I bought a car from trade sales (1 outlet only in Slough/Maidenhead) 2 years ago and after reading other opinions listed agree with many negative points made. I saved four thousand pounds off the fore-court price of my car, and despite the negatives I detail below I would recommend going through ... Read review
Advantages: Good savings to be had Disadvantages: Rude staff, long wait for car, lacking trust
I bought a car from trade sales (1 outlet only in Slough/Maidenhead) 2 years ago and after reading other opinions listed agree with many negative points made. I saved four thousand pounds off the fore-court price of my car, and despite the negatives I detail below I would recommend going through trade sales to purchase a car - 4 grand can't be turned down, despite bad service and the wait!
All cars are right hand drive UK spec, and ... ...service, I too found the trade sales staff to be quite rude. The first time I went there I popped into the office and asked what cars they had coming in. I wasn't set on any specific model, so wanted a car in the next couple of weeks. The 'wide-boy' head of trade sales replied "I haven't got all day" in his cockney geezer accent! It seems that this place goes through so many sales that they just can't be bothered to make the effort for ... more
I bought a car from trade sales (1 outlet only in Slough/Maidenhead) 2 years ago and after reading other opinions listed agree with many negative points made. I saved four thousand pounds off the fore-court price of my car, and despite the negatives I detail below I would recommend going through trade sales to purchase a car - 4 grand can't be turned down, despite bad service and the wait!
All cars are right hand drive UK spec, and come with a standard manufacturers warranty (1 year in my case), so you can take your car back to any dealership for repair, no questions asked.
On customer service, I too found the trade sales staff to be quite rude. The first time I went there I popped into the office and asked what cars they had coming in. I wasn't set on any specific model, so wanted a car in the next couple of weeks. The 'wide-boy' head of trade sales replied "I haven't got all day" in his cockney geezer accent! It seems that this place goes through so many sales that they just can't be bothered to make the effort for your custom. In fact, many of the sales people do look very dodgy, like James Bond Scandinavian bad guys! My landlord actually told me that the company was originally set up through some dodgy dealings but we won't get into defamation of character here! Just take a look at how much frontage on the A4 this place owns and draw your own conclusions (I expect the Jaguar garage will be knocked down next to make way for a new trade sales car park)!
Lack of sales harrassment was a good thing, as I hate pushy sales people, and on the positive side trade sales did not approach customers as they look around. I think it is slightly different now. I've been recently and was approached and questioned. However, when I did buy the sales people did harrass a little by being quite threatening about me losing my deposit if the sale fell through.
Some other negatives include the fact that you can't trade in your old car, nor test drive any of the cars. They do actually recommend you go to the nearest garage and test drive! They even have a list. I was buying a Ford and they directed me to the nearest garage. So, if you're not feeling that guilty, or know the car you want to buy then this is ok. In addition, all cars have 'factory mileage' on them. This means they've been dropped off around the corner and driven to the site, with probably around 15 miles on the clock.
I was also offered a load of extras on my car at 500 pounds per set, and declined most of them. However, when my car turned up it was completely loaded with everything I hadn't asked for - air bags everywhere, air con, traction control. I was quite impressed, but also a little bemused that they probably knew that this car was coming in with everything on it and tried to get some more cash out of me. Instruction books and the service history log were all in Spanish too!
On payment options trade sales won't accept cheques so you have to pay cash or by banker's draft which will cost you. I don't believe that any other payment options are available.
On few positive aspects, which in my case outweighed the above negatives and made me buy, most cars are cheap, and there are absolutely loads to choose from, but prices have been pushed up in recent years. You used to be able to get a superb deal in the past, but now that this place has so much custom they'll try push the price up. I would recommend looking at some of the pre-registered cars, as these are the best deals. On some cars, perhaps those sales that have fallen through, the plates have already been registered. When the car is not sold the company has a registered car depreciating on the fore-court. So, you can usually get a 12K car for 8-9K that has no mileage but is not the newest plate.
All in all, take a look and see what's there and whether you're tempted by a significant cash saving. If it is only a grand or so I'd say not to bother and go to another more reputable car supermarket or car dealership where you'll get guaranteed guarantees!, and receive your car in weeks (not 3 months as I had to wait without transport and no assurance of when my car would arrive. Whenever I called they didn't even know which lorries loaded with cars were coming in that day!). Bear in mind the wait time, and all the above negatives and your expectations will be set correctly.
