I’m sorry to say the garage you took your GT4 to is known for bad work and over charging but is a very good salesman! He did an absolutely shocking wiring job and ecu fit on my mates race car. I would never go there for work. I’ve owned multiple gt-fours of many states of performance for 20 years now including successfully racing them, if you need honest advice on who and where are actually good or you want to know what upgrades/parts etc work best reply here saying so and I‘ll make contact with you. I have a huge wealth of experience, won’t bs you in any way and most importantly I’ve got absolutely nothing to sell you!
My dad once put his car in at a main dealer for a service, went away for a week on a work trip and when he came back they had sold his car... cant get much worse than that...
Is it better to have the car sold than used as a demonstrator? Petrol Station owner who printed $$$ owned a near new Holden SS Commodore back in the day, sent it in for the run in service and found it had been used as a demonstrator for a day...
@@AL71B They eventually found him another one in an identical spec but only after sourcing two others that were either older or higher mileage. To top it all off they said he could either take the older/higher mileage ones or pay the increase in price for one identical to his one they had sold. Needless to say that didn't happen! 🤣He bought 5 cars from that dealership, they sold the 3rd and the 4th one was the replacement.
I own a small tyre shop on the Isle of Man and customer service is absolutely paramount! If a car is booked in for a job that doesn't need doing, I call the customer and tell them! Honesty creates loyalty!
Took my MX5 in. A rattle I couldn't diagnose. They told me it was the manifold heat shield. Charged me about 4 hours labour. Drove out of the garage, rattle was still there. Drove it straight back in. Opened the bonnet. NO HEAT SHIELD! I asked them about this and told them the rattle was still there. They acted confused and said they'd keep looking. I said no, I'm not happy, not going to pay you stupid rates when you don't even bother to test drive. Also asked them where the heat shield was and they told me it was in the skip, which had been removed. I told them that it's a pretty integral thing and I would like it back. I'm still in the process (a year later) of trying to get compensation from them. Had to buy and install an aftermarket one myself. Another garage, I asked them to fix something and then MOT it. They MOTd it first, failed it, then fixed it. When I turned up they told me I'd have to pay for another MOT!!!! I hate garages.
Same issue here. I do most of my maintenance activities on my cars (oil, filters, electrics, spark/glow plugs, wheels) because, when I was watching the guys at the workshop do the tasks on my cars, I knew I can do it better. Because Engineer and Petrolhead......
As an engineer and a cheapskate, I've always done my own maintenance and never had great problems with any of my cars. And I run cars until they're old with intergalactic mileages. As a result I have no idea what it costs to run a car. Then people show with bills they've had for running something newer and lower mileage and I need a stiff drink and getting up off the floor.
I'm restoring a car and I'm just tired of having to deal with poor customer service that seems more the rule than the exception. The lack of communication is just baffling and nobody seems to care, really. It seems like the whole industry is suffering from Aspergers, judging by the sheer inability to see matters through customers' eyes.
So much to the point that I do more and more mechanical stuff myself. Having a garage with tools, using my time ( time that I prefer to use elsewhere ) to do stuff just because I am fed up with work is not done properly. And finding mechanics that can work on classics is getting rare.
I remember going with a friend's mother to look at a new VW Polo in the mid 2000s. We were ignored for an eternity, and had to ask for a salesman, only to be told everyone was busy. So I took her to the Skoda dealer. Wow. They rolled out the red carpet and couldn't do enough for us. Gave her a 24 hour test drive, cleaned her old Polo for her (before any commitment to buy), and took plenty of time to help her through the ordering process to make sure she got the right car with the right features. They were fantastic. My friends mother bought the Skoda Fabia, and has been with the brand ever since. Some sales people don't seem to understand that customer service is everything. Without it, customers will just go elsewhere.
I was a workshop manager for a Jaguar dealership for over 10 years back in the late 60s and 70s the last thing I wanted was a customer coming back saying we had not done everything that was asked for. Word of mouth could soon damage your reputation so I made sure the customer was happy when he picked the car up and he could talk to the mechanic who worked on the car
I booked a test drive on a Toyota four days in advance with the salesman who “latched onto us” in theshowroom. He was young and enthusiastic so we decided to keep with him during the possible/likely transaction. We turned up on time. No sign of our salesman and no one knew anything about our test drive. I spoke to the sales manager and explained. He said that our guy had been sent on an errand. We were offered the keys to drive, on our own, a different model and they wanted an imprint of our credit card to guarantee the £1,500 excess. I told them we were leaving, and they couldn’t have cared less. We bought a VW.
How’s this, BMW replaced 3 sets of front suspension top mounts on my M140i that had covered 4000 miles. They refused to show me parts as they were replaced under warranty although I had to pay an excess for the last 2 sets. BMW UK weren’t interested so I vowed that day to never buy another BMW after having 10 BMWs in a row. I now drive a W205 C63 and couldn’t be happier. Edit- I’d spent maybe £300k with BMW on cars and serving over 20 years. I mentioned this to them during the top mount fiasco and they simply didn’t care. They were happy to throw away my custom over a £1k issue.
Hi guys I am a service advisor at a prestigious car dealership and you are absolutely correct we meet a great people at their car in the driveway with our iPads and it’s the first impression they have might be the first interaction with the service department or might be returning with a problem not fixed last visit.everyone appreciates a smile a happy greeting. What worries me if we go to a online only ordering your new car like buy so many electric cars theses days we will loose that interaction. Take my experience of buying a new car my wife was given the opportunity to refer a family member to buy a car where she had recently purchased she was placed in a cubical with money on the base, the glass door was closed and then with the floor fan on all the money floats around and you grab as much as you can when the fan is switched off you get to keep all the money you held onto but you have to spend it on accessories, my wife needed a revering camera on her new vehicle so this was arranged she was a little short on the amount but the dealership covered the rest she was happy with her reversing camera and I was happy with my new car. It was a funny experience and I did get to road test the car before purchasing.
As a relatively young person I went to try and test drive Mustang with a view to buying - I had the money. The first thing out of the salesman’s mouth was “that’s a forty grand car you know”. I’ve been in to look at Porsches I couldn’t afford, told the dealer as much and was offered coffee and snacks while I continued to chat. Customer service isn’t hard to get right!
I brought a Mercedes v class recently. £75k thereabouts. I enquired with pretty much every dealer around where I live, to which there were 7. One of which I could throw a stone and hit from my house. I’ve had the car for 5 months now, I’m still waiting for a call back from 3 of those dealers. 2 of the others made me feel like they’d rather be inside a volcano than talking to me. 1 was nice enough, the other 1 was exceptional. Clear messaging, friendly, understanding. The best of all though, they took professional photos of my wife’s car before we sold it privately. Really nice touch. Your story rings true to me Ant, a lot of these dealers are absolutely hopeless.
Many years ago when I had a new Peugeot 406, the dealer forgot to fill it up with oil after a service. My Honda dealer took my Accord to the local shops, were I just happened to be, so I got in and drove it back to them, that didn’t go down well as let’s just say I didn’t hurry back and they were about to report it stolen (I always take my spare key, to check the car before I go back into the service department). My dad had a Toyota and they dented it, so parked it in the street and claimed they knew nothing about. Thankfully someone in the Vauxhall garage opposite witnessed it and told my dad.
Bought a Lexus 450h back in 2010 from Wales if I recall. had it serviced at Lexus Ipswich who were just beyond excellent. Best car dealership experience I’ve ever had.
I absolutley agree with you about Lexus. We bought an appproved used LS400 from Wolverhampton and were treated extremely well. We went to another more local dealer, Ipswich, for servicing and were treated extremely well there too. We were also invited to three test days by the servicing dealer who were probably aware that we weren't going to buy a new LS but still gave us some wonderful days playing with their expensive cars. If you wnat to be treated as a valued customer, buy a Lexus.
