Arnold Clark and/or Motorpoint Good, bad and uglies???
Discussion
So I’m currently based in Northern Ireland where my selection of used cars is limited. I’ve decided to look further afield as an option and have seen 2 Cars that have potential.
2017 Hyundai Tucson 1.6 T-GDI Sports Edition 8k miles, £19.5k. Arnold Clark, Dumfries.
2018 Hyundai Tucson 1.6 T-GDI Premium 3k miles, £22k. Arnold Clark, Sterling.
Extra costs to get back home would be £300 approx.
My issue is I’ve seen posts on here referring to Arnold Clark and Arnold Shark and some unfavourable comments about how they do business.
Question is, Am I better to stay clear of them? Price is best I’ve seen and definitely better than I can get locally.
Other option is Motorpoint but again have they the same rep as AC as a big car supermarket that buys cheap auction and tries to flog to unsuspecting know nothing’s like myself?
Other, other option is a Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDI GT-Line same sort of mileage and price from Mike Brewer Motors, couple of potentials but never heard of these guys or even noticed comments on PH in reference to them.
2017 Hyundai Tucson 1.6 T-GDI Sports Edition 8k miles, £19.5k. Arnold Clark, Dumfries.
2018 Hyundai Tucson 1.6 T-GDI Premium 3k miles, £22k. Arnold Clark, Sterling.
Extra costs to get back home would be £300 approx.
My issue is I’ve seen posts on here referring to Arnold Clark and Arnold Shark and some unfavourable comments about how they do business.
Question is, Am I better to stay clear of them? Price is best I’ve seen and definitely better than I can get locally.
Other option is Motorpoint but again have they the same rep as AC as a big car supermarket that buys cheap auction and tries to flog to unsuspecting know nothing’s like myself?
Other, other option is a Kia Sportage 1.6T-GDI GT-Line same sort of mileage and price from Mike Brewer Motors, couple of potentials but never heard of these guys or even noticed comments on PH in reference to them.
I bought a used Mazda 6 MPS from them and they replaced the whole air con system and the rear window because the heating element want working properly under their used warranty. No questions asked they just did it.
But the cars you are looking at will have manufactures warranty so you can just take them to your local Hyundai or Kia main dealer for any warranty repairs etc and not worry about Arnold Clark after sales.
But the cars you are looking at will have manufactures warranty so you can just take them to your local Hyundai or Kia main dealer for any warranty repairs etc and not worry about Arnold Clark after sales.
Arnold Clark is such a huge business you're bound to get some negative reviews.
I've bought a few cars from them and not had any problems with the way they've done business.
Motorpoint have many former rental cars on their forecourt, so bear that in mind if that bothers you.
Personally I treat every car as an individual regardless of who's selling it, or who's owned it before.
I've owned a few ex rentals and they've been fine.
I've bought a few cars from them and not had any problems with the way they've done business.
Motorpoint have many former rental cars on their forecourt, so bear that in mind if that bothers you.
Personally I treat every car as an individual regardless of who's selling it, or who's owned it before.
I've owned a few ex rentals and they've been fine.
I purchased my current car from motorpoint. They are what they are, don’t expect frills or AUC level prep but they can be cheap. For example my car was about 2k below an equivalent at a dealer and better specced.
The downsides:
It’s a supermarket on the literal sense. They are big warehouse type units where you deal with a salesman at the figures point but then when you collect you see a spotty oik at the collections desk and basically pay, they give you the keys and say “your car is in the car park bye.”
The wheels had been smart repaired and it looked a bit rough after only a few months. They re-did it but again it’s looking a tad ropey. So need a proper refurb but only really obvious if you are looking for it.
They serviced it themselves which normally isn’t an issue but because it’s a BMW they didn’t upload to BMW so have to keep the piece of paper safe to prove it was serviced (they don’t keep electronic records)
Their finance and add-ons aren’t competitive but what used car financial product is?
Upsides:
Loads of stock and can fetch from another branch (300 deposit fully refunded if you don’t buy but costs 100 if you do)
Generally they are fairly well presented on the whole
They give you the keys to poke around and leave you to it until you are ready
Their spec lists are generally pretty accurate so you know what options the car does/doesn’t have.
They aren’t overly pushy and generally reasonable on part ex once you snub their initial low ball offer.
The downsides:
It’s a supermarket on the literal sense. They are big warehouse type units where you deal with a salesman at the figures point but then when you collect you see a spotty oik at the collections desk and basically pay, they give you the keys and say “your car is in the car park bye.”
The wheels had been smart repaired and it looked a bit rough after only a few months. They re-did it but again it’s looking a tad ropey. So need a proper refurb but only really obvious if you are looking for it.
