lichtgilphead Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Ah, vandetta. What a great motor. Can you buy them from Uncle Arnie? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pub car king Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The thing about the motor trade is that its there to make money arnold clark is no different ti tesco they get stock cheap as they have huge buying power aand then punt it on as soon as possible. For some reason people get quite emotive about car buying and what they expect from it whereas who is all that bothered a supermarket is shafting you a little each time you go through the door 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottyC Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Lets look at this from Arnolds eyes. There is no such thing as a 'free' service, its all built into the cost of the car, and because you have taken finance, your effectively paying interest on your servicing costs. Which means more profit for the boy Arnold. Your first service will be nothing more than an oil & filter change and a quick tickle with the feather duster. The oil and filter will cost him no more than £15 at trade price.Your second servce will probably be a bit more thorough but still the parts cost at trade price will be minimal. However, when your car is in for the second service there will be a fair chance that it will need additional work (brake pads, tyres etc) which will result in additional payments. By having your car coming back to him for its servicing keeps his workshop busy and justifies his layout of financies on his workshop facilities and equipment. In a nutshell, the free servicing deal is a win win situation for Arnold. Whether the 2 'free' services are built into the finance package or not isn't really relevant to my situation though. I fully intended to get the car serviced somewhere and having had experience with both private garages and dealership garages in the past I wouldn't call either option a cheaper alternative. So at the second service there might be more work needing done, surely all garages would highlight this. Its early days, only had the motor a week but no complaints so far. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Going by this thread, the actual Arnold Clark seems to do an awful lot of field work. He's seemingly been all across the country at various outlets of his. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fudge Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I bought a new car from Arnold Clark 3 years ago. It was significantly cheaper there than elsewhere and I was given 3 free services as part of the package - I've just had the last one. On each occasion, they have picked up the car from my work, completed the service and returned it to my work place by the time I've left. I've never been charged for any replacement parts or the like. If I didn't use companies that people had complained about I'd be living in a cave and chucking spears at the Sun. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Algorithms Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 If I didn't use companies that people had complained about I'd be living in a cave and chucking spears at the Sun. Shame to hear that you won't be joining us... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I bought a new car from Arnold Clark 3 years ago. It was significantly cheaper there than elsewhere and I was given 3 free services as part of the package - I've just had the last one. On each occasion, they have picked up the car from my work, completed the service and returned it to my work place by the time I've left. I've never been charged for any replacement parts or the like. If I didn't use companies that people had complained about I'd be living in a cave and chucking spears at the Sun. You'll probably get shafted next year 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghead ranter Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I'm amazed this thread is still going - Arnold seems to employ a complete team who track down anti-Arnold stuff online and gets it removed. I've known of at least 2 anti-Arnold pages on facebook that disappeared altogether despite having lots of traffic (see what I did there). Hope this one survives, it's something everyone should read before buying a car. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zetterlund Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I bought my first car from Arnold Clark, it was a few years old and luckily came with a 3 month warranty. Within the 3 months it was back in for repairs 7 times, including an engine replacement. On the 7th occasion when I called them with a problem I was told that I wasn't entitled to any more warranty work after everything that had been done previously - they must have been spewing at how much this shed they sold me had cost them since. Quick phone call to Arnold HQ to complain about the branch, and I got a grovelling apology and the car repaired again. After the warranty had expired the car gave me another 4 years of trouble-free service. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeAreElgin Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 When I was looking for a new car in the summer I had a quick squint at one of the Arnold Clark garages in inverness (no idea which one) and received very little in the way of service from a salesman who told me he'd do me a good price compared to the £5,000 quoted in the window. After he'd spent some time speaking to his bosses I'd get it at a steal of only £5,300! His words were that "free road tax was a thing of the past" so adding £300 was totally justifiable. I went to dicksons instead and their after-care service has been pretty outstanding, although as others have said they were waiting for me to make the move with regards to getting any problems sorted. Come mot and service time I had them change my batteries in the key fobs which had been dodgy since I'd gotten the car at no cost, and they also uncovered a snapped rear coil while mot'ing. Fixed in an hour, covered under warranty and they even fixed my knackered radio. Surprisingly nice people at dicksons. