YOUR STORIES and messages

If you have had any experience of these cowboys, please let us know, using the CONTACT US page of the website. We would like to let others know that we are not alone. We will publish your message (if you want us to) on this page, but won't reveal your personal details. THESE ARE MESSAGES THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED SO FAR - THANK YOU (although we're not sure the one from 16th December 2008 is genuine!)

PLEASE NOTE - THE MESSAGES POSTED ON THIS PAGE ARE SENT IN. THE WEBSITE OPERATOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CONTENT. ANONYMOUS MESSAGES WILL NOT BE POSTED.

AUGUST 2007

I purchased a car from [Excel] at the beginning of March this year. The car has been fine but then again it was only a part-ex so they hadn't had chance to touch it. When we went in to collect the car the 'boss' did not give us the green part of the registration document as he didn't have it for some strange reason. We got the feeling at the time that perhaps he wasn't declaring the sale through his books. I have had to contact DVLA directly to request a duplicate which they will charge me £25 for.

31 MARCH 2008

Hi there, I just bought a car from [Excel] and, oh my God, do I regret that. I bought it yesterday, 30/03/2008 and it broke down the same day. I wish I had found this website before I bought the car. It is with Chris now, being fixed.

8 APRIL 2008 (from the same person as 31 March above)

I went to my regular mechanic to fix the vehicle as when I got it back from [Excel] they seemed to have adjusted the alternator belt as it was now seriously loose. They have received the repair bill and I hope they don't take as long paying me. Good luck with the Court case.

PS. The man that sold me the car was called Chris and he told me it was his garage. that explains why on my receipt he put "Scooters Garage" and on my deposit receipt he put "Excel".

21 NOVEMBER 2008

Well, what can I say about this website? My husband and myself need a second car so I decided to look on the website for Excel Cars because my brother said he had been past this place and seen an 02 Skoda for £2,500. What an eye opener this was when I found your site. I couldn’t believe the horror stories about this place. I decided to give them a call and ask what cars they had in store for my needs. The person who answered the phone sounded very shifty and suspicious, and not a person you could trust at all. Everything possible needs to be done to expose these dirty thieves who are, in my opinion, the scum of the earth. To rob innocent people of their hard-earned money is disgusting and for the life in me I cannot understand why they are still allowed to trade. I have already started passing this website on so hopefully people will be aware of them. All I can say is thank you so much for this site. I really have had a lucky escape.

28 NOVEMBER 2008

Hello, thanks for putting this site up. I was just going to buy a punto from them. Have you informed the autotrader website about this company as excel are advertising through their site? (Thats how I found them).

Note from site operator: I have already contacted Autotrader - thanks for the tip!

16 DECEMBER 2008

Gone on the internet to look at Excels stock as im wanting a little run around for my son. Have to say we've had a car from them in the past and in their defence its been a little belter - we got a good price for our part exchange. The car bought was serviced, fully MOT'd and we experienced generally good all round service. Hence our returning again - which we will! I think it was Chris we dealt with and he was more upfront and professional...

30 MARCH 2009

I was going to buy a car from them, so thanks for the heads up!

28 APRIL 2009

Hi there. Boy do I wish I'd seen your FANTASTIC web site (well done to you guys...) before I purchased a car from this LOT..!!!!!

I'm presently in the process of trying to claim back money for repairs which I knew were needed and foolishly agreed to take the car. Needless to say, no joy and I ended up doing the repairs myself. There's also other things wrong with the car but I'm now going to get those fixed myself, get the car in a good condition and move it on myself..... IN AN HONEST fashion.

Many thanks..... You guys have done a great job..!!!!

27 MAY 2009

I am currently looking to buy a cheap(ish) Ford Focus in the £2000-3000 range. After locating one close to home, I did a search on the Autotrader website to compare prices. To my pleasant surprise, I found quite a few cheaper Focuses with similar spec to the one I have my eye on. Most of them are from Sandmoor Motors in Birstall. I was just about to pay a visit to them tomorrow, when I decided to do a quick Google on the company name. Your website is the third result on Google, and led me to the horror stories from Sandmoor's (or whatever they're called this week) customers. Thanks to you, I won't be paying them a visit, never mind any money. Thank you very much, you've quite possibly saved me a load of grief and money.