It's this (apart from cost) that makes me want to switch to an ISF to minimise this sort of thing. I know I've been in the garage plenty of times over the years and had a number of poor experiences. The first garage I used for about 3 years covered the drivers seat, gear lever and wheel in oil every time and once that lubricant they use to fit tyres they sprayed all over the red calipers and got on the interior. They also charged me hundreds for "tightening things up" or some crap which didn't fix the issue and couldn't even spot the blatant leaking hose which I had to point out to them. They badly fixed a window regulator so the window wouldn't go all the way down. They also scraped my car badly, said it wasn't them and while they "fixed" it for free the alloy was still clearly damaged and the paint thin. I used a BMW specialist in the area twice. The first time they spoke to me in a condescending manner telling me "I don't usually fit cusomer parts because they supply the wrong ones" (I supplied the right ones). Did the job okay and handed me the old parts though. Second time they didn't respond to my email so I rang a couple of days later. Was told in same condescending tone "oh I saw that email and we won't be doing that, finding a leak and some noise is a wild goose chase". So they saw the email and just couldn't be arsed responding! Supposedly highly rated specialist with loads of classics parked outside. Probably got treated that way beause I wasn't 73 years old with a 1970s BMW. Another place tried to talk me out of doing a very simple job over the phone but agreed to book me in to remove interior trim, allow amplifier to dry and drill a small hole to avoid water build up. When I showed up they didn't seem to remember any of the conversation and started trying to talk me out of it again in the most infuriating manner, as if I was asking them to fix my amplifier and source a leak! I don't think they even drilled the hole. Admittedly maybe a dumb idea but I think he lied to my face saying he'd done it. Charged me £50 to take some interior trim off in 5 minutes. Another one charged me £55 twice to read codes back to me I already knew about and recommend handing over £1k to replace nOX sensor and then if that doesn't work another £3k for a catalytic converter. I did neither, the code went away after a couple of weeks and nothing ever broke on the car. Seemingly respectable local dealership too. And I've had multiple instances of them just not doing the work asked at all. I absolutely dread the day I have something complex that makes the car undriveable. Thankfully I've found a garage that isn't run my imbeciles and I try to go there every time now. Only problem is they're not a BMW specialist and usually a 2-3 weeks wait :(
Spot on.. I'm an ex main dealer bike mechanic, and I can see standards are through the floor. This has cost me one car (Renault Safrane) I recently got a winter daily, a Renault Megan coupe, which came from a dealer with one new spring fitted to the front and a creaky top suspension mount and gubbed cv joint... These will be fixed under warranty but I feel that this was left for me to complain to actually get it done.. Sad in reality, and by the way bikes are going the same way.. they just haven't got there yet, mainly because it's a niche market
I think what's totally lost on lots of these dealers is the importance of a car purchase, to normal people, but even more so to enthusiasts. A car purchase may be a physical manifestation of 10 or 15 years worth of hard work, building a business or working their way up the career ladder. Buying the car is supposed to be this epic, monumental moment of finally getting the thing you've been working so hard for... Would I want a red carpet? Caviar and champagne? Hell yeah I would! I've personally always had more of a 'feel good' experience buying privately than from any dealer. You get to know the person, talk about cars, and then when you pass your money onto them they can get something new and exciting. The world goes round and its wonderful. By contrast, when you buy from a dealership the money just goes off into the deep pockets of some corporation, and most of the sales people are just working for the commission and wouldn't mind if they never saw a car again.
So much truth in this vid. It’s a forever ongoing search for trustworthy mechanic who thinks and treat ur cars like their own. As biz grows pple change….quality changes all the time
It's just the same here in the US. You ask a shop to fix a number of issues, to and it's like they only fix what they want. Usually the easy stuff only.
On the subject of dealerships. I’ve used the same Audi dealer for over 20 years. But gradually service has become more and more bland and “your just another customer” type of attitude. And sadly that’s happened because the people who cared about you as a customer and your car, have gradually moved on over time. And replaced by people who are just not into cars and not bothered about you as a customer. And it’s more and more painful to get issues looked at. Audi recently, about a year ago, applied the DSG software update to my S3 - completely ruined the driving experience. The gearbox is no longer as it was. Trying to get them to admit it’s changed is a nightmare, so much so, I’ve given up. Even Audi customer services and tech department were useless. Very disappointing.
Really struggled to get to drive the cars that I want to buy, recently bought a 911 after a horrendous experience with my RS6, wanted to drive the Alfa QV but no one was interested in letting me! I’ve had 7 Alfas over the years and never had that kind of problem before. I’m 55 and they made me feel like I was some tyre kicker out for a joyride!
I've had dozens of issues with Central Lotus my Evora was off the road for 7 months and every time I got the car back there were problems stupid little things, oversight, poor quality of work Main dealers are the worst I think, the experience made me want to sell the Evora honestly. now I will only go to specialists
Ok, a good guys story. I bought a second-hand Cayman from an independent Porsche dealer (and enthusiast) , located in a small village north of Ipswich. Well over a year later (maybe 2 years even) I needed new rear tyres. Local tyre dealers could not help me, so I went back to the place I bought the car. He looked at the tyres and said that they were the wrong profile and that he should not have sold me the car with those tyres on it. He was very concerned that he had missed this detail during the sale. The outcome was new rear tyres fitted free of charge. Now that is real customer service. The dealership is Reason Porsche, and frankly I would not go anywhere else.
Once again you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. When I bought my BMW it had a few issues that couldn’t have been spotted by the dealer, they took it back, repaired it and bought me lunch as well, the experience I had from start to finish was the best I’ve ever known, and the car I bought, although expensive to me, was nowhere near the top! It’s about naking you feel special too, I’m also lucky enough to have found a garage that services it who is great too, many thanks to the dealer Kallenhard Engineering in Leighton Buzzard and to Ainsworth’s in Silverhill, St. Leonards on sea. Great video as always, thank you. 😎👍
I'm currently in Spain on holiday, I live in mid Wales and use a body shop in portishead near Bristol, I had a couple of little bits on my old c class I use for knocking around in , the owner did his apprenticeship at Rolls Royce so when I booked my Holiday I rang and asked if I could have the car done the week I was away, they said no problem , I just thought I'll drop the car off get a Uber to the airport and job Done, I got a phone call a couple of days after booking the owner said I never thought to you need dropping off and collecting from the airport, due to the timing being very late and on a weekend and arriving back in the early hours of the morning , I turned down the offer but that's the little touches that make me take my car to this body shop , ps they always do a fantastic job I've had a message to say the car is done 4 days after dropping it off and I have a spare key with me and they are posting my other key back to my house, now that's service 👍
I own an Aston Martin V8 Vantage which I bought about 4 and a half years ago from a local performance specialist dealer. It has been serviced since then by a local AM specialist workshop and the service and welcoming attitude is superb. I am not a super wealthy guy, the car was a dream purchase following retirement and I have had some pretty expensive bills in comparison to main stream vehicles but the way you are spoken to makes you feel as though they do care. There are historic cars there worth millions and expensive restoration work but their showroom is always available to spend time in and if I do move the car on I will miss this attention to detail…I agree wholeheartedly with your comments 👍
I owned an alfa 4c for several years. I am so thankful to find am indie shop that did quality, white glove service. Prior to purchasing, the alfisti told me to NEVER take the car to a dealer - find an indie shop. Sad
Loving this channel. Main dealer servicing - all let my wife and i down, we are talking VW, Land Rover, Honda (motorcycles) and even lexus. My IS250 just had a £1600 service, repairs and MOT...750 miles later the exhaust fell off. Specialist garages have never let us down, forget the main dealers if your vehicle is a few years old as they aren't bothered.
Best experience I had was me and my dad went to Porsche Centre Glasgow just to look at the new GT3 and the salesman came up and asked if we’re interested in any of the cars and we just said we are just in for a look we are not going to buy anything.He let set in the GT3 not only that he gave me a GT3 brochure top bloke🤩👍
I could not agree more with your points on Arnold Clark. Absolutely spot on. They are truly dreadful. My experience, specifically with Arnold Clark BMW, mirrors what you touched on: car damaged through carelessness, unwillingness to rectify, complete lack of communication and accountability, and generally obstructive in tone. They will never have my business again for servicing or repairs and I will never purchase a vehicle from any Arnold Clark affiliated dealership. I’ll be driving 4 hours if required! 👍
I’m currently in the process of buying a Mazda brand new from an Arnold Clark and so far it’s been an excellent experience honestly. It was similar with my mothers one the year before. Service also appears to be relatively positive too. TrustFord I’ve found to be pretty dreadful.
Volvo were great at customer service for car sales...but when the car had its service the mechanic didn't fit the oil filter properly and the car lost its oil as we were going on holiday in it and the follow up service wasn't good. Ended up getting a full refund on the car...eventually!
