Buying a car from a dealer (well carcraft) advice

Ultra_Extreme

Ultra_Extreme

Ultra_Extreme

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Related to my other thread, im heading down to newport to show all my details and look at cars etc. Not really intending to buy on the spot as i know thats a bad foot to be on but can sign off on the finance if needs be.

What should i prepare and be aware of. Im a seasoned tyre kicker ;) but i do actually know a thing or two about cars, thing is what i know applies more to <£1500 cars from about a decade ago. Im gonna be looking at 40k milers and they are all gonna look and sound pretty good.

Pearls of wisdom, bring ye forth please :D
 
well the exact specs and prices of a mondeo and focus i posted in the other thread were carcraft quoted prices and no-one seemed to think they were dead expensive. Are you sure this isnt all bandwagon hopping predjudice because of the whole financing fiasco that got them on watchdog a few years back?
 
InvaderGIR said:
Well I was talking about what my missus looked at, nothing to do with finance. :)

InvG
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looking at their cars, in the 2-3k bracket i think your right, theres not much and what is there is probably a touch sheddy, im looking 5-7k where there are some nice low milage recent diesels.

Damn this thread was not supposed to be a moan about carcraft thread it was meant to be give me buying and haggling tips. Bloody derailers you all are!
 
Yes we are. :D

Well my missus was after a petrol...not that it helps at all. :p

I don't know anything about buying from dealers, I've only ever bought privately. And the only haggling I did was "I'll give you £700" (the car was listed as £750 :p). :)

InvG
 
when my sister was selling her MG ZR, local garages could only offer 1800, 1900 tops. over the phone car craft said they'd give 2999 for it. so i drove it over there, they said cos of the damage to it the most they could offer was 2500. it was sold to them, but think about it.. they're still going to make profit on it at that price..
 
volospian said:
Be wary of carcraft. They've been on watchdog a few times already.

Have a read here

Seriously, watch out for them!
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Thanks for the link, i know they've got a dodgy history, thing is a lot of complaints, like the one in that link, are from people who dont seem to know a lot about what they are doing, carcraft cars come with a 3 month parts warranty, so the first thing you should do is go to a local garage and get a complete check done. Anything they come up with you call carcraft and moan about it being broke and theoretically they will cover repair.

Additionally, surely checking the tyres is something anyone should do before driving a car away? I have a tread depth gauge that fits in my wallet, just standard precautions imo
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Thanks for the link, i know they've got a dodgy history, thing is a lot of complaints, like the one in that link, are from people who dont seem to know a lot about what they are doing
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Just because someone doesnt know much about cars doesnt mean they should be sold a duff one.

Does the car have to be from a dealer? As you say yourself you know about cars and how to spot a lemon so why not save yourself money and buy privately?
 
Carcraft used cars are largely tarted up stuff that's going below book at auction - I've seen their buyers at auctions and they pick up the cheap stuff the rest of the trade isn't interested in. They tart them up a bit in their own workshops and sell them at top dollar. Look closely and you'll see a lot of their stock is a bit rough, has has paint done etc. Their warranty isn't up to much either.

Your best bet would be to obtain a loan elsewhere, and buy a car from a more reputable dealer or private sale.
 
Tesla said:
Just because someone doesnt know much about cars doesnt mean they should be sold a duff one.

Does the car have to be from a dealer? As you say yourself you know about cars and how to spot a lemon so why not save yourself money and buy privately?
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Credit credit and more credit, i can only seem to get finance on cars (since presumably they are secured against the value of said car) due to a poor history from my uni days. The business is paying the bills on this one but i cant get together enough cash to do it without finance, i havent seriously inquired about a bank loan on the business account, which might be possible, but didnt think people would be so averse to a simple dealer financed purchase, i am certainly thinking carefully about it tho.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Thanks for the link, i know they've got a dodgy history, thing is a lot of complaints, like the one in that link, are from people who dont seem to know a lot about what they are doing, carcraft cars come with a 3 month parts warranty, so the first thing you should do is go to a local garage and get a complete check done. Anything they come up with you call carcraft and moan about it being broke and theoretically they will cover repair.

Additionally, surely checking the tyres is something anyone should do before driving a car away? I have a tread depth gauge that fits in my wallet, just standard precautions imo
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Yeah, maybe, but why buy a car off someone you can't trust in the first place? Most people don't go to a national dealer chain and think "Right, I'll spend thousands of pounds on this purchase, but I don't trust the seller one inch, so the first thing I have to do is take my car to someone else and have it thouroughly inspected".

Buying privately, sure, buying from a small independant, maybe, but not from a nationally recognised "car supermarket"

For example, I wouldn't go to DFS, buy a snazzy 3 seater recliner in Italian leather and then immediately take my newly purchased £2000 sofa to my local independant uphoslterer to see if it's likely to colapse as soon as I sit on it.
 
Don't even think about going to Carcraft.

I work with a guy who volunteered at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Chepstow. He can reel off stories all day about people who have been ripped off by Carcraft. His favourite being the guy who paid cash for a car, but they still managed to get him to sign a credit agreement!
 
Diesel said:
Don't even think about going to Carcraft.

I work with a guy who volunteered at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Chepstow. He can reel off stories all day about people who have been ripped off by Carcraft. His favourite being the guy who paid cash for a car, but they still managed to get him to sign a credit agreement!
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lol, tell you all what, im gonna go down there despite all this and i may or may not buy a car. However im gonna take REAL interest in validating this stuff. Ive found LOADS of info on carcraft just tonight, ranging from people with perfect credit being sold 30% apr finance to blown tires and generally poor cars.

First thing im gonna do is call up and check out what APR they are offering me before i even go because i didnt actually think to check that on the phone and now i damn sure will. Second im gonna go with a tyre kicking mindset and third im gonna see how far i can go on a discount on both APR and Price.

I'm not average joe and im a 6'2" bodybuilder so they aren't gonna intimidate me. I have a degree in biology and im a self employed IT technician who runs a hotel in his spare time, so i sincerely doubt they can smarm, confuse, con or bamboozle me.

In summary i think this will be an interesting experience but im glad i asked as a lot of this anti-carcraft stuff has genuinley prepared me!
 
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