They serviced it themselves which normally isn’t an issue but because it’s a BMW they didn’t upload to BMW so have to keep the piece of paper safe to prove it was serviced (they don’t keep electronic records)
Their finance and add-ons aren’t competitive but what used car financial product is?
Upsides:
Loads of stock and can fetch from another branch (300 deposit fully refunded if you don’t buy but costs 100 if you do)
Generally they are fairly well presented on the whole
They give you the keys to poke around and leave you to it until you are ready
Their spec lists are generally pretty accurate so you know what options the car does/doesn’t have.
They aren’t overly pushy and generally reasonable on part ex once you snub their initial low ball offer.
For what its worth my experience of AC was not the best. I was searching the internet for a mini for my wife.
I had seen a mini on the Arnold Clark website and phoned to enquire. I made arrangements to travel to Preston [about 80 mile round trip] the next day,
which was a Saturday, for a 10.am appointment. I had to leave a small refundable deposit to remove it from open sale.
If we did not go ahead and purchase, for whatever reason, the deposit would be returned.
We viewed the car, but the wife was unimpressed so asked for our deposit back. This is when the sales pressure was raised a notch or two. The salesman
told us they have more minis at various branches throughout the country, and could bring any of them to Preston.
I replied that we were going to look at minis at other car dealers, so thank you, but no thank you just my deposit please. Again more sales speel, at which
point i was quite rude and actually demanded my deposit back, stating the whole experience was unpleasant, and that i thought the days of pressure selling
were well and truly over. We were then kept waiting for 20 mins or more, till the salesman returned saying my deposit had been refunded back onto my card
It is in the North, but i have in the past, purchased a few cars from Fords of Winsford. You can "reserve" a car over the phone or internet, without a
deposit.
They leave you to wander around their stock, you can request keys for any vehicle and inspect the car and start it. To test drive you book an appointment
whilst your there, usually no more than a 10 minute wait. There is no sales pitch after the test drive, if you wish to proceed with a purchase, again you
request an appointment with a member of the actual sales team and proceed from there.
The stock, like most car supermarkets though,does mainly come from BCA auctions.Check out the stock on their website.
I had seen a mini on the Arnold Clark website and phoned to enquire. I made arrangements to travel to Preston [about 80 mile round trip] the next day,
which was a Saturday, for a 10.am appointment. I had to leave a small refundable deposit to remove it from open sale.
If we did not go ahead and purchase, for whatever reason, the deposit would be returned.
We viewed the car, but the wife was unimpressed so asked for our deposit back. This is when the sales pressure was raised a notch or two. The salesman
told us they have more minis at various branches throughout the country, and could bring any of them to Preston.
I replied that we were going to look at minis at other car dealers, so thank you, but no thank you just my deposit please. Again more sales speel, at which
point i was quite rude and actually demanded my deposit back, stating the whole experience was unpleasant, and that i thought the days of pressure selling
were well and truly over. We were then kept waiting for 20 mins or more, till the salesman returned saying my deposit had been refunded back onto my card
It is in the North, but i have in the past, purchased a few cars from Fords of Winsford. You can "reserve" a car over the phone or internet, without a
deposit.
They leave you to wander around their stock, you can request keys for any vehicle and inspect the car and start it. To test drive you book an appointment
whilst your there, usually no more than a 10 minute wait. There is no sales pitch after the test drive, if you wish to proceed with a purchase, again you
request an appointment with a member of the actual sales team and proceed from there.
The stock, like most car supermarkets though,does mainly come from BCA auctions.Check out the stock on their website.
stuartmmcfc said:
The short version of a good story I,suspect.
Ypu suspect wrong.Turned up to have a look at what they had..approached by salesman who tried to get me into the office..."no thanks im ok"
Kept looking..approached again by someone else and invited into office..."no thanks im ok"
Approached again..."no thanks im fine"
Apparently my attitude stank and i wasnt welcome and i had to get of the premises.
edthefed said:
Persinally i would avoid both like the plague.
Full of high pressure salespeople trying to flog a lot of ex rental vehicles which have had the minimum of prep...vehicles other dealers have rejected or not sold
Is your comment about their stock being rejects or overage based on any real data / first hand experience?Full of high pressure salespeople trying to flog a lot of ex rental vehicles which have had the minimum of prep...vehicles other dealers have rejected or not sold
edthefed said:
Persinally i would avoid both like the plague.
Full of high pressure salespeople trying to flog a lot of ex rental vehicles which have had the minimum of prep...vehicles other dealers have rejected or not sold
Wife got a new car recently, it was an ex rental. Low miles and in perfect condition so not adverse to an ex rental. As one of the other posters mentioned treat each car individually.Full of high pressure salespeople trying to flog a lot of ex rental vehicles which have had the minimum of prep...vehicles other dealers have rejected or not sold
I can deal with annoying/rude sales persons as long as the cars aren’t patched up skips.
