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Comments:
such a great company. I THINK NOT!!! THE BBC WATCHDOG ROGUE TRADERS HAD HIM LIKE A GOODEN. HOPEFFULLY MORE ARE AWARE NOW.
There have been a lot of bad words said about this ‘dealer’ mainly because he isn’t. It’s a single bloke in charge of the operation and is really a private seller. He buys cars form auctions and does not do anything with them after this point. This then allows him to place a discount on the cars. Me and my dad went there in and snapped up a 1.6 Clio on an 04 plate. Not knowing this until we really drilled down how we managed to sell that these prices. ALL the cars have some slight scratching and are not A1 to save all you wanting something in excellent condition. But seriously you’d be mad not to. But go there with caution! If possible bring a mechanic with you and if not really take a close look at the cars put them though there paces on test drives, try three point turns reversing etc. We tried a 1.2 and found it has some problems reversing. Was on an 03 plate and I think is still there (red) However, despite this I was able to sheer £270 off my car and I’ve only had one problem with it since with an ABS ring going wrong but was very minor. I actually WOULD buy from this person again, and don’t be scared to haggle. You know the score with them now and you will be able to beat them down in price easily.
Give it a go! You can always walk away. Oh btw the cars come without tax or insurance so make sure you’re ready to spend extra when you drive away.
Hi, just wanted to say thanks for everyone for posting the comments on here. I was about to go over there tommorow to look at a 206 I was interested in but having seen the genreally negative reviews I can safely say I will not be wasting my time.
I can confirm the post underneath, the company is now goin by the name of smallcarcompany, seems as though the company changes its name annually to avoid these claims being made against them. Very dodgy. Thanks again.
I haven't bought a vehicle from the company, the feedback below should put most people off, but I did have the dealers autotrader page and ebay page saved to my favourites. They now show a company name of The Small Car Company (Kent)Limited at the same address of East Kent Cars.
Here are the links below, hope this helps.
http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/148090/stocklist.htm
i'm interested too know bigboybuzz when were you told by the court that this company had ceased trading? cause i'm going through the same thing but have not been given that information by my court.
He also traded under Kingsgate Motors. My wife bought a car from him. I never saw the car until it arrived back home. I found a sticker over the engine management light. I called him and he openly admitted he had put the sticker over but said there was nothing wrong with it and it was not a fault!!!!!!!!!
I investigated more to find the A/C pipe work snapped and tucked up inside the engine bay, all air bags were missing, the air bag light (LED) on the dashboard snapped off, seat belt pre-tensioners had fired and it became clear this car was an accident repaired vehicle. The paint work was rubbish the head lamp held in with cardboard patterned cheap parts had been used. The incorrect windscreen had been fitted, pipes missing from inside the ventilation system NEED I GO ON.
His terms are conditions are a clear Breach of the LAW as confirmed by trading standards, consumer direct and a solicitor.
We got absolutely nowhere with this guy. We took him to a small claims court and got a letter back from the court saying his company had ceased trading therefore there nothing they could do. £100 in fees down the drain. Trading standards again were powerless to act and could do nothing.
We learnt a huge lesson. Be very careful when buying a car as the LAW that is in place to protect you will let you down.
Very DISAPPOINTED.
My wife was ripped off by this guy. I wish I had gone there to inspect the car myself.
I cannot emphasise enough, how much people NEED to avoid this company. Very similar stories to those listed so far.
Car is a Category C write off. We were actually informed by the dealer (after much arguing) that that's all he deals in.
Please ignore any positive feedback. I'd agree with an ealier poster, it's more then likely the manager/owner/worker at the company making up positive feedback.
I shall be contacting the blagger.com administrators, to ask them to run IP checks on the positive posts, and ask if they can remove any from the same address, as they are misleading
hi everyone, ive recently bought a car from east kent cars and am really pleased with it. I took my boyfriend with me whos worked with cars his whole life and after an inspection he noticed it had some relatively fresh paintwork. Upon asking if the car had beenwritten off before we were greeted with an anwser of yes, however the repair was only minor and cosmetic. My boyfriend then had a thorough test drive and look over the car, and after finding nothing else wrong with the car, we were happy this was the truth.
