Having written a very negative review of Available Car in August, I can only say the events that followed me taking the 308 back, left me praising the general manager and the company. Th general manager contacted me whilst my 308 was there and asked me to go and see him. I am pleased that Available Car do take customers complaints seriously and do want to listen. The general manager here could not have been more helpful or sincere. The problem with the 308 was resolved and I am I now very happy with what I drive. In all, I would not hesitate buying another car from Available Car and I wouldn't think twice about recommending the company to others.

Me and my fiancée was in the market for a new car and decided after seeing all the adverts we'd start here, once we arrived at castle donnington we was pointed out To the cars we wanted to view on a map (it's quite a big place) once we had looked around it became apparent that they don't maintain or look after their cars !! Some of them are covered in mud and several had flat battery's. Meaning doors won't shut right. This not putting us off we decided to test drive 2 cars a zetecS and a BMW 118D. The BMW had a flat battery which had to be jump started off the forecourt and we was told should we stall the car we'd have to be towed!!!! That to me was a joke! After looking through prices we then asked What price we'd get for a partx on our 2006 car, they decided it was only worth £2000 and was told to sell it quick!!!! The final straw in this story was we settled for one we seen at their other Sutton dealership, once the salesman took £500 deposit we drove over to view the car to find a huge hole in the seat! After pointing out the airbag was hanging out and it is illegal to trim repair this due to the airbag we was told they're sending it away and it'll take 10 days and a "smart repair" will be done. I asked them to discount the car they didn't I asked them to tax it THEY CAN'T and finally asked about swapping my private reg THEY COULDN'T! I went to Sytner Nottingham and drove off in a BMW 118D with less miles, more spec and cheaper with free 1yr TAX, 7 day free insurance and they changed my plate! Even bought my fiancée flowers!!! Simply put, these are the tesco of the car world, they sell anything of any quality to make a profit. AVOID!

Looked at a honda cvr priced at £10499 today and freelander at £13000, first off the 1st man i spoke too was about the same age as me (22/23) and he was so rude to me, He told me that its no skin of his nose if he doesnt sell a car as he dosnt work on commission. Told me that if i wanted a car to put down a deposit ASAP as "they sell 200 cars a week and the cars never last long" then told me that the pittance part ex for my audi TT is because the cars devalue by the week. When i viewed the freelander he had to jump start it and told me that it had been here for 6 months! i then said so is should of de-valued by 6 months then so it should be cheaper, he just gave me a dirty look. he basically questioned my money situation and told me that a cheaper car would suit me more, The nerve! i told him just because he is a salesman does not mean were all on his budget, various other rude comments he made. I then wanted to price up the Honda as i reaaaalllly wanted it, had to speak to the finance man ... 1st off he couldn't work out that with my 5k deposit 2.2k on my TT the total price and made himself look a tool by saying its 7.7k! ABSOLUTE IDIOT! Going through finances he gave me no incentive to buy the car, i said look i want this car ill pay for it now, but youre getting my car for next to nothing sort me a deal here.......... he said no! what sort of sales man is that?! i only wanted maybe a cheap extended warrenty or at least a full tank of fuel if there ripping me off nearly 11k! He wouldent communicate with me at all to the point i walked out and burst in to tears! anyone thinking of going there DONT!!!!! HIDDEN COSTS (although appatently there not hidden there just sly) -cars come with 1 mile worth of petrol -No road tax at all -No Mats in the cars (always check that!) -The are about 1500 over priced -And when you work around all the cars say clearly on them 3 years warranty, no purchase 3 years warranty what lead me to belive that they had 3 years on them! and also there is not a single woman there just swarms of bored rude salesMEN!

Having purchased a Peugeot 308 in Feb 2012, I was impressed with the polite and non-pushy sales people and the no hassle purchase. It really was an effortless purchse. However there was clearly a fault with the car, it doesn't drive anywhere near straight, always pulls to the left, considering the car is only a year old it doesn't take an expert to know that this is wrong. Booked in back into Available car at Sutton Nottinham,as soon as, was told tyres had been changed and tracking done, and steering straight. No, car was exactly the same, phoned back again, obviously I was going to get no where with this, as they said I was imagining it and it was just road camber, to be honest I have been driving nearly 20 years, I think I know what road camber is, but no Available Car, would not have it back. Recently I got a stone in one of the belts in the engine, took it to main dealer Peugeot, while I was there I mentioned about the pulling, they took the car for a test drive and said without a doubt there was a problem with the car, no car should drive like that! Got it upn the ramps, surprise surprise, car mechanic, told me the car's tracking had never been done and no tyres had ever been changed around, apparently there is a bolt that comes from manufactor that has never been taken off so this was a fact. Seems Available Car did no more than park it in their garage, also, seems car has had shoddy paint work repair as bonnet is bubbling. Peugeot have given be print outs to take back to Available Car and advised me to tell them to phone them. Peugeot have been fantastic and appreciate they have done me a favour. But Available Car should at least have done the work they said they had. Really disappointed with car, really disappointed with the company, seems they think because car is still under manufactors warranty it removes any responsibilty from them. Please think twice before purchasing a car from this company, it is impossible to return a car, but be mindful they still have responsibilty to you even after their one month warranty expires, check out your rights and you will know that their one month warranty isn't worth the paper it is written on. Don't be deceived by their show rooms and friendly staff.

