...
An example, based on my own experience, is Motorpoint of Derby. It is a car supermarket, which means it sells a variety of new and nearly new cars. Most seem to be either imported from Europe (the new vehicles) or are ex-fleet vehicles from the UK (with a few thousand miles on the clock) ... Read review
Advantages: Cheap prices, excellent service Disadvantages: None as far as I'm concerned
...on my own experience, is Motorpoint of Derby. It is a car supermarket, which means it sells a variety of new and nearly new cars. Most seem to be either imported from Europe (the new vehicles) or are ex-fleet vehicles from the UK (with a few thousand miles on the clock) A similar operation is Direct Cars of Sheffield. I visited this too, and found it to be very similar to Motorpoint, but as I ended up buying from Motorpoint I will confine my assessment ... ...Motorpoint is that it competes on price, so it has no need to use fancy sales gimmicks. It is quite possible to save several thousands of the UK list price of a new vehicle by dealing with Motorpoint. If you decide to buy a car which is a year or so old (with up to about 10k on the clock), you can make even bigger savings on the list price. And no haggling! The price you see is likely to be the price you pay.
One should never tempt fate. On Christmas day I was discussing motoring at a party and I announced that I had never had an accident in thirty years' driving. I also mentioned that I had had my car for over a decade and had no intention of changing it: the subtext of my remarks - I'm a careful driver, careful with my cash!
You guessed it, the very next day the fates intervened to mock me. While driving on a dual carriageway, the car in front braked sharply and bang went my unblemished accident-free motoring record.. My own car was judged by the assessors to be a write off.
Although I have little interest in cars and even less in car salesmen, I was therefore forced to enter the car market. The prospect of having to descend into the netherworld of Swiss Tonies, Arthur Daleys and puffa-jacketed spivs didn't appeal to me at all..
As I had not bought a car for many years, I was hoping that the car trade's notorious reputation for deception and dubious sales gimmicks was a thing of the past. However, I was to discover that these tricks of the trade are alive well and living in most of the car showrooms I visited. - tricks, such as: 'I can only hold this price for today, so you must sign the contract now' and the backroom trick - where the salesman disappears to have a word with his boss in the backroom, to get him to approve the generous offer he is bending over backwards to make; and then there is the financial origami of hire purchase interest rates, which are seldom quite what they seem in the advertising literature etc.
And last but not least there is the problem of haggling. Why is that that the purchase of a car, either new or second hand, means having to haggle with the salesman as if we were transported back in time into a medieval bazaar? Some people no doubt like the mind games involved in the haggling part. I suspect many others dislike it intensely, not least because car salesmen do it for a living and have a lot more experience and finesse at playing these mind games than we do. No wonder therefore that many people don't feel comfortable about entering car showrooms.
So it is with some relief that I can report that some things have changed in the world of car retailing since my last purchase many years ago. This seems to be primarily due to entry into the market of new types of retailer, to compete with tied dealerships, to the opening up (to some extent) of the UK market to competition from Europe and to the advent of internet retailing. Put bluntly, there are now more ways to buy a car than ever before and some of the new ways in my opinion are distinctly superior to the methods which have given the car trade a bad name.
An example, based on my own experience, is Motorpoint of Derby. It is a car supermarket, which means it sells a variety of new and nearly new cars. Most seem to be either imported from Europe (the new vehicles) or are ex-fleet vehicles from the UK (with a few thousand miles on the clock) A similar operation is Direct Cars of Sheffield. I visited this too, and found it to be very similar to Motorpoint, but as I ended up buying from Motorpoint I will confine my assessment to this firm.
The main point about Motorpoint is that it competes on price, so it has no need to use fancy sales gimmicks. It is quite possible to save several thousands of the UK list price of a new vehicle by dealing with Motorpoint. If you decide to buy a car which is a year or so old (with up to about 10k on the clock), you can make even bigger savings on the list price. And no haggling! The price you see is likely to be the price you pay.
No pushy salesmen: this is another attractive feature of Motorpoint. One of the salesmen told me that they only get a very small amount of commission on every new car sold, so there is no great incentive for them to push a sale. In any case, at these prices, the cars more or less sell themselves. I found the salesman I dealt with to be helpful and informative, without being overbearing. The way the system works is that, if you see a vehicle you like, you ask for the keys and you can have a good look at it inside and out (although without having a test drive). I had already read a lot of car reviews and so knew more or less what I wanted.
