wrxmania

Diet - Bleurghh!!!

Full strengtgh for me - nothing to beat 8 table spoonfulls of sugar!!

Sluuuurrrrrrpppppppp!!

Brian

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I'm going to tell you all about my experience with Motorpoint. I must stress that what follows is entirely my OWN experience. Plesae don't jump on my post telling me that I'm lying.....trust me, I'n not

Just before I start, I really hope that nobody else has the same problems.

Back in 1999 I decided I wanted a Peugeot 106 Gti. I looked around for a while at the different ones that were availble, and then came across a bargain at Motorpoint. The price was £10,500 for a car that had only 2500 miles. At the time, that price could not be bettered. It was entirely UK spec, had EVERYTHING that a UK car should have, and of course, was available for immediate collection. Great! I bought it.

Then I find out that the log book is all wrong, the servicing schedules are all out. It stated that it should be serviced every 9k, when in fact UK cars manage to to 20K. Then I find out some other little things:-
no leather interior
no digital odometer, or white dials
no passanger airbag
plastic rubbing strip down the side, which was now no longer present
locking wheel nuts were drilled off because they could not find the keys to give me
spare set of keys was lost, no amount of calling promoted them to find them for me
damaged towing eye
front discs and pads were different to UK spec
gear ratios seemed to be different
no locking mechanism for the spare wheel
different stereo
no side airbags
orage side repeaters
there were a few other bits, but I don't remember atm. I cannot be bothered to go and find the independant engineers report (see below)

I was a little miffed, but could not do much about it as the car was UK spec. Well full UK spec for a friggin 2 year old one. Any attempt to contact after sales resulted in them either hanging up or stating that the nobody was available to take my call.

18500 miles into my experience the engine went pop. Apparantly it really should have been serviced every 9k and not every 20k. Nice, thanks for that Motorpoint.

Ended up taking them to court, accepted a settlement just before it was due to be heard. I was left out of pocket by a cool 3k, even after the settlement (there are some things that you cannot claim for).

My advice - don't ever even consider Motorpoint. There is nothing wrong with imports per se, and there is nothing wrong in having a car that is not full UK spec. What is very wrong is that they mislead you into thinking what you are buying is UK spec when it is not (or certainly not current UK spec). Also bear in mind that if you do need to make a warranty claim where there is any doubt, if its an import you are screwed. Peugeot were all set to replace my engine until they learned it was an import (and yes it was less than 2 years old when it went).

If you want to buy an import, go for it. There are considerable cost savings to be made if you go to the right place. Just make sure you are FULLY informed about what you should expect to get on your car. Its up to you to make sure that the spec is correct. Salesmen are lying *****. Just because the price you may see is cheaper than a UK dealer, it does not mean that you will be getting a cost saving. I would have been much better off going to a UK dealer even if the engine had not gone.

I really do hope that anyone who has bought from them does not have the same kind of problem as I did. My case is extreme, but many other who have used Motorpoint complain. It turns out that 2 of my work colleagues bought from them too. Spare keys, bad spec, wrong service book, missing documents were common complaints. Also they had the same sort of problems I did with contacting Motorpoint. Brilliant service before they have your money. No service at all after. In the end, one of my friends parked his car across they forcourt on a busy Saturday afternoon until they got off their ***** and found his spare keys. He did that after 3 months of telephone calls and letters.

Muffleman

Sorry to hear of your problems mate, but so far I've had the opposite experience with Motorpoint...so far.

I needed a sensible car for the missus with nipper no. 1 on the way. So the Scooby wagon was sold, and I ordered a car from Motorpoint.
A 1 year old Renault Laguna Sport Tourer with 9k on the clock, and at roughly 50% of new price...bargain.
Should be serviced every 18 or 20k I think, but was stamped and serviced at 9k. 4 Brand new expensive tyres, worth almost £1k. No faults so far, and it's a UK car.

Basically, they are a no-frills retail outlet. Buyer beware and all that, but do your homework and thoroughly check the paperwork.
Assume aftersales will be sketchy at best, but that's one reason why you paid less.

Don't know about you guys, but have you seen some of the dealerships premises lately ? BMW are building a new one near me, and very plush too. The local Jaguar dealership have just expanded and refurb'd. Dealers make TOO MUCH MONEY, so I'm all in favour of competition. But you need to be careful.

I've personally vowed never to buy from a main dealer again, they roger you on p\ex and then charge you £95 per hour for servicing...no thanks.

Just be careful.

Matt

NickAdams

iTrader: (5)

You say 'grey' imports from Europe???? lol
I think you mean 'grey' imports from Japan!!!
Euro imports are as somebody points out above,parallel imports....