All in all we saved £1200 on this car compared to equivalent cars on autotrader, although this had extremely low mileage for the year.
In response to the people who are unhappy at buying a cat c/d, did you do the relative checks before signing the contract if thats the sort of car you dont want? And this would be the same contract that clearly states on the front that the t&c's are printed on the back. Had you not rushed headlong into it then perhaps you wouldnt need to try to blame the company for your own mistakes.
My boyfriend was impressed with the quality of cars this company has and has said he will be returning in march to upgrade his own car,
Good people to deal with who were well mannered and polite.
BE WARNED, I bought a Fiesta from these guys when they were Kingsgate Motors. Lasted a month before all the coolent had leaked from a damaged Radiator.
I got it inspected at a garage and they said it was accident repaired with cracked airfilter, bent at the front etc they deemed the car unfit for driving as the repair job had been very shoddy and corners cut.
On taking this up with the company, They denied all knowledge and threatened me.
Avoid at all costs
We don't reccomend using this company which does have a lot of cars, but the truth is hard to come by. We purchased a car that turned out to have a history of being a class c insurance write off and we were not told. It seems a lot of this companies cars have a similar background. Fortunately we only parted with £500 deposit but they have refused us a refund. We suggest that any purchaser carries out their own HPI check and doesnt part with their money until that is done, also ask for the registration document and dont be fobbed off as we were. A really bad experience dealing with this customer, stay clear.
Do not buy from this seller..all his cars have previously been in a serious accidenst, and the repairs are very shockin!!!! the cars look ok from the outside, but get them checked they are dangerous!
i bought a car this year, it was advertsied as one od the best examples, low milage excellent condition, fully hpi checked etc! it drove well and i bougt the car, days later there was a funny noise comin from the underneath of the car took it to the garage and the worst was confirmed! the car had been in an accident and was a right off, the repairs were very bad and the car was in a dangerous condition!!
the trader is un trustworthy and a poor e xcuse 4 a tradesman!!!!
dont trust this man!!!!!!!!
dangerous cars!!!
ex write offs with bad repairs!!!!
un trustworthy!!!!
read small print on contract!!!!
previously trading as kingsgate motors!!!
do not trust!
i bought a car from this person over 3 months ago and have had no problems what so ever, they were more than helpful with queries that i had. i am very pleased with this company and would reccomend it to anyone
DO NOT buys cars from this car dealer. These cars are relly badly repaired they ARE NOT SAFE FOR THE ROAD. Dont get involved with this company. pass it along tell people not to go any where near this car dealer.
Last September I bought a fiesta from this firm, low mileage, excellent condition, some repair work had been carried out which has caused absolutely no problems whatsoever. I had part exchanged my 206 for which I was given a good price and now that I am looking to purchase my next car I will definately be going back. I have read the previous comments about this dealer and all I can say is that at the prices the cars are sold for you have to ask yourself 'whats the catch?' Well there is no catch, if you had checked the small print you would have seen that the car may have had accident damage which has been repaired, hence the prices. Anyone who knows anything about the second hand car trade would realise that accident damaged vehicles have to be repaired to a good standard to be certified by VOSA. With the price of cars these days I am grateful that the option to by vehicles such as these is available locally! PS., for those that haven't checked the small print on their invoice... duh!
Steer clear of this man; he has deliberately avoided giving a full history of a car that was purchased. He did not inform me that the car had been in a severe accident. Repairs that he carried out were shoddy, inferior and dangerous. These faults could not have been detected without the vehicle being stripped down and a wing removed by a qualified engineer.
WARNING - There is small print on the reverse of the sales invoice, this was not pointed out or explained at all, at the time of purchase.
This all points to the underhand manner, in which this man sells his vehicle to the unsuspecting public.
