Buying from Arnold Clark, motorpoint etc
Discussion
I'm in Glasgow so it's mainly AC nearby. I'm in the market for a city sized car, I'm going to look at the picanto, i10, ignis, fiat 500. I hang onto cars for ever, haven't bought for over ten years so a lot has changed, I would appreciate any thoughts on buying.
From other threads I see that cash isn't liked, some PCP deals may offer discounts (sorry, deposit contributions) and I can pay off the finance within 14 days (seems too good to be true).
So if buying a new city car what sort of negotiation on the list price is realistic? I've seen people talk about trying to get close to broker quotes. Would it matter if I'm using a scrappage deal? (PX a few hundred, scrappage currently 2k on a picanto or i10). Is there still room to negotiate if doing a scrappage deal?
If buying nearly new, I know the car may have been a lease car. Any thoughts on motorpoint vs dealer in this situation? Some threads suggested that motorpoint may buy the cars that the dealer refused.
Any other thoughts appreciated, thank you.
From other threads I see that cash isn't liked, some PCP deals may offer discounts (sorry, deposit contributions) and I can pay off the finance within 14 days (seems too good to be true).
So if buying a new city car what sort of negotiation on the list price is realistic? I've seen people talk about trying to get close to broker quotes. Would it matter if I'm using a scrappage deal? (PX a few hundred, scrappage currently 2k on a picanto or i10). Is there still room to negotiate if doing a scrappage deal?
If buying nearly new, I know the car may have been a lease car. Any thoughts on motorpoint vs dealer in this situation? Some threads suggested that motorpoint may buy the cars that the dealer refused.
Any other thoughts appreciated, thank you.
I walked around Motorpoint in Glasgow once. I'm sure every single car they had was ex hire. They all had the usual prefix registrations for all the hire cars you see on the road. Lots of poor repairs we visible.
Arnold Clark are probably the same. Their customer service is abhorrent which means I'd never touch them again.
Arnold Clark are probably the same. Their customer service is abhorrent which means I'd never touch them again.
I've not bought much up here in Glasgow in recent years.
When I think back, most of my cars (both new and secondhand) have been bought from down south.
New cars have been through the broker Carfile who were excellent, and secondhand ones were generally through maindealers, hence approved. In all cases the process was really easy, even when going as far as asking details like, tyre make and tread depths.
I was finding that up here the prices were generally on the higher side, and the quality was quite mediocre for the used stuff. As noted previously there was lots of poorly repaired tat, and ex-hire stuff. I also thought the dealers up here had a very 'take it or leave it' attitude when it came to price.
I did blindly buy an old Audi S8 (D2) on eBay, but that's a whole different game to the above (and probably worth a Readers Cars thread). That was from Huddersfield, and cost something like £36 to get to on the train - ticketsplitting worked well.
Likewise my parents who change cars every 5 years or so, have not purchased a car up here for 20 years. Generally buy a new one via Carfile, have it delivered and put the old one to a car buying service.
I've tended to sell the old cars via Autotrader or a car buying service. I used one via CarWow which gave me £300 more than WBAC's 'actual' best offer. The bonus was they came to me to collect it, and transfered the money (This was a 10 year old Golf GT)
Hope that helps.
Brian
When I think back, most of my cars (both new and secondhand) have been bought from down south.
New cars have been through the broker Carfile who were excellent, and secondhand ones were generally through maindealers, hence approved. In all cases the process was really easy, even when going as far as asking details like, tyre make and tread depths.
I was finding that up here the prices were generally on the higher side, and the quality was quite mediocre for the used stuff. As noted previously there was lots of poorly repaired tat, and ex-hire stuff. I also thought the dealers up here had a very 'take it or leave it' attitude when it came to price.
I did blindly buy an old Audi S8 (D2) on eBay, but that's a whole different game to the above (and probably worth a Readers Cars thread). That was from Huddersfield, and cost something like £36 to get to on the train - ticketsplitting worked well.
Likewise my parents who change cars every 5 years or so, have not purchased a car up here for 20 years. Generally buy a new one via Carfile, have it delivered and put the old one to a car buying service.
