Car Supermarket

Just returned from a very large London car supermarket and I must say how disappointed I am.

The car I went to look at (Primera) was filthy inside and out and looked like a run down mini cab. The only decent condition one had 96K on it and they wanted over 5K.

I looked at a Laguna diesel with apparently 47k on it but it drove like 247K.

I got the feeling the cars have had rather hard lives with rather tatty interiors and multiple scratches.

Has anyone bought one from a supermarket and if so what was it like?

A friends friend used to work in a very famous car supermarket in London, and told many horror stories about how some of these cars came in accident damaged, were botch repaired and resold. They're mostly ex-rental cars and none of them have been looked after!

All depends on the source, they take auction cars in, fleets, batches that didn't make it into "[insert car maker name here] approved" programms because of high mileages, bancruptsy stocks, ex-rentals and of course part exchange from other customers. They also have these specials offloading deals, like an odd 10k car among 15k cars of the same make and model that look much more tired and older. Then you disover for example it has only one key and comes only with docs that were in the glovebox. Meaning a car that was towed away by bank for unpaid bills and offloaded very quickly and so on. Biggest problem in car supermarkets are slow sellers - you will see cars that have clearly wrong price tag, something that's standing there for 6,7 months, rust on discs, dust on alloys, with price tag higher than younger cars that are already there and yet car supermatkets won't discount them, won't huggle, won't accept any argument.
The quality also depends on section, I never quite figured out why, maybe they have different people fetching different brands, but often you'll see, for example Honda, Saab, Volvo section full of well prepped cars, good choice, mid to low mileages, clearly hand picked stuff, then you go to Audi section next door and you'll find mostly dogs with scruffy interiors, intergalactic miles on clocks, unverifiable histories, Leicester tasteless mods etc...

depends on the car supermarket i guess

its a bit like saying dealerships are rubbish because your local one is

www.availablecar.com in leicester is excellent. good choice, well laid out, no pushy salesman, and crucially, all the cars are in good nick.

only bad side is, there are very little bargains to be had, as they have very little old / high mileage stuff

most stuff is under 30k miles, with only a few cars over that.

Primeras are cheap to buy, just buy it privately ? They are good cars and most of the time you should be fine doing so imo.

My sister gave away her Primera Saloon with 90k on it, nothing much wrong just needed bushes and a couple other things doing. So rather then pay the 600 they were over quoted by the garage they paid 5k for a new Toyota with 30k on it

My brother is a scania truck mechanic for one of the main dealers in the country. When talking to one of the truck drivers for cargiant the guy told him they have car trailers on the back of trucks that the only job they do is to take cars to repair depots and bring back the fixed cars to the sale lots and they are never sold as crash repairs. I would much rather buy a car from the auction as you will save money if you buy wisely. Then at the worst you will spend a little fixing that car but hopefully still be under the book price for the car(you do need to know what the car is worth before buying from an auction though).

Auction is well worth it if you got the guts for it, go on the right day and your'll just be bidding against car dealers.
Once they stop bidding you still have a large saving on the retail price, often the cars come from large dealer franchises and the cars can be mint

Well I investigated cargiant when hunting for my beamer - found exactly the same thing. Grotty inside and out, absolutely no care taken with the cars and not prepared to haggle.

Very glad I got mine from a nice place in Kent, Strood Motor Company if you google and take a peak.

MrLOL said:

depends on the car supermarket i guess

its a bit like saying dealerships are rubbish because your local one is

www.availablecar.com in leicester is excellent. good choice, well laid out, no pushy salesman, and crucially, all the cars are in good nick.

only bad side is, there are very little bargains to be had, as they have very little old / high mileage stuff

most stuff is under 30k miles, with only a few cars over that.

Click to expand...

They're in Castle Donington which is Derbyshire.

I've nearly brought a car from Available myself. The sales people are great. The prices aren't too bad but the trades in were some of the lowest of all.

Not all their cars are in fantastic condition. Some of them are really nice but others I have seen smell smoky inside and an Astra I saw there the first time I went had a big dent in the bumper where they'd parked it litterally touching the car in front.

adwhitworth said:

They're in Castle Donington which is Derbyshire.

I've nearly brought a car from Available myself. The sales people are great. The prices aren't too bad but the trades in were some of the lowest of all.

Not all their cars are in fantastic condition. Some of them are really nice but others I have seen smell smoky inside and an Astra I saw there the first time I went had a big dent in the bumper where they'd parked it litterally touching the car in front.

Click to expand...

picky picky

its only just outside the leicestershire county lines

but i have to say, all the MPVs i looked at where good. and i think low PX goes with car supermarkets

they charge less, so have to make up their money elsewhere.

