experiences of cargiant please? are they cowboys?

[hellosailor]

We were hoping to buy a second hand car from cargiant last week but at the last minute we were put off by finding a few reviews on the web which basically said they were fairly dodgy, i.e even though they have an infamous 114 point check people were driving their car home to find it had wheels that would be lucky to scrape through an MOT, broken lighter, dodgy windscreen wiper, and sometimes even bigger probs with engine, gears etc, and that cargiant were basically totally disinterested in this when they contacted customer services.

Also a few reviews saying that when they got there the asking price for the car was 700/800 more than on the classified on autotrader and the guy who runs it said when they got there that the autotrader ad price was only if you bought finance etc. Also some people saying the car they found on autotrader was not a photograph of the actual car at cargiant, and the actual car had a bumper falling off, scratches etc, and the owner explained that 'autotrader photos may not be photos of the same car' etc!

Unsurprisingly we decided not to go and buy the car that day, but I would be interested to hear other people's experiences of cargiant, I do see a lot of cargiant stickers in cars round here so lots of people do seem to use them.

Also, if you type the car we want to buy into autotrader to do a search, almost all of them are being sold by cargiant, you would be hard pushed to find one that isn't from there, so not sure how many options we have!

Some reviews on the web were more favourable, and of course I factor in that you don't know who has written reviews and their veracity but I can't help feeling there's no smoke without fire?

[Jeremy]

I used them once - I think they're OK. You have to use some common sense, and avoid the ex-fleet cars with huge mileage. You do take a risk when buying a car at face value, so if you're not comfortable with that, you'd be better off going to a main dealer... but it will cost you a lot more.

[jollybaby]

We bought a very classy ford focus from car giant earlier in the year and have had no problems so far. The only hassle was that it was an ex motability car which meant that I couldn't tax it then and there but had to go the DVLA in Sidcup to change the class of vehicle first. I think this is a bit cheeky as basically this means that you have to take an untaxed car onto the road

They also try to do the hard sell with all the insurance policies and finance which was amusing. Once the guy had finally got it into his head that we were cash buyers- boy did his enthusiasm for the sale drop!

So I think along as you are sensible and know what you want they are fine. I hate haggling for things so buying at a set price almost took some of the stress away.

['bout now]

I've bought 4 cars from there and had no problems. It is worth taking someone who knows their way around cars to inspect them for you, I think AA offer some form of inspection service.

[Amoeba]

Had an almost identical experience to Jollybaby - car absolutely fine - all in all assuming you can switch off when they give the hard sell on insurance and some or other cleaning product, it can be a pretty painless experience. Would recommend sticking to the cars with full service history which the ex motability ones should have.

[womanofdulwich]

http://onlinevehiclesolutions.co.uk/

I found CAr Giant overwhelming and as I knew exactly what I wanted I bought from the above. They delivered an ex mobility car to me and did the car taxetc. 3 years later no complaints and one of my friends did the same. see link above to online vehicle solutions.

[hellosailor]

thanks this is all really useful - can I ask, did people find that prices on autotrader or similar sites where they found the car advertised, were indeed lower than when they arrived at cargiant, unless they bought finance? We are also cashbuyers and if the cars are 800 quid more than advertised as some of the reviewers complained, then it somewhat lowers the price gap between cargiant and its competitors so may not be at tempting to go there...

[Jeremy]

The prices on-site were the same as the CG website.

[Cargiant Advisor]

Hi there, my name is Darren and I work for cargiant. I am a bit late to the party as I have only just come across this post. Please allow me address some of the questions your have raised.

I would like to open by sharing with you, that since the age of online reviews in the early naughties, cargiant has sold around 500,000 cars (yes half a million cars).

When trawling through the internet I can find 50-60 negative reviews and some (a small minority) are placed by competitors just trying to create negative views.

Whilst I know not everyone blogs about their experiences (good or bad) and 50-60 reviews seem a lot, in reality it?s a minute percentage in relation to the 500,000 cars we supplied over this time.

It?s also worthwhile to know that consumers in general are more likely to write or blog about a bad experience rather than a good one. So the balance is always skewed.