It's only worth it if you're saving what you think is a significant amount of money at the end of the day.
Advantages: Quick, easy, no hassle, excellent choice Disadvantages: No test drive facility
...buy a new car from Trade Sales again.
I have bought 2 cars from Trade Sales so far. The first was a used car (six months old) for my husband, the second a brand new car for myself.
Before purchasing both vehicles, we checked Trade Sales website to see whether they had the cars we were interested in in stock. In both cases, we knew which types of vehicle we wanted and we found the website very user-friendly and were able to locate specific models ... ...buy a new car from Trade Sales rather than a used car as they are, basically, new car importers; that is why the cars are so cheap. For example, if I had bought my car from a main dealer it would have cost me £14000; from Trade Sales it cost me £11,000 for exactly the same car! One point to note when buying from a car supermarket is to not expect too much from the salesman - they are nothing like normal car dealers. By this I mean that they are quite ...
ktgough 09.12.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Trade Sales
Trade car sales is a very large company situated in Slough, Bucks, but is forever growing, having just opened another outlet in Maidenhead, Berks. What does it sell? Cars of course. They specialise in the importation and sales of new and nearly new cars. All kinds and all makes, you just have to be lucky that they have the exact model that you are looking for. Is this good or bad??
Well I have visited this firm with a view to buying a new imported ... ...our spec, and guess what, it was the same price as quoted by Trade Sales, but the advantage of the small company was that they part exchanged another car in the transaction, and part exchange was refused by Trade Sales!
Trade Sales, not personal, too large, litterally a supermarket. ...
willsmj 19.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Trade Sales
Advantages: Quick and Cheap way to buy a car Disadvantages: No customer service at all
...our Baby boy....We decided to trade in our Peougot 405(M) reg,for a newish car..
So where do you start,we wanted Family/Excutive and a saloon,after trawling the local dealers and the newspapers we decided to bite the bullet and give Trade Sales a go...
Trade Sales are based on the A4 between Slough and Maidenhead off junction 7 on the M4.
We live very local to them,so it wasn't a problem to pop in and see what they had to offer.
We firstly looked ... ...they had first hand! Trade Sales have various sites along the A4 and for people who don't know the area too well,you may well be confused as where to park, as they have various carparks,and various lots(where the cars are) too..
my advice is park anywhere you see a trade sales car park and walk.. its safer(sort of) ..
When you get there Its like a car minefield,there are hundreds are cars packed in tightly,(they just leave enough room to open up ...
Deenar 30.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Trade Sales
Advantages: Cheap Cars Disadvantages: Unable to test drive cars
Looking around for a new car is daunting for anyone, especially when you keep reading about how much of a rip off this country is. Which is why I was surprised when I heard about "Trade Sales" (in Slough). It all sounded too good to be true, they could get hold of any car / model cheaper than anyone else - this I had to see for myself!
I went down one Saturday and couldn't believe it, they had 3 sites all crammed full of various makes of cars, and ... ...questions I wandered over asked, and walked away, without a shadow of the dealer (nice change).
I told them what sort of thing I was interested in and asked for their opinion, and was happily surprised to hear them not pushing the most expensive ones in stock.
The actual sale was quick and painless as well and could even pick up the car the following weekend!
The only downside to the whole thing was that they could not let you test drive any vehicles ...
LS 09.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Trade Sales
...purchased a new car from Trade Sales in Slough on the A4. I got a very good price on the vehicle (about 2500 cheaper than the main dealer) and didnt have to wait too long to get it.
The problem here though, is the attitude of Trade Sales and their way of doing business. I was initially told by the salesman that i would recieve a call when my car was ready and then have 5 days to pick it up and pay up. After a week i got a call saying my car was ... ...gone from my account (to Trade Sales) but they had no record of this from their accounts dept. I then had to contact my bank urgently to see where the money had gone and was palmed off by Trade Sales staff who swore it wasn't their fault. I thought I'd wait before losing my head with them.
Sure enough the next day I recieve the call.
"Everything is OK now, it turns out we had the money after all" said the lady.
I asked her how her company could ...
boycie35 03.09.2003 (04.09.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Trade Sales
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I bought a used car from a company called Autoworld who deal with Seat amongst other cars. I can strongly recommend the company to anyone wishing to purchase a new or used car. They were very helpful and polite when we purchased the car and they did us a very good deal on the car we were trading in. Their after sales service is also exceptional.
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