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

sib321

Hi All,

I've only just joined this forum, though I have read it many times and found it very useful.

We have put a deposit down (and have viewed) this vehicle:

h t t p://w w w.autoquake
.com/vehicle/inspid=9619

We're collecting it on Friday, after which I'll make my first contribution to the forum by posting my experiences in full. For the record I don't work for Autoquake , I'm General Manager of this company:

waterfit.co.uk


Post again soon........

Si

(I have had to doctor the links as I am not allowed to post them being a new user)

confused31_2

PocoLoco wrote: »

an ebay feeback score of 91% over less than 90 transactions in 12 months. Would have thought that was quite poor.

A competitor at:http://stores.ebay.co.uk/UKAutosite-All-cars-RAC-inspected has a 100% feeback on 100 transactions over 12 months.

Im going to buy a car from autoquake, the prices are good and i know people who have dealt with them and had real good deals.

As for going on about the feedback, the only negative feedback i see are people who do not buy, mostly through the autoquakes fault, but there are not many people moaning about buying a bad product, which shows to me people are happy when they acually get a car from autoquake.

Thats the thing with ebay people do make genuine mistakes and people are too quick to give negative feedback, i could understand if it was auction style, but by winning you are not obliged to pay anything.

Ill let you all know how my purchase goes, ill be buying from them in the next 2 months.

bewise

I am writing my experience with autoquake over the last 2 weeks.

I was interested in a BMW 3SERIES 2006 06reg which i was following for 2 weeks on their website before i could decide on it and during that period i saw the price changing every few days. The car was initially priced at 11498 then changed to 11523 then to 11589 then to 11460 on the day i viewed the car.

I liked the car but it had not been serviced for nearly a year(last serviced in may 2008) and had done more than 15000 miles since, so i enquired if the car could be serviced before i purchase ,otherwise i would end up coughing out another 600 quid soon after i purchase the car for the servicing as i felt it was due for one.

The autoquake person said he would look into it and got back to me next day saying that they do only 120 point check and would not do a full service.
I pointed out that if i buy it, i would end up taking the car for a service very soon as it was serviced a year earlier and that means i spend more money on the car, immediately after purchase, which nobody would prefer, to which he mentioned that he would look into the service interval indicator on the car and find out how soon the car would be needing one (I have read in other bmw forums that the service interval indicator is something which can be reset by the mechanic manually)

While i was waiting today to get a reply from the autoquake person, i found that the price of the car has been increased to 12043 from 11460 which really annoyed me .

I dont think they are transparent in their pricing and cannot get my head around these frequent price changes by autoquake like fluctuating stock market prices?
Is it that, initially when there was no one reserving the car they dropped the price by 150 quid (over 10 days time)and when they are getting enquiries they have just hiked the price.Cheeky!

Another incident today was i spotted a new listing -a 3series diesel 320 06 reg priced at 13088 but it carried pictures and specifications of a 5 series and the same 5series car had another listing priced at 15055
I rang them and enquired about this to which they said it is probably a listing error and will look into it .
2 hours later i get a call from autoquake saying that it has been sorted and it was a listing error and now the 3series car listing carries the correct photographs and specifications but the price was hiked to 13143(only 55 quid) but still?

I really am sceptical about spending so much money at a firm , which does not seem to have any set standards and change prices to their whim and fancy.
Buyers need to be extra cautious especially if you are just going for online purchase as you might end up receiving a 3 series at your door when you have booked a 5 series (if its the other way around i am sure no one would complain)

Does anyone else share the same experience with regards to the price change?

Having said all these, i need to mention that i never had any problems with regards to viewing the car or getting the refund and the staff at leeds were very hospitable unlike what people had pointed out in the previous posts .

f1re_cr4cker

i thought i would just update this thread- yesterday i passed my driving test and we drove to the birmingham base to buy me a renault modus we had seen on the website.
Overall myself and hubby are very pleased we have managed to get an 06 car with around 20k miles on it for 4.5k including a 1 year warranty. The guy we dealt with was polite and not pushy.
The only negative i would say is that on the website it described the interior condition as good without any flaws that they highlighed however the speaker panel in the back was a bit broken, the front passenger window scratched from the inside by a dog we believe and the back bench seats were pretty dirty (however when we mentioned the cleanliness they did revalet it) Thankfully we bought a 1 year warranty as when we drove away the cigarette lighter was not working which we wanted to use to plug our tomtom into. So I would say A) check the car VERY throughly b4 buying and b) take out a years warranty with them just incase. However saying all this we are still very pleased as we feel we have got a good deal and we would buy from them again.

