Dave R

Vauxhall nightmare

I bought a Vauxhall Insignia from express motors just over a month ago. The day I bought it I had an issue with the car - an electrical fault with the auto lights. I'm realistic when it comes to cars and then going wrong, it happens and there isn't much you can do, apart from make sure your warranty covers everything (mine didn't). So... I called the dealer, they said that I would need to take it to their Vauxhall specialist. All positive, no real issues with how it was dealt with. I couldn't have asked for much more - they wee trying to fix it. I tried to get the car to the garage they wanted me to use, but they're only open during the week (I work 5 days a week). Three days into owning the car the battery went flat. I instructed express motors to come and pick it up and take it to the garage to get all issues resolved. They agreed, no problem at all. A few days later the car was ready for collection. I was asked to meet the dealer half way between where I live and the dealership. Ok, no problem I just wanted the car back... In driving express motors curtasey car to meet them to pick mine up, it suffered from a catastrophic engine failure. So bad was the fault the car continued to run with out the key...the firebrigade was called... So after the curtasey car fiasco I finally got my car back, of course the fault still existed. It went back to the garage for a further 10 days. I got the car back again and yes, you guessed it the fault still existed. To be fair I could see new parts had been fitted, but obviously not the right parts were replaced. Dealer called and notified of the issue, offered me my money back or we can try to fix it again. He understood that we had been through a tough time with the car. I really liked the car I bought and bought it because I needed it, so I decided to get the garage to have another go at fixing it. A couple of days later the car developed a fault with the sat nav/centre console. I decided to get my money back. Express motors wanted me to pay for the warranty, for some reason or other apparently it was seperate on the invoice and then it was because they upgraded it. Pretty much every time I put an argument forward that I was due all my money back they came back with another ridiculous excuse. I imagine they needed to claw some money back, that they had lost in the times the car had been in the garage. After a long evening siege in express motors I gave in and decided to give them some of the money just to get out of there - it's a pretty grimey depressing office. Would I buy a car from them again - no. But in all the problems I had with the car and getting the full refund, they did give me my PX car back. I don't think that they're any worse or different to other car dealers out there. They're just car dealers trying to earn some money with tight margins. Bob who I guess owns the business is a likeable fella. It's just a shame they don't check the cars over before selling them.