Customer reviews of Ideal Car Centre

By Kiefer R on 17 October 2025 | Purchase not verified

Thank you to Paul & the team at Ideal, for a seamless purchase of my new car. From start to finish they were outstanding, professional and attentive. Paul followed up after delivery to make sure everything was ok with the car.Couldn’t ask for more, Thanks Guys 👏

By Anonymous on 28 August 2025 | Purchase not verified

Absolutely LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, its great to be able to go to a garage and look at the car in your own time without any hard sell, gave me the keys to have a good look inside and out and just knew she was the one for me! Would highly recommend.

By Anonymous on 26 June 2025 | Purchase not verified

Very helpful staff.

By Stu P on 15 May 2025 | Purchase not verified

Really don't want to leave a negative review, as Andy was helpful; however, after picking the car up, there were some minor issues we felt iDeal Car Centre would help with. Split drop links with play in the joints - MOT failure (didn't even flag as a minor) also very noisy flat spots with minimal tread on the rear tyres, photographs of both. The garages they use should flag these, but they must have been missed, human error can occur on occasion. After some email communications, it's clear they won't help. 100% recommend getting your own full inspection done prior to purchase to be sure there's no issues you need to fix on collecting the vehicle. Yes, it's a used car coming up to 9 years old but these are simple repairs. Minor issues to a garage, but it really sours the purchase. I was more than happy to go 50/50 with the costs and use their preferred garage. I didn't want to leave a negative review, but now I've got to spend time and more money to get these issues resolved

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 15/05/25

Hello Stuart, whilst we are sorry to hear you are unhappy this review is utterly disingenuous. Your purchased a 9 year old car with almost 100,000 miles on which was also the cheapest in the country. You brought a 'master technician' with you who inspected the vehicle and confirmed it was in excellent condition and he could not fault it. Not only this but we had an independent garage carry out an MOT, service and inspection prior to you collecting the car and rectified any issues which arose on the MOT and the car then was inspected at another independent garage including putting it on a ramp and also test driving it and they could find no faults. Your complaints on a car of this age relate to flat spots on tyres which all have plenty of tread left, and drop links which neither the MOT station nor the independent garage found any issues with. Obviously in this scenario we have done everything we can to ensure the car has no faults and we have to rely on the opinion who two separate experts who maintain the car does not have any faults. You stated yourself you had the car on a ramp and inspected immediately purchase so you are clearly looking for faults, and even stated yourself these 'issues' were minor. Unfortunately you are looking for a new car but have only paid for a 9 year old 100,000 mile car and your expectations need to be in line with this. Despite this the car is in excellent condition with no faults. We even stated to you that if you wanted to speak to the MOT station and they confirmed they made an error on the MOT we would be happy to help you, but the MOT station confirmed there was no error. I am not sure what more we could do in this scenario. On top of this we spent hours and hours with you on the phone and over email trying to help and answering your questions. You have had excellent service and have a car with a full MOT and service with no issues but are still unhappy simply due to it not being a 'new' car.

By Stuart P on 15 May 2025 | Purchase not verified

Really don't want to leave a negative review as Andy was helpful, however after picking the car up there were some minor issues we felt iDeal Car Centre would help with. Split drop links with play in the joints - MOT failure (didn't even flag as a minor) also very noisy flat spots with minimal tread on rear tyres, photographs of both. The garages they use should flag these but they must have been missed, human error can occur on occasion. After some email communications it's clear they won't help. 100% recommend getting your own full inspection done prior to purchase to be sure there's no issues you need to fix on collecting the vehicle, yes it's a used car coming up to 9 years old but these are simple repairs. Minor issues to a garage but it really sours the purchase. I was more than happy to go 50/50 with the costs and use their preferred garage. I didn't want to leave a negative review, but now I've got to spend time and more money to get these issues resolved

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 16/05/25

Hello Stuart, whilst we are sorry to hear you are unhappy this review is utterly disingenuous. Your purchased a 9 year old car with almost 100,000 miles on which was also the cheapest in the country. You brought a 'master technician' with you who inspected the vehicle and confirmed it was in excellent condition and he could not fault it. Not only this but we had an independent garage carry out an MOT, service and inspection prior to you collecting the car and rectified any issues which arose on the MOT and the car then was inspected at another independent garage including putting it on a ramp and also test driving it and they could find no faults. Your complaints on a car of this age relate to flat spots on tyres which all have plenty of tread left, and drop links which neither the MOT station nor the independent garage found any issues with. Obviously in this scenario we have done everything we can to ensure the car has no faults and we have to rely on the opinion who two separate experts who maintain the car does not have any faults. You stated yourself you had the car on a ramp and inspected immediately purchase so you are clearly looking for faults, and even stated yourself these 'issues' were minor. Unfortunately you are looking for a new car but have only paid for a 9 year old 100,000 mile car and your expectations need to be in line with this. Despite this the car is in excellent condition with no faults. We even stated to you that if you wanted to speak to the MOT station and they confirmed they made an error on the MOT we would be happy to help you, but the MOT station confirmed there was no error. I am not sure what more we could do in this scenario. On top of this we spent hours and hours with you on the phone and over email trying to help and answering your questions. You have had excellent service and have a car with a full MOT and service with no issues but are still unhappy simply due to it not being a 'new' car.