I own a Focus ST 2.3, ford wanted £440.00 for a 2nd year service at 3000 miles, £130.00 per hour labour charge ridiculous. My local independent garage did a great service for £150.00.
My local Toyota dealer has recently been taken over by a big group and I have already noticed a drop in customer service! Car going in for service & MOT next week, wonder if they will finally sort the rusty pitted rear discs I brought to their attention the day after purchase? Been fobbed off with it will go away with use, well 7000 miles & 7 months later it hasn’t!
Glyn Hopkins in Colchester gave by far the worst after sales experience of my life. They failed multiple times to fix a very dangerous steering lock issue with my 2019 Dacia Sandero to the point when I pushed to reject the car after 9 months or so the manager laughed at me down the phone and said he would see me in court because they’re not taking the car back. Not to mention that they didn’t PDI the vehicle properly so it had a brake line not clipped to the body banging about and all the fluids were low…I had to top up the oil on a brand new car that was 20 miles old!
An interesting and frustrating subject. One aspect you chaps didn't emphasise enough in my experience is that, rather than the dealers, is how good the individual salesperson or service manager is. I used to buy Audis from a big dealership near me in Suffolk because the salesman there ( I'll name him because, if he's any sense, he would be retired by now), Peter Barker, was great and didn't treat me as though half my brain was missing. Eventually he moved away, & the new people I tried to deal with were less than good. End of my Audi buying… Next up, BMW. Ignored when I went into the closest dealership, but I really wanted an X3 so tried the one in Bury St Edmunds. Fantastic salesperson there, a young lady who must have taken a masterclass in customer service and come top of her form. Bought four cars from her, then she moved on…Same story. I've since dealt with Syntner, a large group with loads of dealers, but the chaps I dealt with, at Leicester and Northampton, were both super. Due to some bloody RUclips reviewer raving about them (can't recall the name), I bought a Lexus LC500 for a last hurrah before I pop my clogs. It came from their Edinburgh branch, & they paid for my first-class train fare to go up there to collect it. The experience couldn't have been better really, & the dealership nearest to me were excellent with servicing. I'd spoken to one of the salespersons there before buying the LC, & he was also nice & patient. Being an old chap & struggling with arthritis, I fancied summat a bit easier to get in & out of so arranged a test drive of an SUV Lexus, alas when the nice salesman was away. The chap I dealt with was OK, but then offered me a ridiculously low figure for my car & didn't phone me back when he said he was going to. Surely, training people to be good at sales shouldn't be difficult, and weeding out those who lack people skills should be a basic requirement for these company's human resources departments (if they've got such a thing of course).
On the subject of good guys. My cousin, has an independent Mercedes Garage, staffed by himself and 4 other Mercedes qualified mechanics. He will 1: get one of the mechanics to come and pick up the car and or drop it off when it's done( and cleaned (if needed)). 2: when looking at the car he will say we've found these faults with your car do you want us to deal with them or not, so not like Kwik Fit , where they've stripped the car THEN they tell you what's needed. 3: he will tell you the price of the parts before they are bought, either pattern parts or genuine and advise you on them too. And crucially 4: he'll charge you a heck of a lot less on labour per hour than Mercedes does!
Great video chaps👍 Ferrari Colchester have given me great service for nearly 25 years this year I purchased from Maranello Egham and experienced the worst experience in my car history😟
My work at the moment involves the refurbishment of various KIA dealerships and I like chatting to the staff to see what is happening with the new and used car market. I was quite surprised to find out just how many people buy their new car without even test driving it. And then if they decide they don't like it, they just return it. Is that because they have absolutely no interest in what they drive, or because they don't want to communicate with the dealership, or they just want to exercise their consumer rights? Buying a new car should be an exciting pleasurable experience, not like buying a new kettle or other appliance. What is the world coming to?
I had a Lexus GS 300 , bought s/h from Lexus , which was subject to 2 recalls - after the first a bottle of champagne and flowers was left in the car with a note apologizing for the inconvenience , on the second £70 worth of fuel had been put in the car . Later they replaced 2 alloys which were corroding foc . Brilliant ! On the other hand my BMW 3 series ,bought at 3 months old , had a bad drivers door seal with wind noise in my right ear -first excuse was " they are a noisy car " . I insisted they fixed it . after the 1st " fix " still the same . 2nd " fix " still the same " it's better than it was ,that's the best we can do ". I took a senior trouble shooter ? out in the car to demonstrate the problem . 3rd time lucky it was fixed . Honda prelude needed a new headlight bulb - went to parts dept. got the bulb , service manager called for a mechanic and said " go fit that to the car" . Is it just a Japanese thing ?
I run an online car dealership. It's important for us cars are described and picture perfectly. I absolutely despise dealers that deliberately hide things from ppl. I've just seen it today. Old couple with serious illness. I just checked up the car they bought its rotten underneath advised on mot. It's got 5 month mot left so definitely needs welding next mot.. dealer not told them.
On the point of dealers, specifically regarding knowledge and test drives I feel you completely. Recently just picked up an MG4 Xpower (the faster one) and I encountered exactly those issues. Test drive was a trundle around a busy city centre, no good for testing the power or handling. The sales rep seemed to know nothing about the car, with me actually pointing out basic features to them. Myself having done the most basic research on Yourube lol.
Several years ago I bought a new German motorbike from my local dealer, the sales team couldn't have been more friendly & helpful. But when it came to getting it serviced, the after sales team were less than helpful, abrupt, & patronising, as if they'd got my money & didn't have to give a damn. Over the years I've gone back a few times to similar results, tried another in the same group which was a bit better and another on the other side of the country which was great. I won't go back to the local dealer for a service or another bike.
I find the key is to get to know your mechanic/ dealer on a personal level, and preferably knowing more about the vehicle than them. Ringing up and saying I think my tandem pump is leaking shows you aren't a numpty.
I can offer three dealer reviews in one. 2 years ago we were shopping around for a new car and I approached my local VW dealer to test drive the Golf GTE. they told me they don’t have any test cars but I could drive a 1.4 golf which was “basically the same car”. Without a test drive I’m not buying a new car. I ended up ordering a Volvo XC90 Cross Country. 18 months later they cancelled my order telling me they couldn’t build the 23 model before the 24 model came out. I was given the option of ordering the 24 model for an additional £8k. I declined. We then changed plans and looked for a small car and, again, approached my local VW dealer to test drive the Polo GTi. Again they didn’t have one and never would. A VW dealer 45mins away in a different group, had one to test drive. I drove it, liked it, and ordered one from them. Service from this VW dealer was exceptional. The other two were very poor indeed.
I took my seat arosa for an mot in 2017 in the day they had it, Combined tyres in Winsford Cheshire, they snapped the bracket the clutch pedal was attached to, had to revmatch it home as it went "BOING" as I turned out of the junction the garage is on they're renowned for doing work to pass MOT that was never an issue before, without approval too. with hindsight on collection they told me the clutch pedal was low but I assumed that this was because it had an old cable, they definitely knew they'd broken it. if a garage doesn't want to offer a certain service they should just not advertise it
I actually watched this entire story. I could comment on many items, however, I won't. My last Porsche I ordered back in 2020. I wanted to get a factory delivery however due to Covid it was cancelled. What can you do? Anyway I gotta go now. Keep up your great work.🥶
I do most of my own maintenance. Occasionally there is a job that I cannot do because it requires special tools or facilities. I really hesitate taking the car to a dealer or specialist unless it is one I trust. Finding one I trust is the hard part.
In my experience the Main Dealers have great customer service when selling cars....they want your money and they don't have to do too much to order the car and thats where most profit is made I figure. But customer service for servicing and repairs etc...is still not good. I figure there isn't much profit to be had so they do the bare minimum.
The only dealership that has given me good service throughout my car ownership is BMW in Bury St Edmunds....customer service was great for everything I needed.
I work with a number of OEM’s for capturing new car interest / enquiries via 3rd party content / review sites. The amount of prospective buyers who don’t even receive a call is a joke. Let alone the actual service they receive if they do receive a call. Yet I am always blamed for sourcing / delivery of poor quality enquiries / conversion rates being 💩🤣
I've had a few colleagues collect a Tesla with hardly any interaction. Given the keys and one guys car had 12% battery. I've got a Polestar company car and it was delivered from the Volvo dealer by a technician who had 3 hours allocated to talk me through the whole car and answer any questions. Not all manufacturers are the same!
