Originally Posted On: https://carexamer.com/blog/the-7-worst-car-dealers-in-the-uk-rated-on-trustpilot-2021/
Buying a car is a risky business if you’re not sure what you’re looking for or don’t have a professional service on hand to help. Although there are services like CarExamer out there that will test and check any used car for you before you sign the paperwork, many people believe in the principle of honest business alone. With car dealers, that isn’t always a smart thing to do.
We have taken to Trustpilot to find the 10 worst rated car dealers that the UK has to offer, all in just a small effort to show you just what kind of market is out there. All of this information is 100% factual at the time of writing, and not the opinion of the CarExamer brand. To find it, we viewed the last pages of the best car dealers on Trustpilot, no matter what the status of the profile, as long as it had more than 10 reviews.
7 Glasgow Trade Sales
Glasgow trade sales have an overall rating of 2.2 on Trustpilot. Despite having a handful of 5 star reviews from 2018, the vast majority at 1 star reviews including the 5 most recent. The reviews mention multiple issues with the sellers, from fraudulent warranties through to selling write offs, blocking customers communications, and selling generally very poor quality vehicles. They do also have a number of 5 star reviews as mentioned, however, but not at least since pre COVID-19.
6 RMB Automotive
RMB Automotive is a Toyota dealer based in Teesside. They have a Trustpilot score of 2.1 and a total of 20 reviews. 85% of these reviews are 1 star, which is not a great sign for a large Toyota dealer, no matter what the reasons. The reviews largely criticise the sales team more than anything about the vehicles (although not exclusively). Reviews state that the sales team are unorganised and unprofessional, as well as not being interested in cash buyers and leaning biased toward finance agreements.
5 Wheels Deals cars
Wheels Deals Cars is a London based dealer that has an overall Trustpilot score of 2.1. With just 11 reviews it is the smallest profile in the list, but it remains to have over 73% of negative reviews, next to all of which have the same problems outlined. These issues are typically that after a matter of weeks, the cars sold have critical errors. The dealer will not take any responsibility for these errors, leading many of the customers to court actions, or so reviews claim.
4 Renault UK
Amazingly, Renault UK is next on the list, with a score of 1.8 on Trustpilot coming from over 340 reviews, 83% of which are 1 star. These reviews are referencing multiple branches of the country, all of which discuss the quality of the cars and the service they have received from Renault, the vast majority of which are warning to stay away due to the terrible quality even when buying new and the lack of help the Renault provide, even after publicly addressing almost every negative review.
3 Jardine Motors
Jardine Motors is another large dealer network on the list with over 230 reviews gaining a total score of 2.1 overall. The 74% of the reviews which are negative largely argue the point of poor quality service rather than poor quality vehicles, as the brands represented are largely luxury or high spec vehicles like Jaguar, Landrover, McLaren etc. Even on brand new vehicles being repaired within weeks of purchase there are reviews stating that the company simply isn’t interested and is very poorly managed. While they may not be cowboys, when cars of this value are being ignored it can be a real minefield for customers.
2 Carcraft
Carcraft is a very large seller with a large online presence too, selling cars across multiple platforms to buyers all around the country. With over 1000 reviews and an overall score of 1.8, Carcraft is one of the worst rated online dealers we have viewed, with customers claiming all kinds of scandalous behaviour suggesting very unethical practices, poor management, and very poor quality vehicles being sold without a care.
1 Mercedes Benz
Although the account for the Mercedes UK dealer profile is unclaimed on Trustpilot, it has still amassed over 980+ reviews regarding dealers all over the country, 77% of which are negative and discuss all aspects of the dealership and its issues. These issues include poor post purchase support and repairs (taking months to be carried out) through to simply unknowledgeable and untrained sales staff who carry the brand poorly. For such a prestigious car brand, this is very surprising to say the least.
Conclusion
Even some of the biggest names in the automotive industry clearly have some issues in their operation and with the vehicles that they choose to sell, just like the small scale dealers too. Cars are very tricky things to buy and to sell alike. With so many complex areas to monitor and so much responsibility required from each and every car sold, there’s always a huge potential for things to go wrong. No matter if the car dealers are the best or the worst rated, there are always cars that can fall under the radar.
Of course, not every review for these companies is negative. It’s often just as easy to go right as it is to go wrong with car buying. The most important thing to remember through it all is that no matter where you buy, always make sure you’re doing all you can to protect yourself, both on the road and in your wallet.