Bought my car now

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17613185

It makes even the 2 year old examples we saw in the Supermarket look like old bangers. Never waste my time with one again from what I saw.

Switch Car in Liverpool is also awful. Most of the cars have bits missing from the interior trim, half of them wouldn't even start because the battery had run down, and the salesman was unhelpful and pushy when I told him I didn't want to buy.

When I asked to test drive a 5-door 1.6 Zetec Focus, he bought the keys out for a 3-door 1.4CL and told me it was exactly the same

Noxis said:

Well I investigated cargiant when hunting for my beamer - found exactly the same thing. Grotty inside and out, absolutely no care taken with the cars and not prepared to haggle.

Very glad I got mine from a nice place in Kent, Strood Motor Company if you google and take a peak.

Click to expand...

Bring this from the dead...

Just trying to have a look at the strood website and it dosn't seem to be working (getting a stock list)...

http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/GetDealer.do?did=761&pageid=1

Is this the same for anyone else?

Also, is Cargiant really that bad then? Has anyone else had any experiences of them?

No, my mum and dad bought their old Beemer from one of the large supermarkets up by London, IIRC it was Car Giant. It was absolutely mint throughout and was like new inside and out. They put over 100k on it without a single problem at all.

I got my car from the carpeople in Wakefield, car was fine but I kinda paid over the phone before seing it so can't comment on the sales process.

The missus bought a Polo TDi from Cargiant and apart form a small dent near the rear side window it was immaculate.

That said, there were a lot of cars with scrapes and scratches all over them.

I was at Car Giant yesterday, I was looking at C Class Mercs, one was 04 reg £15k but nasty dirty inside. Quite smelly, drink stains, just nasty.

Not all their cars are that bad. I was looking at a 220CDI for 12k 04 or 54 reg 80k miles.

I've had at the last count 6 cars from Cargiant (formerly Great Trade Centre).

You have to get out of the mindset of it being a main dealer experience...this is from a post on another forum describing them...

I've bought a total of 6 cars from them, going back over 15 years when they were on a site on the A40 I think, before they moved to Scrubs Lane.
Its a real "does what it says on the tin" place.
They are:
1) reputable (for what they do)
2) long established
3) able to offer cars at a discount to main dealers
They are not:
1) A Honda(or any other brand) main dealer
2) Interested in "deals"
3) Bothered about customer service

They buy fleet and finance cars in bulk, give them a minimum mark up and sell on volume.
They make their money in warranties and finance.
If you know what car you want, know what to look for (and avoid) and are not interested in paying for a main dealers facilites, then you could save yourself some money.
What I like about them is that I can go there, mooch around, take the keys for a number of different cars and see what I like/dislike about them - I can also compare different marques/specs in one place rather than having to visit multiple dealers.
Also, the "sales force" are not that interested in you buying a particular car - you ask to look at a car, they give you the keys, you go on your own - they don't follow you and tell you what a wonderful thing it is - they leave that up to you.
When you bring the keys back, they ask if you want to buy it, and if you do, then they will start the process of offering finance/warranty/gap insurance.
If you dont want the car they leave you alone.
You buy the car "as seen" - they realistically price the stock - don't ask for money off for a scratch, worn trim or whatever - they sell pretty much as is and price accordingly - though of course any mechanical/safety defects are dealt with.
They complete a "service" and will MOT all cars prior to hand over if required.
Tradeins are taken, but again they are very realistic on pricing - they operate on volume, margins are thin on the cars they sell so don't expect handouts on your vehicle.
If you are looking to buy a car with "provenance" and the warm feeling that comes from knowing that the prior owner looked after it, gave it daily hugs etc then buy private or through the classifieds here.
If you want the main dealer experience then go to a dealer but be prepared to pay the premium.
You wont get either of the above from Car Giant, but realistically, that is not what they set out to provide.

Noxis said:

Well I investigated cargiant when hunting for my beamer - found exactly the same thing. Grotty inside and out, absolutely no care taken with the cars and not prepared to haggle.

Very glad I got mine from a nice place in Kent, Strood Motor Company if you google and take a peak.

Click to expand...

TBH youe place in Kent probbably recieved that car in exactly the same condition as cargiant, except they valeted it and probbably added a few hundered for the convinience of doing so.

Buy the car exactly as you would when buying privately. it really is a no frills take it or leave it type of place.

leaskovski said:

Bring this from the dead...

Just trying to have a look at the strood website and it dosn't seem to be working (getting a stock list)...

http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/GetDealer.do?did=761&pageid=1

Is this the same for anyone else?

Also, is Cargiant really that bad then? Has anyone else had any experiences of them?

Click to expand...

Why oh why didn't you start a new thread, now we are going to get people posting about the op even though he is now prolly 65 and can't drive anymore.