Used car seller Carcraft, which has 11 car supermarkets in England and Wales, has been criticised by a regulator for its pre- and post-sales service.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15655665
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The OFT are not serious.
Advertised check not carried out = misrepresentation and fraud.
Fine the Directors . Put them in jail. Soemthing gets done. And others get the message.
Criticse them,? Joke.
It's been going on for decades and the OFT have achieved - in secondhand car sales - nothing.
Waste of space.
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Any level of web research will tell you why you wouldn't want to do business with these chaps.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOsw035soiE
Love the demonstration of their showroom KA (mahoooosively overpriced) that has faulty lights.
etc,etc.
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The OFT criticism has some value because it serves as a warning to members of the public.
I've never liked Carcraft, been in a couple of times, the stock looked over-priced and the salesmen were overly pushy.
They have a poor reputation with other traders I've spoken to, although there may be an element of jealousy in that.
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And why was the spare in the boot? Should be in a cradle underneath!
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...And why was the spare in the boot? Should be in a cradle underneath!...
Don't know which car you mean, but some ex-hire cars have different spare arrangements.
The companies like the spare inside because it prevents external theft.
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>> their showroom KA (mahoooosively overpriced) that has faulty lights.
Indeed.
They were commonly available for £5k new from Ford around 2004/5/6, and the rear lights go out with monotonous regularity - but at least they're easy to change, unlike the headlamp bulbs.
And yes, the KA spare should be in a cradle under the boot. I doubt if Henry would retool just to make something different for the rental trade (type approval again?).
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 17:34
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...doubt if Henry would retool just to make something different for the rental trade...
Agreed, but stowing the spare in the boot is hardly a retool.
And rental Focuses have a raised boot floor to accommodate a full-size spare - which is something else rental companies like.
It's one of the ways to work out the car's history.
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>> And rental Focuses have a raised boot floor to accommodate a full-size spare - which is something else rental companies like
*Lightbulb pings on* That would explain the meagre boot volume on a Focus we looked at in the Spring then... Thought it was a bit odd.
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Depends on the model/year, New KAs don't have a spare, just a lump of foam with and electric pump and a can of gunge/sealant
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Advertised checks not carried out? Like that's unusual... I'd be more concerned with failure to disclose fees of after sales warranty etc...
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Was a story I read on Martin Lewis, some 18 year old bought a three year old Clio from Car Craft, 1.2 base spec, with the interest and everything else he would end up paying over £11k for it. The car was worth £4k.
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For some balance I and my ex wife have both bought vehicles from Carcraft. My late, lamented Focus came from them, and while not fault free the inclusive warrantee covered the necessary repairs at no cost to me. Similarly, the ex wifes Meriva had a small electrical fault on delivery, but they arranged for it to be fixed quickly and at no cost at a local VX dealer.
This was at the former HQ in Rochdale - experiences at other branches may differ but both I and the ex were satisfied with the service we received.
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Aren't Car Craft related to Webuyanycar? If so the prices are even more outrageously high given the low trade-ins that webuy are renowned for.
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>> Aren't Car Craft related to Webuyanycar? If so the prices are even more outrageously high
>> given the low trade-ins that webuy are renowned for.
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carcraft & webuyanycar have the same post code!
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Are they really that low? I put the details of our A3 in, to get a feel for the value before selling it privately, and was pleasantly surprised.
The car is a 4 year old 1.6 3 door hatch, base model - aka 'Special Edition' :-) - with a few extras, under 40k miles and full service history. Cost new with extras and after discount was a fraction over £14k. Autotrader prices for similar cars range from £7,150 (private) to a franky ridiculous £9,995 (main dealer). £7k was roughly what I thought it was worth (though looking at the prices on autotrade perhaps I should put it up for a bit more).
Webuyanycar offered just under £6k; I think they'd stuggle to chip that down on anything - tyres are new, paintwork good, interior immaculate etc. I don't think being offered £1k under a private sale (asking) price for a quick sale is unreasonable?
I guess it depends on what you're trying to offload?
Peter
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I don't know about now, but a couple of years ago I was offered £5.5k for my S80 from webuyanycar, which I then sold within just 1 day on eBay for £7k cash, with no fuss from the buyer at all.
Maybe it depends on whether they want the car or not?
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I'm under no illusions that their price is pretty much rock bottom, but I don't think £1k or even £1.5k margin is *that* much when you think of it. I'm pretty sure if I asked Audi for a price for selling to them without buying another car it'd be equally low. Though I note that one of the cars at £9,995 is at Worthing audi, our local dealer, so perhaps worth the cost of a 'phone call!!
I think the problem is people expect to get a similar amount to the prices they see on autotrader/ebay - that's never going to happen on a sale to 'trade' is it?
Peter
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>> I think the problem is people expect to get a similar amount to the prices
>> they see on autotrader/ebay - that's never going to happen on a sale to 'trade'
>> is it?
Did with me, trader bought my pick up for an expected private sale of £15k, unseen uninspected and paid into my account even before his driver left his premises to collect.
That was via ebay classified, which i think is a good sale method as there is room for lots of pics and a decent description without the usual guff of just listing all the standard fitments.
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I can recall this company being featured on Watchdog at least eight years ago...:-)
tinyurl.com/c9o9xax
tinyurl.com/btp3fqj
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1 in 5 unsatisfied customers complained, that means, of the rest, 3 didn't bother and 1 was apathetic.
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Used car seller Carcraft criticised by OFT - madf
