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

Inactive

HigherIQ wrote: »

Mr Sceptical above should be ignored if you are considering buying a car from Autoquake. It's certainly not as straightforward as buying from a traditional car dealership, I'll grant that, but as long as you're willing to sacrifice some time, effort and cope with additional stress the saving does seem to be significant.

And at the end of the day, that's the entire point of this forum, isn't it?

Everything that I have stated is fact, if you are happy to buy a car from an outfit that do not even own the car, which actually belongs to a Finance Company, well you must be easily pleased, that's all I can say.:rolleyes:

You can save even more money buying from a car auction, with better protection than Autoquake, it would seem.

ceeahbee

A very good point about the road tax, it is illegal to drive any distance on the road without it, this is just a time and money saving ploy by this company, they cut corners here there and everywhere else dressing it up saying it enables them to sell cars cheaper when in fact its just lining the pockets of all the fat cats on the payrol.
Sorry higheriq but your willingness to overlook all of the issues you did makes you a salesmans dream. Your finance will eventually get paid off without doubt it just means that someone somewhere has the free use of your money for the next few weeks or so. A simple £10 Hpi check that you could have done on your phone or pc before you handed your money over would have meant that you wouldn't be in the position you are in now.
Autoquake can get away with this stealth practice with some people which massively improves cash flow for them, they will say it harms no-one. There can be complications though as if your car is stolen tonight your insurers could argue that at the time of the theft it didn't belong to you.

HigherIQ

Update this morning - ING Finance email me to confirm they no longer have financial interest in my car. This means everything to me is complete with regards Autoquake.

Regardless of some of the facts outlined by my 'friends' above, I'm pleased with the final price of the car, and the condition and quality of the car.

I concede that corners are cut, but then so is the price. And contrary to previous posts in this thread regarding phone contact; I've managed to make 4 phone calls to them, on both the "national" number, and their location-based number with answers promptly every time.

I certainly feel that although this thread was extremely useful in ensuring I've been cautious in my approach with Autoquake, it doesn't reflect the experience I've personally had dealing with them (with the exception of my posts )

Inactive

HigherIQ wrote: »

Update this morning - ING Finance email me to confirm they no longer have financial interest in my car. This means everything to me is complete with regards Autoquake.

Well that is good news, but it does beg the question, are AutoQuake using the customers money to actually pay for the car from the finance company?

I am still convinced that by shopping around a better deal could be had from a more reputable company, taking everything into consideration. ( spare keys / service costs etc. )

At the end of the day, most finance company snatch backs, which this company seems to buy, have usually been neglected by their previous owners.

I will not be buying from them.

ceeahbee

Just about all of Autoquakes will have current finance agreements on them registered with Hpi and they won't cleared until they really have to be, i.e when a customer kicks up a fuss on a public forum that they are watching like hawks! Its intersting that Higheriq reckons the car's done no mileage in the past couple of months has been sitting around for a while and yet the finance has only been paid off today.
If Autoquake sell 50 cars to various retail customers one week with outstanding unpaid finance agreements and then go bust the following week, guess who's liable?
It becomes a complete mess, I've seen it happen so many times before.

markollyh

Glad you are happy HigherIQ.

It seems at least 2 of us are pleased with the deal we got.

I am a Professional Buyer (MCIPS) so I like to think I can spot a bargain when I see one and I have no reason to think I have got anything other than a good deal.:j

robbieb34

I see this thread is still going strong! I posted here last April with some advice from within the trade.

There are definately a few 'iffy' reviews on here. I know exactly how this company works.

They're not all bad but their concept of selling cars is all biased towards them. Getting people to pay a holding deposit before they make the arduos journey to them is where it all starts. The customer is sold a 'perfect world' environment for their purchase by their unrealistically utopian website. You see the car and are seduced by lots of (too much) information about the car you are interested in. Your appetite is whetted beyond recognition and you put your deposit down, after all its only £100 right? and they say its refundable.

From there onwards you tell the bloke you work with about your new car, your friend down the pub, your wife, your children are all excited about it. You may even send the URL of it to all the people you email. You are at this point well and truly sold to, to the point where you want everything to be right. Basically the £100 deposit is irrelevent but way more importantly you are emotionally committed.

You set off and make your journey to the back and beyond where your new car is waiting, you are now so excited that you are unwittingly willing to over look any defects or small issues that you would have noticed and/or possibly used as a negotiation tool if you weren't already committed. You keep reasoning with yourself and fighting off the mild disapPointment, the fact that the bonnet is a bit off colour, the engine doesn't sound as smooth as you thought it would, the doogy smell and hairs in the boot or that the salesman won't let you drive it properly or doesn't appear to have time to answer any of your questions. All because its 5% cheaper than the other cars you saw. The fact of the matter is that many people will drive away from this company in cars that they're not really satisfied with but because they've gone so far down the line they get to a point where they say ok, this will do. I'm amazed when I read about the things people have chosen overlook, this would not happen if they weren't already emotionally commited.

This is just not good enough on such an important purchase, cars are more disposable these days but still you and your family have got to sit in this steel and plastic box for maybe the next 2 to 3 years. Autoquake have an effective online psychological selling system in place that woos people with slightly cheaper (ever changing!) prices and a whiter than white website. Its that good that its not surprising that so many people end up trawling to their premises and act totally out of character and are rushed into spending £1000's in a few minutes when any other time they'd be debating over a pair of socks for £4.99.