This is my reply to some of the points you raised:

1 - cargiant is not "fairly dodgy"

We have been supplying London with used cars for over 35 years and we operate our business in a completely transparent and professional manner. We also hold the Guinness World Record for the Largest Car Dealership and have one of the UK?s most visited car websites.

2 - Multi point Safety Check

We carry out a Multipoint Safety Check, all of our cars meet and exceed all Road legal standards. We employ over 200 qualified vehicle technicians who have the use of the latest diagnostic equipment and our workshop space is about 10 acres.

All MOTs are carried out by Independent Garages, whether a pass or fail, our cars are subject to the same scrutiny and strict criteria as anyone else.

3 ? After Sales Service

Cargiant has full After Sales service and we operate free loan car service. We received a Highly Approved Trader award from The Telegraphs Motoring correspondent Honest John.

4 ? Asking Price

Cargiant has one price, as verified by some of the other contributors to the board. It?s the same price on the web and it is at the showroom. Finance or cash the price is the same. I don?t know where this ?700 - ?800 more comes from, I can not find this claim anywhere else on the internet.

There are other cars dealers that operate a web price and a showroom price, but most categorically not cargiant.

5- Car Photographs

All of the photos of the cars are of the exact car we advertise, we do not manipulate or substitute images from a different car. We have never displayed a car for sale with ?the bumper falling off.?

6 ? Road Tax

All of our cars can now be taxed prior to collection, so all of our customers can drive away with no worries.

About cargiant

We built our business around our customers; we sell on price, the cars are priced to sell and are very good value. With around 5,000 cars is stock, we have the biggest choice of cars in one location bar none.

Customers can look around cargiant, view and sit in cars with no sales pressure and no sales person breathing down their neck.

We have been known to sell over 1,000 cars a week, I hope potential customers will see this as a testament to our business model and our hardworking staff.

Thank you to the east Dulwich forum for this opportunity to respond, and thank you to our customers who posted their views.

Kind regards

Darren

[coolvijay2k]

After reading all these posts and the reviews from the car giant site (mostly positive??), I have decided to share my experience I had with CarGiant. Do read it if you want a sincere review from someone.

To put it in one single word, it was absolute shambles (an absolute rip off, simply ludicrous).

I saw a car on their website last September (4 year old Mazda 6 Sport). We went down to Cargiant and decided to buy the car. The sales advisor we spoke to absolutely cheated us (misselling the products) bringing the value up by ?1000. An extra ?1000 was because of a 1 year guarantee (with AA) and Guard-X and so on. He persuaded us to buy the guarantee stating that it would cover most of the stuff for the whole year and the Guard-x would get rid of the scratches on the car and etc. Neither of them was true.

When we went down to pick up the car, we noticed that they had done a shabby job with Guard-x, so the advisor asked us to make an appointment again to get it sorted which we did, and after 2 weeks it was the same old same old, nothing happened with the so called Guard-x.

After we collected the vehicle, within a week an advisor called us stating that the Road tax price wasn?t included in the total price of the car and he asked us to pay for the Road tax. After a week of arguments, I decided to pay for it to avoid them from calling me at 9 or 10pm at night.

Within the first 2-3 weeks, the DPF light and engine management lights started flashing when we were 300 miles away from home. We didn?t know what to do. It was 8pm on a Thursday evening; we were stranded, standing there on the hard shoulders, trying to contact someone. We couldn?t get hold of anyone from Cargiant because apparently Car giant closes at 7pm. I wonder how they were chasing me for the Road tax at 9 or 10pm at night. Anyway, we called up Mazda dealer to understand the seriousness of the problem and they said it was safe to drive as long as we get it looked at in the morning.

Next morning we called up Cargiant and they asked us to take it to the nearest approved garage. They fixed it by doing some tweaks and doing DPF regeneration and I didn?t have to pay for it because it was under Cargiant Warranty. They didn?t tell me anything about what the problem was and if it is a recurring issue and so on. Had they mentioned anything about these issues I could have returned the vehicle back to the Cargiant then.

