Available car Any Good?

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Wed 26 Oct 2022 20:50
Available car Any Good? - Chirpy99

What do people think of Available car?? Went ot the Castle Donington site today, got quite a bit of stock , let you sit in and they seem to be lowish mileage. I am thinking change my Hyundai i10 next summer . Will things have settled a bit re prices if we are having a recession??

Wouldnt mind something a bit bigger than an i10

What do you guys think?

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Thu 27 Oct 2022 20:05
Available car Any Good? - VengaPete

Few years ago now (2004) but when we visited Available Car at Castle Donington they were awful. We eventually got a salesman to get us the keys to a car we wanted to test drive and started out. By the end of the road we turned round and headed straight back.

The cars are (well were when we looked) supposed to be prepared "ready to go".
The one we drove (A Mazda Premacy) had hardly any braking, a clutch that just about let you change gear without it crunching, wondering steering and altogether clearly hadn't had any safety check or mechanical roadworthiness check.

Now yes, I appreciate there has to be a bit of leeway, but remember these are supposed to be ready to driven away so faults like brakes really should be sorted before forecourting.

Even though they are very local to us, we eventually bought a Nissan Tino from a place in Burton-on-Trent. Which test drove correctly and we kept for 14 years until we needed an automatic.

I guess they must be doing something right as they have remained in business since we visited so maybe we just got a lemon.
Maybe they are better now, but we certainly would not go back there

Edited by VengaPete on 27/10/2022 at 20:06

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Sat 29 Oct 2022 21:35
Available car Any Good? - Miniman777

Only ever used Available to look at cars I might like - to buy at a franchised dealer.

I've seen premium brands under two years old there (Audi/BMW etc) and asked myself why? Why wasnt it good enough for the marque's used scheme?

If buying a Hyundal which has a 5 year warranty from new (or Kia with 7 years), the missing or late service can void the balance of that valuable warranty. Worth the risk?

Looking at some (not all) of the inspection reports online, cars seemed to have a lot of misc damage with smart repairs/tyres near replacement mark/sketchy service histories. Suspect they are ex rental/lease etc, or dealers palming of troublesome cars. IDK.

On one visit, I looked at a Qashqai, opened the door, and it stunk of dogs. Not impressed.

They make their money on a no haggle policy, then push for warranties, finance etc.

Bought my last few cars from the franchised dealer, been looked after well, and been very happy with the manufacturers extended warranty too (liability is price paid for car), not one of these tin pot full of promise warranties where cover is a max £1000 parts and labour. That doesnt go far on a complex, modern car.

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Sat 29 Oct 2022 22:36
Available car Any Good? - Ian_SW

Looking at some (not all) of the inspection reports online, cars seemed to have a lot of misc damage with smart repairs/tyres near replacement mark/sketchy service histories. Suspect they are ex rental/lease etc, or dealers palming of troublesome cars. IDK.

On one visit, I looked at a Qashqai, opened the door, and it stunk of dogs. Not impressed.

Plenty of the "Nearly New" stock at main dealers is also ex-rental. Logically, who would buy a car, keep it for about a year and 12000 miles, and then trade it in.

The main dealers aren't necessarily any better at the preparation than the car supermarkets either. When my wife was looking for a replacement car a few years ago, we went to a main dealer to look at their nearly new stock. The car we test drove was filthy inside, was displaying multiple warning lights on the dashboard, and had a sticker on the dashboard which said "Hertz - This car must not exceed 14000 miles". I pointed this out to the salesman just after he had told me that all the "approved used" cars were previously used by management staff as their company cars for 6 months...... We didn't buy that car, or anything from that dealer!!

If you're looking in Castle Donington, I'd suggest also comparing with what's offered by other car supermarkets in nearby Derby and Nottingham. I'm pretty sure most of the big national players will have a branch in one or both of those cities.

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Sat 29 Oct 2022 23:13
Available car Any Good? - Andrew-T

<< Plenty of the "Nearly New" stock at main dealers is also ex-rental. Logically, who would buy a car, keep it for about a year and 12000 miles, and then trade it in. >>

That has been the case for many years. The 207SW I bought from a Pug dealer in 2008 was ex-rental. At the time, if one was looking for a one-year-old car that is what most of them were. Franchised dealers got first bite at the fleets' returns and picked the better ones for the forecourt.

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Sun 30 Oct 2022 08:23
Available car Any Good? - RT

Looking at some (not all) of the inspection reports online, cars seemed to have a lot of misc damage with smart repairs/tyres near replacement mark/sketchy service histories. Suspect they are ex rental/lease etc, or dealers palming of troublesome cars. IDK.

On one visit, I looked at a Qashqai, opened the door, and it stunk of dogs. Not impressed.

Plenty of the "Nearly New" stock at main dealers is also ex-rental. Logically, who would buy a car, keep it for about a year and 12000 miles, and then trade it in.

The main dealers aren't necessarily any better at the preparation than the car supermarkets either. When my wife was looking for a replacement car a few years ago, we went to a main dealer to look at their nearly new stock. The car we test drove was filthy inside, was displaying multiple warning lights on the dashboard, and had a sticker on the dashboard which said "Hertz - This car must not exceed 14000 miles". I pointed this out to the salesman just after he had told me that all the "approved used" cars were previously used by management staff as their company cars for 6 months...... We didn't buy that car, or anything from that dealer!!

If you're looking in Castle Donington, I'd suggest also comparing with what's offered by other car supermarkets in nearby Derby and Nottingham. I'm pretty sure most of the big national players will have a branch in one or both of those cities.

Most car makers sell cars to rental companies directly, with specific buy-back conditions - main dealers often get first choice of ex-rental cars, so naturally go for those with fewest faults - car supermarkets will therefore get a less attractive selection to choose from.

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Sun 30 Oct 2022 09:53
Available car Any Good? - Xileno

It's been a good few years since I've been on a forecourt but I imagine the supermarkets will have the best deals compared to the main dealers so maybe some compromise has to be accepted. But good and bad cars will exist at either place, only in the last few days there was a forum member mentioning a Yaris bought from a Toyota dealer that they weren't very pleased with.

Although not really answering the OP's question, I would approach the car search process from the other angle. I would focus down on may be one or two cars that would suit and then see who has the best on offer irrespective of the retail outlet.

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