Customer reviews of Ideal Car Centre

By David M on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

It was a first for me when I bought a 2011 MX5 online! The risk was that I paid for it in full before seeing it. Positives: Danny went to great lengths to point out blemishes and faults with the car. Bear in mind that it is an 11 years old car one does not expect perfection. The body marks were described with absolute honesty and there were no surprises. If anything, I expected a little bit worse. The handover was excellent, I was collected from the train station by Ben who was polite and punctual and wee bit of an MX5 fan. Danny was pleasant and explained everything in the handover. At the end of the day, a fair car at a fair price. Negatives: Nothing really to write home about. I asked if there were 2 keys with the car. Technically there were but both need to be refurbished. The premises are minimalist but designed for out of town buyers, rather than passing trade. The warranty is probably as much use as a chocolate teapot. A £500 limit only on big ticket, catastrophic events which are rare. Hopefully I will never have to test it! I would not hesitate to use again. Nothing was over-promised.

By Bethany M on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Dan at ideal was an absolute pleasure, from the first visit he was professional, open and upfront. He was always on hand and able to answer all of my million phonecalls with questions and queries and even managed to rearrange our pickup of the new car sooner than originally agreed He made the whole experience seamless and stressfree. Thanks a million Dan!

By Kevin W on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Booked an appointment and car was available for viewing when I arrived. Greeted by Daniel who was very polite and helpful and offered what I considered to be a very fair trade in deal for my car. Purchase and exchange was completed within an hour and then back on my way up north and east. From my experience I would recommend a friend to this dealership, 👍

By Tom on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

What an incredible independent garage iDeal Car Centre is. Daniel and the rest of the staff are exceptional and the cars are like brand new. The price I paid for my car was the best in the North West and iDeal was recommended to me by my partner who bought one of his cars from them a few years ago. There were little to no problems during the purchase of my car but any questions or anything that arose, Daniel and the team did their utmost to sort it quicker than I could blink. Incredible. If, when I do come to change my car, I want another second-hard but practically brand new car, I’ll be coming straight back to iDeal!

By Mark on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Rude, difficult, generally unhelpful and worst of all lies. Be exceptionally cautious here!

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 10/11/23

We are sorry to receive your review however unfortunately your review isn’t the truth. You enquired several times on our car and we responded by email every time and tried to ring you on numerous occasions. Eventually we spoke to you and could not offer what you wanted for your part exchange. You then messaged yet again claiming you hadnt contacted us, and didn’t have a part exchange, and that we hadn’t replied to your fresh enquiry, Yet when we showed you proof we had replied to all your enquiries including previous ones you denied making, you got aggressive and rude and claimed to have bought a car elsewhere already. At which point we questioned why you had made a fresh enquiry if you had already purchased a car and had no intention of buying ours. It was a very strange exchange which thankfully we have records of all of it. You simply seemed to be looking for an argument and threatened lots of bad reviews such as this one.

By Krisztina on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

I'd give 0 starts if there was an option for it!!! They've made my life hell in the past 3months. I have bought a ds3 from them ( on finance, thank god for that) on 20th of November. 4year old car advertised with low mileage and great condition. As soon as I had the car delivered, the driver told me that the parking sensors are not working, but I don't have to worry as the dealer is aware of it, and it's a minor problem what can be fixed it 20 minutes. The car was delivered at 8pm in pitch black which assured I couldn't carry out a test drive or an inspection of the vehicle. The next morning I had the long waited drive of my first ever car, only to discover multiple issues with it (city brake not working and the main computer switching on and off every 2-3 minutes ( I am not exaggerating) and displaying different minor faults all the time, and there was no full service history either as they claimed in their advert.To cut long story short the dealer didn't admit to the issue,they were keep telling me lies about ordering parts and getting appointment booked . I had an independent mechanic carrying out an inspection to prove to them that the car is faulty. Obviously the report supported my claims. Still no help from them, warranty is not a thing there, communication is so bad, customer service is awful. 3 months later I got rid of the car with the help of the finance company. Just before the car was taken from me ( I never really used car) I had received a Safety Recall letter from Citroen claiming that the car needs an urgent update which will be done by the them for free of charge, I think that proves my point. Horrible first car experience! AVOID THIS PLACE!!!