donquix32

I had a truly awful experience with this company, I sold my own car as they don't take trade ins, I reserved a car, took the day off work spent lots of money getting to them only to find a totally disorganised scruffy outfit. There were poeple hanging around who had no information on who I was or where my car was, I was told to wait which I did patiently for nearly two hours only to be presented with a scruffy sub standard car that was wet inside and had warning lights on the dashboard.
I asked for at least a decent test drive at which point I was told by the salesman that he didn't have time for me to test it on a main road. He did't seem bothered about me or the car I was interested in. Obviously I left and then had a horrific journey home. Yes I eventually got my deposit back but the whole experience was priceless. Whilst waiting I met some people who were in my position and had much the same experience.
I took another day off work and went to a dealer, found a similar car for the same price, test drove it, bought it and drove it home and am happy with it. Incidentally the company I bought from priced my old car at more than I sold it privately for!!!
I see some people here have had a good experience but all I can say is that they must be either friends of the owner or very easily pleased. My advice is if you feel you really have to use them do not commit to anything until you have actually SEEN it. This company appears to want to save you time and money, but offering £100 of YOUR OWN money back for a wasted train journey, taxi ride, 2 hour wait in their horrible premises, sneering sales staff experience and then a long expensive train journey home is most definately not worth it.
Thank heavens for site such as these for easygoing people like myself who are not interested or expecting confrontation when spending lots of money. I rarely complain and am a normal everyday consumer and can safely say that...
AUTOQUAKE ARE USELESS!!!

f1re_cr4cker

i find ur comments regarding those who have had a positive experience with them quite offensive. We did not have to wait 2 hours to be seen, i would say less than 5 minutes and we also had a proper test drive and a week alter after buying the car, rang us up to check everything was okay with it. Yes the back of the car could have been cleaner but they did revalet the car for us when we pointed this out PLUS the car was a bargain price. I appreciate you had a bad experience but i'm not a new member here and not as you put it "easily pleased".

donquix32

Hello Firecracker I know my comment happend to come after yours but I assure I was not directing it at you. My 'easily pleased' comment was written in an ironic context and was not an attack on all Autoquake customers! I'm glad for you that you had a good experience however mine was quite the opposite and I defy any sane person who went through the same as I did on that day to be anything other than annoyed and totally disappointed. I don't feel guilty for relaying my experiences, bad service is not talked about enough in this country and everyone on here-new member or not is invited to offer up their personal experiences good or bad to help others make an informed choice. I think they're useless you think they're quite good, I don't see that as offensive to anyone.

ceeahbee

donquix32 wrote: »

everyone on here-new member or not is invited to offer up their personal experiences good or bad to help others make an informed choice.

Well said, I've only been using this site for a short while but still I feel have something worthy to contribute. Also if they're reading this maybe Autoquack can also learn where they're getting wrong?

robocop79

I found this thread whilst looking for feedback on a different car trader (I wanted to see whether people only post bad feedback, thus scaring customers off, or whether people posted good feedback too).

Anyway, it's only fair that I say I bought a car from Autoquake Bradford in Jan 08 and have now done 25k miles in 15 months of ownership, without any major problems, and am more than happy with my purchase.

I spent a lot of time searching for the car I wanted and their cars seemed realistically priced so I called and arranged to have a look. I found the staff at the centre both professional and helpful, being greeted and left to look around the car in my own time before going out for a test-drive. There was no pressure to buy even though after getting there I decided the car I went to see wasn't want I wanted.

I returned a week later to have a look at a second car, and this is the one I purchased.

The only downside I found was my £100 deposit wasn't automatically refunded, I had to phone to ask.

In summary, good service and prices, and I'd not hesitate to buy from them again.

sunnyjay79

Having seen a car I liked on their website, I drove to their Birmingham branch and asked if I could view the car. I was told to wait as I did not have an appointment. I was seen by a representative within 15 mins and the car was brought to me to view within 1/2 hour of arriving.

The car looked exactly as described on the internet. The paperwork looked in order and it had full manufacturer's service history, however details of the last service was not available but was I assured by Jason that the service would have been done carried as it states on the report. He was very helpful and I was not under any pressure. I bought the car and I had Jason to see me through the process.

Anyway, the following Monday, I contacted the dealer for a copy of the last service report. They advised me that the former keeper (the leasing company) brought the car to them as the driver was experiencing problems whilst driving. The dealer said they carried out a full diagnostics check and the leasing company was advised that the steering column etc., needed replacing. However, the leasing company refused to carry out the repairs.

I was devastated. Having paid out thousands for a car that could be unroadworthy and to think I could have put my family, including two small children, lives at risk. I immediately called Jason and advised him of the above serious problem and he had to speak with his sales manager, Gary.

I must point out that Jason returned my call promptly and he advised me to take the car to Nationwide Autocentre to have to inspected at no cost to me. Thankfully, there is a branch in my town and it has been booked for this Thursday.

In the meantime, I have received the technicians report from the dealer which I have now forwarded to Jason and Gary. I am really not sure how this car ended up for sale with Autoquake, considering there could be a major issue with the steering and the car could potentially be unroadworthy.

Watch this space.....