I wanna ... Buy a car (Carsupermarkets)

frizz_head

I am on my 3rd car from Trade Sales - they really cannot be beaten on price - hence they will not budge on the prices set. I always make sure that the car I buy is sourced from the UK (I only ever buy nearly new - 6 months old) so that the original warranty is in place, and that all features come as standard.

Their attitude really is 'take it or leave it' which I prefer as I can't stand smarmy salesmen.

vk2003

Here is a copy and post I made to another (Hexus) forum in response to a question about Cargiant....

I have bought/helped buy 3 cars from Cargiant (used to be called Great Trade Centre.)

Huge selection. They claim that all cars sold there have no negative history (accidents, outstanding credit etc.) The selection is predominantly used cars, although a few brand new cars are available. The used cars are no more than 3-4 years old at most. However, many of the cars (esp VW) can be imports, so you need to ask them for the history of the vehicle. Also look out for cars that have little or no documentation, as the resale on these may be affected. That being said, I bought a 4 month old golf with 2000 miles on the clock, and there was no service book. I contacted the company that imported it as they had kept from new until its sale, and they sent on all the documentation to me FOC!

You can search, and in many cases view a picture of the vehicle at Cargiant

The whole process was very slow. If you have a car to trade in, I would recommend NOT going at the weekend, as they are incredibly busy. You need to get a trade in value on your car from their trade in section, before you start browsing cars - When I went at a weekend, and they were stacked, I was offered £500 less than when I went later in the week and they had some time.

OK, so you have a trade in value... So you have to trek around the site which is huge and view cars that you are interested in. Similar cars are all grouped together (eg all VW Golfs are in one 'hangar'.) I would recommend having a pretty clear idea of what you want to buy, and most importantly how much you want to spend, as the "If I spend just £*** more, I can get..." syndrome is particularily pernicious here. This combined with the slight sense of urgency imparted by the atmosphere there ('Must buy quickly, or the deal will go', or maybe thats just me ) can make for unwise decisions! Whilst looking at cars, no salesmen will hassle you. You need a PEN and PAPER with you, as there may be a few cars on which you would like to view the interior - you simply write down the reg plate, and car type, and when you go to the desk, they will give you the keys.

If you decide that you want to buy a particular car, you can test drive on the road infront of the centre, although this only gives opportunity to prove that the car starts, and the steering wheel/peddles work.... They do not budge on price at all, unless there is some new damage to the car. They will also try pretty hard to sell you some finance deal, or policy that 'protects' against devaluation (yeah right...)

To buy, you pay a deposit there and then at the desk. This is non refundable, and can instead be used to reserve the car for 24 hrs. Then go to another building, and complete the trade in on your vehicle (so you need to have all documentation with you.) Meanwhile they 'prepare' the car. If you have spotted anything awry with the car (damged trim, light not working etc) you must point these out in advance, so they repair them before giving you the car. This whole process can take ages (and I mean ages - allot a whole day to this), although to be fair, you can pick up the car the following day.

I have gone on enough (did not mean to write an essay...) but will just give you one further example....

My brother decided to buy a car there. He bought a diesel auto Golf, couple of years old, and the price was relatively good. However, there were a load of scratches on the bodywork, and as a result they reduced the price by £400. He managed to get the paintwork fixed for half that. Also, there was something wrong with the stereo, and damaged internal trim. He let them know as he was buying the car, and they promised to repair it, which they did not. As a result, he contacted them the following day, and in the end they asked him to get his local VW garage to deal with the couple of outstanding problems, and bill them They were pretty good about it, but be sure to get it written down, so it cannot be refuted later!! They are not one of the most profitable private companies in UK for nothing.

Finally, do shop around a little. I bought a car from another garage which was cheaper by approx £800 than similar vehicles being sold at Cargiant. To be fair, this seems to apply more to sought after sportier cars, but JFYI


Hope this helps. Let me if you need any more info.

VK

cookiemonster25

so just what is the difference as an owner between imports and uk sources cars..,apart from the odvious? I have heard garages are more reluctant to service imports is this true?

boots_babe

I can't comment generally, but we bought a second hand Alfa which was an import, and we've had no problems getting serviced at Alfa dealers. Insurers always ask if you car in an import, but in our case this hasn't actually affected our premiums.

Only difference we've found, is that the warranty on an import is usually for a shorter period. On our car, it was 3 yrs instead of 5yrs. Make sure that if it's an import it is fully to UK specification. I think it it's an import and NOT full UK spec, then that's a different kettle of fish altogether.

rockpeblar

For new cars it is worth checking out https://www.drivethedeal.com

For nearly new cars it is possible to buy cars direct from Hertz, an example of the cars and prices (which are fixed) can be found from a link on their website https://www.hertz.co.uk
I purchased a 5 month old Focus from them a few years ago for £2k less than the local dealer. It was perfect and we had no problems with it at all.
A friend purchased a Mondeo TDCi from them about 6 months ago and there was a problem with it. When he phoned them they said no problem, bring it back and we'll give you another one, same colour and spec. The list price of the car was over £19k and he paid £12.5k. They don't just stock Fords but lots of other brands as well although certain brands such as Jaguar have to go back to main dealers.