I've tended to sell the old cars via Autotrader or a car buying service. I used one via CarWow which gave me £300 more than WBAC's 'actual' best offer. The bonus was they came to me to collect it, and transfered the money (This was a 10 year old Golf GT)
Hope that helps.
Brian
Edited by Bogsye on Monday 10th February 12:12
Our extended family has bought many cars through Motorpoint over the years, mainly because they tend to be newish, in warranty, amongst the lowest prices around for the car in question, and importantly you can wander around and look at them and in them without any sales pressure whatsoever.
Downsides are that they don't prepare cars to the highest standard (better than Arnold Clark though who are abysmal IME), there is usually no negotiation on windscreen price as they price them lower than competitors to start with, and part-exchange values are low as they don't want your car to retail and send them all to auction.
Motorpoint are ideal if you want the lowest price, have no trade-in or a banger that's worth pennies anyway, and either pay cash or arrange your own finance as their rates didn't seem keen when my niece visited them a while back.
As for their cars being ex-hire or lease - I don't think people that lease or hire cars necessarily set out to drive them hard or abuse them, maybe a bit of a myth.
Downsides are that they don't prepare cars to the highest standard (better than Arnold Clark though who are abysmal IME), there is usually no negotiation on windscreen price as they price them lower than competitors to start with, and part-exchange values are low as they don't want your car to retail and send them all to auction.
Motorpoint are ideal if you want the lowest price, have no trade-in or a banger that's worth pennies anyway, and either pay cash or arrange your own finance as their rates didn't seem keen when my niece visited them a while back.
As for their cars being ex-hire or lease - I don't think people that lease or hire cars necessarily set out to drive them hard or abuse them, maybe a bit of a myth.
I have purchased 2 cars from Motorpoint. Both were brand new unregistered and sold at a very attractive price. Paid for them by debit card and had no trade in. I still have the second one, sold the first on privately. No problems with either.
Arnold Clark used to be good when you could haggle the price down but that has all gone now and it's what the computer says or go away. They do however have some good deals available especially on pre registered delivery mileage stuff.
Arnold Clark used to be good when you could haggle the price down but that has all gone now and it's what the computer says or go away. They do however have some good deals available especially on pre registered delivery mileage stuff.
I bought from Arnold Clark mitsubishi Stirling about September 2017. At that time I don't think it had been too long changed over from phoenix group site. The car was a traded in Audi S5. There was a minor fix needed in the interior of the car which was done , I got about £555 (the first year of tax) off the cost. The sales guy was good.
Within around a week the emissions light was on , and went back and from there on in the communication was diabolical. To be fair , they tried diagnosing it themselves and eventually took it to Audi who identified the secondary air pump which was replaced . They delivered the car back to me , in the end the service etc was good it was just that they were so bad at telling me what was going on. If you called you were told they would call you back. They never did etc. They also had some ridiculous process for ordering parts - something about it being done centrally, then driven up to Greenock then delivered to their site. So once diagnosed it took another 48 hours to get parts.
It was annoying at the time as they had the car a few days without really communicating properly but sorted the issue and having delivered the car back I was left feeling that they had done ok by me.
Within around a week the emissions light was on , and went back and from there on in the communication was diabolical. To be fair , they tried diagnosing it themselves and eventually took it to Audi who identified the secondary air pump which was replaced . They delivered the car back to me , in the end the service etc was good it was just that they were so bad at telling me what was going on. If you called you were told they would call you back. They never did etc. They also had some ridiculous process for ordering parts - something about it being done centrally, then driven up to Greenock then delivered to their site. So once diagnosed it took another 48 hours to get parts.
It was annoying at the time as they had the car a few days without really communicating properly but sorted the issue and having delivered the car back I was left feeling that they had done ok by me.
Edited by deebs on Saturday 22 February 12:01
ecotec said:
jshell said:
Bought a Mini Cooper SD from Motorpoint. Was a BMW fleet car, picked off website, had it delivered, checked over. Brilliant!
How did you manage to confirm it was ex-fleet?When I was looking it was hard to dertimine which were ex hire cars and which were fleet?
john_1983 said:
I'm looking at pre-reg Abarths on the Arnold Clark website, and giving some thought to a PCP deal. Any idea if/how much they would move on the monthly payments?
