Motorhouse 2000 Ltd www.motorhouse2000ltd.co.uk Review

Overall Rating

Plenty of choice. Can inspect vehicles without being pestered by salesman.

See below.

I went to the Motorhouse to look for a used Vauxhall Zafira. They had plenty of choice, with probably about 30 in stock of varying specs. However, there are no details displayed on the cars giving mileage or number of previous owners and such fundamental details you want to know when buying a used car. There were probably about 15 cars I was interested in but because of the lack of information displayed on the vehicles I could only differentiate them by exterior condition, colour, age and spec. I finally narrowed down my search to 3 cars (don't know how, just a bit of a stab in the dark) with one in particular being my preferred option as I had recognised it from visiting the website before I went.
After browsing for about half an hour I finally decided to go and speak to one of the salespeople about the 3 cars I'd picked out. He duly went off to collect the keys for each of the vehicles and returned with the keys for two of the vehicles. He explained that he couldn't find the keys for my preferred vehicle and offered me the keys to a car of the same spec so I could inspect that one instead, suggesting this would give me enough info to buy 'the car with no keys'. I'm not sure whether this was pure disorganisation or if there was something to hide with the keyless car. Either way it made me a little suspicious.
So off I went to inspect each of the cars, which you do on your own without the salesperson standing over you which is good. I was now down to a choice between 2 cars as there was no way I was buying a car that I had been denied access to. In fairness the cars seemed on the face of it to be in decent condition if a little shabbily presented. Anyway, I finally decided on a car that if we could agree on a deal I would be interested in buying.
Many of the vehicles they sell have a price that is only seems to be valid if you have a vehicle to part exchange, which I did. It is not until you state your interest in a particular vehicle that they give you a valuation for your p/x. So off the salesman went to inspect my p/x whose value I had researched extensively before I came and indeed I'd already been offered a price somewhere else which wasn't too far away from my own valuation. So back came the salesman with his valuation. Well I nearly fell of the chair! His valuation was hundreds of pounds below the true part exchange value of the car! He then chose this moment to inform me that the price shown on the screen isn't the actual price you pay. I needed to add the 'preparation fee' which was a cool £250 pounds. This double whammy meant that I was now looking at paying out about £750 more on the car than I was anticipating 60 seconds earlier. So I quizzed the salesman about the prep fee which he now told me he could do for £89 for a reduced service. Fair enough, but can you do something about the ludicrous p/x valuation? He said he would try. Fair enough. So off he went to speak a manager and he came back with a miniscule increase in the p/x valuation. Obviously I was still not prepared to go ahead with a deal as with the undervalued p/x vehicle and the prep fee the actual cost of the car would effectively be £500 more expensive than the screen price. After a while the elusive manager came over to the desk seemingly in a bid to confuse me by 'explaining' in a round about way how poor old Motorhouse hardly make any profit on the cars they sell and how other places may give you higher p/x valuation but their cars are more expensive. I'm sorry Mr. Motorhouse manager man, my car is worth what it's worth, the price you display on your vehicles is up to you, If you are claiming that your cars are cheaper than other places, this not actually the case after you factor in your p/x valuation and prep fee.
This is proven by the fact that after visiting the Motorhouse I went to my local main Vauxhall dealer where a similar vehicle had a higher screen price by about £400, but they offered a very good part-ex valuation and as the car had already been checked and valeted there were no prep fee. They also threw in 6 months tax and a set of official fitted Vauxhall mats. Overall, I've worked out that I've saved about £300 by buying from a main dealer as opposed to Motorhouse and peace of mind to boot.
Overall, I would advise anyone thinking of buying from Motorhouse to be very careful. Make sure you know exactly how much your p/x vehicle is worth before you go and don't be fooled by their seemingly low screen prices, from my experience it would appear they make this back in other areas and some more. I'm sure lots of people walk out of the Motorhouse thinking they've got themselves a good deal. Just be careful you've done your maths first.

Members' Comments onhomerclees's Review

• TheMotorhouse on 15th Jun 2009

  Sir, thank you for your comments.
  
  We're sorry that you had a displeasing experience with The Motorhouse.
  
  What the sales manager said to you with regards to our profit margins is true, we operate by buying and selling in bulk, which means that part-exchange values have to be as close to 'book' value as possible.
  
  With regards to you being 'denied' access to a vehicle - we do not do this, the keys were most likely 'on hold' for another customer who had requested we do so.
  
  With regards to preparation charges - these are not obligatory. You can simply drive off with the car in its current state if you want to, however if you would like the car in 'showroom condition' there will, understandably be charges for the preparation.
  
  Thanks,
  Phil,
  The Motorhouse