I once left a poor review for my local Land Rover dealer. The area manager rang me to discuss my concerns & said he wanted to repair my relationship with that dealer, and would I like a discount on fitting a tow bar to the Range Rover I bought from somewhere else. I took his offer & booked the work. I arrived for the, handed my car over, went to the service department to do the paperwork & they informed me the parts hadn’t been ordered & there was no courtesy car. I took my car back & never returned.
That sounds like a classic case of Land Rover putting a customer retention policy in place but forgetting that the employees at the dealership couldn't give a toss and so it is just a box for them to tick
Probably the main reason why I haven't driven a used car in 5 or 6 years. I got fucked with pretty bad in the VW dealership with an older VW Golf 4 Cabriolet I've inherited from a deceased aunt and swore to never submit myself to this miserable experience again. Been leasing a Tesla Model 3 for the past 2 years...since there aren't any maintenance intervals on those cars I'll drive this thing for another two years and get a new one...rinse and repeat. Classic dealerships can got to hell for all that I care. They've pretty much dug their own grave.
I’ll correct you on one thing. All Bikers go into bike shops because they are passionate bikers. 20% maybe, of customers go into dealers because they are passionate about cars. Simple. Sales staff need to deal with a lot of “white Goods” type car purchasers. Not that this is an excuse. It’s just perspective.
Even on new generic bog standard cars, in their 1st 3 years, I have had the dealers hand the car back after service with the nuts in the wrong hole (locking wheel nut has a bigger hole they put them in the smaller holes), oil dirty and clearly not changed, etc. But we give up as we just want the dealer stamp to maintain the warranty and fix it ourselves. Re test drives Toyota are the only company who just handed me the keys and said “yes take it as long as you want” and let me go out on my own. Toyota the only ones who fixed warped brake disks without prompting, with no fuss, without charge, and just did it as warranty, anyone else would have called it consumables and charged. I’ve been looking at new pre reg cars recently, been out to some dealers to look at cars which clearly have serious faults, and because I already know those cars inside out am able to spot it quickly, when the salesmen challenged, they try the old “they are all like that” nonsense, and seem genuinely shocked when someone knows precisely what is wrong and why. Had a lot of dealers try to register a car earlier than I ordered as delivery day, so their targets are met for the earlier time period, and seem accustomed to bullying customers into taking such cars registered far earlier than the hand over period. It’s a strange mixed up business the car business, so hard to know quickly and easily which are the better garages, and for the proverbial little old lady often they wont be able to tell.
I think its the increasing disconect between delaers and the manufacturer. I constantly hear the Porsche delaer refering to Porsche themselves as a seperate thing.
My local garage (Trinity) charge £45/hr and do a good job. Two miles from them is my local Motorcycle Shop... They do a reasonable job but its £75/hr. Why?? Obviously, named dealerships are far far more per hour and very few have any good words spoken about them.
While I agree with most of this I have to disagree with the BMW spoiler. If we took time out to call everyone who supplied their own parts to tell them it looks shit, it would be a huge drain on our time. This blends in to the point that people want champagne service on lemonade money.
It would be nice to have a governmental body that controls mechanics for cars. Keeps them in good order and keeps them in good health. But I feel the same about vets as well, obviously you still pay. I think the same for most trades though because at the moment it feels like they are all dodgy and out to fuck you over. I don't mind if it costs money or even a lot of money I just want the work done properly. These days other then mechanical stuff I try and do it all myself, I've not really done bodywork stuff before but I have started thinking about practicing with some sheet metal so I can do my own rust work. Bodywork shops are all really dodgy in my experience.
Talking of Arnold Clarke.... are they not now being brought out by a large American Company? So maybe great news😢😢😢, their dreadful service should get even worst!!
I do absolutely everything i can myself. If i dont have the tools for a job I'll just go ahead and buy them and it almost always still works out a lot cheaper than a garage. I bought my own motorcycle tyre changing machine so i wasn't at the mercy of these cowboys and if my cars need a tyre i always take the wheels off myself and drop them off at the garage loose. I shouldn't have to do this stuff - i should be able to pay an expert for their service and trust them to do a good job but 20+ years dealing with these guys has taught me that just isn't the case.
I went to collect a car i'd just bought from Arnold Clark Winsford, pickup time was 7pm, I walked in at 18:56 and said I was here to collect my car. my allocated salesman, who all he had to do was fill in the transaction papers, actually moaned at me, "bloody hell you're early, you're not supposed to be here until seven, for god sake" he also made me redo my signature 3 times and spoke to me like an idiot because the one on my id has gaps in the scan he thought I should replicate
Here in the States, Lexus is widely known for exceptional dealership experiences. Curious to know if it’s the same in the UK? Edit: looks like it is! Just got to that point in the video lol
do not accept the car UNTIL the work is DONE to your satisfaction.... if its not done correctly it gets to be stored on their lot until it is done correctly
You’re right however people need their cars and most cannot afford to be without for an indeterminate duration whilst a dealer sorts their shit out which can take weeks or even months.
I have found BMW dealers to be pretty good and in actual fact BMW group have stood on for warranty claims even after its expired on occasions so for that i class them good.
I will only own things I can look after myself. Thankfully my skills are good, so even my L405 Range Rover is a DIY proposition. I feel sorry for enthusiasts who aren’t mechanics.
Yes bad service/workmanship is annoying but it's far from being "the one thing", it's not even the top thing ruining car ownership. Rising fuel and insurance costs are for example way more important and damaging. Ditto poor driving standards, silly speed limits and a police force generally more interested in prosecution than education. Tbh your topic doesn't even make top 5 things
@sportzntouring well I'm older than either of you. I'm on several forums/groups 2 for cars I still own (TVR and M2/M240i/M140i) and 2 ive stayed despite no longer owning said car (M3/M4 and RS5/S5) plus a local car club. The top moans atm are Insurance, Fuel Prices, over zealous police and poor driving standards - oh and Fiesta ST owners who think their cars are quicker than anything else on the road. For the record the members of the forums are all ages from 18-65+, live all over the UK and own varied cars.
@@th3b0untyhunter @th3b0untyhunter you make a fair point. Of course, for many people those things will be the "Top" things in terms of "most common"... But not the "Top" thing in terms of "most stressful"... I think it's the latter that we're talking about... If you're buying a car, having it maintained (including MOT'd)/serviced/repaired/customised/restored/painted/detailed by anyone and they damage your car, give it back worse than you gave it to them to the point you either suck it up or sue them, fighting with a dealer to take back a faulty car or you're landed with a big bill you shouldn't have had... These things are, for me, *far* more stressful than day to day frustrations with bad driving, over exuberant hot hatch owners, etc... However, one thing in your list that is in both "most common" and "most stressful" categories is insurance... Especially when they try to not pay out when they should or try to not pay as much as they should. That is the one that is n the "Top" things in both categories of "most common" and "most stressful"... But ultimately still falls into the "bad service" topic of the video. So, sure there's no "one thing"... But the topic is one of the biggest, in terms of stress levels, in my experience.
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I’m sorry to say the garage you took your GT4 to is known for bad work and over charging but is a very good salesman! He did an absolutely shocking wiring job and ecu fit on my mates race car. I would never go there for work. I’ve owned multiple gt-fours of many states of performance for 20 years now including successfully racing them, if you need honest advice on who and where are actually good or you want to know what upgrades/parts etc work best reply here saying so and I‘ll make contact with you. I have a huge wealth of experience, won’t bs you in any way and most importantly I’ve got absolutely nothing to sell you!
My dad once put his car in at a main dealer for a service, went away for a week on a work trip and when he came back they had sold his car... cant get much worse than that...
What? How the heck did that manage to happen?!
Wow! You’ve got to continue the story now. What happened? What did the dealer do to compensate your Dad? 😂
Is it better to have the car sold than used as a demonstrator?
Petrol Station owner who printed $$$ owned a near new Holden SS Commodore back in the day, sent it in for the run in service and found it had been used as a demonstrator for a day...
@@AL71B They eventually found him another one in an identical spec but only after sourcing two others that were either older or higher mileage. To top it all off they said he could either take the older/higher mileage ones or pay the increase in price for one identical to his one they had sold. Needless to say that didn't happen! 🤣He bought 5 cars from that dealership, they sold the 3rd and the 4th one was the replacement.
