Car Nation, Bray, anyone had any dealings?

markymac

Just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with Car Nation. I've seen their cars the past few weeks on Carzone and the seem to offer very good deals. There are a couple that have caught my eye at the moment, so was wondering are they a decent reliable company to deal with.

Thanks

Marky

Guy:Incognito

Seem to remember a few people on here recommending them. Dont remember any bad feedback.

markymac

Thanks Stekelly

Eoin

My wife got her car there - it was pretty clean, but needed a service soon after - i.e. the brake warning light came on a day or two after picking it up. I think the warranty was pretty minimal, but we never had cause to use it. Not a big deal though, and they seem to rely on just pricing the cars well, and turning over quickly.

At the time, the car we got seemed to be going for €500 - €1000 more elsewhere (trade and private), so we did well enough as we weren't trading in. They've just expanded into the garden centre that was there before, so there's probably a lot more stock.

BeardyGit

Great guys to deal with (Lorcan is the owners name, Paul's his right hand man) and no messing around I've found. I've bought a few cars off him for folks in work and he's always been fair and straight up about a cars condition and so on. He's not a money hungry fecker and will acknowledge anything that might need work, most importantly, price it accordingly. He's never shoved a car on me either, at times encouraging my shopper to wait a couple of weeks for something that really put a smile on their face.

Can't recommend them highly enough to be honest, but make sure you get someone to give the cars a once over for you if you're interested, as they're a reasonably high volume/low margin dealers and don't have a fully stocked and staffed service centre. I know he'll usually do an NCT guarantee on anything that's awaiting a test too if that' relevant.

Hope that helps,

Gil

PS: Don't be afraid to ask for a few quid off if something needs doing - Lorcan will generally oblige unless he's already worked it into the equation when setting the price.

PPS: That bit in some ads about no trade-ins and price not negotiable is quite possibly targetted at me. :eek:


PPPS: Before anyone suggests it, I'm not on a kick-back either. I just enjoy dealing with someone who cuts a fair deal and doesn't give me any headaches or doubts about what I might be buying for someone I have to work with day in/day out in the dayjob.

The Real B-man

Mate bought a car there a while came with no warranty which leads me to believe its gonna break down soon.

BeardyGit

They don't 'do' warranty. They've no service depot so they couldn't back it up without having to pay lots to a garage to cover their warranty work. As mentioned earlier, their pricing is very good and takes this into account.

Also as mentioned before, get someone to check out any car you're going to buy if you don't know what you're doing yourself.

Eoin

They have to give a 3 month engine and gearbox warranty I believe?

I didn't find them that good to deal with, but we did alright out of it.

lizzyd66

I rang him about selling a car to him - seems a decent enough bloke. He was saying that he would give me €2K under the lowish price on car zone for my car - I'm sure you could negotiate a smaller margin depending on the car but at least gives you an idea of his margins.

BeardyGit

lizzyd66 wrote: »

I rang him about selling a car to him - seems a decent enough bloke. He was saying that he would give me €2K under the lowish price on car zone for my car - I'm sure you could negotiate a smaller margin depending on the car but at least gives you an idea of his margins.

And don't forget that his offer would have to leave room to add his margin, then the VAT, and still be priced competitively....I'd guess most of that would be for the VAT.

Eoin

Gil_Dub wrote: »

And don't forget that his offer would have to leave room to add his margin, then the VAT, and still be priced competitively....I'd guess most of that would be for the VAT.

What VAT?

cormie

I went to see if he'd by my first car, a nissan 96 Micra off me, I think he offered me 1,000 for it at the time, I bought it for 2,800 and it was only a year old so I said no thanks and sold it to my neighbour for more than double the 1k. Obviously he has to make a margin yeah, but I was offered €1,500 off another dealer not so far away. So I'm guessing they buy cars cheaper than others so can sell them on competitively.

It was hilarious though, I got myself into a tight spot when I drove in (this was when he just had the little place where the stables used to be (is that what was there years ago? I think it was!) and he saw I was just a learner at the time and he offered to reverse it out for me and he must have reversed out onto the main road at about 30kmph, haha, cars swerving out of his way and everything. I took my car and ran

BeardyGit

Is it not the case that if he buys a car for say 10k from a private seller, he'd need to add his mark-up and then the VAT on top? Say something like €10,000 to buy a car for cash from a private seller + €500 profit = €10,500.

He can't sell the car for that as he's VAT registered, so he'd need to add 21% VAT on top, which totals €12,705. So paying approx. 2k below the low end selling price of the vehicle in question (and making a few assumptions of course) would appear to be quite a good deal, all things considered, no?

