Why some people think CarGiant are overpriced rubbish

bigjl

I couldn't find one, the cheapest one I could find was actually a Clio Campus for £4500, the Campus was based on the old Clio, in the same way as Renault did with the old Ren5 when they brought out the Clio.

The £5790 is the price we paid at CarGiant for a Clio 1.5DCi with 28k on the clock, just over three years old. A similar vehicle at Renault was near £8k and at the independants it was nearer the £7k mark, some a bit more, some a bit less, all the independants wanted more for any warranty more than 3 months in length, since the SoG's act takes care of most things in the early days then a 3 month warranty is worthless anyway.

Of course we are happy we have had well over a year out of a car for almost no depreciation, you can't get fairer than that, we even got a pre purchase test drive, we may have been able to get another few hundred off if we had gone to auction, but then no test drive, and more importantly we wanted to use finance, which we could at CG, so not much more than auction price from a dealer? Whats not to like. This is MSE isn't it?

Seems the only one actually interested in saving money is me.

bigjl

INT1 wrote: »

Stack em high, sell em cheap.

I agree, nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

One of the main reasons why Lidl and Netto are cheaper than other supermarkets, can't wait before Inactive and his merrymen say I must work for them aswell.:rotfl:

mikey72

bigjl wrote: »

I couldn't find one, the cheapest one I could find was actually a Clio Campus for £4500, the Campus was based on the old Clio, in the same way as Renault did with the old Ren5 when they brought out the Clio.

The £5790 is the price we paid at CarGiant for a Clio 1.5DCi with 28k on the clock, just over three years old. A similar vehicle at Renault was near £8k and at the independants it was nearer the £7k mark, some a bit more, some a bit less, all the independants wanted more for any warranty more than 3 months in length, since the SoG's act takes care of most things in the early days then a 3 month warranty is worthless anyway.

Of course we are happy we have had well over a year out of a car for almost no depreciation, you can't get fairer than that, we even got a pre purchase test drive, we may have been able to get another few hundred off if we had gone to auction, but then no test drive, and more importantly we wanted to use finance, which we could at CG, so not much more than auction price from a dealer? Whats not to like. This is MSE isn't it?

Seems the only one actually interested in saving money is me.

I don't know.
Our last car was £5315 cheaper, and it's probably not depreciated by more than £25 over 3 years.

bigjl

You are not comparing like with like mikey, you are talking about a bangernomics vehicle, which don't lose any money due to being worthless when you buy them.

My Mondeo cost £2450 in Nov '08, it is an 05/05 TDCi, it was a bit up on miles, 80k odd, but is now still worth the same.

Not everybody wants to run a banger, or wants to run the reliability minefield that you have to run when buying at that end of the market.

Not everybody has the confidence to buy at an auction, and those that know next to nothing should be advised against it, that was why I am a firm believer in CarGiant, the prices aren't that much more than auction, the choice is huge so if you find a car that you think isn't in the best condition then you can just go along the line to the next one, not every car in CarGiant is in a condition that I would be happy with, I have never said they sell perfect cars, but they do sell them cheaper than most if not all other dealers.

The simple fact that they sell so many to those that use them for a living, Private Hire drivers, that they now have a specific finance section for these self employed people should tell you all you need to know, but I can say for sure that most of these private hire drivers will be heading for the one owner ex fleet section.

An 80k mile Mondeo or Vectra that has spent 3 years driving almost solely on motorways is a good bet for private hire work in London, as the clutch, gearbox and suspension are hardly worn, and the depreciation has taken a huge chunk of the new price because it is now three years old and is high mileage.

That was one concern with the Clio, it was lowish miles and I was worried about the fact it may have been battered around Manchester (where it was used) in the hands of the leasor, but after a test drive all seemed well.

I don't recommend anyody or anything easily, and if I wasn't 100% happy with how I and those I know that have bought there were 100% happy I wouldn't recommend them, they may not be for everybody, but they get my vote.

