[Gordon]

Im feeling extremely fed up now with dealerships in Scotland. Last year I decided to order a Mercedes B class from a dealer in Glasgow offering an amazing deal on the AP. After excuse after excuse and no longer wanting to commit to the offer and with no sign of the car this year, I decided to cancel.

Then I settled for a Toyota Prius plus, it was offering everything I could want and a very low AP. Having had terrible customer service from all the Toyota dealerships, I decided to place and order last night with one that was looking promising. I was very specific about the colour and whether they were from Toyota’s holding compound. Ive had three very bad experiences with showroom cars and so wanted a factory fresh one. I was assured that one of my two choices of colour was available from the compound. Today I’m waiting for a call and nobody phones me. Eventually this evening Ive had an email to say that its a showroom transfer and would I like that or change the colour. Well I’m just going to have to cancel the whole thing as its not what we discussed and I don’t like any of the remaining colour choices. I don’t want to feel fed up each time I look at the car outside the house.

Now I’m going to be stuck yet again trying to find something that I can afford that suits my needs and looks attractive too. I know I’m disabled but I still want to enjoy driving the car and not thinking Ive won the runners up prize.

Topic

[Lord Muc]

Would you not look further afield. One Can do a lot of work on zoom, facetime or what’s app, and email. strike up a dialogue with a dealer you feel comfortable.

[rox]

That suxx, I feel for ya gordon. Guess the other option is to wait for factory one, At this rate you’ll be closer to another years gcb on the current car.

[martino]

call me cynical but , because they haven’t been selling car over the last 3 months.

I think car dealers are trying to push cars they have in stock and what better than motability customers its a free car after all they should not be so picky

[rox]

That could be true, but also it seems there is a lack of stock cars right now as quite a few cars are having updates and as they had stopped making those and started making the newer ones but they not actually for sale yet) Then operations was closed down beause of the covid and when they reopened or do open if they still closed they operating at a reduced capacity and less cars are rolling off the production lines.

Gone are the days when there would be loads of older models sitting around when the new ones comeout and what will be left is the ones no one really wants. Plus it don’t seem many deals are being offered in scotland right now either.

[joss]

Gordon I am not surprised you feel fed up. This not how it should be. It’s meant to be a positive experience Get a car from the scheme.

Yes of course we are in the middle of strange times that have caused all manner of problems.

Take a deep breath Gordon and have a couple of days off. Start afresh, it might just help. I a glad I am not due for renewal.

Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.

[Gordon]

Thanks folks, I’m happy to look further afield but there does become a limit. It’s clearly a case of dealers trying to palm off unpopular models or colours. It’s finding a car that is affordable but has some of the features that I really need. I’m feeling calmer now but I was so angry and disappointed earlier.  Maybe I just need to wait. It’s interesting as I lived in England for some time and customer service in dealerships is usually good. Up in Scotland it’s shocking. Lack of customer care, not interested, no competition so poor service, very much a case of take it or leave it.

[Menorca Mike]

Gordon have you had test drive in Honda cross star ?

[John Morris]

Gordon. Have you looked at the MG HS? Lots of space and a very good spec for £0 for the manual and £199 for the auto which adds adaptive cruise control amongst other things.

[Gordon]

@Mike

I haven’t yet, it was meant to be this morning but I had to cancel as I wasn’t feeling up to it. The dealership is a 100 mile round trip but will reschedule for next week.

@John

Ive not thought of that, really because if where I live, Ive never even seen an MG dealership but will check it out. Is the fuel consumption any good?

[bfoandc]

Gordon, you must be ‘annoyed’ and very disappointed. In my view you’ve done the right thing in not taking a car which isn’t what you want from a dealer who isn’t being honest with you. We did similar to that in April 2019 and we have regretted it! Living on a Scottish island I really do know about how much time looking at cars and trying them out takes. To put all that time in and to arrive at a final decision  and then to be messed around really is no fun.
There are good dealers out there – we had 2 of our previous vehicles from the same dealer and found them really helpful, honest and professional. We will be changing  our current vehicle early but this time we will take our time and try not to be ‘bounced’ into it.

[John Morris]

Not especially good tbh. For us it was a choice of an ateca or the HS. We went for the ateca because its a better all round engine. Similar 1.5 small turbo engines but I guess the MG is bigger and heavier so its slower and less economical. But the HS is higher specced.. Especially if you can go for the £999 ap exclusive auto. It seems to have just about every option available. Lots of safety tech and electric heated everything lol. After the first week of our ateca I wish I had opted for the HS already.

[rox]

Wow 100 mile round trip to do a test drive, I discounted a few car makes as they was not local , The main problem is servicing etc if it’s not local enough it’s a problem for the day to to day life when you gotta go to the dealer for a problem or yearly service..

Luckily honda ain’t far from me at all and really am liking how smooth the cvt actually is on the civic. The one downside is it’s really low to get into, but all cars cause me some sort of issue gettting in and out because of my back and long legs and my overall condition.

As for the Mg Arnold Clark Glasgow Volkswagen / MG (East) 29 Dalmarnock Rd, Rutherglen, Glasgow G73 1AE. I had a vw golf before the civic and i know they do/ did the golf sv if you need a higher car.  I forget what you do need / want.

[Tommy]

That’s the thing, if you live rural or you’re nor close to a dealership it can hamper your choices, I’m lucky, I have all major dealerships within 6 miles of where I live but even i found it hard this time around to pick a car with all that’s going on, saying that I’ve had to do a 140 mile round trip this time as my local vw dealer who’s a 3 minute drive away refused to match jct600 on AP, when I pick my car up it will be the 1st time I’ve visited dealership as they done it all over the phone and by email for me so not too bad

[Gordon]

Hi Tommy,

Thats a major issue in terms of dealerships near by but I don’t think that dealers have cottoned on to the fact that we are no longer just going to sit there and accept their no discount offer and that it would be worth a drive to save some money, I appreciate that not everyone can do that. I saw there was £500 off selected Honda cars in South Wales, well it would be worth it for me to spend £25 on a one way flight from Inverness to Bristol and then a £14 coach trip from the airport, its still be over £400 up on the deal. The only downside would be the 650 mile drive home but I could combine it with a parental visit. Dealers in my neck of the wood have no competition and just refuse point blank to price match. I bet you are looking forward to the day that you collect your new car.

[Tommy]

Hi gordon

 

Yeah mate really looking forward to getting it thanks, it’s been a long drawn out affair to put it mildly so can’t wait now, hopefully it will be better on the diesel than my gas guzzling alhambra

[Author]

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