There seems to be the usual scare mongering on here with regard to european imports.Let's remember that these cars are built on EXACTLY the SAME production line but shipped to central europe as opposed to the UK. Therefore,there are no issues with insurance (Remember,it's a UK spec car) or anything else.Ok,warranty work has to be approved by the country of origin but once the car's been registered with IM,the car can be taken into any UK dealer (In the same way as a UK car) who will process the claim on your behalf (They forward the request to IM who in turn forward it on to the country of origin.This process can take slightly longer as apparently IM fax the warranty request and wait for a return fax for approval - That's what I like to see,a company making use of the 'latest' technology!! lol )
I bought a WRX in 2001 from Belgium and it cost me £17000 which compared to £21750 for uk list price so a healthy saving was made.I still own the car now,registered it myself with IM and have had warranty work done on the car by my local dealer (All without any hassle at all apart from the fact of a slight delay in waiting for Belgium to approve stuff!!)
I've insured the car without issue,taxed it and just mot'ed it for the first time last month!!!
I agree with someone earlier who said about saving money at the outset as you never know what's around the corner!!! (The next slight facelift of Impreza will push prices of bugeyes/blob eyes down further)

If Motorpoint or Car Supermarket are selling UK spec cars then they have got to worth considering especially if there's a big saving to be made.They HAVE to have come from an EU country though to maintain a warranty that can be used in the UK!!

Nick

dietbruboy

Cheers fella. At the moment I'm an interested spectator and within a matter of weeks I hope to have moved my MCS on and replaced it with something more oriental!

WRX!

dietbruboy

[QUOTE=NickAdams]You say 'grey' imports from Europe???? lol
I think you mean 'grey' imports from Japan!!!
Euro imports are as somebody points out above,parallel imports....

Indeed, should have said 'parallel' there. My point was that there just doesn't seem to be as much of a parallel import market now as many (but not all) manufacturers reduced their prices because of stiffer EU competition. Broadspeed were famous for imports but now they act as agents sourcing UK cars - presumably because the margin in the EU just isn't there to same extent but main dealers prices are still 'fat'.

It's this discrepancy with the Impreza that importers are exploiting... and we as consumers should be supporting. It's only through our buying decisions that we send a clear message back to the manufacturer. How much do these machines cost in their home country again?

;-)

DBB

zerolight

i've ordered mine from motorpoint, and excluding the extras i've added, mine came in at £16995 WITH a Sigma Cat 1 alarm. It has everything that the UK car has. Why? Because thanks to EU law, the car has to be the same spec anywhere in Europe. And you know what? It is. And since theres no such thing as a UK warranty, we're all using the same Pan-European warranty. And further more, Subaru UK are legally obliged to honour that warranty. A warranty which says u can also have your car serviced by ANY vat registered garage. Including my mates. So I can get 3 years work of trade-priced services, and still have saved 3k of UK list and 2k of cheapest UK price, and still got a trade in on my CTR.

zerolight

An interested spectator who's also watching his cousin (me) take the motorpoint plunge 1st.

B1GJ1M

Nice one zerolight.

I've had my new Scooby from Motorpoint for about three weeks now, and as you say, it is full UK spec. I've looked closely at everything I can and it's all the same as a UK car (and yes it is undersealed).

The free servicing currently on offer is, unfortunately, not an instant saving (its spread over the three years) so you still need the extra cash up-front in one go.
Also, I bought a 5-door and local dealers said it would be several months to get one (waiting for next shipment), whereas Motorpoint had several coming in just when I wanted one.

After sales so far with them has been quite good actually. Guy call Jason there is very helpful.


You pays ya money and takes ya choices!

So far I'm very happy :-)

AR

Has anyone got a WRX from Motorpoint that has 4 airbags (as UK cars do)?

Adrian F

Has anybody checked the warranty situation about fitting PPP to the imports as that was a sticking point for Euro imports a while ago and i am not sure it was ever solved.?

GRIFF007

Just spoken to a Des Crowe who is offering, as above new UK spec + 2yr Pan Euro Warranty on unregistered car (with underseal, airbags etc to 'full UK Spec'): £18877 inc + road tax and del (£19k) - will take order on 05 spec and is confirming price and avail shortly

Not sure, but isnt that less than an I.M. Dealer for same car??!!

Add TSL333 at c £700 and you have a PPP beater, new for under £20k (about £6k saving? - enough for a 2.5 rebuild if it goes bang and a set of tyres!)

sti-04!!

tbh - thats sickening, so basically i have lost what at least 6k in 5 months !!!!!!!!!!!

GRIFF007

what spec and price was yours?
See what a Dealer would offer for it now to see if it is as bad as appears?

sti-04!!

MY04 Sti WR Blue done 8.5k all fun miles, couple of personal tweaks that could be easily removed

24.5k i paid traded in a focus RS against it & tbh only lost £500 in 6 months with that

Was going to trade in the 04 late next year for something a bit special but that all depends on how the prices of these parallel imports go

Just pee'd off that u can save at least 6k without even thinking about !!!

Yes its a parallel but when it comes to it 6k is a lot of money thats better off in our pocket than IM's

alanjack

Called IM (can post/supply if required name and number of person at IM)today and the basic gist was you supply them with the chasis number of the car and provided it has come via "acceptable sources" (whatever that means), then the car would be plced on the register for a UK warranty.