Wait a month or so until they are in the s
t and then see what they will do. I expect some great deals will be available.I'd add a note about Motorpoint that a few years back I took a fancy to a Dodge Nitro (OK they looked smart back then).
I'd seen a few around and thought they looked great on their 20" alloys, anyway when I went to Motorpoint they were on 17", and this was apparently because the MP stock had been brought over from Eire. Not saying this is still the way they do things but it's worth checking if the car was always destined for UK sale and that spec is official UK levels
As for AC, always go in with your eyes open. Only new car I ever bought from them had a scuffed bumper, shallow ding at door handle and a scratch on inner door grab, all before passing 10 miles. Only used car from them was assured to not be ex-rental, despite the 1st owner later transpiring to be Hertz. They also let me pick it up with about a half-miles worth of petrol over the warning light
I'd seen a few around and thought they looked great on their 20" alloys, anyway when I went to Motorpoint they were on 17", and this was apparently because the MP stock had been brought over from Eire. Not saying this is still the way they do things but it's worth checking if the car was always destined for UK sale and that spec is official UK levels
As for AC, always go in with your eyes open. Only new car I ever bought from them had a scuffed bumper, shallow ding at door handle and a scratch on inner door grab, all before passing 10 miles. Only used car from them was assured to not be ex-rental, despite the 1st owner later transpiring to be Hertz. They also let me pick it up with about a half-miles worth of petrol over the warning light
jsc15 said:
I'd add a note about Motorpoint that a few years back I took a fancy to a Dodge Nitro (OK they looked smart back then).
I'd seen a few around and thought they looked great on their 20" alloys, anyway when I went to Motorpoint they were on 17", and this was apparently because the MP stock had been brought over from Eire. Not saying this is still the way they do things but it's worth checking if the car was always destined for UK sale and that spec is official UK levels
As for AC, always go in with your eyes open. Only new car I ever bought from them had a scuffed bumper, shallow ding at door handle and a scratch on inner door grab, all before passing 10 miles. Only used car from them was assured to not be ex-rental, despite the 1st owner later transpiring to be Hertz. They also let me pick it up with about a half-miles worth of petrol over the warning light
Cars are sourced from many places. My last Motorpoint purchase in 2016 was a Ford Fiesta Style, brand new in the wrapper but originally ordered for the Cypriot market. It has AC, Heated Screen, Heated Seats, Courtesy Lights, Front Fog Lights, Electric Windows, Central Locking, Folding Mirrors, Parking Sensors, Different Fabric on the seats, Intercooler, and a spare wheel. Much higher spec than the UK market model I could have bought from a Ford dealer for much more money.I'd seen a few around and thought they looked great on their 20" alloys, anyway when I went to Motorpoint they were on 17", and this was apparently because the MP stock had been brought over from Eire. Not saying this is still the way they do things but it's worth checking if the car was always destined for UK sale and that spec is official UK levels
As for AC, always go in with your eyes open. Only new car I ever bought from them had a scuffed bumper, shallow ding at door handle and a scratch on inner door grab, all before passing 10 miles. Only used car from them was assured to not be ex-rental, despite the 1st owner later transpiring to be Hertz. They also let me pick it up with about a half-miles worth of petrol over the warning light
My only experience of AC was March last year when my gf’s pcp deal on her Polo was finishing.
The balloon payment was more than the cars value so she asked me to come along to help.
Explained the situation and was offered if we bought a different car, they would sort the values.
So we got a 3 year old, freshly in, hadn’t even been prepped yet, Polo Match.
They threw in 2 years service and mot, 1 years warranty. Which I got increased to 4 years and 2 years, with £10 a month off the HP payment.
So if you go in and be prepared to haggle hard, you can get a good deal from them. The worst they can say is no...
The balloon payment was more than the cars value so she asked me to come along to help.
Explained the situation and was offered if we bought a different car, they would sort the values.
So we got a 3 year old, freshly in, hadn’t even been prepped yet, Polo Match.
They threw in 2 years service and mot, 1 years warranty. Which I got increased to 4 years and 2 years, with £10 a month off the HP payment.
So if you go in and be prepared to haggle hard, you can get a good deal from them. The worst they can say is no...
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