Available Car Supermarket > Reviews > The car supermarket

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	wide range for selection
Disadvantages:	sometimes long waiting times

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I bought my "new" used car about a month ago and am very happy with it. And as well with the service of available cars in castle donington. Apart from a bit of bad luck when I tried to pick up my car. But more on that later. I'll first give you some info about this "car supermarket".

Choice and availability

Available car is a quite big "shop" to buy new and (mainly) used cars. They have more than 700 cars on site on the East Midlands, 10 acre car supermarket display, preparation, and distribution centre, located 1 mile from M1, Castle Donington and they get new stock nearly daily. That gives you a really big choice.

Service

They claim themselvewe not to employ pushy 'Car Salespeople' but 'helpers' from other areas of the retail world. Ánd I have to admit, that I never felt under pressure. I went there several times, as I wanted to compare and really find the right car. And there was always somebody available, to answer your questions, to organise an immediate testdrive or just to explain you the location. Sometimes it becomes quite busy, especially when I went there a saturday afternoon. We had to wait quite a while to be served. But as soon as you ask for being served you are asked to take a seat in the waiting lounge, where you can serve yourself with water and send the kids to a nice playground. Good idea! But going a bit backwards right to the start, when you enter the shop. Some nice receptionists are immediately to your attention, offer you a stock list on which you can see exactly what cars are currently available there, and - if you wish - explain you where to find the cars you are looking for. The place is structured by big, middle, small cars. Then you can walk through and have a look at the cars inside and outside. And nobody disturbs you, trying to sell you immediately. Something I really appreciated. But if you have a question? Be sure, there is somebody not far away from you. They have really lots of stuff taking care of you!

Opening times

Locally, they are open 7 days a week.
Monday - Friday 8:30 - 19:30
Saturday 8:30 - 18:00
Sunday 10:30 - 17:00

Or you have a look at their homepage www.availablecar.com. You can search there the complete stock with details before really physically going there. And most cars even are with pictures.

Test Drive...

... is available immediately. Depends on how busy it is, you'll have to wait a bit. But this is relatively quick organised.

Financing

I don't really know too much about this, as I bought the car cash. But they offer some financing. Up from 9.9 % apr or 4.85% fixed annual.

And of course you can trade-in your old car. My partner wanted to find out how much he would get for his car (just for curiosity) and got a very low offer. So better compare on this one.

Warranty

They offer a range of warranties depending on your needs. It can last for several years if you decide to pay for.

Prices

They say, they are very cheap. And having compared other traders in my area, I have to confirm, that they have fair prices. Even if they didn't accept any discussions about the price... Well, you try...

My experience

Like I mentioned before, when I was just looking around and wanted to be consulted on a special car, I had to wait incredibly long. But its probably my own fault, coming a saturday afternoon. When I was more close to a decision, I asked one of the guys on the parking place for a test drive with 2 cars and that was no problem. 10 Minutes later I was sitting in the first car. It probably was quite frightening for the poor guy sitting beside me, as it was my first attempt in an english car on an english street, but well - we all survived! After the test drive, my decision was made, I had to wait 10 Minutes for a sales guy and then everything went quick. They agreed to organise the MOT for me and even the taxing of the car. I could pick up my car 1 week later (normally its quicker, but I had to sort out my insurance and the MOT took a while). I mentioned my bad luck before. I want to mention it, even if its not a big issue. But it highly irritated me to that time. I picked up my car and at the exit of the parking place I noticed the airbag signs went back off. I immediately gave the car back and had to come again the next day. It wasn't correctly set back after the MOT, which can happen. But I still think, they should have checked the car is okay before... It wasn't exactly easy to get there the next day, as my partner wasn't at home...

Well, enough of this. As a final result and comment I would say: big choice, good prices, good service. Go and have a look, check the homepage or call them on 0870-460 8623.