Sure, it's not the best option for someone selling a car privately to do so to the trade, but you really wouldn't do that anyway unless you're absolutely desperate to move a car on quickly. Does that make sense? I'm open to correction.....and aware we may be O/T now.

cjt156

Bought from them last year; wifes car. Top spec and full history for less than a lot of poor alternatives we'd seen. Got a fair price and any niggles with the car were addressed quickly.
Noticed a very small oil leak on a turbo seal on the last day of the 3 mth warranty. It took over a month to find the time to get it sorted (timing issues on both our parts) Lorcan honoured the warranty & we finally had the repair done about 6 weeks outside the warranty period.

Couldn't fault them really - they're certainly a low margin/high turnover outfit but I'd trust them a lot more than most in the trade.

Eoin

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Is it not the case that if he buys a car for say 10k from a private seller, he'd need to add his mark-up and then the VAT on top? Say something like €10,000 to buy a car for cash from a private seller + €500 profit = €10,500.

He can't sell the car for that as he's VAT registered, so he'd need to add 21% VAT on top, which totals €12,705. So paying approx. 2k below the low end selling price of the vehicle in question (and making a few assumptions of course) would appear to be quite a good deal, all things considered, no?

Then VAT could be paid many times for the one car though - I'm pretty sure it's just his margin he adds on.

ShayK1

I went to have a look at what they have on carzone... silly me clicked on Wicklow to find the dealers.
Of course Bray is in dublin!! What was I thinking??

Eoin

ShayK1 wrote: »

I went to have a look at what they have on carzone... silly me clicked on Wicklow to find the dealers.
Of course Bray is in dublin!! What was I thinking??

Well, that area is technically in Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown cc, so they're not completely wrong! I would do the same if I were located there.

cjt156

eoin_s wrote: »

Well, that area is technically in Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown cc, so they're not completely wrong! I would do the same if I were located there.

True, the county border is a few hundred yards further towards the bustling metropolis of Bri Cualainn

ShayK1

They do seem to have nice well priced cars. Perhaps I'll look into upgrading mine in the near future too

Eoin

As I said, we were cash buyers, so we got a good deal - don't know what sort of trade-in prices he gives, but it probably works out OK.

markymac

Thanks for the comments everyone. Overall I think people are happy with them. I'll call up and have a look around a the couple of cars that interest me.

Thanks again.

Marky

Robertr

Gil_Dub wrote: »

Is it not the case that if he buys a car for say 10k from a private seller, he'd need to add his mark-up and then the VAT on top? Say something like €10,000 to buy a car for cash from a private seller + €500 profit = €10,500.

He can't sell the car for that as he's VAT registered, so he'd need to add 21% VAT on top, which totals €12,705. So paying approx. 2k below the low end selling price of the vehicle in question (and making a few assumptions of course) would appear to be quite a good deal, all things considered, no?

Sure, it's not the best option for someone selling a car privately to do so to the trade, but you really wouldn't do that anyway unless you're absolutely desperate to move a car on quickly. Does that make sense? I'm open to correction.....and aware we may be O/T now.

Just to clear up...he does have to add VAT but he also gets to offset against the assumed VAT he paid when he bought the car. So if he gave paid €10,000 for a second hand car he can log that as €7,900 + €2,100 VAT on his books. Then if he sold the car for €12,000 that would be €9,480 + €2,520 VAT. So he would have to pay the revenue the VAT on the profit (€2,000) of €420.00 which is the difference between the VAT he paid and the VAT he received when selling. So the sale is worth €1,580 to him.

Obviously this is only a gross amount that still has to go towards his operating costs and then be taxed.

Eoin

Robertr wrote: »

Just to clear up...he does have to add VAT but he also gets to offset against the assumed VAT he paid when he bought the car. So if he gave paid €10,000 for a second hand car he can log that as €7,900 + €2,100 VAT on his books. Then if he sold the car for €12,000 that would be €9,480 + €2,520 VAT. So he would have to pay the revenue the VAT on the profit (€2,000) of €420.00 which is the difference between the VAT he paid and the VAT he received when selling. So the sale is worth €1,580 to him.

Obviously this is only a gross amount that still has to go towards his operating costs and then be taxed.

Ah, that's interesting. I didn't realise VAT was applicable on 2nd hand goods...

BeardyGit

eoin_s wrote: »

Ah, that's interesting. I didn't realise VAT was applicable on 2nd hand goods...

MMmm, yeah - It's certainly interesting if that's the case. Does that mean a VAT registered trader gets to record VAT paid, even without a VAT receipt from a private seller? Wow. Kind of open to abuse....But then again, of course it is!

smash

the 04 147 is a cracking deal - http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Alfa-Romeo/147/1.6-T.Spark/973326/

Eoin

steve06 wrote: »

the 04 147 is a cracking deal - http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Alfa-Romeo/147/1.6-T.Spark/973326/

Actually, just saw that this morning while waiting for the bus. Wonder why no trade-ins though.

