Best place for used cars - in Dublin?

dogmatix

Some queries about used car websites - hope someone can help. I've done a search on this forum and there is nothing here that really answers my specific questions. Apologies if there are already threads on used cars websites here - but the "blue dog" will not give me any results for my searches.

Questions -
Whats the best used car website in Ireland - and whats the worst?

Whats the best car dealer in Dublin to buy a used car from - and who should be avoided like the plague?

Bugbears -
1. Websites that do not not let you add keywords to your search like
"sunroof" or "auto" or the like.
2. Websites (usually franchised car dealers) that only let you search for a specific car make per search rather then all their used cars for sale.
3. Websites giving details of cars but when you click on the picture it shows a completley different car from that described.

Eoin

dogmatix wrote:

Some queries about used car websites - hope someone can help. I've done a search on this forum and there is nothing here that really answers my specific questions. Apologies if there are already threads on used cars websites here - but the "blue dog" will not give me any results for my searches.

Questions -
Whats the best used car website in Ireland - and whats the worst?

I use www.carzone.ie as my first port of call when looking at the market, and then www.cbg.ie as well when I'm about to get one. I use CBG as little as possible, because it's a very poorly laid out interface. Carsireland.ie is nice to use, but I don't know what their coverage is like. "Ireland's leading car sales site" could be a little ambitious on their behalf. I never bothered with autotrader for some reason.

dogmatix wrote:

Bugbears -
1. Websites that do not not let you add keywords to your search like
"sunroof" or "auto" or the like.
2. Websites (usually franchised car dealers) that only let you search for a specific car make per search rather then all their used cars for sale.
3. Websites giving details of cars but when you click on the picture it shows a completley different car from that described.

I completely agree with you. Point 1 is just bad interface design. If you allow a seller a free textbox to enter details, then you should match that for the buyer as well.

When you put a car on carzone you get a big list of options with a checkbox beside each one. It looks like this is all just put into a textfield, so you can't search by these features (or even through a textbox!).

There've been a good few threads here about similar points, e.g. why can't you do multiple model searches, multiple county searches etc.

Point 3 is a way of getting around advertising fees. From what I remember, you can't change the make of a car you're selling, so you get a few cars like this:

"BMW 320 - NOT A BMW ITS A MICRA"

CBG has even changed the max amount field from a textbox to a dropdown list - that goes in 5K increments after 10K - this makes no sense, when a couple of grand can make a big difference. And before anyone says it, I know you can change the URL to enter the max price, but that's not the same.

Woogie Boogie

don't know about www.carsireland.ie been "Ireland's leading car sales site" but when it came to selling the car belonging to the other half it was the only one that stired up a few enquirys (one of which eventually led to a sale). I have found Carzone good in the past but never got anything much out of either cbg/autotrader

smash

carireland probably sold your car quicker because there wasn't much for people to compare against, whereas carzone has a lot of choice for the car hunter.

bombidol

I got my motor on carzone personally, autotrader is a mess.

dogmatix

Thanks everyone for the info on websites. Carzone.ie seems to be a favoured site.

Anyone have good / bad experiences of the actual dublin used car dealerships also?