Over the last 6-7 months DPF has always been an issue. I did the regeneration myself driving at a certain speed (with the right RPM) but couple of weeks ago the DPF started flashing again, which I can?t get rid of. I called up Cargiant and they said it?s outside their warranty and asked me to contact AA warranty. And AA says, DPF is not covered in the guarantee. Also, they asked me to take it to their approved garages and it would cost me ?50 plus VAT to diagnose the problem and if there is a problem then I?m expected to pay for it. Really? I wonder what the Guarantee is for.

I took it to 3 different garages and they can?t resolve the problem and the performance of the car is going downhill as well. Apparently Cargiant should have changed the DPF filter when they first saw the problem but they haven?t done that which could cost me ?1000 to replace the filter which I ?m not prepared to spend. Cargiant should take the responsibility and do something about it. I just want to return this car to Cargiant and get my money back because technically it?s an existing fault which they didn?t make me aware of.

[Jeremy]

The AA "guarantee" is a bit of a rip-off, and the "guard-x" stuff is a crock of shit. Wish I'd posted that before you made your purchase.

As for the issue with your car - sounds like it only cropped up after you bought the car, so not sure how CG could have known about it. The cars aren't serviced and are basically "sold as seen", but that's one of the reasons they're so cheap. It's a risk you take, unfortunately.

It's quite normal for second hand cars to be sold without tax, but they should have made it clear when you bought it. It's stupid to include a tax disc and then ask you for the money a week later!

[woodrot]

I have no problem with CG- they are good as long as you understand their biz model and use a bit of common sense i.e. do your own background on a specific models SH issues and grumbles and be aware of issues that may crop up in the near future.

Most of their stuff is repmobile or mobility as opposed to one careful lady owner, but thats not a bad thing sometimes

The hassle of the purchase and subsequent upselling is a pain, but if you dont need it, then just be resolute and dont go for it.I prefer to view/sit/try lots of different models of the same class for comparison purposes - we ended up buying soemthing much more expensive that what we originally aimed for after a day of back to back comparision - soemthing we would not have done at a a dealer probably.

The DPF issue isnt their fault - I would view a DPF as a consumable, like brakes/ tyres etc - its something you need to take into account when viewing a late model diesel - maybe an independent AA/RAC full check would have hightlighted this. We made a risk based decsison re the warranty and it has worked out OK a year later - warranties dont cover consumables and the chances of a major mechanical issue with a modern car is pretty low these days.

They took our then current tank in PX and gave us a market price, surprising as it has a major/terminal E-Throttle box issue that an independednt dealer would have picked up immediately and rejected it. They bung the cheap PX cars straight to auction on a sold as seen basis.

The stock moves very quickly, so what you may see in Autotrader probabaly isnt representive of their current stock- the finance differential is a non issue, so not sure where that came from.

As long as you do your background, get a parkers guide and are prepared to spend a day or two in the shithole of white city, then CG is Good. if you want bespoke service @ 10% more , then go to your local dealer I spose.

[northlondoner]

They're fine.

[CJ408]

I wish I had never bothered.

I needed a new car as my old was knackered, I went to Car Giant to get a half decent car to tide me over. Their customer service wasn't was I was expecting really. Their staff weren't all that interested in what I had to say or what I wanted, they were too interested in selling me anything!

I should have walked away then, I bought a car and not long after I'd driven it away it developed a fault. As you can probably guess they weren't interested. I was passed from pillar-to-post with no help at all.

My advice would be to go elsewhere!

[lozzyloz]

I've bought 2 cars from CG over the years and have no complaints. It's like getting a flight with Ryanair, don't expect any frills. Each time I test drove and checked out 4 cars in the category I was interested in until I was happy. Went for lowish mileage and one previous owner. Didn't buy any CG 'extras' and bought a tax disc on the way home. Both cars have given me many miles over the years without any issues and I'd have to say that overall it's good value for money. I should also add that reliability can vary with the make and model of car or you could just be unlucky. I stay away from French cars and prefer German engineering, but that's just me. (I don't work for or have any connection to Car Giant).

[Jeremy]

Yeah you do need to be pretty careful because they don't check the cars in detail, and after sales service is non existent. So avoid anything with high mileage, ex fleet cars, or anything made by Fiat/Alfa/Peugeot/Vauxhall/etc. But they are cheap... chances are that you'll save enough money to get most faults sorted out.

