what is it with some garages and being rude

[garethj]

I've read through this again, and I think your assets are:

 

£150

An Alfa Romeo

 

And you need a reliable car that will do things like mpg, have 4 seats etc.  I'll ignore the 0-60 time, you're not on Pistonheads now   I've had a bike that will do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and a car that would just about beat 25 seconds, both are fun and even in the motorised slug it's still other people who hold me up.

 

Scenario 1

Sell the Alfa for whatever you can get, if it runs it should be worth £200?  I've got no idea what it's like, please don't be offended!  That gives you £350 for a new car.  If you must have reliable transport get something that's not too popular but has lowish miles and has been cared for.

 

Scenario 2

Put the £150 towards the Alfa and keep driving it.

 

Scenario 3

Put £100 on the Alfa to fix the most obvious fault and £50 on the best valet you can get at the local carwash.  Then flog it for hopefully £500 or more.

 

The state of your Alfa should let you decide which is the safest scenario.  You can decide on something more risky if you like (but not a fucked C4, that's like playing Russian Roulette with 5 of the 6 chambers full), but at least it's your decision.

[philsford]

1.6 16v Astra on factory LPG?

It's not local, but it fits every other criteria.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/17645-mid-shite-crisis-went-wrong/page-1

These Vauxhall lpg cars are good reliable transport. I have run 2 1.8 vectras to the 200k mark with only gearbox problems but at £100 for a secondhand box its not the end of the world and I think it was my style of driving that was causing it.

Diesel economy (in this price range better than diesel) but without the diesel running costs. Not sure about the 1.6 ones but the 1.8 has a solid flywheel and apart from coil packs and lamba sensors which are both cheap to replace they are pefect buget motoring. Get it brought and ditch the Alfa

I was getting about 12p per mile knocking about and 10p per mile on a run and LPG is only 60p per litre round this area.

[Lankytim]

I used to deliver cars and vans to dealerships and some of them were absolute nightmares. Smart arse wankers in shit suits. BMW in Nottingham were, funnily enough extremely friendly. Tea and biscuits while I perved over some old racing cars in their showroom.

 

I once bought a £200 Volvo 940 16v from a Volvo dealer in Shrewsbury. We had a nice sit down and chat with the sales guy, a cup of tea, biscuits and a history of the 16v engine. They couldn't have been more helpful and polite.

[Cavcraft]

/\

William A Lewis? They had some brilliant staff, especially the lads in the garage.

[Lankytim]

Yeah, thats them!

[dangerousdave]

you sometimes get that with guys in the service department a few years ago a friend called into my local land rover dealers for a part for my rangy classic and all he got off the guy in the service deparment was "uh that's a bit old its old that whats it doing still on the road " like if its older than 2 years old you shouldn't be in our service department kind of attitude but with ford dealers I once went to the one in Sheffield for Cortina engine mounts they weren't interested just said no too old so went to the one in Rotherham and the guy there said " itll not be on the computer but come in the back ill get it up on the microfische " got it up they were there for me to pick up next day couldn't have been more helpful

[Split_Pin]

Gone a bit quiet from the OP, I hope he hasn't bought the C4 from that insufferable-sounding gobshite.

[CreepingJesus]

In the early 90's, I was working in a now defunct VX garage. In the showroom by the main road, we had the MD's very nice V8 Merc (he didn't drive VXs if he could help it...) and a 300ZX we were punting on for a customer. Both immaculate, thanks to yours truly, looking a million.

Fat greasy guy in a stained t-shirt and cheap trackies walks in, casts his eye over both cars. I had a word with him about them, but went to get a salesman anyway. The one I got, treated the guy like some kind of cretin, so the guy walked. The salesman came to berate me for wasting his time, so I set him straight. The fat greasy guy ran one of the chippys down the road, liked nice cars, and paid cash every time.

Egg - face interaction ensued, and a dressing down from the sales manager (who on a personal level was the biggest arsehole in the place, but never treated cutomers like that). Lesson learned.

