Worst Main Dealer Stories, get it off your chest!

[philsford]

Back in 1998 my Brother brought a brand new Lotus Elise from Peter Smiths in Derby.

He paid outright for the car and was on a waiting list to get one, he would go over there regular to see the sales guy and he seemed a decent enough bloke about 50 years old. In the end the dealer got a few extra cars as they had hit targets or something like that and My brother got his car after about 8 months waiting. I think it was £25,000 with every extra that he could have and he went on to spend another few grand on upgrades as they became available (hard top was silly money)

 

He only used the car on high days and holidays and the milage was very low but he always took it back for service intervals and I think it came with a 3 year warrenty. So the first Mot it was still under warrenty and passed no problem and probably had roughly 12k on the clock at this time. The next Mot my brother was going to have to foot the bill if it failed and fail it did. A track rod end and 2 rear shock absorbers (which were probably something off the shelf at the Koni factory) The quote for the work £1500. My brother gave the nod and collected it a few days later. It was summer and warm dry day. He got home and I looked at the rear shocks to find them covered in dry mud so they hadn't been changed but the track rod end looked new so £1500 for a track rod end. He sold it not long after with about 15k on the clock. I wanted to go to the dealer with him to see what they had to say but he is not that type of person probably the same as most people who drive brand new sports cars. He has since seen the light and has an old Boxter in the garage now with low miles and keeps away from the main dealer.

[Justin Case]

My wife recently bought  a car from Charles Clark in Wolverhampton. Please tell me they have nothing to with Arnold of the same name

Well, the best part of two years on and it appears that the Wolverhampton Clarks have absolutely no connection with their Scottish namesakes. The one service so far was reasonably priced and fairly thorough from the checklist that came with the bill, and they threw in a clean inside and out. Also the car has been faultless and still looks like new . Perhaps going to one of the few small family-run dealers taht still exist is better than one of the big plcs?