A1 Carriages

Mixed experiences. I have purchased 3 cars from these guys, two of them being ok, one had a leak in the boot and the other is fine. The last car I purchased from them, and it will be the last I had a problem.

I purchased a car from them and it developed a fault on the way home. I took it back to them to have a look at, they tested it and confirmed there was a fault. They had the car from me for a week or so and said that they could not fix it and will need to send it to the main dealer garage to fix. I agreed and let them take the car to the main dealer garage. After weeks and weeks of not hearing anything I called asking about the car, they told us that the car was unrepairable and that they would need to buy the car back from me. I had got the car for a good price so I was a little gutted. I decided to call the main dealer to find out more. It turns out that the car was fixed and was working fine and that A1 Motors had it back.

The way the staff handled the situation, not offering a courtesy car until we asked, and even then was told we had to collect the car (we were not local) and then when we finally picked the car up it was an old car that looked like it was falling apart. They even told us that they still owned the car and that I had to give the car back for them, as they had all the work done to it, even though the logbook was in our name by then and they had our money. They were also very pushy trying to tell a warranty service before even buying the car.

To make matters worse, when we finally agreed to sell the car back to them, a few days later the car appeared on the A1 Carriages site as well as Auto Trader.

Simply the way we was treated and how deceiving they were makes me now want to avoid this place, even if they do tempt you in with cheap cars.

Bought a car for £4000 and picked it up Friday afternoon supposedly with a full service and a years mot. On Sunday morning an engine warning light came on so I rung them on Monday, and to be fair they told me to bring it in on the Wednesday but on the way there the light went out and they couldn't find anything. On the Saturday car broke down and I called the rac who found the egr valve to be knackered. Phoned A1 and once again they didn't argue, arranged to have it in and replaced valve, so far 10/10. Have had car back for 2 weeks now and it coughs, stalls and bunny hops when I first start it. A1 now want to charge me hundreds of pounds to find out what's wrong with a car they sold me less than a month ago! I paid an extra £500 for a warranty but apparently it does not cover this. Empty bank account and broken car, cheers guys.

Drove up from Sevenoaks to buy a car, as website looked OK and prices reasonable. I was looking for an automatic and was told by "salesman" to go and find what I wanted by wiping away rain from windscreens to read details on each car. I started to work my way round and thought that if that's any indication of service, I wouldn't be buying from them.
I did go give them another chance by going back to reception where the two salesmen were sitting (in the dry) and told him that I needed help and the response was that I had to go round and checked all the cars myself. When I said that I wouldn't be bothering the response was not very customer friendly. If they can't make an effort before you buy a car I'm sure they won't afterwards.
Rude & unprofessional.

My visit to A1 Crayford confirmed my preconceptions about private used car businesses rude, unprofessional, dishonest and overpriced.
Upon entering their car lot, stepping over the hosepipe being used by a man to wash the cars, I walked past another man wearing an ill fitting suit and smoking, thinking he was a customer. After unsuccessfully finding a salesperson I went to the office and was asked what I wanted by the man in the suit.
I explained I'd phoned them earlier in the week and was told to bring my car to them for a part exchange valuation as they couldn't give me a price without seeing the car. The man was uninterested, and told me to have a look around the yard to find a suitable car.
After looking at the outsides of the locked, dirty vehicles on offer, I went back to the office to ask about a valuation of my car. Rather than being invited to sit down, I was made to stand outside the office door and answer questions about my car to two men standing inside with their arms folded.
After what felt like an interrogation, and having no one actually look at the car, I was offered a price less than Webuyanycar.com for a dirty, overpriced replacement. and promptly left.
After that I went to a Ford main dealer and received the proper service I would expect.

I brought car from A1 Carriages smaller location across the road from the large branch, and have to say I was very impressed with the level of service I had, I was left alone to browse at my own leisure without any hassle from the sales staff (this for me is something I wish other places I vsited would have done!)
I felt I was being told the truth about what could, and more importantly could not be done to the car I was looking at buying.
Time will tell if I am right about my feelings, but after two months I can say I am happy with my purchase.

We purchased a family car and also our daughters first car from A1 2 months ago and they really live up to their name! A1 customer service and A1 cars!! both cars were fully valeted and ready for us drive away at the stated time. Our daughters car that was under £4000 was given the same amount of care as the car we had spent 3 times as much on. We purchased an extended warranty (which i would recommend for piece of mind) our daughters car appeared to have a problem with the power steering. We contacted A1 and the car was booked in for the following day and a courtesy car was provided. After 3 days we picked the car up and it was like new. A full valet and the repair was done at no cost to us. The service really was A1. We will definately be purchasing further cars from A1!!!!

i brought my car from a1 on the 20th may and on that date was seen by neil because i needed a car to drive away that day we agreed to do the service mot ect the following week. when i returned the following week it was supposed to take 3 hrs to do and took 1 day five hours, when the salesman sold me the car it was quote we go over everything and it will be all sorted in that time frame, so i made a snagging list and left it in the car when i picked the car car up it was not even cleaned up i had to wait inn the forecort while the polished the scratches out with a cloth, i was told the error that i had with the right positioning lamp had been sorted , i found out later when i turned my lights on it had not, on 2/6/14 rang up neil to try and sort the issue and was amazed on how rude he was apparently the fault was not covered on my warranty because i brought only the basic one he would glady look at the car if i retuned it to them 180 miles round trip would not pay anything towards the cost of travel,and would not pay for a local firm to look at it, when i said that not what you said on the point of sale he reply no one forced you to buy a car from us, well that did it for me , and neil if you read this or your boss reads this GO ON A CUSTOMER CARE COARSE and ps i sorted the issue with the car and it has cost me £3.60 for a replacement faulty bulb