[uncleglen]

My daughter bought a swish car from Car Giant before xmas 2012. It developed a fault within a week. In fairness it is a common fault on the type of car she bought. She had it taken back by the RAC. They fixed it over xmas and gave her a 1L polo courtesy car in the meantime. The car was a fair price (they are all priced competitively and they won't haggle) and she got a good deal on her trade in. She paid cash.

I believe this company makes its money from people who choose to take the high APR finance and the add ons e.g. autoglim. If you avoid those then they are ok. They put barely legal tyres on all cars that go out so be prepared for that. They also don't provide road tax, which you need to arrange on the day yourself, post office is a bit of a way away.

Personally, the thought of going across the whole of London for a car puts me off. I prefer Network Q (or equivalent)

[johnp99]

I purchased a car from car giant 8 years ago and I have been very happy with it and I am about to start looking again for my next car and I will start with car giant.

[trmb]

I rarely post messages on forums but thought on this occasion I would as I have read so many bad reviews about Car Giant that I felt compelled to share my positive experience.

I did purchase my car four years ago from car giant. It was a 2-year old Audi, a company car with low mileage and full history. We did have a good look around the car, and there may have superficial scratches, but it was exactly what it was meant to be.

So fairly uneventful, but four years on, very happy with it. And I personally like the proposition of best possible value/large choice/no haggling/and now good web site.

If I had just listened to the internet reviews back then, I would probably not have set foot there in the first place.

On this occasion, I would subscribe to the view that only a tiny portion of customers reported on their experience... in the same way that people may not be blogging every day about their purchases at other sorts of supermarkets !

[intexasatthe moment]

We bought a Ford escort from Car Giant some years ago .

No problems with it ,very good car .

[Ladysaw]

We just purchased our car from car giant in Oct 2013. Here is our experience in point form.

1. The price was extremely fair.

2. Do NOT go with an extremely active Toddler on the day you are purchasing. That can lead to tears. From everyone! It took them 4-5 hours after we decided on the car we wanted and paying in cash the full price for them to finally hand over the keys.

3. The amount of cars offered will overwhelm you so go with something in mind.

4. The sales reps are not there to kid you around. They mean business and they are honest.

5. Don't bother with all the theatre drama buying the extras they offer you after purchasing.

6. The toilets are clean

7. Go with an umbrella if it decides to rain. It's a massive place with some areas unsheltered.

8. I AM AN EXTREMELY HAPPY CUSTOMER!

[Ladysaw]

Just realised this was an old post but at least if anyone is interested in buying a car from car giant they have up to date advice and experience :)

[Nana80]

we bought 7 seaters car from car giant and we took 3 years guarantee unfortunately after only 3 months my husband had car accident not his fault car been written off we were cash buyer

as the accident was not my hubby fault the assurance paid the value of the car so my hubby went to car giant again to buy another car he wasn't ready to buy that day he been told that the 3 years guarantee we had in previous car will be transferred to the new car which was great as we thought but this was just cheating and lies we come back to them to buy they told us the guaranty can not be transferred and we have to pay new one.. denied what they told us before

one thing I know i will never go back to car gaint they are Not honest people

[zoombucket]

3rd March, 2015

Booked a test drive via phone on a particular car I had seen on the internet and was interested in buying at Car Giant. I was told to bring ID, passport, licence etc which I did. I'd already told them I had no trade in would be travelling down from Manchester and would be cash. When We got there staff were very nice but it seemed to be of no interest to them even from the outset of arriving that even though I wanted to test drive the car unless I told them I was going to buy it before hand, they would not let me test drive it. The purchase would have been bank transfer but seemed a minor point to them. I was told I could only test drive the car if I agreed to buy it first! No doubt the cars they sell are good for the price but the sales pitch in my experience was at odds with what I was expecting and told in the first place on the phone. The warranty if required and they try to sell is extra, in this case. 12 months ?499 24 mnths ?649 36 mnths ?799

[MissMadMoo]

Never had any problems wt Car Giant. I think its great, loads of brands under one roof, competitive prices etc.

As has already been said, they're a bit like Ryan Air - no frills. But if that saves on top line cost of car, fine!

Obviously dont go getting add-ons from them, shop around, get AA or RAC etc...