28 MAY 2009

Thanks for this great website, we were going to call in and look at a few cars but my partner put a search on the garage and this site came up. What a set of horrible rip-off merchants these are, they are obviously buying cheap cars from auctions and just putting them on their forecourt with out checking any of them are safe. We need a bigger car where we can get a baby seat in for our newborn baby!! Thank God (or this website) that we didn't visit them. I live in Birstall and I will be informing everyone about this place. I also walk past a lot and if I see anybody looking at their potential death traps I will inform them of this website before buying anything from there!!

The place wants shutting down and they should be banned from trading.

29 JUNE 2009

Why didn't I research this dodgy company first before buying my car! I bought the car last Wednesday and today (following Monday) the car has cut out on me whilst going round a roundabout with the oil light appearing. After initially refusing to let me take the car until a full service had been carried out, it turns out no oil has been put in the car which could potentially ruin the engine. I rang Sandmoor Motors to explain what had happened and after a few errs and arrs he just said, "Aw, they must have forgotten to put the oil in." After reading some of the other stories on this site, I'm wondering what might go wrong next. This place don't seem to have a clue what they are doing and with three children sat in the back of the car, I really wish I'd gone elsewhere!

6 JULY 2009 (from the same person as 29 June 2009)

The car has continued to cut out on me which can be highly dangerous as another vehicle could easily go into the back of me. Sandmoor Motors will not repair the car and will not provide a refund which should serve as a warning to anybody wanting to buy from these rip-off merchants. I've had the car looked at by a 'proper' garage who said the car was riddled with electrical faults, hence why the oil light came on along with all of the other lights behind the streering wheel at the time that the car cuts out. Me previously saying the car had no oil in was an error on my part which I apologise for but for nothing else. The garage reset the computer and said if the car cut out again, they would then be able to identify the exact problem which is exactly what has happened. After the car cut out on me again the other day, my local garage have today identified the problem and estimated it to be between £150 & £200 for the new part it needs. After continuously phoning Sandmoor Motors and being hung up on, I am now going down the legal route to get my money back for this car. The first port of call is Trading Standards. You'd have thought they would have cleaned up their act after the other complaints but they will obviously never learn.

9 SEPTEMBER 2009

Looks like you have saved the father in law some cash and me a red face. I saw a car in Autotrader last night and was taking him to see it today - looked like a bargain [but for who?] Lucky you did this website - thanks.

23 SEPTEMBER 2009

Thank you! We were going to buy a car from this guy tomorrow and I think your website has saved us a lot of trouble! How can this guy still be trading on Autotrader and exploiting unsuspecting members of the public???

NOTE FROM SITE ADMIN: We reported Scooters/Sandmoor/Excel to Autotrader who pompously replied that they will only ban advertisers if ordered to do so by Trading Standards or the Police. You are invited to draw your own conclusions about the ethics of Autotrader.

24 SEPTEMBER 2009

I bought a car from this company and I can say they did do some warranty work for me when I took it back without any bother. Having bought many cars from all over Yorkshire they are just as good as many other dealers.

2 NOVEMBER 2009

I rang Paul Frost of Cleckheaton Gearbox Repairs to change the gearbox and radiator on my Mercedes, which cost me £1,860 (£1,400 cash - silly me - and £460 on card). When I picked the car up after flying from Newquay to Leeds he said the car was ready but is "missing" [misfiring]. Once I got back home I took the car to Mercedes dealer. They said the car was running fine but the fault was the gearbox and torque unit which Cleckheaton Gearbox Repairs paul frost should have repaired or replaced. So I'm now waiting for Paul Frost to get in touch with me to redo the faults with the gearbox. If he doesn't, I shall take this matter further to get my money back.

19 JANUARY 2010

I'm currently looking for a new car and went on Autotrader to view a particular model I was after. I came across many advertisments from a "Sandmoor Garage" which is located at "Scooters Garage". I had suspicions over the extremely low prices for newer model cars with suspiciously low mileage. Through searching for bad reviews on this garage I thankfully came across this website and know now to avoid this garage. Thanks for the warning.

28 FEBRUARY 2010

Just to say thanks for the warning. I was searching Autotrader for a Corsa for my daughter to buy. Sandmoor motors had quite a few in stock so it seemed like a good place to start looking. I just got a feeling that the details all looked a bit too good, so just before we about to set off I Googled 'Sandmoor complaints' and found your site. Needless to say we didn't bother going to look.