this website and, like others, were drawn in by the low prices, and thought they were too good to be true. Turns out that way anyway. Im now in two minds as to whether to use AQ. Customer service doesnt bother me to be honest. If i get a GOOD car at a good price the salesman can be as bad as he wants and he wont put me off. If they try to push anything on me, again, not a chance. But im sceptical about the finance part. I can put half down in cash and the rest i would take out as Finance. Is this safe to do and do they stick to their side of the bargain?

Also, my dad pointed this out, they seem bad on after sales car which is a bit of a worry. I want to be covered if something goes wrong.

Frostyy

danfearn77 wrote: »

First off, yes i am new and i have just joined and i do not work for Auto Quake. Although it is obvious a few early posters do.

I was all ready to go ahead and reserve an Astra but my dad found this forum earlier today, and i have to admit it has rather put me off. One thing i have noticed is the Leeds Branch is fairing a little better than the Birmingham branch when it comes to getting slagged off, and the two cars i have seen are in Leeds, which is ok.

I stumbled across this website and, like others, were drawn in by the low prices, and thought they were too good to be true. Turns out that way anyway. Im now in two minds as to whether to use AQ. Customer service doesnt bother me to be honest. If i get a GOOD car at a good price the salesman can be as bad as he wants and he wont put me off. If they try to push anything on me, again, not a chance. But im sceptical about the finance part. I can put half down in cash and the rest i would take out as Finance. Is this safe to do and do they stick to their side of the bargain?

Also, my dad pointed this out, they seem bad on after sales car which is a bit of a worry. I want to be covered if something goes wrong.

Im in the same boat and waiting on the same answers.

f1re_cr4cker

Frostyy wrote: »

Im in the same boat and waiting on the same answers.

Well im almost 4 months down the line from buying my car with them and no problems so far. If you are worried why dont u buy a warranty as well from them that is what we did.

Fermanaghboy

The marketing might be slick, the calls to action on their website compelling but the quality of service in my experience has been appalling - possibly the worst I have ever experienced.

I ordered a car from them on 13 June 2009 and secured it with a £100 deposit. The experience from that pont in has been a litany of disaster. First, the link that was sent to me had recorded the car at £1200 more than the original price. Next the scheduled delivery dates changed four times. All this information, I coould only obtain by calling them directly. None of it was volunteered and very little committed to email or in writing.

Next, having called them I was told that I had cancelled my order by email. I aksed them to send me a copy of the alleged email and Guess What! Yep, it didn't arrive because I hadn't cancelled the order. Having finally received assurances and an email that the car was reserved and would be delviered at the original price, I called on Monday to confirm delviery times - only to be informed that the delviery is delayed for a further fortnight. That was until today when I called to double check delivery time when I was informed that the car had been withdrawn from sale.

this has been a misleading, difficult, time-consuming process. I will certainly never use them again and I hope others are aware of this before being seduced by the claims made on their website. There is clearly enough evidence on this forum. I only wish I'd read it before I'd committed to making the purchase.

NEVER AGAIN.

markollyh

I bought a car from Autoquake Leeds last week based purely on price and this is my experience so far....
Before buying
Saw a car I liked at a very good price but not available so registered my email. To my suprise I received an email the next morning to say it was available. Reserved on line with £100 deposit which meant no-one else could buy it before I had seen (18 registered their email for interest). The photo's were honest and pointed out that the window darking film was damaged on 1 window.

On the day
Turned up at 11.30 on Saturday morning and waited approx 15 mins. the car was available to view and looked just as explained on the photo's. There was a very small scuff on the car and 3 of the window films were actually damaged and one of the electric windows wasn't controlling properly. The window problem was fixed within 30 minutes. I decided to buy anyway as I know someone who can do the window film replacement fairly cheap. I also took the 7 day free insurance which meant I could tax the car whilst they sorted the window.
Drove away from Autoquake at approx 14:00 which I think was pretty good as the window had to be sorted and I had to tax the car. I decided to take the 2 year warranty which seemed a reasonably decent deal with fairly good cover.

One week after
I have had the scuff and window film sorted which cost me very little and the car now looks 100% as you would get from a dealer. My local Mazda dealer has exactly the same model and mileage for sale at 10995. I paid £6995 from Autoquake (plus £400 for optional warranty). The car looks great and has full service history so far I'm really pleased.

