DC Cook Direct (Online)

...it's true. I first met DC Cook when driving to work along the road they're off, and heading under a large bridge painted with their advert.

I was at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to buying a car, not having a father or grandfather still alive, or a recent ex boyfriend this side of the Atlantic. The majority of my male friends are new-men which is all fine and lovely except they wouldn’t know one end of a car from another, so ...
...wasn’t looking) and drove to DC Cook on Ashton Old Road.

I picked them for the simple reason that they seemed ok every time I drove past on my way into work. I don’t know what they could have been doing as I whizzed by to make me think they weren’t ok, short of punching and pummelling a buyer into choosing a car, but anyway. I pulled into one of their tiny customer parking space, approached one of the salesmen hanging out in the freezing ... more

That's how the radio jingle goes, but it's true. I first met DC Cook when driving to work along the road they're off, and heading under a large bridge painted with their advert.

I was at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to buying a car, not having a father or grandfather still alive, or a recent ex boyfriend this side of the Atlantic. The majority of my male friends are new-men which is all fine and lovely except they wouldn’t know one end of a car from another, so would have been unable to help. It may be terribly un PC to say so, but I felt car buying needed a man and I didn’t have one. Now several friends offered me the services of their boyfriends, which was jolly kind of them, but it finally got the point where I decided to be a big girl and go it alone. Having approached some dreadful dealers (the Ford one in Bury, the Fiat one on the way to Bury, Virgin Cars slightly less on the way to Bury) I was already wary of going somewhere new, but decided none could be worse than these, so one Sunday morning I got in my current car (stolen from my mother a few months earlier when she wasn’t looking) and drove to DC Cook on Ashton Old Road.

I picked them for the simple reason that they seemed ok every time I drove past on my way into work. I don’t know what they could have been doing as I whizzed by to make me think they weren’t ok, short of punching and pummelling a buyer into choosing a car, but anyway. I pulled into one of their tiny customer parking space, approached one of the salesmen hanging out in the freezing cold waiting for prospective buyers.

“I’d like to buy a car,” I said simply.

“Eee, we never hear that,” grinned nice Mr Salesman.

And we were off.

“What sort of car are you looking for?” enquired nice Mr Salesman.

“A small one,” I stated defensively. “Suitable for manoeuvring through city traffic. And one in a nice colour. Doesn’t have to be brand new, but still under warranty would be nice. Oooh, and a CD player would be fab.”

Nice Mr Salesman chuckled to himself and we began to walk around the lot, him pointing out cars that he thought matched my requirements, me dismissing those which didn’t look nice, or which were bigger than small. In the end we settled on half a dozen, and he unlocked the doors so I could sit inside like a little kid pretending to be a driver. I sat in some over whose bonnets I couldn’t see. I sat in others whose pedals were beyond my feet, even with the seat scooted all the way in. I sat in others still whose dashboards looked far too unappealing for me to even consider buying them. And then I sat in a Micra and something clicked. This was the car I wanted. Except….they had lots of Micras in stock. And I wanted the best. So, we had to get all the keys and open them all up and have a nosy round. Through this, nice Mr Salesman was still smiling, pointing out things I might miss, encouraging me to have a little look see. I’d found me a winner.

When I was 99% sure I wanted a Micra, we decided I should test drive one, plus a Fiesta just for the fun of it. So I did. They have a special dirt track round the back of the lot just for test driving which was rather handy, though you might not realise how much so unless you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on a Salford dual carriageway in a car you’re just decided you will never, ever want to buy, and aren’t even sure you can safely drive back to its base.

Sensing that I knew slightly less than nothing about buying a car, nice Mr Salesman told me he’d knock some money off the windscreen price for me. At this point I’d probably have paid what it said since it seemed reasonable, so that was especially nice of nice Mr Salesman. I chose the one I wanted, looked at the price and took off £500 because that seemed like a sensible figure. Nice Mr Salesman went to check with nice Mr Salesman’s boss, and returned to tell me he could give it me for my price plus £100. Now when I left, nice Mr Salesman might still have thought he ripped me off, but in my mind I saved £400 since I would have paid the original price anyway, so we both ended happy.

The reason I’m giving them 5 stars is because as well as managing to sell me a car in less than an hour, they were all really lovely people. If I’d been naughty I could have part exchanged my mother’s car since they accept this as a deposit (as they do a mere £99 if you’re not trading in). They have a good choice of cars in stock, both new and nearly new, and can also order in the former to match your specifications re colour, music system, wheel type and all those other things you can pay extra for. All nearly new cars come with a comprehensive 120 point check to pick up any major and quite a few minor faults. My car drives fine, and was valeted so well it looks brand new inside. And, since it’s only a year and a bit old, if anything does go wrong, I can get it fixed for free under its warranty.

They were wonderful when my credit card was declined and I had to spend 10 minutes screaming at my bank on the phone. “Um, it was unusual spending, so we declined it,” said my helpful man at the call centre. “Yeah, funny that, considering it’s a CAR I’m buying. I don’t buy one every week you know,” I seethed. They happily accepted a part-cheque part-credit card payment as I wanted to pay cash, not take their financing. They were wonderful the following week when I went to collect the car (which I could have taken immediately I bought in had I been able to master that neat trick whereby you simultaneously drive two different cars). The only time they weren’t wonderful was when they let a cleaner type answer the phone late one night (I was expecting a recorded message) as he told me they were open at 8am the following day. They weren’t, but I figured that out anyway, and they were going at full thrust when I got there around 11.30am.

DC Cook currently have two car supermarkets in the UK, though they can deliver cars to you wherever you fancy, for a fee. That’s probably why I got on well with them – they give of the impression of a small, friendly, family run place, in spite of the two dozen staff they have wandering the site at any given moment. They actually wanted to help me find the best car for me, and not try to sell me the one with the biggest mark up, or the highest price. They were all very happy chappies, and there was not the slightest scent of eau de stereotypical used car salesman. They made buying a car a much nicer experience than apartment buying, my other big splurge this year, and for that I’m grateful. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

 

...less