Aspi Specialist Cars from ASPI Specialist Cars in response to Car needed new engine after 3 months

Dear Valued Customer  Thank you for your review. We do feel compelled to reply on this occasion, as some salient facts have been missed from your comments. Whilst we have reiterated consistently throughout our correspondence how very sorry we were to learn of the apparent issue that you have experienced with your vehicle, naturally as a business we have had to proceed with caution due to the manner in which your issue has been highlighted. To clarify, all we have received in terms of communication from you to date is two template emails sent some 10 days after your reported breakdown occurred with no other issues being reported regarding your vehicle since time of purchase and since the near 4,000 miles that you have covered in this time. Being a rational customer; we are very surprised that you did not immediately pick up the telephone to our dealership at the point of the breakdown, and have the car bought to us; where naturally we would have been on hand to assist, as we do on the rare occasion that any customer encounters an issue with their car. It could then have been determined if the nature of the fault that caused your breakdown would have been covered under warranty. We can only now assume that as you have failed to provide any specific details or diagnosis from your independent garage, that you have decided to have the car sorted beyond our remit. Naturally it is very difficult for any dealership to diagnose a fault with a car over an email, which simply contained very vague statements and rhetorical questions. The first we were made aware of your concerns was December 1st when you emailed us however you state that the breakdown occurred on 20th November. It seems odd that you did not report this problem straight away and as we mention above, return your car to us as you live locally. Following your email we have asked for a formal diagnosis from the independent garage you chose to take the car to, and still to this day we are yet to receive any formal diagnosis for your vehicle. It is now just over a month following your breakdown and you have failed to provide any technical diagnostics, details of the status of your car, or even picked the phone up once to discuss this with us. If you would be so kind to take the time to study all our reviews and testimonials, many of these do allude to the unparalleled levels of after-sales care that all our customers receive. We are about to enter our 33rd year of consecutive trading as a business, and we are proud and exceptionally grateful for so many repeat customers over the decades. This is certainly not something we take for granted, and it would be simply impossible to achieve the longevity and reputation in the trade, if both the quality and service of how we are operating at Aspi Specialist Cars is as you describe. Over the years we do of course absorb the cost to the sum of £000’s worth of warranty claims to ensure that our customers are in fact happy and safe on the roads, we are always willing to oblige and cooperate when required, and we take a great deal of pride in how the whole customer journey is handled. To alleviate your concerns with regards to the “Selling of Gap Insurance” As an FCA Accredited Dealership, this is something that we are legally obliged to offer you, and is simply built in to our Automotive Compliance at the point of sale. There is absolutely no attempt at any hard selling in any aspect of how we do business. We prepare all our retail stock to the very highest standard, both mechanically and cosmetically and your vehicle underwent our usual process to mitigate any issues occurring when selling you the vehicle. Whilst you have alluded to the fact that our response would be "nonsense" we would be more than happy to share all written communication with anyone that wanted further information regarding your review, which will also display that your claims around our "bullying" and "intimidation tactics" to be false. We have merely provided you with two professional and very detailed responses to both your emails, and have requested further information both via email and also via the AA Dealer Promise Mediation Team (a process in which you chose to start, and with which we have gladly cooperated with) with the sole purpose of determining the nature of the issue with your car.

Alex in response to Car needed new engine after 3 months

UPDATED! Beware! A review is only ever worthwhile when one can see how an organisation deals with issues - reviews about a smooth sales process tells one nothing. I bought a 7 year old car, with low to average miles (74k) on it for £8000 (not cheap). After 3 months and 4 days, the car broke down and an independent garage confirmed that the car needed a new engine/engine rebuild. Aspi were contacted and they were not interested in even assessing the issue, despite it being assumed under law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) that the fault that caused this was pre-existing and that the car is therefore 'not of adequate quality' or 'fit for purpose'. Aspi employed bullying and intimidation tactics in an attempt to make me give up and told me that it's not their problem as, as if the car lasted for that long, it must be of adequate quality. Any sane or rational person would consider this ridiculous, as does the law. They said "we are not obliged to change our view of this matter and leave you to take such steps as you consider to be appropriate, but please be aware that any action will be defended.". They claimed to have consulted a barrister (who was clearly incompetent, assuming that they did) - "The professional advice which we received was very clearly to the effect that we do not have any obligation whatsoever towards you". Wrong! Having sought professional advice from honest people in the industry, it was clear that they were liable. It's fortunate that I paid the £1000 deposit on a credit card and was therefore able to pursue this through a Section 75 claim with my credit provider, otherwise I would have had to take this to the small claims court and get them to force Aspi to adhere to the law. But insistence that this was their responsibility under law has been validated by the credit company. Aspi are now ultimately liable to cover the entire purchase cost of the car, minus an amount of wear and tear for the small usage I had from it (I doubt the credit company will skip a reclaim from them do you?). Had Aspi just honoured their obligations under law, both they and I would have saved a lot of time, money and hassle. Perhaps they will learn for next time. But, the moral of the story is, don't buy a car from Aspi. However, accept that if you do be sure you pay at least the deposit on a credit card credit card and do not be deterred by their attempts to avoid their duty under law.

Staff from ASPI Specialist Cars in response to Trading standards

Thank you for your review. There are no details of who you are so we can only presume you were the buyer of the 2005 Saab Estate registered in 2005 with over 200,000 miles on the speedometer. The vehicle was advertised on EBAY AUCTION and was sold to the highest bidder for less than was given for the vehicle in part exchange so there was no benefit to us to deceive, The car had a valid MOT and some service history and our only error of judgement was that we should have insisted the car was trailored away and not driven. The parts alone exceeded the selling price of £569.99 and we regret selling this trade in and will not do so in the future to the public. PLEASE SEE OUR RATINGS FOR OUR RETAIL VEHICLES SOLD BY OUR BUSINESS AND THAT PAINTS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PICTURE. Regards Aspi Specialist Cars