2 cars,
Pre reg,
Identical miles,
Identical prices
No part ex
Which is the better dealer network to go with?
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I used to regularly log on and read lots of info on a website called ‘The Car Expert’ which had a help requests section. The format of that website changed about 18 months ago and I do not bother with it now.
From what I can remember there were several posts from people having issues with vehicles from Arnold Clark. Now of course that’s not to say all Arnold Clark branches are bad.
Have you tried a google search along the lines of ‘Arnold Clark reviews’ or ‘Reg Vardy reviews’ and see if a site such as Trust Pilot can give you a steer on which dealer might be best ?
I must now add a few words of caution regarding reviews. There is a dealership in Chelmsford that sells used ‘prestige’ vehicles and they had some shocking reviews and I read many of them. Strangely though, a lot of those bad reviews seem to have disappeared which makes me wonder if a company can influence reviews to the point of having any negative ones removed.
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2 cars, Pre reg, Identical miles, Identical prices No part ex Which is the better dealer network to go with?
Any dealers based in England! Sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place.
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The 'better dealer to go with' is one that's family-run rather than a huge chain. The bigger the chain, the less it seems to matter to them if they upset or lose a customer.
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I understand the point you’re making, but both Peter Vardy and Arnold Clark are family owned. AC do get a bad reputation, but when you retail the number of cars that they do, things will occasionally go wrong.
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Much depends on the attitude of the manager of the particular branch rather than the firm itself. I’ve found a great deal of variation between branches of the same firm particularly Arnold Clark. That said, I haven’t been able to do a deal with Arnold Clark myself for many years. I find although screen prices are often marginally lower they often won’t negotiate at all, part exchange values are way way below book and they only offer a token 28 day warranty on used cars, though the latter is less of an issue in a pre reg car. Once a smaller dealer has been squeezed I’ve often landed a better car at less money with a better warranty than offered by AC.
Recent attempts to do a deal include an aunts 16 plate Mini Countryman which was undervalued by £1500 and my own lovely old Polo which was bid at £1800 compared to £2700 against another similarly priced Volvo at the nearby main dealer.
Don’t forget when buying pre reg mass market models you’ve plenty of choice and since you’ll have the bulk of the manufacturer warranty remaining you can risk distance buying if you find them reluctant to deal. So shop around and it may pay to travel.
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Correction - Peter vardy!
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Are you likely to be getting the car serviced at either (or are they both far enough away that it doesn't matter as you will be getting it serviced at a 3rd anyway) ?
There is definitely a difference between AC branches even within the same franchise let alone between different franchises. I know this for certain because I have had my Avensis serviced at 2 different AC/Toyota branches & my present one was a pre-reg that actually was in AC Aberdeen but I negotiated with both AC Bishopbriggs & AC Linwood for deals. Despite the Dealer Principal at Linwood knowing me Bishopbriggs was noticeably more flexible (perhaps Linwood was banking on the fact that there had been a previous transaction?) but then again Bishopbriggs was servicing my existing Avensis ...
At the end of the day money talks - I have previously bought cars in Aberdeen, Ripon & Birmingham rather than locally because the difference was big enough to make it worthwhile.
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Thank you for advice, I will feed it back
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Much to my surprised going with Peter Vardy turned out to be a nightmare.
Dealer sloppy, car pre reg mileage (as advertised on motors, auto trader and dealers website) turned out to have an extra 5500 miles! (turns out it had been used by a member of staff) no money off for the extra miles. Add to that rubbish communication including demanding full payment up front despite having a part ex, random admin fee and covid cleaning fee added.
Cancelled deposit and she got a refund
Went to Arnold Clark dealer, car as described and deal done!
I’ve never been an Arnold Clark fan but on this occasion they where far better than the peter vardy dealer who in her words - the most incompetent car dealer staff I’ve ever encountered.