Lots of stock to choose from. Motorpoint's Derby site is large and almost every available space is filled with cars. They appear to focus on the more well known brands and makes (i.e. the kind which are easy to import in bulk or to buy from fleet operators) so don't expect to find anything too fancy. Motorpoint also has a good internet site, so you can check out the stock before you visit (although don't expect the internet stock to match precisely what they have, as they appear to rely on moving stock fast: you can, however, check to see if a particular car is still available and put a deposit on it over the phone).
When I visited, I was looking for either a Ford Focus Ghia or a Toyota Corolla T3, either new or nearly new. They had no Corolla T3s left, but they did have a new Ford Focus Ghia in the colour I wanted. I bought the car for just under £10k, whereas the list price in the UK is about £13.5k. The deal only took a few minutes. This involves putting a £300 deposit on the car. As the car is an import (from Belgium) you get a European warranty, valid in the UK, which is likely to be two years from the date it was first registered in the country of origin. This is of course less than the three years warranty you would get from a UK sourced dealership. However, if you take into account the considerable savings on the list price, it is in my opinion well worth it (you can also buy an extended warranty, although I didn't bother). When I got home I noticed that the bill included a £52.80 valeting charge which I had not agreed to. I didn't think a new car would need valeting. I rang up Motorpoint and without any quibble they removed the charge: I was impressed with the speed and courtesy with which they dealt with my minor complaint.
I picked up my new car at the beginning of March, in order to get the new 03 plate. You have to pick it up on a weekday, as weekends are reserved for viewing for safety reasons (there are a lot of cars in a confined space). The guy who gave me the keys was very helpful and patient as he showed me the controls. It was a very rainy day, so I was particularly concerned to understand how the multi-speed wipers worked. He went through the routines until I was satisfied that everything had clicked and even drove it for me to the gates, as I was a little concerned about bumping into other cars in the confined spaces of the Motorpoint forecourt. Although the car was sourced from Belgium, the manuals are in English.
This is a very positive review, so I had better make clear that I have no relationship to Motorpoint, except as a very satisfied customer. Of course, Motorpoint may not cater for everyone's needs. For example, if you are looking for an old banger, Motorpoint will not be for you (all the cars I saw were new or nearly new and certainly less than two years old). Nor is Motorpoint likely to suit you if you are looking for a rare or classic car. Moreover, I didn't need finance, so can't comment on their hire purchase arrangements.
I would definitely buy from Motorpoint again, which really says it all.
Advantages: Much cheaper than main dealer prices Disadvantages: You have to take what is in stock!
...first tip when you approach Motorpoint - from my experience, you will get the best deal if you know what you want but you know what you would be willing to compromise on. I bought my car from Motorpoint in Derby 2 years ago this month (that's what reminded me to write this opinion). I was impressed with the car I received and the price I got it for. Their service on the day could have been a bit better but we'll come back to that later. I knew I ... ...not go personally to the Motorpoint site to look for/ select a specific car
- Was willing to take the risk of buying the car unseen in order to take advantage of a great price
- Knew exactly what I wanted before I phoned them up
I have never bought something so expensive without seeing it before, but I must admit that I would do it again from Motorpoint, so that's a pretty good recommendation. To put it into context, I got £1600 off the standard ...
CeramicsQueen 12.02.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Motorpoint
Advantages: Low Prices and extensive stock Disadvantages: Stock are in random places and not easy to locate.
...overall it's a thumbs up!
When buying our next car - guess where I'll look first. If you know me you'd know that was high praise indeed. I am VERY impressed with Motorpoint. I would recommend Motorpoint wholeheartedly to anyone wanting to buy a value-for-money new/used car!! ...
DonaldD 31.01.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Motorpoint
Advantages: Very, very cheap cars, and excellent service. Disadvantages: In the open air, not easy to spot a specific model.
...bought a new car from Motorpoint at Derby. The price of the vehicle, and Motorpoint's service were both fantastic! If you want to buy a new car, this is THE place to go!
Motorpoint now have two sites. Derby and Burnley. Their price lists are available in most of the free car sales magazines in supermarkets and petrol stations, and in the Telegraph on Saturdays. They also have a web site (www.motorpoint.co.uk) where current stocks are detailed.
