www.motorpoint.co.uk (motorpoint.co.uk)

Member Name: boiledegg

Product:	motorpoint.co.uk
Date:	08/02/06 (2683 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: like the prices and breadth of range also have four sites around UK plus internet sales

Disadvantages: no test drive

I have just bought a BMW 1 series from the Derby Motorpoint showroom and I had a tell other people about it because I was really happy with the deal that I got. This is my first car that I have been able to spend a bit of cash on, so was a major purchasing decision for me. I also had my heart set on a BMW but wasn't sure if my budget would stretch to the model which I wanted. That's a bit about me though, back to the review...

I had heard good reviews about Motorpoint from my Father-in-law and also some work colleagues who had also bought from them. I was also prone to stumbling across their ads in a lot of car magazines.

I felt that I should shop around a bit and see what price I could get a BMW 1 series 118 diesel for first, before making any firm decisions. After doing so and test driving the model that I wanted at a BMW dealership I was pretty sure that this was the car for me. The only other contributing factor was that I had opted out of the company car scheme at work and so getting a vehicle quickly, was a priority for me.

First off I called the Motorpoint telesales team to see if they had the vehicle that I wanted in stock, they had three available so we went through the full specification and background behind the vehicle. It was a parallel import from the Netherlands but was right hand drive and the only ways that it differed from the same model in a UK showroom was that it had climate control rather than air conditioning and also it didn't come with an alarm. This to me was reasonable as the saving on the car was over £2k.

Motorpoint buy a lot of new cars from the continent and this is why they can pass the discounts down to the customers, however they also have a lot of nearly new (under 1.5 years) UK cars in stock, so you have the choice if you aren't keen on buying an import. I got a full three year guarantee with the car and also three years' roadside assistance. This is because I took it out on a 3x3 agreement which means over three years I pay monthly and then at the end of that period, I can part ex it in for another, hand it back or pay the remaining amount. I was keen on this scheme because they guarantee the future value of the car so you know what to expect at the end of it. I also think I'm quite likely to swap my car again in three years so on that basis it works for me.
Overall though I'm really happy with the vehicle. I found the staff helpful but quite keen to make the sale, although they did answer all of my questions and didn't mind taking their time with me.
I would recommend anyone who is looking for a new or used car to check out their website because although dealerships are great environments and slightly more amenable to the customer I like the fact that 'what you see is what you get' at a car supermarket, at a dealership I felt that I the customer was bearing the cost of the expensive looking showroom, whereas I would rather buy from a supermarket and get a nice discount on my car.

Summary: be able to get a vehicle you didn't think was affordable