# Cargiant - Good or Bad?



## JMR (9 Feb 2010)

Anybody bought from Cargiant in the UK?
Good or bad experience?

They advertise heavily that they perform a service and 114 point check on every car and also get the MOT up to date if required before it is viewed.
Is it still necessary / advisable to get AA check done on the vehicle?

Is a HPI check required if buying here?

Is it feasible to fly out from Dublin and return with car on the ferry to Dublin on the same day?


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## Vanilla (9 Feb 2010)

I have bought from cargiant. I didn't have any problem with the car I bought. The one thing I would say is that it's a big place and very busy and it can take up to two hours or more for them to process the paperwork. So build that into travel times. You don't get any warranty with a car from them so there's a bit of a risk and I would get an AA check. Mind you depending on the year of the car most garages only offer that insurance warranty nowadays and it excludes as much as it includes.


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## Mucker Man (9 Feb 2010)

I bought my car there, no problem other than the wait for the car to be ready.
I flew over on the morning and got the ferry back that night.


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## LouisCribben (9 Feb 2010)

Cargiant are usually competitively priced. 
The cars have one price, haggling is usually a waste of time, and there is a good selection. Personally I wouldnt get an AA check, as Cargiant do a lot of checks, and they only sell cars which haven't been written off

One thing to consider, and something I noticed recently is that you don't always save cash by buying in the UK and taking it to Ireland

The reason is because the Irish dealers have dropped prices a lot.
Also sterling is getting stronger.
Also second hand car prices are higher in UK than they used to be, because during a recession, people forego buying new cars and go for secondhands.

The Irish dealers are not paying big money for secondhand trade in cars, so therefore they can sell them more cheaply.

An Irish dealer is not going to pay more money for a trade in that he could buy a similar car in the UK obviously, this equalises the prices between UK and Ireland.


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## JMR (10 Feb 2010)

I am looking at purchasing a car from CarGiant shortly

Some questions.....

Is it feasible to arrive at garage at 10:30 and still make ferry in Holyhead at 17:15 (salesman on phone spoke about a pre-delivery check that must be performed once a deal is done, which may take 2-3 hours) Anybody any experience of this? How long is drive, AA roadwatch say 312 miles (5.5 hours)
Is HPI check necessary (cargiant say they provide a no hassle money back guarantee should any of their vehicles turn out to be stolen / clocked / written off etc.)
Thanks


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## Mucker Man (10 Feb 2010)

I had to wait about 3 hours for my car to be prepared. If you had to wait a similar time, I don't think you'd make the ferry.

Also, I found a SatNav a great help for getting out of London.


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## Vanilla (10 Feb 2010)

Always do a HPI check, for gods sake it costs less than the plane over! Plus there are some warnings from the dvla about some stolen regs at the moment in the uk so no harm to bring the numbers over with you just in case.

Honestly don't think you'd make the five o clock ferry, but there's another at nine or so, and some to rosslare from fishguard/pembroke in the wee hours of the morning if necessary. 

If the car doesnt have sat nav, def bring one with you as mucker man says= worth while.

And finally, worth remembering that some of the smaller dealerships around england will actually meet you at the airport and collect you, so don't necessarily restrict yourself to cargiant. They are well used to the irish coming over. On one occasion my husband went over to buy a car, was collected at the airport, had wired the money in advance to the account of the garage on a return basis if not happy ( it was a large dealership) and went away with a bouquet of flowers. Now they obviously made a good profit from us, but we got a fantastic all extras car for a lot less than here and a warranty that transferred to Ireland.

I'm actually buying another car at the moment as need an MPV and have been looking in Ireland for the last while but cannot match what I will get in the UK= I also prefer automatic so harder to find here anyway.


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## Slim (12 Feb 2010)

LouisCribben said:


> Cargiant are usually competitively priced.
> The cars have one price, haggling is usually a waste of time, and there is a good selection. Personally I wouldnt get an AA check, as Cargiant do a lot of checks, and they only sell cars which haven't been written off
> 
> One thing to consider, and something I noticed recently is that you don't always save cash by buying in the UK and taking it to Ireland
> ...



I visited a large dealer in Galway yesterday and noticed a lot of UK reg cars for sale at ridiculous, IMO, mark ups so I think they have reverted to their old habits of ripping off the Irish motorist.

Slim


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## JMR (12 Feb 2010)

Slim said:


> I visited a large dealer in Galway yesterday and noticed a lot of UK reg cars for sale at ridiculous, IMO, mark ups so I think they have reverted to their old habits of ripping off the Irish motorist.
> 
> Slim


 
For the particular make and model I am looking at, the same spec car is approx 4K more expensive to own in Ireland when everything is included in the import price (currency exchange, VRT, travel expenses etc.)

As most of the 'Irish' cars I have compared against have actually come from the UK, this represents a markup of between 20% and 25% for the importer


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