Big Motoring World

[stevemcs]

There are 2 sites in Peterborough, one on Padholme road, the other on the other side of town near brotherhoods retail park

The rework centre is up by Hotpoint on Celta road, they have (so i'm told) a specific van that runs from Euro car parts, they were paying good money for service and MOT testers. the cars that I have seen in that past were not prepared to the best standards, that may have changed. Both sites were previously SW car supermarket. I don't think they welcome you walking in and having a wander either.

[CRA1G]

SteBrown91 said:

CRA1G said:

They buy from the SAME auctions as the BMW dealers who are budding against each other....! They do buy some higher mileage cars but as there nearly always lease vehicles have Full Service Records and they have a 170,000 sq ft £14 Million Preparation Centre so hardly tart them up...!

What % of Big motoring world do you own then? Seem to take it personally.

Absolutely Zero %. No association whatsoever, I have only posted facts not tittle-tattle.

[Tinkermantony]

I think their cars are okay but if something does go wrong I wouldn't want to be relying on the warranty. From what I've read they only pay up to a certain (low) labour rate, which basically discounts all main dealers and maybe some specialists?

Went to view a A5 sportback in 2021 at the bluebell site and it wasn't very well presented. Filthy car, front passenger door wouldn't open from inside and had a deep scratch on the rear arch. Its all about getting you on the sales journey and closing down any objections.

[SteBrown91]

CRA1G said:

SteBrown91 said:

CRA1G said:

They buy from the SAME auctions as the BMW dealers who are budding against each other....! They do buy some higher mileage cars but as there nearly always lease vehicles have Full Service Records and they have a 170,000 sq ft £14 Million Preparation Centre so hardly tart them up...!

What % of Big motoring world do you own then? Seem to take it personally.

Absolutely Zero %. No association whatsoever, I have only posted facts not tittle-tattle.

I think alot of what has been said in here backs up what I said in the first place, regardless of where they source their cars or the size of their prep centre.

So hardly tittle tattle.

[vikingaero]

I think in general Big have improved to become a normal dealer. To be honest they couldn't have done anything other than improve from their dodgy past..

They seem to have mirrored the tactics of other car supermarkets. Walk in through the "customer area" to get your details taken before being allowed keys, salesmen keeping tabs on you, short test drives, admin fees, oversell on warrantee [sic], GAP, tyre insurance, paint protection, finance etc.

[Alickadoo]

vikingaero said:

I think in general Big have improved to become a normal dealer. To be honest they couldn't have done anything other than improve from their dodgy past..

They seem to have mirrored the tactics of other car supermarkets. Walk in through the "customer area" to get your details taken before being allowed keys, salesmen keeping tabs on you, short test drives, admin fees, oversell on warrantee [sic], GAP, tyre insurance, paint protection, finance etc.

Of course, if you are not happy, you do always have the option of not going there, or not buying from them.

[Trevor555]

vikingaero said:

They seem to have mirrored the tactics of other car supermarkets. Walk in through the "customer area" to get your details taken before being allowed keys, salesmen keeping tabs on you, short test drives, admin fees, oversell on warrantee [sic], GAP, tyre insurance, paint protection, finance etc.

Most main dealers are the same.

[CRA1G]

Alickadoo said:

Of course, if you are not happy, you do always have the option of not going there, or not buying from them.

Absolutely,but when they reportedly sold over 24,000 cars last year they must be doing something right...

[vikingaero]

CRA1G said:

Alickadoo said:

Of course, if you are not happy, you do always have the option of not going there, or not buying from them.

Absolutely,but when they reportedly sold over 24,000 cars last year they must be doing something right...

I've been a few times to look at specific cars and not liked the cars. Selling 24k cars can mean they are just selling to a captive local market who can't be bothered to travel. TBH the wide boy sales tactics puts me off.

[SteBrown91]

CRA1G said:

Absolutely,but when they reportedly sold over 24,000 cars last year they must be doing something right...

Because they are buying cars at the cheaper end of the market, tarting them up (At their eleventy million pound prep centre I'm sure) and selling at a competitive price. 90% of the buying public are not going round checking paintwork and studying service histories and ensuring all tyres are matching goodyears.

Theres a big car supermarket near me that has been doing just that for about 25-30 years.

Would I personally buy from there? No (Or I'd go over it very very very carefully if it was a car I really really wanted and couldn't find elsewhere)
Does that stop it being rammed most weekends and churning cars out all the time? No.