Conclusion
Would I buy from Autoquake again? Definitely - although it has only been 1 week!
Was I impressed with the service I got? Definitely - basic but that's why they are so much cheaper.
I'm a happy customer so far after parting with almost £7500 of my hard earned cash:T
Hopefully I'll still be happy in 6 months......

Yes I am a new poster who decided to post after having read this forum before buying. I don't normally post positive experience on forums but I thought it was only fair to post an opinion from someone who had actually bought a car from Autoquake. Regarding the £100 deposit I think it is a good thing as it prevents someone else jumping in and buying the car (which happened to us last time we almost bought a car).

donquix32

this really is an amazing thread, there are so many new users with shiny reviews for this company, it just does not add up

andy111

Yes, so many similar writing styles as well- all with one post each.

HigherIQ

Last week I placed a deposit on a car from autoquake when I stumbled upon their website (from an ebay listing). Me and my wife have been looking for a while now and knew exactly what we wanted in the car, and at what price we'd be prepared to pay.

I must say I did place the deposit quite rashly, however the website sold me into the idea of "fully refundable". By placing the deposit we felt secure to have time to discuss if this was the right car, and research the company.

Obviously I quickly came across this thread thereafter, and almost immediately felt insecure about placing the deposit. However I decided that research is key to deciding to buy, and not just hearsay. As has been very evident from this thread, it's full of either glorious reviews, or atrocious ones. There's very little in the middle which makes it hard to judge properly.

After reading this thread (several times), I went back and examined all the details of the car on their site. New information became quickly apparent; namely there's only 1 key, no tax and no service for a whole year. Add this information to the fact almost everyone here agrees that their 141 point check is a waste of time and we started to question if it was really the great bargain it first appears.

Anyway, cutting short to today, and we've placed the 10% deposit to hold the car for a week, and will be visiting them on Wednesday, with the intention of purchasing.

Explaining our reasons for going ahead with this car. I liked the idea a previous poster in this thread mentioned of using an RAC inspection before buying. But looking into this I found it to be the same price as a full service at my local garage. Given they claim to give a 7 day refund policy, I am happy to buy the car on Wednesday, assuming it passes my [basic] checks and will drive it 90 miles back home and get it immediately serviced. My local garage are honest and will give me a good assessment of whether the car is in good nick. If it is, then I've done the due service on the car and can drive a car I'm confident with, if it's not I'll get to test their 7 day refund policy.

As for the tax -well we're buying a car with £35 / year tax, so that's no bother. But the key is a real kicker - if we'd turned up without knowing about it, I'm certain we'd have walked away without purchasing. But looking on ebay and doing my research it turns out I can purchase a key for about £30 with instructions how to code it. Just need to get it cut then.

I wont deny I got taken in by their very slick website initially, and I'm glad this forum brought me to ground before rushing ahead with any deal. But inevitably, as has been pointed out a couple of times in this thread - you've got to lose something to get a good deal. The overall price including service+key+tax is within our budget, and I've very thoroughly done my research. I wont be buying any warranty or GAP insurance. No salesperson has ever managed to sell me into them! I like them trying though - banter for nothing is always fun ;-)

Eventually I have made up my own decision (well with my wife's approval!), and done more research than I ever expected the moment I put the deposit down.

I have purchased the car yet, but I have set up the free 7 day insurance offered. As has already been posted, Aviva push to sell you into their 12 month quote afterwards, but it's easy to say "no". It was about 10-15 minute phone call, and the hardest thing was it was an Indian call centre and hard to understand the person on the phone.

h t t p://w w w.autoquake.c o m/used-ford-fiesta/1.6-tdci-ghia-5dr-diesel-manual/inspid=14898
^^ here's the car I'm hoping to purchase. Hopefully on Wednesday it'll disappear off their website. If not you'll know something went wrong. (Apprently a new user is someone without enough posts, regardless of my sign-up time on the website! D'oh! - You'll need to remove spaces )

Unlike other posters in this thread who've been "about to buy" and say they'll update once they've purchased and not returned, I will update this thread so that people can follow my progress.

My experience, whatever it'll be, will only be my experience. And my experience will be based upon me doing hours and hours of research! I will not make recommendations either way regardless, as it seems doing so gets you flamed (quite fairly with some of these obviously perfect shining reviews)

Instead, I will only give some advice right now: Do your research! I'm sure you'll all agree with me this is the only thing you can do when buying a second-hand car. Regardless where it comes from.