Car Giant

[Huggy...]

Went to Car Giant in White City on Sunday for the first time; what a place... it's like a supermarket... and I found the perfect IS200 Sport next to the tin of beans...!!!

Has anyone had experience of buying from here... I have seen an IS200 Sport for £8k with 57k mileage... its on a 52 plate.

Please advise if this is a good price... or even the things I should find out or ask before I buy... thanks in advance

Here's the link (hope it works) http://www.cargiant.co.uk/cars/search3.asp?Id=289240

[maneesh]

each to their own. I have mates who were very happy with cars from there, but I got a car that was dangerous to drive from them.

About 12 months ago, got a Volvo S80 2.4 Auto 51 reg 75k with full history. On the 5 minute test drive round the industrial estate, brakes were juddering. Bought the car, subject to them fixing the juddering, which they finally did, but it needed new discs all round.

Anyway, once I bought the car, I was driving it round a bend, and it nearly came off the road. Took it to Volvo, who said bushes needed changing, at a cost of 800 quid. Managed to get a full refund from cargiant (there was a long queue of dissatisfied customers at their aftersales centre!!!).

Oh, the salespeople get very upset if you don't act like a "mug" and buy all the optional warranties. Salesman's english was so poor at time of purchase, he gave me the keyboard, so that I could type in "steering wheel judders when brakes applied".

Personally speaking, I've been shafted when buying a car from main dealer and a car supermarket. My two best buys were my GS300 from a club member on here, and a cheapie car on eBay.

Good Luck!

[kam05]

Hi mate,

Not sure about price, seems reasonable, but check other sources for prices, ie: Autotrader, Parkers etc prices for similar cars (spec, age, mileage etc). Do you have a p/x? If not then, try and get something knocked off the price or try for free servicing as the car is apporaching 60k. Not sure if you know this, but the 60k service on the IS2 is expensive, especially if you take it to a Lexus dealer.

Personally, I haven't had any experince with CarGiant, but I have had experience with other car supermarkets, some good, some bad. Are you thinking of buying on finance? If so, you're best off taking a personal loan from a high st bank/building society- it works out much cheaper. The reason for this is that in my experience, most car supermarket places aren't really interested in selling the car, its the finance side of things that interest them the most: ie: getting you to sign a high interest (30%) APR finance agreement for five years- watch out for this!

With regards to what to look for, check the 'What to look for when buying an IS200' guide from the Knowledge base section, I found it helpful. I'd also get an HPI check done on any car that you are considering.

Good luck.

[Hando]

Went to Car Giant in White City on Sunday for the first time; what a place... it's like a supermarket... and I found the perfect IS200 Sport next to the tin of beans...!!!

Has anyone had experience of buying from here... I have seen an IS200 Sport for £8k with 57k mileage... its on a 52 plate.

Please advise if this is a good price... or even the things I should find out or ask before I buy... thanks in advance

Here's the link (hope it works) http://www.cargiant.co.uk/cars/search3.asp?Id=289240

Thing to bear in mind with Car Giant is that most if not all of their stock consists of fleet cars - so they haven't been treated with the same TLC that a private owner would give their car. Last time I was there Car Giant charged £200 just to let you have a mechanic give it the once over (that's £200 to allow you - you still have to source and pay for your own mechanic).

Also, don't even think of PX'ing a car with them - they offer peanuts. And they don't negotiate on the price at all.

That said - I got mine from them and I love it - but I wouldn't get my next one from there.

Hope that helps.

[Huggy...]

Wow... Some real mixed feelings... Some good and some not so good... When I saw the car it was really nice but I guess I need to give it a good once over, a test drive, look at service history and use the check list on the LOC site...

I have a quote for some service from the Lexus dealer in Croydon as stated below; is this reasonable...

The price of the 6year/60k full service including spark plugs is £642.

For a 6year/70k intermediate service it is £192

The cambelt & tensioner is £420 inclusive.

If you would like us to carry out the full service & cambelt this is obviously a big job so I'm sure we could work out a small discount on this price.

Please call us if you would like to book in.

I have looked at AutoTrader and some Lexus dealers... The dealers are selling a similar spec car around £12k and private around £10k... but I guess the 60k service will have to be done and add another bill...

So, ultimatley... would you... I am thinking after it has been all serviced, it will pretty much be back to new would it not...?

[Hando]

So, ultimatley... would you... I am thinking after it has been all serviced, it will pretty much be back to new would it not...?

At the end of the day - it's up to you. It's an ok price and none of us have seen the car in the flesh - check it out again: with a fine tooth comb - see if they'll show you the documents so you can see exactly who owned it before, if not (and Car Giant often won't until you've put a non-refundable deposit down) then look for the tell-tale signs of ex-fleet ownership (fleet-branded license plates/mats etc.) Check everything on the car: interior too.

If the car's a winner after close scrutiny then go for it but I reckon if you're patient you might be able to find better at the same price.

One piece of advice I can give you: spend hours (if not days) checking the invaluable knowledge on this site.

[eXOBeX]

I've got to say I love the title of this topic.

"Car Giant, Shall I buy it" - I know some of the guys on this forum are loaded, but loaded enough to buy a car firm?

[PQuist]

I personally cough up the little extra and buy from a dealer which comes with a years warranty for peace of mind

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

I personally cough up the little extra and buy from a dealer which comes with a years warranty for peace of mind

Agreed - if anyone charges you an admin fee for selling you a car (£61) tell 'em to stick it where the sun don't shine. The cheek....

[Kazi]

I personally cough up the little extra and buy from a dealer which comes with a years warranty for peace of mind

To be honest, I see where your coming from. I paid nearly £2k for peace of mind when I bought mine from a dealer.

I won't be doing it again. Just ensure you giving a thorough going over. Test dive it etc etc. Id buy privately......long as its up to scratch and has, although not necessarily Lexus history, but all the stamps and receipts upto date.

[Adie]

I bought my IS from the car supermarket which is pretty much the same thing as car giant. Test drive the car and make sure it's the one you want. If it is then go for it mate. What does it matter at the end of the day where you bought it from?

[UME]

car giant, I wouldn’t bother buying from them, I went to look at a Jag X-Type i opened the door it smelt of smoke put me right off the jag thanks to car giant, plus as mentioned in one of the post the sales guys are so :tsktsk: dumb.

then to my surprise I found out from a very reliable source that car giant don’t even check there cars properly, that’s way they offer the warranty and when it comes into repair they make you wait 3-4 weeks until you get your car back.

in my opinion don’t buy from them, I nearly slapped the sales person for being a prick and chatting bare rubbish trying to offer my mum a good deal, i would have givin him his commission from my pocket in cash just to shut him up.

well good luck if you do go ahead and buy from car gaint.