Marina Motors used cars in Carrickfergus

Wanted to wait to write a genuine review after a pretty stressful 2 months for both myself and Gary. Just bought my second car off Gary in January. My 1st experience was quick and easy so when it started needing repairs due to age and wear and tear of parts I was looking again as was cheaper to buy another than do all the work, and he happened to have another car within my budget, and being a Mini Countryman Loyal I immediately rang him up, car was put through MOT and I collected 2 days later. Again the process was quick and easy however this time on my way back driving home the DPF Light came on halfway home. As soon as I got stopped I called him to let him know and said I would try a few things myself to try and clear it and he also immediately offered to pay for a local mechanic to diagnose and fix the issue as the drive was a good hour minimum from home through Belfast Traffic, with 2 small children. After several days and extortionate quotes, we decided it was best for me to bring her back and his own mechanic do the diagnostics instead of being overcharged for work he could do on site. I went back up the following week where they attempted regenerations and diagnostics and on car treatments which all worked temporarily. Once home again after a few days the light kept coming back on. On two occasions he sent out renowned mobile mechanics out of his own pocket who specialised In BMW/Mini who ran further diagnostics at my home and also did a deep dpf on vehicle clean, which also worked for about a week but the soot build up remaining was ash so that called for an off car clean. Unfortunately I had no local mechanics willing to remove the part to bring to be cleaned off car so back she had to go! Something came up and he had to return her unfixed until the following week, which he did deliver down to me to save me another journey. So back up she went for the third time. In the meantime the radio which had worked perfectly stopped working and I assumed it may have been from resetting codes etc with each diagnostic test as it sat on one station so I mentioned just checking it out maybe needing recoded, but it turned out to the the motherboard which he also replaced as well as fixing a cooling fan fault which was a corroded wire I believe and causing the fan to fail and not allowing regenerations to occur. This morning my Mini was returned to me, fully repaired (fingers crossed🤞🏼nothing else comes up) and some diesel also topped up (which I dread to know how much it was given the increases happening due to the Middle east conflicts at present). So I cannot fault Gary at all, it has been quite the nightmare for him as much as myself but the car was too good otherwise and still drove perfectly and no minor defects at all on MOT. Luckily it did not require a new DPF as I think we would have drawn the line there but Gary was also willing to return the money and take the car back if the issues kept arising. I want to say Thank You so much for your aftercare and perseverance and I hope I don't see you again for another while! unless I decide to change again then I would definitely consider repeat business again! I really appreciate your efforts and now I'm happy to be able to enjoy my car!

I test drove a Peugeot 208 Reg KW66 ONU on Friday for my 18 year old son. I really liked it and asked if I could book another test drive for my husband this morning (24/03/25). We arrived at the scheduled time of 11am and again my husband liked what he seen. We mentioned our son was in school but would also like to test drive it himself. As soon as Gary heard this he refused my husband the test drive as "it's just a waste of time if we weren't going to buy it there and then". I told him it was us who would be paying for the car, hence why my husband would like to try it. He turned the engine off while my husband was in the drivers seat and removed the key. We have never seen a sale technique like it. I told him his manner was very poor. He said the car will sell anyway. If this is his attitude before he gets our money I wouldn't like to see it if something went wrong with the car. We didn't get our booked test drive and obviously won't be back!

Ok so where do I start with this my first ever google review. I’ve waited 6 months to post this review as Gary had supplied me with a 6 month warranty. This gave me time to run the car in and see how she performed. I bought the car a ford kuga in good faith from Gary and found him extremely easy to deal with and developed a great rapport. So far so good. Left the show room with my Kuga really happy. Not 16 days later on the way to a family function the car died on the road. I was not very happy as you might expect and I emailed Gary as he was closed at the weekend. In my temper I let fly. In retrospect I was wrong to do that. I apologised afterwards of course. After initial communication with Gary I let my mechanic look at it and he correctly surmised that the issue was the pressure pump. Due to the nature of the warranty he didn’t want to touch the car and promptly went on holiday after a week of it being in his drive. The car was moved by the warranty company to their own selected garage where it sat for another week. After communication with Gary he took the car back himself and proceeded to fix it for me. I could shout about so many things that went wrong with this purchase but in fairness none of this was Gary’s fault. He took full responsibility for the issue and set about correcting it. After a few days the car was repaired and driven back to my door. He carried out the repairs using his own warranty and went the extra mile to sort out my needs. I don’t know if he ever got his money back but I’m grateful for him doing all he could. Would I buy again? Of course. Cars are fallible and these things happen. Good customer care is priceless and Gary made sure I was looked after and certainly didn’t wash his hands of me. Thanks again Gary.

Unfortunately I’m not happy with the aftercare I received. Bought a small car with 55,000 miles on the clock 3 months ago only for the clutch to go . As I live across the road from my place of work this wee car is only driven twice a week -(at most) . Rang Gary only to be told ‘ it’s just bad luck’ and wear and tear! He didn’t want to know. Thoroughly disappointed and left with a £580 bill to fix a clutch. I’d have thought more of him had he offered to cover part of the bill. Wouldn’t recommend and won’t be returning.

Great experience the car I bought is immaculate . Gary was very helpful some nice touches with the car matts etc new number plates . He was not pushy and was generous with the allowance on my old car can't thank him enough I'm over the moon . Thank you Gary 5 stars . Cheers mate. Andrew .