Mike

TIC

I bought a car from this dealership last year. I had just got a new job and needed to travel about 150 miles to start the following week. I had no car at the time so started looking around for one. After a few bad experiences buying private I went to a (fairly) local garage. The low prices, location, and the checks offered were the main selling points for me at this dealership. When looking at the car it seemed OK and tidy (from my limited car knowledge). I was however concerned as my new job was starting soon about how long it would be to get the car. So I talked to the salesman about this, who did not seem too concerned about this, saying it would be ready quickly, and that they were not too busy at the moment so probably even quicker than usual. So I put down the deposit and went to wait for my new car. A few days passed and as I was very reliant on a car to start work I called up the garage to see how things were progressing. I was told everything was OK and it was believed my car was next in line for the checks. Another day passed and no call, so the next morning I tried to get in touch yet again. To which I was told that it was expected my car would go through the workshop later that day. So I waited the day and again nothing. By this point the end of the week is approaching and my stress levels are rising, looking at highly expensive alternatives to getting to work. I try again to contact the company who by now are getting annoyed at the constant contact, saying they did have other customers, and had more expensive cars to look at, but my car was next in line. Finally at the end of the day they let me know that it was ready for collection. So I went and collected the car the next day, upon arrival I was told the check engine light was stuck on, and they believed that this was due to a low battery. If this was not the case I should bring it back to them (nice gesture but they knew I was not going to be around that long). So I filled up (see below) and went on my way. I must have went about a whole 2 miles before I noticed the growing crack in the windscreen that they must have missed with their extensive tests. Who knows, they MAY have fixed this if I had went back, but because I needed the car it was cheaper to just live with it and get it replaced myself than to take it back and wait another week to have it fixed. Had I not put down a deposit and been in a not so good financial state at the time I would have walked away from the company. Had I not been in a rush to get the car the experience may have been very different. But overall the stress I was in at the time, coupled with the negativity of the staff was very annoying. Hence the low rating. A few other points to make: When buying first thing I had to do was re-fuel. The company gave some story about how they drain the fuel so no one steals the cars. Not sure on the validity of this, but given fuel prices this was a little disheartening, and felt quite wasteful. I mentioned the check engine light not going out, well eventually it did go out. It has not came back since then. Although the engine has since failed and still no light. I can not really comment on the quality of the cars sold. This is my third car, and drives much nicer than my previous two. However cost more than both of them together. It also went through the MOT 6 months after purchase with no majors, which is good. However 13 months after purchase developed a misfire which requires the engine to be stripped down to look at.