I nearly went and bought a car from available car at the weekend. However I felt the car was slightly overpriced after a quick check of values and a bit worried that a hole in a seat would not be repaired. I also had a look on here at the various horror stories and I have to admit all the smiling faces at Castle Donington could not hide some of the cars which looked a bit tatty and some that smelt of smoke. It is increasingly feeling like a cowboy outfit that is making use of it's "best car supermarket" award to dupe people and maximise profit. A real shame as I know that when it first opened or should I say became "Available Car" it was really good!

We didnt buy a car from availablecar,the reason being we found on thier web site an Audi A6 2.7tdi Lemans 2008 with 59000 miles. The pictures on the web page looked great,the car looked in good order. We phoned to arrange a test drive the next day. We asked the sales man on the phone if the car was in good condition as we were driving up from Bristol, Great condition he told us. When we arived we were taken to the car, i looked round to check panels,wheels,tyres and interior. Three of the 19" alloys were heavily damaged due to curbing. Rear tyre had 3" gash on the side wall. There were 9 deep scraches and three small dents in body work. The drivers seat had damage to seat that would require specialist treatment. The pictures on the web site did not show any of these defects. the alloy wheel in the picture was the only good wheel on the car. I used to work in a body shop and roughly priced the repair work required to get car up to standard,£80 each for wheels, £150 for seat reair, £180 for new tyre and up to £300 for body repairs. I spoke to my wife and agreed if they would knock off £300 from the £14499 asking price we would buy it cash. They would not budge on the price at all and the idiot sales man tried to tell me to expect this kind of wear in a car of that millage and age. I did not and will not ever buy a car from this company. I bought an emaculate Audi A6 2.7tdi Lemans Quattro Multitronic with 59899 miles which is higher specced for £15000 at carbase they dropped from £15999 for cash sale and no repairs to worry about.

Purchased our car 18mths ago from available car for £12,000.The multi point check is a joke as on delivery a friend of mine who is a mechanic noticed the brake pads and discs were illegal !!Had to threaten legal action before they were interested in changing them.Made a big mistake by giving them a second chance.Have been in this week to look at changing our car and was offered £5,000 for a car they charged me £12,000 for 18 mths ago.When i pointed out that they were selling the same car,same year,spec etc but with 5,000 more miles on the clock for £9,499 the salesman went back to the valuer who then came back i said £5,000 was the price take it or leave it.When i pointed out that they were making just under 100% profit they disagreed saying they only make aprox £800 on each car, even though i was looking at the same car on the forecourt for £9,499 (Not the brightest!!)Would never go back or recommend,worst customer service ever come across and no faith in standard of the cars

I just purchased a Ford Cmax on part exchange on Monday 6th December.

I had phoned up a week earlier after seeing the car on AutoTrader, and the salesman said he would reserve the car till Saturday, which was the next opportunity I would have to go to Nottingham to view the car.

On Saturday morning I got a phone call where the salesman insisted I should not come down due to the snow which I thought was nice and after actually going on Monday and seeing the 2 6tone trucks moving the snow, I definitely believe going on Saturday would of been impossible.

The car advert was removed from the AvaliableCars website and AutoTrader before I even got there, which meant it was definitely reserved.

I phoned on the Monday to find out how the weather was and was advised on the last 50yards of my journey to go slowly because of the ice. I drove up and the ice bit was quite bad, but still drivable over(I think AvaliableCars should of made an effort to clean this even tho its not really there problem, it would just make it easier for potential customers to get to there premises without crashing).

Anyway i arrived at the front of the store and parked where I could see the Cmax gleaming, went inside the store where the receptionist actually knew of our arrival and where we had come from(nice touch). We where told to take a seat, after 3 minutes a salesman came over showed us the car, and went to get garage plates to take us for a test drive, 5 minute drive, i asked him to floor it to check the kick as it was an automatic which he did, he also said they don't do that unless asked to(so always ask), always best to check, incase their is a gearbox issue.

