CAR ’SUPERMARKETS’

[Studio Tan]

You may have seen the recent TV ads for ‘The Trade Centre’ (Wednesbury) which looks a similar ‘Car supermarket’ type operation to Arnold Clark and Available Car. Their prices seem incredibly good value, typically 25% - 40% cheaper - e.g:

Available Car - 2015 Citroen DS3 £8399 / Trade Centre - 2015 Citroen DS3 £3999

Has anyone had dealings with Trade Centre - how did you get on ? Is there a catch ? Are there any forum members with car trade knowledge with anything to add ?

 

[Laurie61]

I have no knowledge of the trade centre but have used other super sites like Available car, who were OK with me.
If you have found a price on the website it could be the case that when you enquire about the vehicle it has gone and 'they have not updated their pages' which happened to me at a site near Walsall.
So make sure its there before you drive over. I have seen some other dubious practices were cars have been priced and when you speak to a sales person they start adding costs for extras such as metallic paint and alloys! When I pointed out they had not resprayed the car or fitted the alloys as they were on the car from new it did not go down too well. By the time these extras had been added to the base price the car was no cheaper than other retail outlets.

 

[EasMid]

Most of these type of dealers make most of their profit from the extras they sell. The sales staff are on low wages with high commission so can be very persistent about the extras.
"Trade Centres" usually only give a 30 day guarantee but then sell you an expensive insurance backed extra guarantee that won't cover wear & tear. Any time you try to claim in the guarantee it'll be handled by a third party.
Most of the cars at the likes of Arnold Clark will come from within their network & probably be previous short term leased vehicles. Most of the cars at "Trade Centres" will either have come from auctions or direct from contract hire companies as ex company cars, probably with much higher mileage (not necessarily a bad thing)
At the end of the day, you pays your money & takes your choice. You're buying from a car salesperson after all. Need I say more.
P. S. They usually want to sell you their very expensive finance deals.