By Anonymous on 26 March 2025 | Purchase not verified

The entire buying process was seamless and efficient. From test driving to finalizing the paperwork, everything was handled with professionalism and care. They even assisted with financing options, making the whole experience stress-free.

By Sandy S on 24 March 2025 | Purchase not verified

Excellent service. Paul was very helpful and friendly. We drove away in the new car straight away. Pleasure to do business with. Many thanks from Steve and Sandy

By Gav N on 24 February 2025 | Purchase not verified

Great experience dealing with iDeal Car Centre. Booked to see the car and even though I turned up very early for the appointment the staff were still happy to show me around. They let me have a good nosey round the car without standing over me and adding that extra pressure some sales people seem to do. Paul was class to deal with, answered all the questions and more than happy to let me take the car out for a spin.The car itself was in top condition, very clean and serviced by them. I was offered a reasonable trade in value for my high mileage A6 and the process was easy and completely hassle free. The car was prepped and ready to collect within a few days. I was a little hesitant when I first saw the dealership, but the car they sold me is a dream, the staff are great and the service is top notch. I’d deffo purchase from iDeal again. Thanks guys.

By Kumari M on 05 February 2025 | Purchase not verified

I recently purchased a Range Rover from iDeal Car Centre, and the experience was absolutely fantastic. The car was four hours away, so understandably, I had a LOT of questions over several phone calls. Andy and Dan answered every single one, no matter how ridiculous they were (sorry for hounding your phone line!!). I decided to secure the car with a deposit and I am glad I did as there was a lot of interest in it.When it came time to pick up my car, Paul met me at the local train station, which was an added bonus. My car is gorgeous, complete with a new service and MOT. I was quite nervous about driving it, as I’ve only had one other automatic—and that was a long time ago. Paul took the time to explain all the extras in the car that I wasn’t familiar with and even stayed with me while I drove around to get used to it.I highly recommend this garage, and I will definitely be a repeat customer in the future. Thank you for all your help, team! 😊Little update - my car drove beautifully on the four hour trip home. Thanks once again all 🌟

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 05/02/25

Thank you so much for your glowing reviews Kumari. It was a pleasure to deal with you and we are so glad you are happy with your car, it is a lovely example. We hope you have many happy miles in it, and when you are ready to come and buy that Porsche as discussed feel free to give us a call. Thank you again and take care.

By Anonymous on 31 January 2025 | Purchase not verified

I recommend thoroughly researching this dealership before making a purchase. In my personal experience, I encountered significant challenges within 3 weeks of buying a vehicle here. A pre-existing fault resulted in the vehicle becoming undriveable, and I did not feel I received adequate support from the dealership in resolving the issue.Throughout the repair process, I kept them informed at every step. I invited them to speak directly with the garage handling the repair and to utilize their own parts suppliers, since they claimed they could source parts more affordably. Despite my efforts, they never followed up nor proactively assisted in the process.Ultimately, I had to pay for the repairs myself, only to be told afterward by the dealership that the repair costs were excessive and they would offer less than half of the repair, for which I would also be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This left me feeling frustrated and unsupported.I also learned, after the fact, that the dealership had recorded at least one of our phone calls without informing me beforehand, which I found strange for a supposedly reputable business.Based on what I’ve seen, there are multiple negative reviews from other customers, and I wish I had read more of them before purchasing in good faith. I expect the dealership may respond to this review at length, but I am simply sharing my personal experience so others can do their own research and make an informed decision.I understand other customers may have different experiences, but I felt it important to share mine.This is the first bad review I've left on here for anyone, for any reason.

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 01/02/25

Unfortunately we need to correct this review with the true events. In reality the customer has overpaid for repairs despite us telling him not to, he went ahead without our permission and instead of being unhappy with the garage who overcharged him, he is embarrassed and threatened us with negative reviews if we didn't pay the hugely inflated bill in full. The customer had the car inspected by the AA prior to sale which found no faults except a top mount we had already stated we were replacing as soon as he enquired. 3 weeks later a wishbone has snapped and we were pricing up repairs to cover the cost. We told the customer not to have repairs carried out without speaking to us first, but instead he had not only that repair carried out but another repair which he didn't tell us about which wasn't even required as that part had already been replaced. He stated that he was happy for us to cover what it should cost us and he would cover the extra. He then gave us a bill 3x over what it should have been. We actually agreed to contribute 50% despite the extra work we were unaware of and the extra cost, and he then went back on his word and decided he wanted the full bill paying or he threatened bad reviews, all because he could not contact us first or wait an extra day for a repair. We went over and above what was required with this customer to help, but unfortunately we cannot be held to ransom simply because customers have acted against our advice and requests through impatience or ignorance.