How did they sell his car witout the v5 ?
I own a small tyre shop on the Isle of Man and customer service is absolutely paramount! If a car is booked in for a job that doesn't need doing, I call the customer and tell them! Honesty creates loyalty!
Fair play to you.
Love that! Loyalty is everything! We were talking about a trip to the Isle of Man! We must swing by!
@@sportzntouring Tyre Mann in Ramsey. If you need anything while you're here, just swing by and I'll see what I can do.
Took my MX5 in. A rattle I couldn't diagnose. They told me it was the manifold heat shield. Charged me about 4 hours labour. Drove out of the garage, rattle was still there. Drove it straight back in. Opened the bonnet. NO HEAT SHIELD! I asked them about this and told them the rattle was still there. They acted confused and said they'd keep looking. I said no, I'm not happy, not going to pay you stupid rates when you don't even bother to test drive. Also asked them where the heat shield was and they told me it was in the skip, which had been removed. I told them that it's a pretty integral thing and I would like it back. I'm still in the process (a year later) of trying to get compensation from them. Had to buy and install an aftermarket one myself.
Another garage, I asked them to fix something and then MOT it. They MOTd it first, failed it, then fixed it. When I turned up they told me I'd have to pay for another MOT!!!!
I hate garages.
Same issue here. I do most of my maintenance activities on my cars (oil, filters, electrics, spark/glow plugs, wheels) because, when I was watching the guys at the workshop do the tasks on my cars, I knew I can do it better. Because Engineer and Petrolhead......
As an engineer and a cheapskate, I've always done my own maintenance and never had great problems with any of my cars. And I run cars until they're old with intergalactic mileages. As a result I have no idea what it costs to run a car. Then people show with bills they've had for running something newer and lower mileage and I need a stiff drink and getting up off the floor.
I'm restoring a car and I'm just tired of having to deal with poor customer service that seems more the rule than the exception. The lack of communication is just baffling and nobody seems to care, really. It seems like the whole industry is suffering from Aspergers, judging by the sheer inability to see matters through customers' eyes.
So much to the point that I do more and more mechanical stuff myself. Having a garage with tools, using my time ( time that I prefer to use elsewhere ) to do stuff just because I am fed up with work is not done properly. And finding mechanics that can work on classics is getting rare.
I remember going with a friend's mother to look at a new VW Polo in the mid 2000s. We were ignored for an eternity, and had to ask for a salesman, only to be told everyone was busy. So I took her to the Skoda dealer. Wow. They rolled out the red carpet and couldn't do enough for us. Gave her a 24 hour test drive, cleaned her old Polo for her (before any commitment to buy), and took plenty of time to help her through the ordering process to make sure she got the right car with the right features. They were fantastic. My friends mother bought the Skoda Fabia, and has been with the brand ever since. Some sales people don't seem to understand that customer service is everything. Without it, customers will just go elsewhere.
I was a workshop manager for a Jaguar dealership for over 10 years back in the late 60s and 70s the last thing I wanted was a customer coming back saying we had not done everything that was asked for. Word of mouth could soon damage your reputation so I made sure the customer was happy when he picked the car up and he could talk to the mechanic who worked on the car
I booked a test drive on a Toyota four days in advance with the salesman who “latched onto us” in theshowroom. He was young and enthusiastic so we decided to keep with him during the possible/likely transaction.
We turned up on time. No sign of our salesman and no one knew anything about our test drive.
I spoke to the sales manager and explained. He said that our guy had been sent on an errand.
We were offered the keys to drive, on our own, a different model and they wanted an imprint of our credit card to guarantee the £1,500 excess. I told them we were leaving, and they couldn’t have cared less.
We bought a VW.
How’s this, BMW replaced 3 sets of front suspension top mounts on my M140i that had covered 4000 miles. They refused to show me parts as they were replaced under warranty although I had to pay an excess for the last 2 sets. BMW UK weren’t interested so I vowed that day to never buy another BMW after having 10 BMWs in a row.
I now drive a W205 C63 and couldn’t be happier.
Edit- I’d spent maybe £300k with BMW on cars and serving over 20 years. I mentioned this to them during the top mount fiasco and they simply didn’t care. They were happy to throw away my custom over a £1k issue.
Hi guys I am a service advisor at a prestigious car dealership and you are absolutely correct we meet a great people at their car in the driveway with our iPads and it’s the first impression they have might be the first interaction with the service department or might be returning with a problem not fixed last visit.everyone appreciates a smile a happy greeting. What worries me if we go to a online only ordering your new car like buy so many electric cars theses days we will loose that interaction. Take my experience of buying a new car my wife was given the opportunity to refer a family member to buy a car where she had recently purchased she was placed in a cubical with money on the base, the glass door was closed and then with the floor fan on all the money floats around and you grab as much as you can when the fan is switched off you get to keep all the money you held onto but you have to spend it on accessories, my wife needed a revering camera on her new vehicle so this was arranged she was a little short on the amount but the dealership covered the rest she was happy with her reversing camera and I was happy with my new car. It was a funny experience and I did get to road test the car before purchasing.
As a relatively young person I went to try and test drive Mustang with a view to buying - I had the money. The first thing out of the salesman’s mouth was “that’s a forty grand car you know”. I’ve been in to look at Porsches I couldn’t afford, told the dealer as much and was offered coffee and snacks while I continued to chat.
Customer service isn’t hard to get right!
I brought a Mercedes v class recently. £75k thereabouts. I enquired with pretty much every dealer around where I live, to which there were 7. One of which I could throw a stone and hit from my house.
I’ve had the car for 5 months now, I’m still waiting for a call back from 3 of those dealers. 2 of the others made me feel like they’d rather be inside a volcano than talking to me. 1 was nice enough, the other 1 was exceptional. Clear messaging, friendly, understanding. The best of all though, they took professional photos of my wife’s car before we sold it privately. Really nice touch.
Your story rings true to me Ant, a lot of these dealers are absolutely hopeless.
Many years ago when I had a new Peugeot 406, the dealer forgot to fill it up with oil after a service.
My Honda dealer took my Accord to the local shops, were I just happened to be, so I got in and drove it back to them, that didn’t go down well as let’s just say I didn’t hurry back and they were about to report it stolen (I always take my spare key, to check the car before I go back into the service department).
My dad had a Toyota and they dented it, so parked it in the street and claimed they knew nothing about. Thankfully someone in the Vauxhall garage opposite witnessed it and told my dad.
Bought a Lexus 450h back in 2010 from Wales if I recall. had it serviced at Lexus Ipswich who were just beyond excellent. Best car dealership experience I’ve ever had.
I absolutley agree with you about Lexus. We bought an appproved used LS400 from Wolverhampton and were treated extremely well. We went to another more local dealer, Ipswich, for servicing and were treated extremely well there too. We were also invited to three test days by the servicing dealer who were probably aware that we weren't going to buy a new LS but still gave us some wonderful days playing with their expensive cars. If you wnat to be treated as a valued customer, buy a Lexus.
It's this (apart from cost) that makes me want to switch to an ISF to minimise this sort of thing. I know I've been in the garage plenty of times over the years and had a number of poor experiences.
The first garage I used for about 3 years covered the drivers seat, gear lever and wheel in oil every time and once that lubricant they use to fit tyres they sprayed all over the red calipers and got on the interior. They also charged me hundreds for "tightening things up" or some crap which didn't fix the issue and couldn't even spot the blatant leaking hose which I had to point out to them. They badly fixed a window regulator so the window wouldn't go all the way down. They also scraped my car badly, said it wasn't them and while they "fixed" it for free the alloy was still clearly damaged and the paint thin.
I used a BMW specialist in the area twice. The first time they spoke to me in a condescending manner telling me "I don't usually fit cusomer parts because they supply the wrong ones" (I supplied the right ones). Did the job okay and handed me the old parts though. Second time they didn't respond to my email so I rang a couple of days later. Was told in same condescending tone "oh I saw that email and we won't be doing that, finding a leak and some noise is a wild goose chase". So they saw the email and just couldn't be arsed responding! Supposedly highly rated specialist with loads of classics parked outside. Probably got treated that way beause I wasn't 73 years old with a 1970s BMW.