I've bought a couple of cars from Arnold Clark (a one yr old Fiat 500 and a 3 yr old Suzuki Vitara) even tho I wouldn't really have thought of myself as a "typical" AC customer.
The salesmen at AC tend to either be young, pushy beginners who are finding their feet and go through the whole sales process by rote and never give you peace, or they are older, world weary blokes who don't put much effort into selling you anything on the basis that an easier sale will be along in a few mins.
If you're comfortable and confident looking any given individual car and be happy never to have to go back there for servicing or after-sales back-up then they often have some very competitively priced cars all across the range of vehicles they sell. By the same token, they often have cars priced £2/3/4k over anything comparable elsewhere. I guess it's a numbers game for them.
The salesmen at AC tend to either be young, pushy beginners who are finding their feet and go through the whole sales process by rote and never give you peace, or they are older, world weary blokes who don't put much effort into selling you anything on the basis that an easier sale will be along in a few mins.
If you're comfortable and confident looking any given individual car and be happy never to have to go back there for servicing or after-sales back-up then they often have some very competitively priced cars all across the range of vehicles they sell. By the same token, they often have cars priced £2/3/4k over anything comparable elsewhere. I guess it's a numbers game for them.
On the topic of supermarkets, I would rate Cargiant quite highly imho. A number of people I know have actually bought from there, and my mother has been there twice, though she didn't buy anything. Salesmen were nice and friendly, and not pushy. The first time, she almost bought a car but was told not to by the salesman because it was a diesel and the DPF issues associated with her driving style.
The second time, when she was P/X her old car she was basically told to stop using main dealers for servicing(!) because it wasn't worth it, and then another salesman and his manager told her that a car she found on AT at another dealer for slightly more was much better and that she should go buy that one instead.
No hard sells at all, and honest people. Obviously this does depend on who you get, but her experiences of the 5 or so people she interacted with were great
The second time, when she was P/X her old car she was basically told to stop using main dealers for servicing(!) because it wasn't worth it, and then another salesman and his manager told her that a car she found on AT at another dealer for slightly more was much better and that she should go buy that one instead.
No hard sells at all, and honest people. Obviously this does depend on who you get, but her experiences of the 5 or so people she interacted with were great
Ive used both in the past, for business and private sales, if you’ve your head screwed on you willl be fine.
Neither specialise in crap stock, but from my dealings with them, I understand that they bulk buy batches from fleets that by virtue contain rough and smooth, but they price them all the same, until the days rack up.
They arent A1 stock specialists and prep is on a budget. They’re not really any different to any other big chain.
AC do have a reputation at the low end of the market for shirking repair responsibilitym but I’ve no experience of that. What I will say is that in general, their workshops are pretty poor. They also have a big care hire division and thats where their ‘management and demonstrators’ usually come from.
If youre looking at something within franchise and under warranty there shouldn’t be any problem at Arnold’s.
Neither specialise in crap stock, but from my dealings with them, I understand that they bulk buy batches from fleets that by virtue contain rough and smooth, but they price them all the same, until the days rack up.
They arent A1 stock specialists and prep is on a budget. They’re not really any different to any other big chain.
AC do have a reputation at the low end of the market for shirking repair responsibilitym but I’ve no experience of that. What I will say is that in general, their workshops are pretty poor. They also have a big care hire division and thats where their ‘management and demonstrators’ usually come from.
If youre looking at something within franchise and under warranty there shouldn’t be any problem at Arnold’s.
Edited by MalcolmSmith on Sunday 10th March 22:35
_andym said:
2017 Hyundai Tucson 1.6 T-GDI Sports Edition 8k miles, £19.5k. Arnold Clark, Dumfries.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=&t=1745736https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I bought a Hyundai i40 from one of the Glasgow city centre branches. My local branch that was doing any work on it was Dumfries.
Ended up on the verge of taking them to court. Massive issues with the i40, nothing was getting fixed until I 1* reviewed them publicly listing the issues, loads of issues with both branches blaming each other, not communicating & just making things worse, issues with the replacement car (which finally got sorted).
I know you'll hear different stories from different people, some will be great, others not so. My personal experience is I won't use the company again.
edthefed said:
stuartmmcfc said:
The short version of a good story I,suspect.
Ypu suspect wrong.Turned up to have a look at what they had..approached by salesman who tried to get me into the office..."no thanks im ok"
Kept looking..approached again by someone else and invited into office..."no thanks im ok"
Approached again..."no thanks im fine"
Apparently my attitude stank and i wasnt welcome and i had to get of the premises.
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