Inactive

bigjl wrote: »

I agree, nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

One of the main reasons why Lidl and Netto are cheaper than other supermarkets, can't wait before Inactive and his merrymen say I must work for them aswell.:rotfl:

I have never suggested that you work for them, however your habitual and boring promotion of this company does cause me to question your involvement with this outfit.

bigjl

Inactive wrote: »

I have never suggested that you work for them, however your habitual and boring promotion of this company does cause me to question your involvement with this outfit.

Why not wait for your mate to come along so you can have a long chat agreeing with everything each of you says.

Far be it from me to get in the way of true love and internet bromance.

motorguy

bigjl wrote: »

Why not wait for your mate to come along so you can have a long chat agreeing with everything each of you says.

Far be it from me to get in the way of true love and internet bromance.

I really really dont comprehend your total blinkered view of CarGiant.

Yes, sometimes they will be cheap, but there are a lot of things to consider when buying from them.

Other times times they wont be cheap.

I would always advocate looking at the TOTAL cost of purchase, not just looking at the cheapest headline deal and assuming its best.

Also, for info, if one of the turbos blows on your CG XF five months in, you'll have a long and winding road to make a claim on SOGA basis with no guarantee of success, whereas it would simply be covered under the Jag Approved Used warranty with no issues.

It is simply naive to think you dont need a proper warranty on a car like this.

Flyboy152

bigjl wrote: »

And mikey72 if you check the link that I put up after you said you could buy a car like my wifes for about £3999 in Autotrader, then you will see a car that is almost certainly from the same fleet as my wifes car, as it is not only the exact same spec and model but the first part of the reg no, FN56, is the same as the wifes, since the only bit that is specific to a car registered in the same area at the same time is the last three letters.

If you think buying an identical car to that in my link in Nov 2009 for £5790 is a bad deal then up to you, I think it was a good deal.

You can now continue to slag off CarGiant.:rotfl:

Then you know beggar all about the AFRL system and how dealers register cars.

mikey72

bigjl wrote: »

Not everybody has the confidence to buy at an auction, and those that know next to nothing should be advised against it, that was why I am a firm believer in CarGiant, the prices aren't that much more than auction, the choice is huge so if you find a car that you think isn't in the best condition then you can just go along the line to the next one, not every car in CarGiant is in a condition that I would be happy with, I have never said they sell perfect cars, but they do sell them cheaper than most if not all other dealers.
.

Well your mate's gearbox giving up, and your heater matrix bursting aren't the best recommendation for ones you were happy with.

bigjl

mikey72 wrote: »

Well your mate's gearbox giving up, and your heater matrix bursting aren't the best recommendation for ones you were happy with.

The gearbox on my mates Safrane didn't "give up the ghost", it was a sticky solenoid or something like that, it was fixed by the Renault dealer near his house in Winchmore Hill, though it was several years after he bought it, lets be honest a fault on a Renault autobox isn't exactly a new thing now is it.
It was so long after the car was bought he didn't even go back to CarGiant, or The Great Trade Centre as it was then.

The heater matrix in my Renault 25 was a relatively common issue around that time apparently, and it was fixed at no cost to me, but at substantial cost to them, this again was also when they were called TGTC, not CG.

If somebody says a dealer specialising in used cars will definately sell a car that has a fault or breakdown, wether this be a minor one or a major one.

The difference is how it is dealt with, and they dealt with it a lot better than Seat did with my brand new Seat Toledo when it had a gearbox issue, basically a vibration at about 1700rpm in the lower 3 gears, my mate with a Golf estate had the same issue, VW fixed his no problem by changing the gearbox, Seat replaced everythiing but the gearbox and the problem remained till the car was sold on. This was apparently a common issue in the 90 and 110 tdi around the time, late '90s.

I personally think that CarGiant/TGTC deal with my Renault problem better than a Seat main dealer dealt with the problem on a brand new car.


I will continue to recommend them to anybody looking for a reasonably priced ex fleet car.