Price is NOT negotiable and No trade ins

mike65

He sure does have lotsa "bargins" and "stunners"

Mike.

markymac

steve06 wrote: »

the 04 147 is a cracking deal - http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Alfa-Romeo/147/1.6-T.Spark/973326/

Yeah, seen that one on carzone a while back, would love it only, I read so much bad press about alfa's.

littlenibbles

It's amazing how many bargins have just been traded in when most of his ads say no trade ins ? ?

Woodgate

Just wondering if there's anymore comments/info on Car Nation, seen a car I'm interested in, at a very keen price, just hoping its now too good to be true.

Any further feedback appreciated.

Woody.

T-Bird

Stay away from Car Nation in Bray at all costs.

peasant

thundermuppet wrote: »

Stay away from Car Nation in Bray at all costs.

Care to quantify/substantiate that nugget of advice there?

guil

the only time i went there was to look at a 5 series with my uncle and it was some pig of a car the side of it looked like it was repaired by a 5 year old, and the shocks were gone in the back, cant remember what else was wrong with it was a few years ago, but the dealer was actin as if it was in showroom condition

T-Bird

peasant wrote: »

Care to quantify/substantiate that nugget of advice there?

We purchased a car from them and i guess we made a mistake in believing what we were told by seller. That evening clutch had gone, called dealer and said it was sold as seen. Took car to local garage, they replaced clutch and informed us that one front tyre was down to metal wire on inner-side. The next week engine started leaking oil, took it to back to local garage and they cleaned out where oil was leaking from and said see how it goes. Car got 2km down road and it stopped. Engine had seized. Car Nation wee informed about this but could not give two hoots all he said was sold as seen... sold as seen.. sold as seen...

He gets cash for dangerous car, we get dangerous car and it seems that we can not do a single thing about it..

Fair trade? Think not.

masseyno9

Some dealers will say to you the moment you start looking at a car that everything is sold as seen, no warranties etc. If he said this to you and you bought a car without having it checked THOROUGHLY by someone who knows what's what, then you have no reason to complain. If, however, he did not specify that it was sold as seen, then you definitely have cause for complaint, and possibly some form of legal recourse.

SV

thundermuppet wrote: »

We purchased a car from them and i guess we made a mistake in believing what we were told by seller. That evening clutch had gone, called dealer and said it was sold as seen. Took car to local garage, they replaced clutch and informed us that one front tyre was down to metal wire on inner-side. The next week engine started leaking oil, took it to back to local garage and they cleaned out where oil was leaking from and said see how it goes. Car got 2km down road and it stopped. Engine had seized. Car Nation wee informed about this but could not give two hoots all he said was sold as seen... sold as seen.. sold as seen...

He gets cash for dangerous car, we get dangerous car and it seems that we can not do a single thing about it..

Fair trade? Think not.

In fairness, the tire was down to the WIRE! by far the easiest thing to notice wrong on a car that's otherwise fine and you didn't notice? Did you just look and see "hm, the car is clean..it's grand!!"
You must not have checked a thing.

your own fault tbh.

Wertz

Got my current car from these guys last spring for a relatively decent price (that they wouldn't budge on)...got a 3 mth engine/GB warranty on it and Lorcan seemed happy to stand by the car. I only gave it a quick going over under the bonnet, couple of drives, and rang the dealership he said he'd bought from to check history etc....felt a bit edgy for a few weeks afterwards thinking something major was going to go on the engine or suspension but it didn't. Dealership mechanic looked at it recently and said everything was well...have done almost 10K KM in it since purchase. The only way I could fault the car was some minor impact damage to the rear wheel arch and bumper from a previous incident (local bodyshop is asking silly money to sort it out).
All in all I was happy with the place and the car. As with anything it's buyer beware and if you don't know much about cras, it's best to have someone who does come along with you, or to get a report done by a mechanic. I wouldn't have a problem dealing with them again...

DrNuyenVanFaulk

Hmmm, generally wary of any garage that's not a member of SIMI, who are good go-betweens if there's a problem, and who ensure a certain level of quality.

I think I'll give this a miss, so....

SV

DrNuyenVanFaulk wrote: »

Hmmm, generally wary of any garage that's not a member of SIMI, who are good go-betweens if there's a problem, and who ensure a certain level of quality.

I think I'll give this a miss, so....

They are not a good go between, and they do not ensure any level of quality.

bazz26

DrNuyenVanFaulk wrote: »

Hmmm, generally wary of any garage that's not a member of SIMI, who are good go-betweens if there's a problem, and who ensure a certain level of quality.

I think I'll give this a miss, so....

LOL, who told you that nonsense? There are as many chancers operating behind fancy showroom windows as there are out of portacabins.

I suppose the same person told you all used cars from the UK are clocked too?

Esel

Zombie thread - don't bother posting.

Seth Brundle

DrNuyenVanFaulk wrote: »

Hmmm, generally wary of any garage that's not a member of SIMI, who are good go-betweens if there's a problem, and who ensure a certain level of quality.

I think I'll give this a miss, so....

Please don't raise old threads.
As for SIMI, the less said the better IMO!