[Earthdweller]

CRA1G said:

They buy from the SAME auctions as the BMW dealers who are budding against each other....! They do buy some higher mileage cars but as there nearly always lease vehicles have Full Service Records and they have a 170,000 sq ft £14 Million Preparation Centre so hardly tart them up...!

my understanding is that that cars are graded and the best ones are offered on internal BMW dealer auctions with the lower grade stuff being offered to general dealers/supermarkets etc

[CRA1G]

Earthdweller said:

my understanding is that that cars are graded and the best ones are offered on internal BMW dealer auctions with the lower grade stuff being offered to general dealers/supermarkets etc

They offered by BMW Group through BCA to which the Main Dealer buyers attend along with other Dealers,this was pre covid of course but done online now.

[spreadsheet monkey]

Earthdweller said:

my understanding is that that cars are graded and the best ones are offered on internal BMW dealer auctions with the lower grade stuff being offered to general dealers/supermarkets etc

It's possible that some cars are just too old or too high-mileage for a BMW forecourt, but they’re not necessarily poor condition cars.

I thought the guidelines for BMW Approved Used were “no more than 5 years old and 50000 miles”? Maybe that’s no longer a thing.

[J1990]

Look at this for an admin fee, just a little pricey and just something that frustrates me... Price you car at a price you're happy to sell it for, none of this cloak and dagger bull****

"Retail Customer £299
Retail Customer using a finance broker outside our official panel of lenders paying funds direct to Big Motoring World £649"

[Condi]

So, thanks for all the advice...

Went to see the car earlier and overall quite impressed. Nice facilities, bought over a tea and coffee while I waited, lovely sales assistant who was friendly but not pushy or trying to upsell the add-ons. Lots of vehicles coming and going (might be because it's a Monday morning, new stock?) but in the hour I was there 3 car transporters turned up.

Cars were fairly well presented, not main dealer quality, but they had clearly done things which needed to be done. Most cars had new MOTs. The car I was viewing had 4 new tyres, albeit a brand I'd never heard of. Unsure if that was done by the previous owner or by the company. All cars are simply from the auctions. Paint chips on the bonnet had been touched up. In general, it wasn't perfect, but a lot better than the condition of CarGiant's preparation.

Only thing which did annoy me was you couldn't browse the cars. Everything was bought out for you to have a look at, quick test drive, then they went round the back again. That said, they were good enough to let me drive 2 or 3 different vehicles.

Didn't end buying the car in the end, but it was the right price and I have no doubt will sell soon. If you go in with your eyes open and have a good look at the vehicles they are appear to be a reasonably decent volume based showroom, low margin, good prices, high turnover, probably making most of their money from credit and upselling extras.

EDIT - on the subject of the cars in stock, and the preparation done, there was a 3 year old BMW 3 series I drove which was flawless. No marks, matching tyres across the axles (2 Bridgestone, 2 Maxxis), decent service history, etc. Interior was perfect. There are some really good cars there if you have a look.

Edited by Condi on Monday 24th July 20:10

[krisdelta]

Out of interest, if it was a great car at the right price, why didn't you buy it ?

[Condi]

krisdelta said:

Out of interest, if it was a great car at the right price, why didn't you buy it ?

Erm, I didn't love it for whatever reason, which was nothing to do with the car there, but more the make/model/spec.

Guess I just want something more exciting than what I went to look at, but only by driving the car did I know that for sure.

[Auto810graphy]

CRA1G said:

They offered by BMW Group through BCA to which the Main Dealer buyers attend along with other Dealers,this was pre covid of course but done online now.

All large fleets (rental / leasing / staff cars) have different disposal routes. BMW group staff cars and demo cars go to the BMW network via closed auctions if they meet to standard, if not BCA BMW Open Sale. This applies to many Alphabet (BMW Finance) cars excluding repossessions that will go to auction.

Companies like Big Motoring World buy from lots of sources, mainly auctions with ex fleet or from Motability so nothing shady, just different sources to keep a constant supply.

[SIMON67]

One of their Wrotham sales guys nearly killed me on my morning cycle commute (ragging an E class on a tiny lane what felt like millimetres away from my handle bars) took the helmet cam evidence to them and came Facebook face with the owner of the company. He thought it hilarious and was a complete... Never going to get any of my business

[Auto810graphy]

SIMON67 said:

One of their Wrotham sales guys nearly killed me on my morning cycle commute (ragging an E class on a tiny lane what felt like millimetres away from my handle bars) took the helmet cam evidence to them and came Facebook face with the owner of the company. He thought it hilarious and was a complete... Never going to get any of my business

How someone drives to work is nothing to do with how a company operates. Just look at the number of cars and vans on the road driving dangerously, they can’t all work there.