Got back, aggreed to purchase the car, this is the annoying bit, as the last owner was a mobility driver, the car had no tax so we had to phone for insurance via a company provided by AvaliableCars and paid free for 7days, then a guy had to go to the DVLA Nottingham to get it taxed as it could not be done at the post office as it had never had road tax. (we where told of this over the phone and where aware before we left, we accepted it as it was the cheapest of the kind of Cmax we could find.)

We then got an OK price for our car seeing how Mercedes offered a grand less when I asked them how much they would give in part exchange, I was happy enough. Paper work took longer than I expected with the extra questionnaires which where kinda forced upon us, not to happy about that, the women should of at least asked us if we where happy to fill them in.

The car was missing car mats, had no Spare wheel(Had the kit tho) and was missing a lighter cap. We where exchanging our old Cmax, only wish I had taken those item and put them in the new one.

Once the paper work was finished the guy arrived about 10minutes later with the Tax disc.

My experience has been good with this company, i believe there are going to be bad experiences at the same time with others, ive had a terrible experience dealing with Ford in the past.

I really didn't expect it to take so long but for future reference when part exchanging a car I have to accept its probably going to a whole day.

I Would recommend this company, and would advice people if you see a car on the site, phone up before you go and ask for a test drive so they can get the car ready for you.

i to had a bad time with available car castle. when i looked at the car i noticed some bts wrong... paint chips, top cover missing from engine and the headlight was out of line with the body! i was told this would be done for collection! "NO"... i also asked if it had been in any accidents or used as a driving school car for lessons as an ex instructor i no these cars get a beating!! on both counts i was told no!
i arrived to collect and nothing had been done. the car was taken to the "workshop" for the bits to be done,
when it returned the paint chips were gone... thats it!!
i was told thats the best they could get the headlight and it depends what garage they come out of if they have a engiine cover or not...
i decided in the end to take the car with a full mot on the friday, on the saturday i was out driving and heard a banging sound when turning,
i rang the aftersales and was told to ring back monday as they had gone home this i did and was told "i can book you in a week today"!!!
not good enough when my two kids travel in the car so i pushed and got in on the tuesday were i was told they don't know what it is but it's not dangerous... i noticed on the paperwork he had that for the mot it had a n/s/f suspension arm... bit odd for a 06 plate i thought...
i booked the car in for the thursday and collected a courtesy car fully loaded with there stickers... they came off with the hairdryer!!
i picked the car up a week later and they told me both shocker top mountings on the front had been replaced and this was the cause of the noise... again 06 plate with 45000 miles... i'm not a fully skilled mechanic but it just don't add up to me!! then i found out it was owned by a company that lease cars to driving schools i rang them as i had a car from them when i started instructing an they told me it was sold at auction with accident damage to the front...!! i feel my pants have been pulled... NO "RIPPED" from my backside!! i would never reccomend them and couldn't say enough "AVOID BUYING FROM AVAILABLECAR.COM there are many other car supermarkets out there that offer more and tell the truth!!