Another place tried to talk me out of doing a very simple job over the phone but agreed to book me in to remove interior trim, allow amplifier to dry and drill a small hole to avoid water build up. When I showed up they didn't seem to remember any of the conversation and started trying to talk me out of it again in the most infuriating manner, as if I was asking them to fix my amplifier and source a leak! I don't think they even drilled the hole. Admittedly maybe a dumb idea but I think he lied to my face saying he'd done it. Charged me £50 to take some interior trim off in 5 minutes.
Another one charged me £55 twice to read codes back to me I already knew about and recommend handing over £1k to replace nOX sensor and then if that doesn't work another £3k for a catalytic converter. I did neither, the code went away after a couple of weeks and nothing ever broke on the car. Seemingly respectable local dealership too.
And I've had multiple instances of them just not doing the work asked at all. I absolutely dread the day I have something complex that makes the car undriveable. Thankfully I've found a garage that isn't run my imbeciles and I try to go there every time now. Only problem is they're not a BMW specialist and usually a 2-3 weeks wait :(
Spot on.. I'm an ex main dealer bike mechanic, and I can see standards are through the floor. This has cost me one car (Renault Safrane) I recently got a winter daily, a Renault Megan coupe, which came from a dealer with one new spring fitted to the front and a creaky top suspension mount and gubbed cv joint... These will be fixed under warranty but I feel that this was left for me to complain to actually get it done.. Sad in reality, and by the way bikes are going the same way.. they just haven't got there yet, mainly because it's a niche market
I think what's totally lost on lots of these dealers is the importance of a car purchase, to normal people, but even more so to enthusiasts. A car purchase may be a physical manifestation of 10 or 15 years worth of hard work, building a business or working their way up the career ladder. Buying the car is supposed to be this epic, monumental moment of finally getting the thing you've been working so hard for... Would I want a red carpet? Caviar and champagne? Hell yeah I would!
I've personally always had more of a 'feel good' experience buying privately than from any dealer. You get to know the person, talk about cars, and then when you pass your money onto them they can get something new and exciting. The world goes round and its wonderful. By contrast, when you buy from a dealership the money just goes off into the deep pockets of some corporation, and most of the sales people are just working for the commission and wouldn't mind if they never saw a car again.
So much truth in this vid. It’s a forever ongoing search for trustworthy mechanic who thinks and treat ur cars like their own. As biz grows pple change….quality changes all the time
It's just the same here in the US. You ask a shop to fix a number of issues, to and it's like they only fix what they want. Usually the easy stuff only.
On the subject of dealerships. I’ve used the same Audi dealer for over 20 years. But gradually service has become more and more bland and “your just another customer” type of attitude. And sadly that’s happened because the people who cared about you as a customer and your car, have gradually moved on over time. And replaced by people who are just not into cars and not bothered about you as a customer.
And it’s more and more painful to get issues looked at. Audi recently, about a year ago, applied the DSG software update to my S3 - completely ruined the driving experience. The gearbox is no longer as it was. Trying to get them to admit it’s changed is a nightmare, so much so, I’ve given up. Even Audi customer services and tech department were useless. Very disappointing.
Really struggled to get to drive the cars that I want to buy, recently bought a 911 after a horrendous experience with my RS6, wanted to drive the Alfa QV but no one was interested in letting me! I’ve had 7 Alfas over the years and never had that kind of problem before. I’m 55 and they made me feel like I was some tyre kicker out for a joyride!
I've had dozens of issues with Central Lotus
my Evora was off the road for 7 months and every time I got the car back there were problems
stupid little things, oversight, poor quality of work
Main dealers are the worst I think, the experience made me want to sell the Evora honestly.
now I will only go to specialists
Ok, a good guys story. I bought a second-hand Cayman from an independent Porsche dealer (and enthusiast) , located in a small village north of Ipswich. Well over a year later (maybe 2 years even) I needed new rear tyres. Local tyre dealers could not help me, so I went back to the place I bought the car. He looked at the tyres and said that they were the wrong profile and that he should not have sold me the car with those tyres on it. He was very concerned that he had missed this detail during the sale. The outcome was new rear tyres fitted free of charge. Now that is real customer service. The dealership is Reason Porsche, and frankly I would not go anywhere else.
Once again you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head.
When I bought my BMW it had a few issues that couldn’t have been spotted by the dealer, they took it back, repaired it and bought me lunch as well, the experience I had from start to finish was the best I’ve ever known, and the car I bought, although expensive to me, was nowhere near the top!
It’s about naking you feel special too, I’m also lucky enough to have found a garage that services it who is great too, many thanks to the dealer Kallenhard Engineering in Leighton Buzzard and to Ainsworth’s in Silverhill, St. Leonards on sea.
Great video as always, thank you. 😎👍
I'm currently in Spain on holiday, I live in mid Wales and use a body shop in portishead near Bristol, I had a couple of little bits on my old c class I use for knocking around in , the owner did his apprenticeship at Rolls Royce so when I booked my Holiday I rang and asked if I could have the car done the week I was away, they said no problem , I just thought I'll drop the car off get a Uber to the airport and job Done, I got a phone call a couple of days after booking the owner said I never thought to you need dropping off and collecting from the airport, due to the timing being very late and on a weekend and arriving back in the early hours of the morning , I turned down the offer but that's the little touches that make me take my car to this body shop , ps they always do a fantastic job I've had a message to say the car is done 4 days after dropping it off and I have a spare key with me and they are posting my other key back to my house, now that's service 👍
I own an Aston Martin V8 Vantage which I bought about 4 and a half years ago from a local performance specialist dealer.
It has been serviced since then by a local AM specialist workshop and the service and welcoming attitude is superb. I am not a super wealthy guy, the car was a dream purchase following retirement and I have had some pretty expensive bills in comparison to main stream vehicles but the way you are spoken to makes you feel as though they do care.
There are historic cars there worth millions and expensive restoration work but their showroom is always available to spend time in and if I do move the car on I will miss this attention to detail…I agree wholeheartedly with your comments 👍
And, it doesn't take much effort to show that they care... When they actually care 😉
I owned an alfa 4c for several years. I am so thankful to find am indie shop that did quality, white glove service. Prior to purchasing, the alfisti told me to NEVER take the car to a dealer - find an indie shop. Sad
Loving this channel. Main dealer servicing - all let my wife and i down, we are talking VW, Land Rover, Honda (motorcycles) and even lexus. My IS250 just had a £1600 service, repairs and MOT...750 miles later the exhaust fell off. Specialist garages have never let us down, forget the main dealers if your vehicle is a few years old as they aren't bothered.
Best experience I had was me and my dad went to Porsche Centre Glasgow just to look at the new GT3 and the salesman came up and asked if we’re interested in any of the cars and we just said we are just in for a look we are not going to buy anything.He let set in the GT3 not only that he gave me a GT3 brochure top bloke🤩👍
I could not agree more with your points on Arnold Clark. Absolutely spot on. They are truly dreadful. My experience, specifically with Arnold Clark BMW, mirrors what you touched on: car damaged through carelessness, unwillingness to rectify, complete lack of communication and accountability, and generally obstructive in tone.
They will never have my business again for servicing or repairs and I will never purchase a vehicle from any Arnold Clark affiliated dealership. I’ll be driving 4 hours if required! 👍
There’s a reason a lot of specialists exist with popular makes, it’s because they do it better than the main dealerships.
I’m currently in the process of buying a Mazda brand new from an Arnold Clark and so far it’s been an excellent experience honestly. It was similar with my mothers one the year before. Service also appears to be relatively positive too.
TrustFord I’ve found to be pretty dreadful.
Volvo were great at customer service for car sales...but when the car had its service the mechanic didn't fit the oil filter properly and the car lost its oil as we were going on holiday in it and the follow up service wasn't good. Ended up getting a full refund on the car...eventually!
I own a Focus ST 2.3, ford wanted £440.00 for a 2nd year service at 3000 miles, £130.00 per hour labour charge ridiculous. My local independent garage did a great service for £150.00.
My local Toyota dealer has recently been taken over by a big group and I have already noticed a drop in customer service! Car going in for service & MOT next week, wonder if they will finally sort the rusty pitted rear discs I brought to their attention the day after purchase? Been fobbed off with it will go away with use, well 7000 miles & 7 months later it hasn’t!
Glyn Hopkins in Colchester gave by far the worst after sales experience of my life.