 

Against that, the only sales place in Fife I'd recommend is CB Autosales in Kirkcaldy. He usually has some part-exes knocking about, and if they aren't VAG/Audi he'll haggle. Sound bloke, and even put £20 back in my hand 'for petrol' when I paid him for the V70. Despite me not needing a warranty beyond SOGA etc., and using that to get the price down, he phoned a couple of times to check all was well anyway.

Some people do remember how to treat their customers!

[twosmoke300]

I expect he has gone off in a huff . While I agree with most of what's been said it is coming over a bit preachy. He can do what he wants with his car/money. Not like any of us have ever bought a car we probably shouldn't of eh ?

[rainagain]

So to summarise...

[sierraman]

If I was short of money a clapped out Alfa woud be my last choice. Something like an old fiesta would've been my choice with plenty of test left. Something simple and cheap to put rights what you need if you are genuinely skint.

[rainagain]

Just to give a little background to my thinking. What I usually do with my car purchasing is to buy a spares or repairs whilst I'm running my current car, fix it and then sell my current car. Meaning I can get more car for my small budget and I don't get stuck without a car. I got the Alfa cheap because it was belching black smoke, the engine management light was coming on every time you accelerated, it kept going into limp home mode and one of the wishbones was knackered.

 

I fixed all these faults for the grand sum of bugger all, a new wishbone was included in the sale but the previous owner had been unable to fit it thanks to the extensive use of aluminium in the suspension system many of the steel bolts had seized solid in their mountings  I managed to remove the hub without splitting it from the struct so I could fit the new wishbone. The belching smoke and ECU light were due to a seized EGR valve, due to its age I was able to solve this by simply blanking it off, as this didn't bother the ECU. My Stilo I got cheap as the HG was gone, I actually sold this one at a small profit after getting four years and 60,000 miles out of it. The Punto I had was cheap as the clutch wouldn't disengage,  I really busy at work so I paid an old boy in the village along from where I stayed beer money to change it for me, as it just enjoyed working on cars, I again sold this one for a small profit (less than £100). I do keep my cars for at least two years and making a tiny profit from selling them is good luck more than good planning. On the flip side I made a massive loss on the Megane my OH bought.

 

The reason I want something that does 0-60 in less than 11 seconds is I have owned a selection of seriously slow cars my last being a DW8 non turbo 206 complete with keep fit windows, whilst it was totally reliable, it was so slow! I used to hate overtaking people as they only needed to slightly increase their speed (something which I find is happening more often, as how dare I overtake them) to leave me stuck on the wrong side of the road. My commute is a 60 mile round trip, the road has some reasonable hills on it and I also would like the power to be able to overtake the 40mph everywhere brigade, hence the requirement.

 

The reason i'm selling the Alfa is the clutch has had a high biting point since the day I bought it, however a couple of weeks ago I had my first clutch slip whilst accelerating. From reading about the job online it sounds like a complete and utter nightmare and that's using a proper ramp, mostly due to having to drop the whole front subframe and steering rack. The bolts holding these of course will all be seized in the aluminium, I know one side definitely is as I tried to lower it when I was changing the cambelt. The cost to have it done at a garage seems to be around £500. A slipping clutch will only get worse and a car with a high biting point is worth significantly more than a car with a slipping clutch, hence why I want to sell it now.

[Pete-M]

Many moons ago I was in a BMW dealership buying a couple of bits for my car when a young black lad in a track suit walked in and was looking at the M3 and M5 in the showroom.

 

Sharp suited sales dick walks over to him and pretty much escorts him out of the showroom. I was watching this happen, DROID was being very rude and insulting in manner but didn't actually say anything he could get in trouble for. The lad in the tracksuit was taking his mistreatment well and saying "look, mate, I want that black M5, sell me it." Salesman was having none of it.

 

The lad eventually left and the sales dick looked rather smug "He didn't have any money, coming in here wearing a track suit." And generally being a bell end.

 

As I was leaving I made my way over to the salesman who was in a huddle with the other Salesman, looking smug.

 

Me: "Did you get his autograph"

SD: "Why would I?"

