What Car? guide to car supermarkets - Carcraft, Rochdale

CHOICE
There was a wide range of cars, with new and pre-reg models rubbing shoulders with X- and Y-plate models. There were plenty of popular family cars, plus MPVs, 4x4s and prestige cars. Mileages weren't displayed.

PRICES
Carcraft has two prices for most of its cars – one on its website and another one at the supermarket. The onsite prices are as much as 15% over trade guides while the online prices are about right. You can pay the online prices by filling out an online application form for a particular car, printing it out and taking it with you when you visit the site.

DID IT HAVE THE CARS WE SAW ONLINE?
We were able to locate the cars from the website when we visited.

HIDDEN CHARGES
There are no extra charges to pay, except for road tax on used cars (it's included on new cars).

WHAT HAPPENS IF THINGS GO WRONG?
All cars come with a three-month parts and labour warranty and undergo a pre-sales inspection and service on site.

FINANCE
Carcraft use Black Horse Finance to provide both PCP and HP packages. We were given a finance quote on our visit, but were put off by the typical APR rate of 19%.

PART-EXCHANGE
After a quick appraisal, we were offered £5500 for our Mondeo, but Carcraft couldn't guarantee the price unless we committed to buy the Focus. We were given the impression that the quoted trade-in price would vary if we showed an interest in buying a different car.

TEST DRIVE
We spent 10 minutes on local roads, which gave us a reasonable chance to acquaint ourselves with the car.

CONDITION
The cars were clean and presentable, but some older models had marks and imperfections. For the prices charged on site, we expected a better standard of preparation.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Salesman Bilaal introduced himself as soon as we walked into the showroom. After letting us wander around the site, he went to fetch the keys for a Ford Focus we liked, but didn't return for a long time. When he did reappear, he had another, more expensive, Focus for us to test drive.

The finance quote was expensive and the business manager tried to talk us into taking PCP finance, which wasn't suitable and would have cost us more.

Verdict
A wide choice of new, pre-reg and used cars, but the two-tier prices discriminate against
non-internet buyers.

CARCRAFT
Nixon Street Castleton, Rochdale, Lancs OL11 3JW
Web: www.carcraft.co.uk
Phone: 0870 6008808