DO NOT BUY FROM HIM, DARGATE MOTORS LTD, TRADING AS EAST KENT
great customer service, i recently purchased a renault clio of this garage and had a px to trade they offered me a good price compared to all the garages i had visited that week and even offered to put in a cd player which my daugther wanted. the car came with a new mot and was valeted and all at a good price what more can i say, good service all round. keep up the good work. mr hulse.
About 3 months ago i bought my clio sport from this company, its such a good car, lovely to drive and i still dont mind the fact that it was written off as a cat C!!! Considering it was the cheapest 1 around at that time, i knew that there would have been something that had happened to it to make it cheap, im even going back to this company to buy my mum a car for her birthday!! a* company!!!!
my advice to anyone who wants to by a car from this dealership is to make sure it is checked by an engineer as a car i was interested in turned out to be a repaired write off ! the repair work looked fine infact you would never have known without checking with your insurance company first, mine said it would need a an report to say it was road worthy before they could consider insuring it.
this dealer never mentioned in his car advert the car had been involved in an accident !!
A very dodgy set up, after reading previous comments I did some research on a car that I was interested in !! I was not told it that it had previously been written off.
Further research revealed they are currently under investigation by Trading standards so my advice is to take your money else where.
STEER CLEAR - Refused to return 500pound deposit when vehicle check revealed two insurance write offs on vehicle and my ins co refused to insure without an engineers report. Told 98% of all his cars also write offs, dealer advised me not to tell my insurers of this!He witholds vital information and I will be pursuing for the return of my deposit.
When you buy a 2nd hand car from a dealer, even though it doesn't come with a warranty, you still have some legal protection. YOu will need to look at the following document supplied by the CAB and take advice from your local Tradinh Standards office:
A 2nd hand car purchased from a dealer should be of sellable quality. I would find that a car breaking down within 2 hours of purchase is not what I would call sellable quality. Indeed the dealer may be committing a criminal act.
Make sure that you read fully the terms and conditions on the reverse of your purchase form, and ask for all paperwork held in relation to any vehicle before signing or parting with any money!The vehicles supplied do not have any warranty, and we were unable to get a refund within 2 hours of purchase, when it appeared to be defective. Nice cheap motors, but at what cost?
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
There have been a lot of bad words said about this ‘dealer’ mainly because he isn’t. It’s a single bloke in charge of the operation and is really a private seller. He buys cars form auctions and does not do anything with them after this point. This then allows him to place a discount on the cars. Me and my dad went there in and snapped up a 1.6 Clio on an 04 plate. Not knowing this until we really drilled down how we managed to sell that these prices. ALL the cars have some slight scratching and are not A1 to save all you wanting something in excellent condition. But seriously you’d be mad not to. But go there with caution! If possible bring a mechanic with you and if not really take a close look at the cars put them though there paces on test drives, try three point turns reversing etc. We tried a 1.2 and found it has some problems reversing. Was on an 03 plate and I think is still there (red) However, despite this I was able to sheer £270 off my car and I’ve only had one problem with it since with an ABS ring going wrong but was very minor. I actually WOULD buy from this person again, and don’t be scared to haggle. You know the score with them now and you will be able to beat them down in price easily.
Give it a go! You can always walk away. Oh btw the cars come without tax or insurance so make sure you’re ready to spend extra when you drive away.
L
I can confirm the post underneath, the company is now goin by the name of smallcarcompany, seems as though the company changes its name annually to avoid these claims being made against them. Very dodgy. Thanks again.
mikeymike25 at 6th Jun 2010, 09:55PM
Here are the links below, hope this helps.
http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/148090/stocklist.htm
http://ebayshowroom.ebaymotorspro.co.uk/showroom.html?customerId=1025821&adId=12000000005633237
Scarface at 8th Apr 2010, 09:38AM
He also traded under Kingsgate Motors. My wife bought a car from him. I never saw the car until it arrived back home. I found a sticker over the engine management light. I called him and he openly admitted he had put the sticker over but said there was nothing wrong with it and it was not a fault!!!!!!!!!