They failed multiple times to fix a very dangerous steering lock issue with my 2019 Dacia Sandero to the point when I pushed to reject the car after 9 months or so the manager laughed at me down the phone and said he would see me in court because they’re not taking the car back.
Not to mention that they didn’t PDI the vehicle properly so it had a brake line not clipped to the body banging about and all the fluids were low…I had to top up the oil on a brand new car that was 20 miles old!
An interesting and frustrating subject. One aspect you chaps didn't emphasise enough in my experience is that, rather than the dealers, is how good the individual salesperson or service manager is. I used to buy Audis from a big dealership near me in Suffolk because the salesman there ( I'll name him because, if he's any sense, he would be retired by now), Peter Barker, was great and didn't treat me as though half my brain was missing. Eventually he moved away, & the new people I tried to deal with were less than good. End of my Audi buying…
Next up, BMW. Ignored when I went into the closest dealership, but I really wanted an X3 so tried the one in Bury St Edmunds. Fantastic salesperson there, a young lady who must have taken a masterclass in customer service and come top of her form. Bought four cars from her, then she moved on…Same story. I've since dealt with Syntner, a large group with loads of dealers, but the chaps I dealt with, at Leicester and Northampton, were both super.
Due to some bloody RUclips reviewer raving about them (can't recall the name), I bought a Lexus LC500 for a last hurrah before I pop my clogs. It came from their Edinburgh branch, & they paid for my first-class train fare to go up there to collect it. The experience couldn't have been better really, & the dealership nearest to me were excellent with servicing. I'd spoken to one of the salespersons there before buying the LC, & he was also nice & patient. Being an old chap & struggling with arthritis, I fancied summat a bit easier to get in & out of so arranged a test drive of an SUV Lexus, alas when the nice salesman was away. The chap I dealt with was OK, but then offered me a ridiculously low figure for my car & didn't phone me back when he said he was going to.
Surely, training people to be good at sales shouldn't be difficult, and weeding out those who lack people skills should be a basic requirement for these company's human resources departments (if they've got such a thing of course).
On the subject of good guys. My cousin, has an independent Mercedes Garage, staffed by himself and 4 other Mercedes qualified mechanics. He will 1: get one of the mechanics to come and pick up the car and or drop it off when it's done( and cleaned (if needed)). 2: when looking at the car he will say we've found these faults with your car do you want us to deal with them or not, so not like Kwik Fit , where they've stripped the car THEN they tell you what's needed. 3: he will tell you the price of the parts before they are bought, either pattern parts or genuine and advise you on them too. And crucially 4: he'll charge you a heck of a lot less on labour per hour than Mercedes does!
Great video chaps👍
Ferrari Colchester have given me great service for nearly 25 years this year I purchased from Maranello Egham and experienced the worst experience in my car history😟
Guys create a pod cast please! Love the content :)
My work at the moment involves the refurbishment of various KIA dealerships and I like chatting to the staff to see what is happening with the new and used car market. I was quite surprised to find out just how many people buy their new car without even test driving it. And then if they decide they don't like it, they just return it. Is that because they have absolutely no interest in what they drive, or because they don't want to communicate with the dealership, or they just want to exercise their consumer rights? Buying a new car should be an exciting pleasurable experience, not like buying a new kettle or other appliance. What is the world coming to?
I think a lot of people have watched a few too many consumer rights programs, and confuse "their right" with "What's right"
I had a Lexus GS 300 , bought s/h from Lexus , which was subject to 2 recalls - after the first a bottle of champagne and flowers was left in the car with a note apologizing for the inconvenience , on the second £70 worth of fuel had been put in the car . Later they replaced 2 alloys which were corroding foc . Brilliant ! On the other hand my BMW 3 series ,bought at 3 months old , had a bad drivers door seal with wind noise in my right ear -first excuse was " they are a noisy car " . I insisted they fixed it . after the 1st " fix " still the same . 2nd " fix " still the same " it's better than it was ,that's the best we can do ". I took a senior trouble shooter ? out in the car to demonstrate the problem . 3rd time lucky it was fixed .
Honda prelude needed a new headlight bulb - went to parts dept. got the bulb , service manager called for a mechanic and said " go fit that to the car" . Is it just a Japanese thing ?
I run an online car dealership. It's important for us cars are described and picture perfectly. I absolutely despise dealers that deliberately hide things from ppl. I've just seen it today. Old couple with serious illness. I just checked up the car they bought its rotten underneath advised on mot. It's got 5 month mot left so definitely needs welding next mot.. dealer not told them.
On the point of dealers, specifically regarding knowledge and test drives I feel you completely.
Recently just picked up an MG4 Xpower (the faster one) and I encountered exactly those issues. Test drive was a trundle around a busy city centre, no good for testing the power or handling. The sales rep seemed to know nothing about the car, with me actually pointing out basic features to them. Myself having done the most basic research on Yourube lol.
Several years ago I bought a new German motorbike from my local dealer, the sales team couldn't have been more friendly & helpful. But when it came to getting it serviced, the after sales team were less than helpful, abrupt, & patronising, as if they'd got my money & didn't have to give a damn. Over the years I've gone back a few times to similar results, tried another in the same group which was a bit better and another on the other side of the country which was great. I won't go back to the local dealer for a service or another bike.
I find the key is to get to know your mechanic/ dealer on a personal level, and preferably knowing more about the vehicle than them. Ringing up and saying I think my tandem pump is leaking shows you aren't a numpty.
I can offer three dealer reviews in one. 2 years ago we were shopping around for a new car and I approached my local VW dealer to test drive the Golf GTE. they told me they don’t have any test cars but I could drive a 1.4 golf which was “basically the same car”. Without a test drive I’m not buying a new car. I ended up ordering a Volvo XC90 Cross Country. 18 months later they cancelled my order telling me they couldn’t build the 23 model before the 24 model came out. I was given the option of ordering the 24 model for an additional £8k. I declined. We then changed plans and looked for a small car and, again, approached my local VW dealer to test drive the Polo GTi. Again they didn’t have one and never would. A VW dealer 45mins away in a different group, had one to test drive. I drove it, liked it, and ordered one from them. Service from this VW dealer was exceptional. The other two were very poor indeed.
I took my seat arosa for an mot in 2017
in the day they had it, Combined tyres in Winsford Cheshire, they snapped the bracket the clutch pedal was attached to, had to revmatch it home as it went "BOING" as I turned out of the junction the garage is on
they're renowned for doing work to pass MOT that was never an issue before, without approval too.
with hindsight on collection they told me the clutch pedal was low but I assumed that this was because it had an old cable, they definitely knew they'd broken it.
if a garage doesn't want to offer a certain service they should just not advertise it
I actually watched this entire story. I could comment on many items, however, I won't. My last Porsche I ordered back in 2020. I wanted to get a factory delivery however due to Covid it was cancelled. What can you do? Anyway I gotta go now. Keep up your great work.🥶
I do most of my own maintenance. Occasionally there is a job that I cannot do because it requires special tools or facilities. I really hesitate taking the car to a dealer or specialist unless it is one I trust. Finding one I trust is the hard part.
In my experience the Main Dealers have great customer service when selling cars....they want your money and they don't have to do too much to order the car and thats where most profit is made I figure. But customer service for servicing and repairs etc...is still not good. I figure there isn't much profit to be had so they do the bare minimum.
The only dealership that has given me good service throughout my car ownership is BMW in Bury St Edmunds....customer service was great for everything I needed.
I work with a number of OEM’s for capturing new car interest / enquiries via 3rd party content / review sites.
The amount of prospective buyers who don’t even receive a call is a joke. Let alone the actual service they receive if they do receive a call.
Yet I am always blamed for sourcing / delivery of poor quality enquiries / conversion rates being 💩🤣
All spot on, nice video. Been trying to buy Guilia QV and its been a turnoff
I've had a few colleagues collect a Tesla with hardly any interaction. Given the keys and one guys car had 12% battery. I've got a Polestar company car and it was delivered from the Volvo dealer by a technician who had 3 hours allocated to talk me through the whole car and answer any questions. Not all manufacturers are the same!
What a difference in experience!
James could use more of this colloquial talking style in his reviews to great effect
I once left a poor review for my local Land Rover dealer. The area manager rang me to discuss my concerns & said he wanted to repair my relationship with that dealer, and would I like a discount on fitting a tow bar to the Range Rover I bought from somewhere else.
