Customer reviews of Ideal Car Centre

By Daniel on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Very happy with my purchase. Nice clean car at a good price. The salesmen weren't pushy at all. Overall a pleasant experience. Would recommend.

By Victoria on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

A really pleasant and easy buying experience from the start. Lots of choice and good prices, the staff were very helpful, and I love my car and have had no problems whatsoever. Would definitely recommend.

By Simon B on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Very friendly and helpful. The car was for my son so I traveled from Hertfordshire to collect the car and I was even collected from the local train station. It was a nice surprise to find the car in such good condition (as described on the phone) and good value for money. Would recommend a visit.

By John on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

I went to see a car I found in Autotrader and the staff at the Ideal Car Centre were all extremely helpful and not pushy at all. I was left to look round the car in peace and then they answered all the questions I had. The car was a great price and I got a fair price for my part exchange and went for a test drive without any problems. A very pleasant experience and I would definitely recommend the dealer.

By Sophie N on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

No pressure to buy at the Ideal Car Centre. Lots of high end stock.

By T P on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

iDeal had a relatively rare car (a low mileage 4WD Jag X type estate) that particularly suited our needs. And at what we thought was a very fair price. But not being local I’d never heard of this garage. We read their reviews, and to be honest were a little unsure. Lots of good ones, but some not so good. But the less good ones spanned several years, some seemed a bit trivial, the responses from the dealer seemed reasonable, so we went to see for ourselves. We liked the car, liked the people, so bought it. Is that so far worth 6*? Of course not. The car had been (like all their cars) independently inspected. A failed suspension coil spring was being replaced and the rear bumper had a crack that was being repaired. Both were indeed done with no problems. We drove the car back to Yorkshire and all was well – until we reached a mini-roundabout in Ripon. On the tight turn, at modest speed, there was a grinding noise. Not there when parking at low speed, or normal driving – so hadn’t shown up on a test drive, or even getting as far as Ripon. We were able to recreate the noise in a quiet car park that evening, videod it, and emailed the video to Andy at iDeal. He rang us first thing next morning, and said take the car to our local garage for inspection. They diagnosed a broken wheel bearing – but also highlighted splits on the inner faces of 2 of the tyres, and damage to a rear rubber suspension bush. No big deal, but needed sorting. Now iDeal didn’t know about these problems; I know that because I know Andy himself had driven the car to Blackpool and back, and you don’t do that if you know there are problems with 2 tyres. Nor could you really blame them for not knowing – I drove 80 miles before any hint of a problem of wheel bearing or suspension; and the tyres looked fine, but had perished on the inner walls through lack of use over many years by the previous owner. A combination of Andy driving the car to Blackpool, and my driving it to Ripon, had probably opened up splits in the tyres their inspection had missed – but had also been missed by the garage used by the previous owner to MOT it not long before, so by no means a glaring error. We rang Andy again, who dealt with the whole thing. He arranged for the warranty company (a free warranty comes I think with all their non-trade cars) to pay for the suspension and wheel bearing, and iDeal paid for brand new tyres. The car was fixed at our local garage, we never paid out a penny. No hassle, no problems, no argument, all we had to do was get our mechanic to explain the issues to iDeal’s mechanic and send pics of the items and the quote and Andy sorted it. It is the least hassle I have ever had when dealing with any problem with any car I’ve bought, and I’ve bought a few over the last 45 years. And THAT level of after-sales service IS worth 6*! Any garage can buy a decent car and sell it to you. But it’s the ones that honestly sell you a car, and then if you do discover an issue, go the extra mile to sort it out for you that I’d go back to. Buy with confidence – not every used car will be perfect (and this was a 12 year old car, albeit with low mileage), and no garage can spot every issue every time. But they are honest decent people, and if you are unlucky enough to have a problem my advice is don’t go off on one as some people seem to do, just be fair and reasonable about it and they will treat you the same. Thanks Andy.