Me: "That was Everton's new player you just threw out"

[twosmoke300]

HA HA

[Richard]

Buy the Shitpeas Astra. Shitpeas is a good egg, LPG is for winners and it wouldn't be that hard to collect.

 

That C4 could easily cost a grand to put right and still only be worth what you paid.

[rainagain]

Buy the Shitpeas Astra. Shitpeas is a good egg, LPG is for winners and it wouldn't be that hard to collect.

 

That C4 could easily cost a grand to put right and still only be worth what you paid.

 

How much is it I can't seem to see a price in the thread

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Don't forget, while we're all telling him what a shit idea this and that is, Rainagain is the man who sorted out a Megane Dci with a kippered engine!!! The force is pretty strong with this guy.

[mat_the_cat]

you sometimes get that with guys in the service department a few years ago a friend called into my local land rover dealers for a part for my rangy classic and all he got off the guy in the service deparment was "uh that's a bit old its old that whats it doing still on the road " like if its older than 2 years old you shouldn't be in our service department kind of attitude

 

That reminds me of a situation at a Land Rover dealers around the turn of the century - I was after a hose from the water pump on an early Range Rover engine. (This was back in the day before I knew of Rimmer Bros, and eBay was so small I used to browse the entire Motors section in my lunch break!)

 

Dealer: Sorry sir, the computer only goes back as far as 1990.

Me: Well, can't you please just have a look on the shelves and see if there is anything matching what I have in my hand?

Dealer: Sorry, we have far too much stock, and it's so old we wouldn't have it in anyway.

Old guy wandering in from the storeroom: Is that off a Rover V8?

Me: Yes...

Old guy: Is it the hose from the water pump to the inlet manifold?

Me: Yes!

Old guy (to the original bloke 'serving' me): Well, that's part number ERC2319, you'll find it on the second shelf down, third from the left.

 

Brilliant.

[lisbon_road]

I went in a Ford agent a few years back to get an inlet manifold for a Sierra.  The man was very polite but said he didn't think they'd have it.  After much rummaging, he produced a packet, charged me trade price and gave me the other three in the packet.

 

As helpful as he could be.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Was thinking I do think have anything to add to this but the remembered when we were buying our fiesta ST. Sales man was I his 50's and OK but was a bit out aback when I said we wanted the esp option. He was all 'why this that and the other' as is a fast car he didn't understand that's why we wanted it. Anyway 2 week after getting it the alternator breaks, it goes back, I tell them it's the alternator to be told no, no its this and that or something. 3 weeks they had it while a new alternator came from Germany.... Not been back since

 

To contrast coopers ford in Oulton have been brilliant everything it's been for a service nothing is too small and they wash it. When I took the xr2 in for the radio code the parts guy came out set it all up for me, gave me the code and said not a problem no charge

[Parky]

Our family were Renault pervs from 1980 to 1999. We used a local dealer called Gidea Park Motors, small family dealership, guvnor wore brown overalls and knew everything, you know the sort of place.

 

When I got my first R5 I had a problem with overheating - I popped in, they did a leak test and found a leak under pressure on the rad. They also tested the fan out which was ok. When I asked about a new rad they said "they are pretty expensive but we have a breaker out back with a decent rad, let me see what I can do"

 

Half an hour later I had a decent secondhand rad fitted with new coolant. The cost? A drink for the mechanics. The guvnor said that as our family had bought eleven cars off them over the years (absolutely correct) they were happy to sort me out. Not bad considering my car was very secondhand and one foot from the shredder. As the guv said, a secondhand rad and coolant today, brand new Renault 5 Campus tomorrow. And he was dead right as that's pretty much what I did.

 

Sadly Renault decided that volume meant more than service and stopped supplying to Gidea Park motors in favour of Renault Romford, a nice shiny dealership with balloons. None of the mechanics were taken on and service work was shoddy, parts never had a clue, and sales were downright rude. Final straw was dads heater matrix was replaced and we found screws sticking out of the dash, wipers didn't work, and switches had been changed where they had obviously broken the originals removing the dash. No problem if the switches were new but they had obviously been taken out of a high mileage scrapper and didn't match properly. Mechanics of course denied any wrongdoing.