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munter Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Have bought one brand new and one second hand car from Arnold Clark. No real horror stories to tell, although friends/family have had less luck. In most cases they do sort stuff out but you really have to fight for it. To be fair I have this to be the same for most garages. Now I always buy new online via a broker. Cars are bought in volume by the garages and get bonuses based on the amount they sell in a period. Therefore it might be worth more to a garage to sell you a car at cost and make their bonus, than miss the sale and therefore the bonus as well. I have bought three cars this way (using three different brokers) and I wouldnt do it any other way in future. The last car was list price £18k, I got it for £13k including upgraded extras. Full UK spec, full manufacturers warranty etc. I had to fly to London (Easyjet £45) to pick the car up and drive it back (£60 petrol) but thats no big deal when you're making such a big saving. Also screw garage finance most times its really bad terms. A 3-5 year personal loan is a better option unless you get one of the rare 0% interest deals. If you want some broker recommendations just PM me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My mum bought her last car from AC and had it for years. Each year she dutifully took it for an annual service and set aside around £500 for the costs. Every single year they'd "find" major problems that needed expensive fixes. Eventually I said to mum to take the car to the mechanic I use for a service. Her worry was that without the AC stamp, year in year out, the car would depreciate in value. At £500 a year for 5 years, I explained, the costs of these expensive services are outstripping the depreciation. So last year she took the car in and they quoted £450 for the "urgent" work needed. It was the straw for mum, and she wheeled the car round the corner to my mechanic and he did a full service for £125. The major problems AC highlighted were just wear and tear and little fixes. The only companym worse than these guys is Kwik Fit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTJohnboy Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My mum bought her last car from AC and had it for years. Each year she dutifully took it for an annual service and set aside around £500 for the costs. Every single year they'd "find" major problems that needed expensive fixes. Eventually I said to mum to take the car to the mechanic I use for a service. Her worry was that without the AC stamp, year in year out, the car would depreciate in value. At £500 a year for 5 years, I explained, the costs of these expensive services are outstripping the depreciation. So last year she took the car in and they quoted £450 for the "urgent" work needed. It was the straw for mum, and she wheeled the car round the corner to my mechanic and he did a full service for £125. The major problems AC highlighted were just wear and tear and little fixes. The only companym worse than these guys is Kwik Fit. Good advice.....Only I disagree about Kwik-Fit. They offer a basic (interim service) for £75 and if you need an MOT - it is £99. They will try and tell you that you are really needing new tyres, exhaust and host of other things that are on their last legs, but you just ignore all that. You are not under obligation to let them replace anything. They will also stamp your service book. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I know its my fault as well but i bought a car from them that only had 4 days road tax left and no one thought to tell me, it was a right pain in the arse coz i needed to order a new tax disc but hadn't registered my details so the disc was invalid even though i had paid for it. Trying to chase them up was a pain in the arse and they really did want nothing to do with me, was a good car mind you 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkie Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Hi everyone, I've been looking around the web about Arnold Clark and their peers and what I've found is that there are 2 opinions. 1) they are fairly decent, they'll com you when they can but that's just car dealerships, it's to be expected. 2) they are the absolute scum of the earth, devil incarnate hellspawn that seem intent on ruining people's lives. I asked some friends of mine who are high up in the newspaper game why you never see any of these horror stories in the papers and they all tell me it's because AC and the like pay so much in advertising revenue that no one wants to P##s them off. That made me pretty mad so I started a site where I hope we can get a focused voice for the car dealership victims and maybe do something to get things changed. It's not a witch hunt though. I want to hear positive stories too. Anyway the site is arnoldshark dot com - if you know anyone suffering at the hands of a large car dealer, please point them my way. Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 (edited) I'd be surprised if you made any difference. The biggest car dealerships have been untouchable for so long they can do anything they want these days We had an VW with the 4motion technology come into us with a transfer box that had seized while the guy was driving it, seemingly this oil is meant to be changed within 40,000 miles. The car had a full VW dealership service history, and had done 42,000 miles. VW are holding absolutely no responsibility for it though despite telling a previos owner they'd done it in one of their services and now we're left to pay for the repair (the box itself is £1500) as we'd just sold it and it was still under warranty. AC aren't the worst at all, they're just less sneaky than the Audi and Ford garages of the world Edited March 16, 2014 by RandomGuy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkie Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Thanks for feedback. These stories are very interesting but in all honesty, the more people tell me to roll over and take it, the more determined I am to fight them. I'm currently prepping a case for trading standards and the financial ombudsman but secondary to that, I really want arnoldshark.com to become the defacto online home for the victims of these bullies to get motivated to fight back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Good luck 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkie Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz FFC Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Thanks for feedback. These stories are very interesting but in all honesty, the more people tell me to roll over and take it, the more determined I am to fight them. I'm currently prepping a case for trading standards and the financial ombudsman but secondary to that, I really want arnoldshark.com to become the defacto online home for the victims of these bullies to get motivated to fight back. Don't know if it's my fault or the websites but when I tried to login a few mins ago it took an eternity and I left. I've a rake of stories involving said dealership from a customers and an employees perspective. I also have a load about other dealerships that I'd happily share. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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