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 10/11/23

We are sorry to hear you are unhappy, however unfortunately your claims are not remotely correct. You arranged to have the car delivered through YOUR OWN delivery company. It is their responsibility to check the car when they collect it, which they did and signed to confirm the car was as described and had no faults and worked as it should - all of which happened in daylight. You subsequently had a parking sensor fail (a £10 part) and the screen began resetting itself which was diagnosed as a simple software update. We offered to cover this under warranty and booked you into a local garage. Both ourselves and the garage tried to contact you when you failed to turn up but you ignored both of our calls and would not speak to us. You then contacted the finance company to reject the car. We asked you to return the car do we could inspect it to establish the faults and you refused to do so. The car also was exactly as described with history. You refused to communicate with us.

By Jack M on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Terrible customer service. Firstly, I was made to pay in full for a car that I had never seen ‘because of COVID’ which I get but then you’ve spent thousands without seeing what you’re buying. A deposit would be better. From there they were inflexible on times I could collect the car. On the night I was picking up the car they were late arriving. There were scratches all over the car like someone had keyed it. Credit where credit is due, they sorted that and delivered it the next day. The car also hadn’t been cleaned which is a bit poor. The car itself is nice and I’m happy with it. However, the parcel shelf in the photos is not in my car I told them this around 2 days after I bought it. It’s been around a month of me chasing them calling and texting and I’ve been lied to about having it ordered. They told me it had been ordered and when asking for confirmation the date on it was around a week ago, days after they told me it was ordered. All I get is ignored, passed around or blatant lies. All I want is a parcel shelf. Customer service is a very important thing, and Ideal car centre have some of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced Before they reply saying I’ve been rude or anything else, I’ve been reasonable and understanding throughout.

By Robert P on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Absolutely shocking customer service. Was called a weirdo because I wanted to view a £7000 car before paying for it. After just 2 messages, demanded payment in full without even seeing the car.

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 10/11/23

Actually this customer is unhappy and became very rude and abusive as we refused to break the law and allow him to view and test drive a car during lockdown and endanger both our business and the health and safety of our staff and their family. This 'customer' enquired over Facebook and stated he would not buy a car without viewing or driving it. We informed him that unfortunately under the current legislation we were not allowed to open for him to do so but were allowed to sell the car over the phone or online and offer click and collect should he wish, including a 3 month warranty on the car and a full refund should the car not be as described on collection. We explained we have sold many cars this way and it was his choice. Unfortunately he began swearing and insulting members of staff as we were not allowed to open specifically for him and we informed him that he was not allowed to leave his house simply to view cars as it was not considered an essential journey and he could be fined for it. He then started accusing us of being 'scammers'. He even drove to our site which was closed, rang after hours because he couldn’t see the car which was inside our locked showroom and then started swearing at our staff over the phone and calling us abusive names. Fortunately we have kept copies of his abusive messages including the disgusting language he used.

By M on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Possibly the worst car experience I have ever had in 20 years. Arrogant, threatening , and extremely rude when I enquired about a car which I was I interested in but still not satisfied about the price. Quite unbelievable attitude and would strongly advise against giving this company any enquires in the future

Reply from Ideal Car Centre on 10/11/23

We are sorry to hear you are unhappy as we pride ourselves on good customer service. As you have not given your details or any actual details of what happened we cannot confirm who you are however if you are the gentlemen who emailed whilst we were closed during the Coronavirus lockdown on our BMW X5, you informed us very bluntly you were not interested in our car at that price despite it being reduced by £1,000 during our sale, the cheapest in the country, and £3,000 below the market value. You were politely informed of this and advised if you were not happy with the price that unfortunately we could not help you and you would need to buy a different car if you did not want to buy ours at the sale price. We have copies of these emails to prove this. You then wished to complain to a manager at which point you claimed your emails said something completely different. When we read the emails to you to confirm your complaint you became extremely rude and aggressive. We are at a loss to your claims of being threatened or anyone being rude or aggressive. Thankfully our calls are recorded and we are happy to replay them for you to show we were at all times polite and trying to be helpful, you were simply unhappy we would not reduce the car further. Again we are sorry to hear you were unhappy but we are more then happy to provide copies of the emails and phone recordings should you still not be satisfied.

By Steve on 10 November 2023 | Purchase not verified

Great company to deal with, Very professional Team, friendly and knowledgable. i would recommend them to friends and family. Thank you to all at Idea car centre