By A B on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Ideal Car Centre wanted me to commit to buy to get a test drive! Booked an appointment with them to view a car, making it clear i required a test drive as part of the appointment. Arrived on the day and after a short chat, where i made clear i was in a position to buy - was told by the salesperson that I had to give a commitment to buy the car, providing the test drive was satisfactory. The salesperson told me this was normal practice. Needless to say I did not proceed and will not bother with this dealer again. Would not recommend to anyone based on this experience

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 10/11/23

We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your experience. When you booked an appointment we did state that the appointment was to view the vehicle. Then if you were happy with the vehicle after viewing it we could have gone for a test drive, however you stated that you did not like the car enough to buy it, therefore a test drive would have been pointless. We are happy for customers to have test drives and usually recommend all customers test drive a car before buying, however unfortunately as we explained to you at the time, we are a small dealer and do not operate demonstrator models like a main dealer would. You told us you had no intention of buying our car and as we also explained when you were there, at the time you turned up we only had one member of staff present and also 3 other customers, one of whom who had already purchased a vehicle and another who was there to purchase a vehicle, so unfortunately at that time we simply did not have the manpower to be able to take you out for a test drive in a car you yourself admitted you had no interest in buying. We explained that we operate a try before you buy policy whereby if you were looking to purchase this vehicle we would happily go for a test drive. As you told us you had no intention of buying our vehicle any time soon we explained that there was little point you driving the car at this time but that if you decided that you did indeed like our car enough to buy it then we would be happy for you to make an appointment to come back and test drive the car. Once again if you do decide at any point that this is the car for you, we would be happy for you to come back and drive the car, but if you are just wanting to see what this type of car drives like then we would recommend driving a demonstrator model at a main dealer as that is exactly what they are for.

By Daniel V on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Bought a Clio Renault Sport 197 for £3490, dealer was a pleasure to do business with very helpful for the test drive and valeting service included, car is great price and no issues with it highly recommended dealership

By Lisa on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

I purchased an Audi A3 from this dealership and immediately fell in love with the car, the sales experience was effortless and I didn’t feel any pressure to purchase the car at all, I was advised however that the Audi’s are selling very quickly at the moment and that it would be beneficial to come to a decision sooner rather than later to secure the vehicle, out of interest I looked on their website some time after and noticed that every single of their 4 or 5 Audi’s they had at the time had all sold!

By Mark J on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

I have to say that after finding the cheapest car for it's age and mileage online I expected the worst. After making a telephone enquiry I was pleasantly surprised, the salesman was friendly, polite and very knowledgeable. I decided to make a trip over ( Some 120 Miles) and visited the dealership which is basically a unit on an Industrial estate. On my arrival I was welcomed inside and left alone to have a look around my car. I couldn't fault it, it was exactly what I was looking for. I was invited into the office where I was shown all the paperwork and after a brief discussion with the salesman about what my intentions were we were taken on a test drive. I couldn't take the car right away as I needed to move some money from my savings so I left a £1000 deposit to secure the car. We arranged to collect the car the following Wednesday and I was told I must pay the balance 24 Hours before by online bank transfer. I have to admit, this made me feel uneasy and the more I thought about it the more I worried. I rang the dealer the next day to ask if I could pay by debit card upon collection and was advised that this is not allowed, they tried to put my mind at rest and explained that they take so many payments and it was cost effective for them to take it by bank transfer and also explained that if there was any issues with the card payment I would obviously not be able to collect my car, being so far away I couldn't take that risk either. I made my payment and the following day I collected my car. On my collection day I arrived a little late so had to wait a short time as the salesman was with another customer but when he was free the handover was quick and efficient. He set the tax up for me went through all the paperwork and off I went. I have had no issues with my car so I cant comment on the aftersales but I have dealt with many people in my 70 years and I found all the staff at Ideal to be friendly, straight talking and honest. I have already recommended this dealer to my friends and family and I hope they continue to focus on customer service as they continue to grow. Mark