I took his offer & booked the work.
I arrived for the, handed my car over, went to the service department to do the paperwork & they informed me the parts hadn’t been ordered & there was no courtesy car.
I took my car back & never returned.
That sounds like a classic case of Land Rover putting a customer retention policy in place but forgetting that the employees at the dealership couldn't give a toss and so it is just a box for them to tick
I can't even get a garage to return my call for a quote/some work! (My Land Rover, not the AMG!)
Probably the main reason why I haven't driven a used car in 5 or 6 years. I got fucked with pretty bad in the VW dealership with an older VW Golf 4 Cabriolet I've inherited from a deceased aunt and swore to never submit myself to this miserable experience again. Been leasing a Tesla Model 3 for the past 2 years...since there aren't any maintenance intervals on those cars I'll drive this thing for another two years and get a new one...rinse and repeat. Classic dealerships can got to hell for all that I care. They've pretty much dug their own grave.
I can't even get a wheel balancing/alignment done correctly
I’ll correct you on one thing. All Bikers go into bike shops because they are passionate bikers. 20% maybe, of customers go into dealers because they are passionate about cars. Simple. Sales staff need to deal with a lot of “white Goods” type car purchasers. Not that this is an excuse. It’s just perspective.
Can you explain what you mean about correcting us? What you've said is a key point we also made in the video, almost verbatim.
-Ant
Even on new generic bog standard cars, in their 1st 3 years, I have had the dealers hand the car back after service with the nuts in the wrong hole (locking wheel nut has a bigger hole they put them in the smaller holes), oil dirty and clearly not changed, etc. But we give up as we just want the dealer stamp to maintain the warranty and fix it ourselves. Re test drives Toyota are the only company who just handed me the keys and said “yes take it as long as you want” and let me go out on my own. Toyota the only ones who fixed warped brake disks without prompting, with no fuss, without charge, and just did it as warranty, anyone else would have called it consumables and charged. I’ve been looking at new pre reg cars recently, been out to some dealers to look at cars which clearly have serious faults, and because I already know those cars inside out am able to spot it quickly, when the salesmen challenged, they try the old “they are all like that” nonsense, and seem genuinely shocked when someone knows precisely what is wrong and why. Had a lot of dealers try to register a car earlier than I ordered as delivery day, so their targets are met for the earlier time period, and seem accustomed to bullying customers into taking such cars registered far earlier than the hand over period. It’s a strange mixed up business the car business, so hard to know quickly and easily which are the better garages, and for the proverbial little old lady often they wont be able to tell.
I think its the increasing disconect between delaers and the manufacturer. I constantly hear the Porsche delaer refering to Porsche themselves as a seperate thing.
Always like your content James but please don't drop that music in the background, it's very very distracting.
Customer care - if it's not there go elsewhere.
Any business that doesn't care doesn't deserve to survive.
My local garage (Trinity) charge £45/hr and do a good job. Two miles from them is my local Motorcycle Shop... They do a reasonable job but its £75/hr. Why?? Obviously, named dealerships are far far more per hour and very few have any good words spoken about them.
While I agree with most of this I have to disagree with the BMW spoiler. If we took time out to call everyone who supplied their own parts to tell them it looks shit, it would be a huge drain on our time. This blends in to the point that people want champagne service on lemonade money.
It would be nice to have a governmental body that controls mechanics for cars. Keeps them in good order and keeps them in good health. But I feel the same about vets as well, obviously you still pay. I think the same for most trades though because at the moment it feels like they are all dodgy and out to fuck you over. I don't mind if it costs money or even a lot of money I just want the work done properly. These days other then mechanical stuff I try and do it all myself, I've not really done bodywork stuff before but I have started thinking about practicing with some sheet metal so I can do my own rust work. Bodywork shops are all really dodgy in my experience.
Excellent Sunday video.
Talking of Arnold Clarke.... are they not now being brought out by a large American Company? So maybe great news😢😢😢, their dreadful service should get even worst!!
I do absolutely everything i can myself. If i dont have the tools for a job I'll just go ahead and buy them and it almost always still works out a lot cheaper than a garage.
I bought my own motorcycle tyre changing machine so i wasn't at the mercy of these cowboys and if my cars need a tyre i always take the wheels off myself and drop them off at the garage loose.
I shouldn't have to do this stuff - i should be able to pay an expert for their service and trust them to do a good job but 20+ years dealing with these guys has taught me that just isn't the case.
I went to collect a car i'd just bought from Arnold Clark Winsford, pickup time was 7pm, I walked in at 18:56 and said I was here to collect my car.
my allocated salesman, who all he had to do was fill in the transaction papers, actually moaned at me, "bloody hell you're early, you're not supposed to be here until seven, for god sake" he also made me redo my signature 3 times and spoke to me like an idiot because the one on my id has gaps in the scan he thought I should replicate
That guy was either joking or on drugs lol
Here in the States, Lexus is widely known for exceptional dealership experiences. Curious to know if it’s the same in the UK? Edit: looks like it is! Just got to that point in the video lol
Speaking of stars, this video gets 5!
do not accept the car UNTIL the work is DONE to your satisfaction.... if its not done correctly it gets to be stored on their lot until it is done correctly
You’re right however people need their cars and most cannot afford to be without for an indeterminate duration whilst a dealer sorts their shit out which can take weeks or even months.
Motto here: no free lunches
So glad it's not just me that has that happen
I've always found Dick Lovett BMW in Bristol to be very good.
I have found BMW dealers to be pretty good and in actual fact BMW group have stood on for warranty claims even after its expired on occasions so for that i class them good.
James, old chap...
You do know that you aren't actually meant to microwave a salad, don't you?? You do the salad part separately!!
(@ 10:32)
So 1,000% correct. If your name is above the door then your standards need to be applied.
I will only own things I can look after myself.
Thankfully my skills are good, so even my L405 Range Rover is a DIY proposition.
I feel sorry for enthusiasts who aren’t mechanics.
Don't appreciate the occasional generic clips mid convo. Come one JM you don't need that bs.. it's tacky.
This one has been cut by our new editor so we're trying out different things. We shall take the feedback on board.
Yes bad service/workmanship is annoying but it's far from being "the one thing", it's not even the top thing ruining car ownership.
Rising fuel and insurance costs are for example way more important and damaging.
Ditto poor driving standards, silly speed limits and a police force generally more interested in prosecution than education.
Tbh your topic doesn't even make top 5 things
Maybe it depends on the kind of car, how old you are and where you live. For us, it's the one, most significant thing, right now.
@sportzntouring well I'm older than either of you.
I'm on several forums/groups
2 for cars I still own (TVR and M2/M240i/M140i)
and 2 ive stayed despite no longer owning said car (M3/M4 and RS5/S5)
plus a local car club.
The top moans atm are Insurance, Fuel Prices, over zealous police and poor driving standards - oh and Fiesta ST owners who think their cars are quicker than anything else on the road.
For the record the members of the forums are all ages from 18-65+, live all over the UK and own varied cars.
@@th3b0untyhunter @th3b0untyhunter you make a fair point. Of course, for many people those things will be the "Top" things in terms of "most common"... But not the "Top" thing in terms of "most stressful"... I think it's the latter that we're talking about...
If you're buying a car, having it maintained (including MOT'd)/serviced/repaired/customised/restored/painted/detailed by anyone and they damage your car, give it back worse than you gave it to them to the point you either suck it up or sue them, fighting with a dealer to take back a faulty car or you're landed with a big bill you shouldn't have had... These things are, for me, *far* more stressful than day to day frustrations with bad driving, over exuberant hot hatch owners, etc...
However, one thing in your list that is in both "most common" and "most stressful" categories is insurance... Especially when they try to not pay out when they should or try to not pay as much as they should. That is the one that is n the "Top" things in both categories of "most common" and "most stressful"... But ultimately still falls into the "bad service" topic of the video.
So, sure there's no "one thing"... But the topic is one of the biggest, in terms of stress levels, in my experience.
@sportzntouring great reply
Thank you :)
Excellent chat.
Just here to leave you a good review .
Thank you from both of us!
There’s a website that lists Dodgy Cars for Sale. I.e. written off cars undisclosed and Arnold Clark feature regularly
Could you post a link to the website?