Thread: Carcraft And The Dodgy Xr2

i went into carcraft today looking for a vehicle to use as a runabout for business. i chose a vectra cdti which was priced at 13995. afterchecking the car's value with various motor traders who i know and with vauxhall, the retail value was established as being 12k. so they were asking 2k above retail book.

i neg the price down to 12,250, an acceptable price for the car. then the finance side. Carcraft offered me a flat rate of 7% which i was unhappy with as i have recently bought my wife a new car at a flat rate of 4.5%.
they told me that the best rate they could do was 7% as they had dropped the price of the car. i agreed, supplied my details and awaited the results of my credit check.

i am extremely up to date with contents of my credit file and subscribe to both equifax and experian who keep me up to date with any changes to my files. I have a good rating.

Carcraft said that i had been declined by 7 out of 8 companies applied to and that they had got me accepted at a flat rate of 11% (23% apr).

i flipped.

to cut a long story short, after lots of internet based investigation-

carcraft are actually selling sub prime finance, they make there profit from selling expensive insurances and expensive sub prime finance, not to mention that all of there cars are thousands over book value.

they do not offer prime finance.

they lied to me by saying that i have been declined by 7 companies trying to get me to accept a high interest rate finance agreement.

there are pages and pages of complaints about the above on the net.

surely what they are doing is ilegal. i checked my credit ratings when i got home and they remain unchanged.

the av joe who walks in will almost certainly be caught out by there high finance rates and expensive cars and insurance's.

surely this must be ilegal? any thoughts?

It is certainly unethical. I would have thought you could ask them the names of the finance companies that turned you down and then approach them yourself to see if Carcraft actually did apply. If they refuse then perhaps a Subject access request might be in order.

My husband bought a BMW coupe from Carcraft last year, and it's lucky I was with him. They tried the same tactic - saying he could get the finance for 11%, but presenting him with a credit agreement for 19%.
Luckily, I spotted it before putting pen to paper, and told them we weren't signing at that interest rate. The sales guy tried convincing us that was the lowest he could get, but as my hubby's credit is good, I knew they were b*llsh*tting him.
Suffice to say, after sitting there for 3 hours with our kids running riot in the showroom, they came back and gave him 10.9% apr.
Sometimes you have to risk not getting the car (he loves the car!).
The finance company was Black Horse (Donkey??)

As a former employee and member of the Executive Board at Carcraft, I can confirm the above about sub-prime finance, using companies such as Black Horse, First Direct, GE Capital and others. The software algorythm used to choose the finance package is based on maximum return to the company, not the best deal for the customer.

Also, NAC is run out of a small office of their Newport site, they tend to refuse warranty claims on the grounds of "wear and tear" which of course is impossible to prove. I can recount the Warranty Manager, a guy called Les, refusing to honour a warranty claim for a failed water pump, as it was "still pumping water" (even though the bearing had failed and coolant was pouring out of it, rendering the car undriveable and stranding the owner)....Warranty revenue is used to help fund the pension provision for the Board of Directors, as well as funds from other small businesses such as the Carcraft Motor Store.

The closing rooms are deliberately designed to be small, hot (lots of glass and no AC) and chlostrophobic, and people are kept waiting in them as long as possible as a matter of policy, so they will sign finance and warranty agreements quickly. Indeed families with boisterous young children are deliberately targeted in this fashion. I was involved in the design and layout of the Sheffield site, and also part of the rollout team which commissions the West Mids, Axis and White Rose sites, so I know about these policies first hand, indeed the design and layout of the buildings are devised with these policies in mind.

Most cars sold are either grey imports or ex-fleet and have therefore had a hard life, indeed Carcraft recently purchased BCA as they were a major supplier to the group.

They average about £2700 metal margin on each sale, and add the commission from sub prime, the warranty, VRP e.t.c and you get to a figure approaching £4000 net on each transaction....ON AVERAGE...

If this is the case then why the heck are they still trading?

This is what is bugging me about these large sub prime car sales places such as Carcraft, Welcome finance, YES and Log Book Loans. We seem to have a vast amount of complaints and alleged wrong doings listed on this site yet nothing has changed. They are all still trading and still ripping people off.

Because they deal with the sub prime market, people who probably can't get a car loan from their local bank, building society, or car dealership and have nowhere else to go.

There have been various sites and user groups whom have tried to take them on, but a strongly worded letter from Carcraft's posh London solicitors soon puts paid to any dissent or legal action.

Well I think it's about time the 'posh London solicitors' got a wake up call....watch this space

Sure, I am putting together a very strong legal case with the help of a solicitor friend (don't want to mention his name on the open boards as he is very well know here) to take log book loans to court and expose the prctices of this company. I refuse to be bullied by them and am sure that I can fight them with all the weapons at my disposal. I will keep posting on this subject as I progress.

best of luck HH, nice to see how committed you are mate. I hate sub-prime.

Originally Posted by itsamomentintime

had a very lucky escape a few years back when Carcrap tried to sell me a written-off XR2

has anyone else had any experiences with the above?

i hear that they are Watchdogs favourite company!!!!!!

We bought a car from carcraft told that the vehicle had no signs that there had any work done to it. Excited and people who know nothing about car were purchased it. Things pretty quick dtarted going wrong with the car one main thing the exhaused snapping when we were thankfully just pulling up into the driveway (any faster i cant even imagine what would have happened)
we took it to a garage to be fixed price £800+ they told us a exhaust should never be in this state on a car of this year?
We then had a independant report done on the vehicle which has had panels replaced but could not tell us if structural damage has occured we refuse to travel in (our kids and our saftey) or pay for this vehicle but will anyone accept responsibility. This is now 3 years on.
When we went back to carcraft they told us occasionally you do get a bad on in the group but were still not prepared to do anything