... ...I am VERY impressed with Motorpoint. Their prices are marginally higher than you might obtain in Belgium or Holland - but I do not consider the hassel associated with buying overseas is worth it! I recommend Motorpoint wholeheartedly to anyone wanting to buy a value-for-money new car!! ...
wiseoldowl 10.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Motorpoint
Advantages: value and choice of stock Disadvantages: none
...1 series from the Derby Motorpoint showroom and I had to tell other people about it because I was really happy with the deal that I got. This is my first car that I have been able to spend a bit of cash on, so was a major purchasing decision for me. I also had my heart set on a BMW but wasn't sure if my budget would stretch to the model which I wanted. That's a bit about me though, back to the review... I had heard good reviews about Motorpoint from ... ...First off I called the Motorpoint telesales team to see if they had the vehicle that I wanted in stock, they had three available so we went through the full specification and background behind the vehicle. It was a parallel import from the Netherlands but was right hand drive and the only ways that it differed from the same model in a UK showroom was that it had climate control rather than air conditioning and also it didn't come with an alarm. This ...
mrpeanuts 09.02.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Motorpoint
Advantages: Great value, great choice Disadvantages: no test drive, no order to the layout of the cars
...friends suggested we go to Motorpoint and see what they had. Definitely one of his best ideas. (Actually I think he suggested it to save being dragged round every car dealer in Glasgow) If youre undecided, as I was, Motorpoint is perfect. They had every kind of car imagineable and for every budget. Just rows and rows of cars.
Where to start??? The Motorpoint branch we visited was just row after row of cars. Unfortunately, one major downside is there ... ...answer all my questions.
Motorpoint cant be faulted on the range and variety of cars, its so much better than going to a dealer if youre browsing. I ended up not buying from them however, largely due to the fact I couldnt test drive my chosen car. Personally there is no way Im shelling out thousands and thousands of pounds on a used car I havent driven.
What I did do however was go to the dealer down the road with the motorpoint facts and figures ...
starlight_xx 19.02.2005 (18.06.2005)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Motorpoint
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Motorpoint"
I used Motorpoints internet sales site to organize the purchase and part exchange of my old car for an Astra ctdi. Because I live in Scotland, it was arranged for the viewing and purchase to be at the Glasgow branch. All went well initially - but I was assumed to pay the last installment of my finance on the old car which was a standing order on the *28th* of each month.
I ordered the car on the 12th of the month and was phoned by the Derby branch that they wanted the deal done in Glasgow on thursday the *27th* of that month. They said that if it didn't happen then, the part exchange would lose a calander month in the glasses car valuation guide and they stood to lose £500. I explained that I couldn't get to Glasgow that day due to infant care - but they basically pushed me into this.
So, I went to Glasgow, signed the deal ...
Advantages: competitive deals Disadvantages: no test drive, inconsistent sales information
Best deals in the country, no doubt about that. Telelphone sales staff vary description and availability of cars. Don't bother with the vehicle preparation which they charge £62.50. New cars are clean enough. Most frustarting point is picking the car up which is only available Monday to Friday. The sales team try to sell you addiotional warranty!!!. My Renault came with a 3 year manufacturers warranty so it was senseless extending it for four l hundred pounds more. There were other products they tried to sell. Better fill the car up at the nearby petrol station as car have little petrol in them.
I was informed that my Renault Scenic 1.6 auto expression was imported from Cyprus by Motorpoint to full UK Specification and the selling price was a massive 28% off UK list price. Although cars have delivery mileage, you only ...
Advantages: Cheap Prices, Wide Range, Great Website Disadvantages: Can't Test Drive easily, Not much room for Haggling....
I bought a 6 month old car from Motorpoint of Burnley in September 06.
I had been and browsed there before, but never thought about actually buying anything becuase I'd heard some bad stories about Car Supermarkets.
We were looking for a particular type of car, and we were able to look at Motorpoints website to see if they had any in stock. This was great as we could find out info on what colours, reg's and mileage that each of the cars had.
When we went to look at the car, the salesmen didn't come and 'hound' you (as the7y seem to do everywhere else), they left you to look around, and when you did want to look at a particular car, they would give you the keys and let you know that whilst you have the keys no one else can buy that car, neither will they accept an offer on it from someone else until you give the keys back and let them ...