Puchasing from Carzam - a word of warning

leodis23

Was going to write this off as bad luck on my part, but having looked at their TrustPilot reviews I thought I'd share a word of warning about buying a car online through Carzam.

Long story short, I found a car I liked through AutoTrader, sent a message with my details and they called me back. Was told I could take delivery the following week, refuse delivery if I wasn't happy, and put down a deposit, was also upsold a warranty. The sales assistant (incorrectly) told me I could pay the remaining balance by debit card. False - they only accept BACS transfer (which was over £10k so extra hassle getting my bank to approve it).

I called them on both the Monday and Tuesday to be told they'd not received the payment. This was also a lie. It had been sat in their account (likely earning interest) for 4 days, it wasn't until I obtained the transaction ID from my bank and mentioned the F word ('fraud', I kept the call clean) that magically the money had been found. But in the same breath of telling me the money was there, apparently the car was deemed unfit for sale, and they would be refunding me the money.

Called again yesterday to confirm that they had processed the refund (they said it could take 3-5 days, and with it being a bank holiday that may delay it more), but when I asked the customer service rep if the "3-5 days" means 3-5 days afer processing the refund to get my money, or 3-5 days for their finance team to actually process it. He couldn't give me an answer. Conveniently their finance team don't have a phone line to talk to them, and no manager in customer service was available to speak to me. Apparently a manager is going to call me back, but it's been a day so not going to hold my breath.

Looking at their TrustPilot reviews, if you take out all the clearly fake reviews and ones where a purchase wasn't made, it's quite a shady company who will happily mis-sell, take money, fail to deliver and, worst of all, sell potentially unfit or dangerous cars.

[Deleted User]

Looks like the Carzam way to buy cars isn't really adding any value to the process of purchasing, but I guess it is attractive to lazy buyers who just want to do a few clicks and buy based on a photo of a car.

Although it is more time consuming, I do think that buying a used car should be done in the same way as buying a used house - ie actually go and see it and then only transfer payment when you take possession.

It seems that Carzam are taking a slice of your hard earned money for not much more than delivering the car to you.

Going direct to a reputable used car dealer isn't really that hard, and with smaller independents they have so much more at stake they will do more to keep a customer happy than a faceless call centre operator for Carzam.

derobe

I had my car delivered from Carzam with several bodywork issues and missing Sat Nav. I've seen this morning they have gone into administration, which isn't a huge surprise after months of dealing with them which I won't go into.

Is there any way to be reimbursed from the receivers for my bodywork issues (£1000 worth of work) and the sat nav do you think?

I can only imagine how many people there are out there who are owed large amounts of money from these people now in a horror situation.

Keep_pedalling

If you have a CCJ against them or something in writing from them admitting that they owe you compensation, you can file a claim with the administrators but you will join all the other unsecured creditors who will get back pennies in the pound at best. If not you have next to no chance of getting anything.

Grumpy_chap

If you paid some of the amount on credit card that may give you a route to recover your losses.

photome

[Deleted User] said:

Looks like the Carzam way to buy cars isn't really adding any value to the process of purchasing, but I guess it is attractive to lazy buyers who just want to do a few clicks and buy based on a photo of a car.

Although it is more time consuming, I do think that buying a used car should be done in the same way as buying a used house - ie actually go and see it and then only transfer payment when you take possession.

It seems that Carzam are taking a slice of your hard earned money for not much more than delivering the car to you.

Going direct to a reputable used car dealer isn't really that hard, and with smaller independents they have so much more at stake they will do more to keep a customer happy than a faceless call centre operator for Carzam.

I agree, but when searching for cars on autotrader the majority of results are either  being sold by Cazoo etc or car store. Main dealers seem to be few and far between on the searches I have carried out

[Deleted User]

photome said:

[Deleted User] said:

Looks like the Carzam way to buy cars isn't really adding any value to the process of purchasing, but I guess it is attractive to lazy buyers who just want to do a few clicks and buy based on a photo of a car.

Although it is more time consuming, I do think that buying a used car should be done in the same way as buying a used house - ie actually go and see it and then only transfer payment when you take possession.

It seems that Carzam are taking a slice of your hard earned money for not much more than delivering the car to you.

Going direct to a reputable used car dealer isn't really that hard, and with smaller independents they have so much more at stake they will do more to keep a customer happy than a faceless call centre operator for Carzam.

I agree, but when searching for cars on autotrader the majority of results are either  being sold by Cazoo etc or car store. Main dealers seem to be few and far between on the searches I have carried out

Main dealers don't always advertise on Autotrader, a lot of their cars will be exclusive to their websites or showrooms.

In the last 20 years, I've bought all my cars through Autotrader apart. My first two were from a main dealer but the remainder (about 10) from small independent dealers. I bought one from a now defunk supermarket through welcome car finance and that was the worst car I ever bought.

I've found the small independent dealers really helpful, honest and willing to sort things out and can't complain about any of them at all. I felt they worked harder to keep their reputation up and there is usually just one or two faces and names to deal with which makes the whole process far more personal and effective.

Grumpy_chap

photome said:

I agree, but when searching for cars on autotrader the majority of results are either  being sold by Cazoo etc or car store. Main dealers seem to be few and far between on the searches I have carried out

Looking on Autotrader right now there are 438,958 cars available.
of which 6,547 are listed by Cazoo
and 864 from CarStore
That is far from the majority.

photome

Grumpy_chap said:

photome said:

I agree, but when searching for cars on autotrader the majority of results are either  being sold by Cazoo etc or car store. Main dealers seem to be few and far between on the searches I have carried out

Looking on Autotrader right now there are 438,958 cars available.
of which 6,547 are listed by Cazoo
and 864 from CarStore
That is far from the majority.

I said on the searches I have carried out , when i looked the other day, there where about 10 cars of the model I was looking for within 60 miles, only one was from a main dealer 

iwb100

Online buying works for brand new cars. It’s fine. You can find out enough information online look at reviews and where the model is already out, go to a dealers to look at it and test drive. There is no real reason to go through a dealer other than for those not confident online or who have questions. But let’s face it, new car buying will be online for a lot of purchases in the next few years.

Second hand car buying though….purely online transactions make no sense. I need to see the car. To drive it. To have a proper inspection of it. I don’t want to risk it online and yes they have return policies but who thinks that really is as hassle free as they advertise? Fundamentally it’s just not going to work. People need a relationship when buying these cars as it just feels more secure. 

diystarter7

iwb100 said:

Online buying works for brand new cars. It’s fine. You can find out enough information online look at reviews and where the model is already out, go to a dealers to look at it and test drive. There is no real reason to go through a dealer other than for those not confident online or who have questions. But let’s face it, new car buying will be online for a lot of purchases in the next few years.

Second hand car buying though….purely online transactions make no sense. I need to see the car. To drive it. To have a proper inspection of it. I don’t want to risk it online and yes they have return policies but who thinks that really is as hassle free as they advertise? Fundamentally it’s just not going to work. People need a relationship when buying these cars as it just feels more secure. 

We've bought online, but only from a main dealer. Dad bought his brand new merc online from a main dealer miles away as it was about 1k cheaper.
It depends on whom you buy from and if you are familiar with cars.