CAR CRAFT !! Warning!!

doddles78

I thought id let u guys know what car craft have done to us, they r a total waste of space, and cost us loads of money and we cant do a thing about it..

brought a freelander 6 months ago from them car craft were great they exchanged our car with in a hour..

went back last month to get a smaller car but they offered us 4,000 pound less for it, of course we were not happy but they were very rude and basically said we were ripped of before..

this week our engine has died, we will need to buy a new one to get it working our garage phoned car craft and there claim to a warrenty does not cover any repairs over 500 pound...

we are really upset and mad, we have no money to pay for these repairs and there is nothing worse than knowing u have been taken as a fool..

is there anything we can do?

(i wrote this so people can see my mistakes with car craft, and maybe with buying a freelander!) thanks lisax

angieb1606

hi we too were ripped off by carcraft brought a vectra from them and it kept non starting had so many probs with the car it was unbelieveable we got the car checked out and were told that the checks that carcraft say they do werent done as brakes were naff and that just like the above post the engine would need to be replaced within the year i would never ever go with carcraft ever again

plane_boy2000

Car Craft are dire, and to be honest looked really expensive to me. SOme cars were up for more than you could get a discounted new one for.

Op - did you buy the car on HP? If so involve them and they will force car craft to sort the issue. Reality is that car craft do most of their business through a finance house so they wont want to upset them.

To be offered 4K less afte 6 months isnt awful - the reality is that you bought a car at reatil price, and then tried to part ex at trade price after the car had depreciated further.

I assume that the freelander is the 1.8 petrol model? The K series rover engine was never really up to the job - it is a fantastic engine, but was designed for small vehicles, and due to the constraints of Rover group got used for everything going.

Out of interest how old / mileage?

AMO

CarCraft are simply a sales outfit. Their warranties are worthless. Their friends and family discount is simply a bribe to get your friend on their side to flog you something that is worthless. Their profit margins are high. Their sales people are fairly dodgy and encourage you to save money by lying on your car insurance.

Can't really think of one reason to go with them.

AMO

doddles78

We brought the car out of our own money so we have'nt got a leg to stand on, thankyou all for your advice..
we need a whole new engine.. 1.8 freelander 2000 w reg it had 56,000 miles..
if anyone knows were we could get one, either a old one so its cheap so we can get rid of it! or a recontioned one.. cheapest quote was £650 for engine and luckly we have a good garage so would cost a grand!
it all makes me so mad, we have no money for this but until its fixed me and my daughter are car less!!

DavidHM

Don't forget that a warranty is always in addition to your statutory rights and not instead of them.

If the warranty doesn't cover repairs costing more than £500 then that's good news for the warranty company and bad news for Carcraft.

If the car is not of "satisfactory quality" at the time of sale, e.g., it breaks down in a significant way shortly after purchase due to a latent defect, then you are entitled to the costs of that repair from the seller under the Sale of Goods Act.

Furthermore, if the defect occurs within the first six months after purchase, it is up to the dealer to show that it was not present at the time of sale, and that would include latent defects, i.e., the engine was faulty but the fault hadn't yet made itself known.

If the garage won't pay for the cost of repair then you can get the car repaired yourself, being careful to minimise your costs whilst getting the work done reasonably, and then sue to recover the costs in Small Claims Court. You can be legally represented but if you win you won't be able to claim your legal costs (other than Court fees) back but equally, if you lose, you won't be hit for the other side's legal fees.

glammakid

AMO wrote:

CarCraft are simply a sales outfit. Their warranties are worthless. Their friends and family discount is simply a bribe to get your friend on their side to flog you something that is worthless. Their profit margins are high. Their sales people are fairly dodgy and encourage you to save money by lying on your car insurance.

Can't really think of one reason to go with them.

AMO

I had that problem too with a salesman. He also suggested that I lie about my no claims bonus- because I had passed my test when I was 18 therefore when I came to take out a policy for the first time at 23 then technically I have 5 years no claims bonus to declare. He also used the new Tesco insurance discount code available to employees!!! FRAUD!!!!!

Davidboy

Makes you wonder where all those dodgy staff from Yes Carcredit went too!!! Not that I am saying they all went to CarCraft, of course not!!!



D

roswell

Davidboy that was my exact thoughts .. same tricks different name and owner ??

AMO

glammakid wrote:

I had that problem too with a salesman. He also suggested that I lie about my no claims bonus- because I had passed my test when I was 18 therefore when I came to take out a policy for the first time at 23 then technically I have 5 years no claims bonus to declare. He also used the new Tesco insurance discount code available to employees!!! FRAUD!!!!!

Yeah, there's no morality to CarCraft's ways of working. I am not saying its company policy, but the company turns a blind eye to any tactic used by any sales person to get a sale.

Another example is this. I saw a couple asking about finance costs. CarCraft arrange finance at a fairly high APR. The couple were sufficiently smart to know the APR was high. However, the sales person said that he could bring the the APR down to zero (I was thinking that this was impressive which is why it caught my interest) and then he went on to say he could do this if the couple paid £1000 in extra and in advance.

I laffed and told the couple to tell him to f* off. The car they were buying wasn't that expensive (£4Kish) to start with.

AMO

plane_boy2000

I am aquainted with someone who worked for car craft as a salesman. They get a very small basic (6 - 7K from memory) and are expected to work mega hours six days a week. Not justifying the tactics, but if you have a mortgage and kids to feed you can see the motivation!