That to me sounds a bit strange as they could just say no for the sake of it.

So, basically it seems previous buyers at £24/25K have been paying 5k for an alarm and 12 months warranty.

GRIFF007

thats the whole point - they legally cant say no anymore because of European Agreements, however I think you will find that it is not the IM UK warranty but a Subaru Trans Euro Warranty and the issuing Dealer / Country has to ratify all claims - though a UK dealer should do that for you.

sti-04!!

Has anyone cleared up the PPP fitment on the parallel imports ??

Ie can it be fitted in the UK & still be classed as ok for warranty purposes ???

rich from sheffield

i got my 03wrx last september can i still register it with subaru uk? i only got 12 month warranty can i extend this subaru uk?
cheers
rich

ScoobyPugh

I have just bought a 04 WRX from Motorpoint and paid for their prem pack (£799)as it is called. This included extended 2 yr Warranty (to give 3 years), Gap insurance, tyre insurance, lost key insurance, 3yrs breakdown recovery.

This was 3 weeks ago. They never told me that you had to register the car with Subaru UK. All the warranty booklet says is service it every 6000 miles with a VAT registered garage, keep the invoices and you are covered.

Or , alternatively, service it as per Subaru recommendations (which is what?) keep the receipts and you are covered.

Reading this thread has me wondering. Do I still need to register the car with Subaru UK?

Advice needed please.

Danny B

Surely that must be a mistake, I thought new age cars were every 10,000 miles.

pflowers

This is why I am glad I bought UK, no hassle, no confusion.

As I said before you get what you pay for.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Dealers are quite happy to perpetuate the "hassle and confusion" as it helps to boost their profits. When I got my Pug 106 imported I needed some minor warranty work. When I took it to my dealer they had no record of it, as it was an import. They registered the car for me with Pug UK and then did the warranty work. There was a delay of 2 days while they sorted this out for me.

This was a while ago before all of the new rules had come into effect. However, I was quite happy with that.

Trumble

blip - tell me about it - I want 12.5K for my MY02 (nov) and havent had any takers.

T.

CRAIG PARRY

THEY WILL CHARGE FOR CAT1 ALARM AND A FEW OTHER OTR CHARGES - THE WARRANTY WILL ONLY BE 12MTHS, BUT GOOD SAVING TO BE HAD.

speedking

ScoobyPugh and Danny B,

Maybe the 'extended' warranty is an insurance type where you are paying a premium for cover. It may be completely unrelated to make or manufacturer of vehicle and can set whatever conditions it likes, e.g. 6000 mile main dealer services, irrespective of what is 'normal' for that vehicle.

When I got MY02 from Belgium it was a 3 year pan European warranty, has this changed?

SiDHEaD

Had an email saying NewCarSupermarket only have a few STIs left. I'm quite tempted as i no longer have warranty on my classic so i have to pay for a second car to drive to work in... At 19k I really could...

compshack

Most of the Subaru Impreza's Motorpoint sell are from either Malta or Cyprus. Both are now in the EU, so any eu import registered after May the 1st is covered by a Subaru warranty of some description. You do have to phone IM up and tell them about it and you do need a certificate of conformity to prove that it is uk spec.
Buying form Motorpoint or any other supermarket is as has been said before like buying from a wholesale warehouse. There are no frills just give us the money and you take the car.
All WRX and STi Imports come with NO alarm, No Trakker, No locking wheels nuts. They also DO NOT come with full underseal, and other bits and pieces that the UK cars come with.
If you are going to keep the car for 3 years or more they maybe you will get a bargain but do look at all aspects before giving them either a deposit (which is very hard to get back) or the remainder of the payment.
If you sell the car within the year of purchase you will find the resale value is considerbly less than a UK car, also even though Subaru dealers will service the car you still feel they are looking down at you in some way.
I bought a STi 03 from Motorpoint last year in August, by the time i'd done the alarm etc and a de-cat and remap I must have spent more than if I'd bought a UK car. I sold the car to buy a WR1 and got a lot less than if it were a Pukka one. Also all mods that are not Prodrive don't add any value to the car what so ever.
Adding PPP to a eu car as far I'm aware is not possible unless you take the car back to the country of origin.
I did try to add PPP to mine but the Subaru dealer didn't want to know, adding third party mods are all well and good for you but not so good when you come to sell.
From my own experiance, going through the supermarkets I wouldn't do it again. Not with a Subaru anyway. After all your spending maybe 20 odd grand on a car so you do need some backup and that's not what your going to get from Motoerpoint.

AR

ScoobyPugh

Can you tell me whether your Motorpoint WRX has side airbags or not?

Many thanks

AR

GaryCat

Cyprus & Malta imports are cheap because they are Cyprus/Malta spec cars and therefore do not come with a certificate of UK comformity. They will also differ slightly in their spec e.g. no underseal.

They can be obtained cheaply because Cyprus & Matlese cars are right hand drive. If you are buying a genuine EU import e.g. from Belgium or Holland usually, these are built to UK spec at the Japanese factory.

G.