 

I still have a great deal of affection for Renault, as do many of my family but we haven't owned one since the customer service disappeared. Car dealers, indeed any business would do well to remember that whilst cutting corners to maximise profits they are alienating the very people who provide those profits - the customers - and sometimes all it takes is five minutes of extra effort and you have that customer, and possibly their whole family as customers for a long time.

 

If matey had been more helpful with that C4, he might have got a sale and repeat business from you in future. As it stands he has pissed you off and most of us on here! We may not be the target market at the moment, but in a few months/years, that could change.

 

As someone once said "the people you meet on the way up are the same ones you see on the way down - so be nice!"

[Split_Pin]

Why has nobody mentioned CAVCRAFT in assosciation with DUGONG-WAT delivery service? Surely thats a good way of getting the car you say you need?

[mouseflakes]

Scrap yard operators also have a bit of a reputation for being rude. However, years ago I often visited Ransome's in Somerset and the chap who ran that at the time was a very decent sort. I wanted the engine and box out of a Renault 16 TX. It was three cars up in a stack, so I disconnected everything and left it resting in the engine bay. He brought a crane over, hooked it up, lifted it out, took across the yard and swung it into the back of my old R4. All done with a smile, and all for £50, which even then was pretty cheap.

[richardmorris]

My parent's C4 coupé blew its head gasket at fours years and 55,000miles - one owner and only two drivers (me and Dad). That was the 1.4 petrol engine.

 

Eric white's the Citroen dealer in Ascot had very good service - the first time I parked on their forecourt in my CX 20Pallas (E reg, 1984 car) the whole sales team came out and looked at it while I went into the parts dept. to order a new bootlid (arrived the next week  - this was in 2000). The owner was a bit of a Arthur Daley type though.

[garethj]

I didn't realise you were the hero that got that Meganne running, in that case you should be able to make your fortune touring the country and fixing our knackered old sheds

You're like the automotive equivalent of an undertaker, you'll just never run out of customers.

Have you cashed in your brownie points for agreeing with your wife about the C4 yet?

[Petrolize]

Not in Fife, but not a million miles away, Drumgary vehicles in Airdrie might have a cheap part exchange that has come in. I bought a older, sub-£1000, car they had taken in, negotiated they MOT the car as it had only a few months remaining, and they obliged. They don't look to have anything in quite as cheap on their website however, the cheapest being another Alfa

[Chas4545]

Salesman s first words to me in a large VW dealership were "are you buying today" I hate that. I walked out.

 

Salesman in large Volvo dealer in Norwich turned and walked away when I asked if there was a reason the used cars were thousands more than others at volvo dealers. Are they special; spec I wondered?  He turned and walked away. That dealership is now closed down.

 

Ordered a used Volvo from a volvo dealer oop North by phone. Saved thousands, it was delivered, and I will keep it until the grass grows through the floor rather than have to deal with another salesman down here.

[Split_Pin]

Some forecourts deal in older cars, my Vectra was from Orbiston Street Motors in Motherwell. It was a bit shonky when I got it but it was cheap, had a full MOT and I made a good car out of it that lasted several years. Owners were pretty straight up anr whilst not overly personable, were willing to haggle a little and give me a test drive. To me that's all it takes. Taggarts Volvo and Murray Volvo have always given top service to my dad too.

Evans Halshaw in Sighthill were massive thundercunts to me though, never go near them again.

[Jim Bell]

How much is it I can't seem to see a price in the thread

It's 550 if you bring your own wheels.

Or 750 if you want it with the £250 worth of brand new Goodyear EfficientGrip tyres I've JUST put on. (Receipt with car)

Also comes with a set of 7mm winter tyres (as seen in pics) at the higher price. And OEM headlight protectors. And fish and chips.

 

You would not regret it.

[overrun]

And a ride on the Shieldsman ferry.