Despite the accolades from the press the availablecar.com business seems to receive, so far my experiences of dealing with them, has been less than positive.
I was a genuine buyer looking to buy a car in the popular £5000- £7500 price range. I was interested in two cars within this price range and submitted an enquiry via their website asking to be contacted. However, nobody rang me, so I decided to drop in on my way home. I had already done some research on the internet prior to my visit on which cars I wanted to look at and what my car was worth in part ex or trade value using the parkers.co.uk, whatcar.com and wisebuyers.co.uk valuation sites, and printed off the information I needed.
I arrived on site and was warmly greeted with a smile by two ladies at the 'reception desk 'who handed me a booklet with all of their cars listed. After a short walk around the pitch, I located the two cars I was looking for and after giving them a look over to see if the cars where in suitable condition etc. I returned to the reception desk to book a test drive. Unfortunately it was at this point where my experience began to deteriorate.
I was asked to take a seat, allocated a number and was shown the coffee machine which costs 25p a cup (I don't think so) but was not shown the free water machine (I found this later on). After a wait of 15-20 minutes where people who had sat down after me had been greeted and led away to a desk by their 'sales person 'I was eventually found by a member of staff, who apologized for the delay and blamed reception for not informing him of my interest. I had seen the reception area call him some time previously and he stank of cigarettes so it doesn't take a genius to work out where he had been instead of dealing with customers.
I asked why nobody had contacted me as I had asked to be called. After a bit of looking around on their system after initially denying they had a request from me, my enquiry was found and the 'white 'team that had been allocated my enquiry had not called. The member of staff told me he was from the 'black' team so he would take over my interest. I then gave the member of staff the registration numbers of the two vehicles I was interested in. After tapping this information in their system, he then recited the information from the computer screen to me very quickly. When I asked a couple of questions regarding the documentation and servicing that was available or would be completed on the car I received a company line 'script 'response about 'dealership standards servicing 'if it needed doing... I was then spoken to about the interest free extended warranty and how much that would cost a month on top (even though I had yet to discuss finance or payment or actually driven a car at this stage). We then moved to the subject of my part exchange vehicle, the member of staff asked me lots of questions very quickly about the car, and we went outside to my vehicle whilst he looked around it. This took another ten minutes. I was asked to leave my keys with him so the 'valuer ' (I am dubious if such a person actually exists) could look it over and get a price. So why did we just waste ten minutes going over it if somebody else was going to repeat the exercise?
Still dealing with my part ex, we came to the issue of car tax. I had taxed my vehicle only 4 days previously for then next 6 months at a cost of almost £100. The member of staff implied that it was against 'the rules 'that had co-incidentally only been changed two weeks ago (yeah right) for me to remove the tax disk and that I had to leave the tax on the car because it was illegal to put a vehicle out to the trade without it. I questioned this so called rule as it was news to me (and I have bought enough second hand motors over the years) I was then told in a cold and impersonal manner that if I took the tax off that I would have a further £100 deducted from my part ex value (come again!). Still reeling from this insult before my car I had actually been valued (never noticed parkers.co.uk having a taxed or non taxed vehicle value!) I then had to wait a further 15 minutes whilst Simon fetched the first car of interest. Eventually after he obtained some trade plates the car was ready for me to drive. The car had admittedly not finished its full preparation cycle (and the valet is the last thing to be done apparently) but it absolutely stank of cigarettes. The member of staff ' s response was that he was a smoker (no kidding) and he couldn't smell it. His next response was to turn up the air conditioning and set it to recycle which only increased the stench. The test route was a quarter of a mile route around the block which in my view is not enough time to get used to a car at all. I asked for a longer route but was told they are not insured for longer routes.
After arriving back at their site, whilst parking it when the member of staff engaged reverse, a bleeping noise sounded from the car. I asked it if had parking sensors, the member of staff joked (I think) that he could reverse into another car to see if it did or not, and it didn ' t matter if he hit the other car as their excess would cover it! Once the car was parked, I was left to look over the car in a bay nearby to their office area, and had a good look over it. Bearing in mind the car had according to the member of staff just been serviced to 'dealership standards 'the oil level was below the maximum mark and the air filter was filthy and black with road grime and needed replacing. The second test drive came and went with the same waiting time for the car to arrive and the same short route offered, and was again left to look around both cars until I was ready to go back in and speak to the member of staff .
After a few minutes of looking over the cars having pretty much decided to go for one of them, so I returned the office area and sat down where I noticed the member of staff had the clip board on his desk with my car keys and valuation notes on it. According to my research using the three previously mentioned valuation websites my part ex value should be some where between £1975 and £2453 and the trade value between £2060 and £2295. I was offered a blunt and insulting £1300 with no explanation other than the 'valuer' had got this figure from the CAP trade guide and the offer was fixed and non negotiable. (I should point out that my car was spot on mileage for the year of car and had a full service history and only two private owners with straight metallic paint bodywork and a mint interior.
Obviously slightly offended by the low offer I produced my information printed from the three websites I had used and said I would accept the lowest website valuation of £1950 for the car and I would sign the deal right there and then. However the member of staff was totally disinterested claiming he had not heard of any of the sites is used and they only use CAP and repeated the statement that the offer was fixed and non negotiable and then added neither was the screen price of the car or the APR of 11.9% (their advert states 10.9%). I asked to speak to the 'valuer 'and was told this wasn't possible.
Needless to say communication broke down very quickly and the member of staff probably in rush for his next cigarette break, was quick to hold out his hand with the statement ' thank you for trying us'. He was lucky he didn ' t receive a swift left hook. Two hours of my time wasted with under pre-prepared cars, a passionless 'Salesman 'who seemed to be devoid of motivation and minimal effort made to please the customer in so many ways. the member of staff seemed keen to point out to me on more than one occasion when discussing my potential purchase if the subject was a bit tricky for him, that he wasn't a salesman, well in that case can I speak to one please?
I am sure there are some who have been happy with their service or vehicle purchased from them, but my own conclusion with Availablecar.com based upon my own experience, is the deal you get is ok if you are an inexperienced buyer, have no part exchange and you want their rate of APR finance for the full term. Other than this you will struggle to get genuine value or service or interest from the staff at availablecar.com.