Edited by daveyK_UK on 30/10/2020 at 07:08
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Much to my surprised going with Peter Vardy turned out to be a nightmare. Dealer sloppy, car pre reg mileage (as advertised on motors, auto trader and dealers website) turned out to have an extra 5500 miles! (turns out it had been used by a member of staff) no money off for the extra miles. Add to that rubbish communication including demanding full payment up front despite having a part ex, random admin fee and covid cleaning fee added. Cancelled deposit and she got a refund Went to Arnold Clark dealer, car as described and deal done! I’ve never been an Arnold Clark fan but on this occasion they where far better than the peter vardy dealer who in her words - the most incompetent car dealer staff I’ve ever encountered.
Sir Peter Vardy a man of integrity as a Christian who founded Emmanuel Schools Foundation and closed his dealerships on Sundays 4th. Commandment.
If he is still alive he wouldn't be impressed! He would certainly deal with such issues with customer satisfaction being paramount as well as dealing honestly.
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>>were far better than the peter vardy dealer
No matter where you went they had to be better than Peter Vardy (on this occasion)
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Definitely still alive, at least the current generation of Mr V! A nice man too, I believe.
I second the terrible Peter Vardy Carz experience a few months ago and only got as far as their central Sales team. I’m just sorry I didn’t see this post before proceeding.
If I had the patience to fight the levels of management upwards and speak to Mr PV, I would have plenty to peacefully say to him.
I gave up after a week of chasing them after they took £99 to reserve a car that they then made it impossible to see because of sales executives who were unreachable, employing tactics to force signing up to HP/PCP before allowing test drive (yet providing insufficient detail to inform us of the financing options), ending up in endless anonymous sales call centre game of ‘pass-the-customer’, car not being onsite for organised test drive and cancelled 30 minutes before scheduled time (after e made it clear we had an hour long journey to make) despite confirmation texts from their end, cheeky admin fees and all of this with a cool wrapper of it being the new way to buy a car. In the end, had no idea what the heck I was buying or whether it even existed but as long as our names were on the dotted lines of a new 60 month plan what does it matter to them really hey ?? ??
I was ready and willing to purchase, and keen as the car was rare so needed to see in person. But the customer service was so horrible, it has put me off returning (and that applied nationwide). ?? whinge over
I’m trying AC this weekend.
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Definitely still alive, at least the current generation of Mr V! A nice man too, I believe.
I second the terrible Peter Vardy Carz experience a few months ago and only got as far as their central Sales team. I’m just sorry I didn’t see this post before proceeding.
If I had the patience to fight the levels of management upwards and speak to Mr PV, I would have plenty to peacefully say to him.
I gave up after a week of chasing them after they took £99 to reserve a car that they then made it impossible to see because of sales executives who were unreachable, employing tactics to force signing up to HP/PCP before allowing test drive (yet providing insufficient detail to inform us of the financing options), ending up in endless anonymous sales call centre game of ‘pass-the-customer’, car not being onsite for organised test drive and cancelled 30 minutes before scheduled time (after e made it clear we had an hour long journey to make) despite confirmation texts from their end, cheeky admin fees and all of this with a cool wrapper of it being the new way to buy a car. In the end, had no idea what the heck I was buying or whether it even existed but as long as our names were on the dotted lines of a new 60 month plan what does it matter to them really hey ?? ??
I was ready and willing to purchase, and keen as the car was rare so needed to see in person. But the customer service was so horrible, it has put me off returning (and that applied nationwide). ?? whinge over
I’m trying AC this weekend.
Sounds like a awful experience, desperate sales staff, devious tactics. Where are the business ethics of a premium brand dealership? Is this widespread to complete with Cazoo and Cinch?
Who on earth would sign up to a finance plan without seeing/driving the car? Rejection could be an interesting exercise.
Dealers are a mixed bunch. Looking to spend £40k on a nice car some years back, sales enquiries were not returned, face to face negotiations nearly always hinged around a finance plan - “keep the cash in the bank” was their stock reply.
Being in my late 60s, I didn’t want 4 years of paying for something I’d never own nor have my relatives arguing over used car values if the arm was twisted to conclude the agreement had I popped off. Paying cash, the car would be an asset to my estate and could be disposed of as required.
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Cancelled deposit and she got a refund. Went to Arnold Clark dealer, car as described and deal done!
Just shows that countrywide generalisations can't reasonably be made. It's mainly down to local management, as has been said many times. So you either take the plunge or rely on word of mouth.
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