Autoqauke want to save time which in turn saves them money and increase their turnover. This is to their benefit not yours, why shouldn't you be able to sit in a few other cars have proper test drives, try it out with all the family with a salesperson who's got half a clue can tell you which button does what? And once you've decided why not get the RAC to check it over for things you have no clue about? Their 120 point check is not worth a jot, as I said on my last post its easy to fine 120 things that don't really need checking and as someone else pointed out its all well and good to check something to do anything about it is a different story. This is why many people are finding niggly things and major things on their cars a few days the line. Autoquake at this point will remind you of what a bargain you've got.

As far as Autoquake are concerned the actual selling process is over when you arrive, their job is to act as a handover depot for your goods, nothing else. You either take it or leave it, all the salesman has left to do is try and get a bit of commission on insurance to sell you. They try to convince us that this is taking away 'hard sell' when infact giving no information is again saving them time and money. This is all wrong, the customer has lost his position in the buying process. This may suit a few individuals who have no clue and don't care what they drive, who have absolutely no time to look and are easily pleased but I know for me and many other used car buyers if they think about it, what you want is to get a real feel for a car by way of touching feeling and test driving a few, no-one should be made to feel guilty about wanting that.

And don't go thinking that all 3 year old Vectras are the same, they're not! Has it been hacked around town by an overweight chain smoking rep or driven at a constant 60mph motorways by a careful ward sister? You couldn't possibly tell until you've seen it and driven it. So don't commit to it!!

By all means try Autoquake as a dealer but don't fall for the deposit thing, go and see their outfit first, their selection of cars and quality of their staff. Only get your money out when you are happy with the car and the company you're buying from.

At the end of the day buying a car is a job that a few of us actually like to do, some of us are nervous of and some of us find a chore. Autoquake does nothing to relieve these problems with their concept and infact their lack of interaction with their customers leads to difficulties as put across on this thread. If you want to give yourself the best chance of buying a car that you're going to be happy with, do a bit of research online, go and see a few different models, speak to a few companies and make a choice that based on your experience. Yes this takes a bit of time but is so worth it. Don't leave it to chance by pressing a button and hoping for the best, you might get lucky but then again it may be just the wrong car that all of a sudden you'll end up living with. You'll find yourself no longer able to convince yourself that you've approached this in the right way.

panchetta

surferturney wrote: »

HI

Considering buying a 2nd hand car from autoquake - they say they are ex company fleet cars...
Has any one brought one from them or know anything about there reputation?
Thanks

:mad:Very wise of you to ask about this company! Wish I had done the same ...
I was lucky in that I got the AA :jout to do an inspection. They found body work on the car which Autoquake:mad: chose not to report and it also became apparent that they misquoted the Parker's guide big time. When I complained, I was told by a member of staff that he just had a look at the car himself. He had the cheek to tell me that the AA had missed other repairs to the vehicle and he considered the car not fit for selling and was withdrawing it from sale. Imagine my reaction! Whether I get all the money back is still written in the stars...:mad:

PeterD75

I have been looking into buying a new car for quite some time and have been comparing many of the online outlets and the details they put up - it would seem that Autoquake and Switch Car are very similar and are using exactly the same web design/layout and pretty much the same tag lines - are they the same company just trying to market cars on different websites??

I've spoken to a friend at work and he did have a good experience a couple of months back but the thing that worried me was that he was sent a questionnaire by Autoquake and he scored them quite highly and then they asked him to log on to a Forum similar to this and put that he thought the company were great - seems to me like they know they get a bad press and as soon as someone says they are good then they want them to log on to a site and add a good post - this will make those of you sceptical who already think its Autoquake employees....

I have been looking at the Autoquake website on pretty much a daily basis and have seen a massive decline in the number of cars they have for sale... I am pretty much disregarding the Pre-Order cars as reading on this thread and others people have issues where the car seems to take forever and then be told they cant have it so if I only look at the cars that Autoquake actually has then the numbers are declining pretty rapidly... I know the numbers arent low yet but having read the thread about Finance not being paid off until Autoquake have the customers money we all know what would happen if I buy a car and then Autoquake rapidly go under - being in a commercial environment where cash flow is everything we can probably bet that they are holding onto the cash in their bank and not passing it onto the fleet owners quickly so if Autoquake go under during these still uncertain times then the retail customer is the one who could have the car repossed or might not be able to sell it on...

After having read all the posts on here and other sites how can I possibly trust Autoquake/Switch Car or some of the others any more than a guy at a back street garage especially when there are so many posts about serious faults with cars being missed and the 'non sales men' being typical car sales men and lying....

I'm surprised they are in business they seem to say one thing on their website and then just let people down... after reading everything I dont think I will ever trust a company like this.

ceeahbee

PeterD75 wrote: »

I've spoken to a friend at work and he did have a good experience a couple of months back but the thing that worried me was that he was sent a questionnaire by Autoquake and he scored them quite highly and then they asked him to log on to a Forum similar to this and put that he thought the company were great - seems to me like they know they get a bad press and as soon as someone says they are good then they want them to log on to a site and add a good post -

So thats how they do it, you've got to hand it to them they're quite clever, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.