I investigated more to find the A/C pipe work snapped and tucked up inside the engine bay, all air bags were missing, the air bag light (LED) on the dashboard snapped off, seat belt pre-tensioners had fired and it became clear this car was an accident repaired vehicle. The paint work was rubbish the head lamp held in with cardboard patterned cheap parts had been used. The incorrect windscreen had been fitted, pipes missing from inside the ventilation system NEED I GO ON.
His terms are conditions are a clear Breach of the LAW as confirmed by trading standards, consumer direct and a solicitor.
We got absolutely nowhere with this guy. We took him to a small claims court and got a letter back from the court saying his company had ceased trading therefore there nothing they could do. £100 in fees down the drain. Trading standards again were powerless to act and could do nothing.
We learnt a huge lesson. Be very careful when buying a car as the LAW that is in place to protect you will let you down.
Very DISAPPOINTED.
My wife was ripped off by this guy. I wish I had gone there to inspect the car myself.
please read the negative comments!!!!
this trader needs to be avoided at all costs!!
do not trust! all of his cars are write offs and un safe!!
the positive comments are un true!!
steer clear!!!!
Car is a Category C write off. We were actually informed by the dealer (after much arguing) that that's all he deals in.
Please ignore any positive feedback. I'd agree with an ealier poster, it's more then likely the manager/owner/worker at the company making up positive feedback.
I shall be contacting the blagger.com administrators, to ask them to run IP checks on the positive posts, and ask if they can remove any from the same address, as they are misleading
All in all we saved £1200 on this car compared to equivalent cars on autotrader, although this had extremely low mileage for the year.
In response to the people who are unhappy at buying a cat c/d, did you do the relative checks before signing the contract if thats the sort of car you dont want? And this would be the same contract that clearly states on the front that the t&c's are printed on the back. Had you not rushed headlong into it then perhaps you wouldnt need to try to blame the company for your own mistakes.
My boyfriend was impressed with the quality of cars this company has and has said he will be returning in march to upgrade his own car,
Good people to deal with who were well mannered and polite.
I got it inspected at a garage and they said it was accident repaired with cracked airfilter, bent at the front etc they deemed the car unfit for driving as the repair job had been very shoddy and corners cut.
On taking this up with the company, They denied all knowledge and threatened me.
Avoid at all costs
i bought a car this year, it was advertsied as one od the best examples, low milage excellent condition, fully hpi checked etc! it drove well and i bougt the car, days later there was a funny noise comin from the underneath of the car took it to the garage and the worst was confirmed! the car had been in an accident and was a right off, the repairs were very bad and the car was in a dangerous condition!!
the trader is un trustworthy and a poor e xcuse 4 a tradesman!!!!
dont trust this man!!!!!!!!
dangerous cars!!!
ex write offs with bad repairs!!!!
un trustworthy!!!!
read small print on contract!!!!
previously trading as kingsgate motors!!!
do not trust!
WARNING - There is small print on the reverse of the sales invoice, this was not pointed out or explained at all, at the time of purchase.
This all points to the underhand manner, in which this man sells his vehicle to the unsuspecting public.
DO NOT BUY FROM HIM, DARGATE MOTORS LTD, TRADING AS EAST KENT
this dealer never mentioned in his car advert the car had been involved in an accident !!
Further research revealed they are currently under investigation by Trading standards so my advice is to take your money else where.
When you buy a 2nd hand car from a dealer, even though it doesn't come with a warranty, you still have some legal protection. YOu will need to look at the following document supplied by the CAB and take advice from your local Tradinh Standards office:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/c_secondhand_cars.pdf
A 2nd hand car purchased from a dealer should be of sellable quality. I would find that a car breaking down within 2 hours of purchase is not what I would call sellable quality. Indeed the dealer may be committing a criminal act.
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