Arnold gets another one

Arnold gets another one

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S2red

Original Poster:

2,507 posts

190 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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Woods Garage West Calder Vauxall franchise soon to be Arnold at Livingstone

Another wee friendly helpful family garage losses out to the might of all conquering Arnold

It is getting very hard NOT to buy a car from him

DottyMR2

478 posts

126 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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S2red said:
Woods Garage West Calder Vauxall franchise soon to be Arnold at Livingstone

Another wee friendly helpful family garage losses out to the might of all conquering Arnold

It is getting very hard NOT to buy a car from him
That's a real shame, my family has got a few cars out of Woods in the past and I got my first car there, they were always pretty reasonable and fair in there.

Any idea why, has Woods sold up to get out of it? Or just not been turning a profit and forced out?

Patch1875

4,893 posts

131 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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Lots of these small town franchised dealers struggle when the manufacturer tells them it's time for a corporate refit of the premises, would never buy a car from Arnies (used to work for their old rival the JM group) thankfully eastern/Western have all the decent brands.

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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Sad to see another small dealer going, thing is they just cannot complete with the real big groups, I am sure their buying power is enormous.

We looked at a bloody Zafira Sport Tourer (I know, I know) a few weeks ago - Pre reg, £10,000 off the retail price!

S2red

Original Poster:

2,507 posts

190 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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Lost franchise was phrase used

Patch1875

4,893 posts

131 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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S2red said:
Lost franchise was phrase used
That's not a surprise, noticed the vauxhall dealer in Haddington has changed name to someone I've never heard off.

Used to be lots of satellite dealers but not anymore.

HendryG

308 posts

160 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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I wonder if they are building a new site in Livingston or if they are dropping Nissan at their current Livingston showroom or making it dual franchise.

This is not a surprise, they have also recently taken over Calterdon BMW in Harbour Road, Inverness, and are building a new showroom next to Mercedes at Longman Road, The only independent BMW dealer in Scotland is now Crossflags Dumfries,I've also heard they have submitted planning permission for Makro at Hillington to make it into a Renault/Dacia/Fiat/Motorstore dealership as well as their head office being relocated from Nithsdale Road, which would also mean the possible closure of their sites at East Lane and Renfrew Road, Paisley.

Finally they are apparently being handed back the Alfa Romeo sales franchise and its supposedly a done deal that the Peugeot/Chrysler/Jeep/Chevrolet site at Kemnay is going to become a Fiat Group site with Abarth and Alfa going there, there seems to be a bit of truth in it as Peugeot has gone from there now. Also since the closure of Western Perth Alfa they are getting it back there as well.

andym1603

1,799 posts

171 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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They have recently taken over the local BMW dealership here in Inverness. Not under the Arnold Clark banner though. It is a Harry Fairbairn guise.

Cambell

324 posts

246 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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That's what happens. Who knows Spar as a wee corner shop ? Spar is a massive brand............Wish it was my idea !!

MissChief

7,095 posts

167 months

Monday 15th September 2014
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A shame. Can't say I've bought a car there but we drove past a couple of weeks ago with my Parents and I remarked they've been going for years. So much for competition.

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
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HendryG said:
I wonder if they are building a new site in Livingston or if they are dropping Nissan at their current Livingston showroom or making it dual franchise.

This is not a surprise, they have also recently taken over Calterdon BMW in Harbour Road, Inverness, and are building a new showroom next to Mercedes at Longman Road, The only independent BMW dealer in Scotland is now Crossflags Dumfries,I've also heard they have submitted planning permission for Makro at Hillington to make it into a Renault/Dacia/Fiat/Motorstore dealership as well as their head office being relocated from Nithsdale Road, which would also mean the possible closure of their sites at East Lane and Renfrew Road, Paisley.

Finally they are apparently being handed back the Alfa Romeo sales franchise and its supposedly a done deal that the Peugeot/Chrysler/Jeep/Chevrolet site at Kemnay is going to become a Fiat Group site with Abarth and Alfa going there, there seems to be a bit of truth in it as Peugeot has gone from there now. Also since the closure of Western Perth Alfa they are getting it back there as well.
Interesting stuff as ever, I had heard about the Makro move for head office.

I think Grassicks BMW in Perth is still independant?

The thing is with them is that if you are after an ordinary, everyday car, they are effectively the cheapest around by far.

HendryG

308 posts

160 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
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750turbo said:
Interesting stuff as ever, I had heard about the Makro move for head office.

I think Grassicks BMW in Perth is still independant?

The thing is with them is that if you are after an ordinary, everyday car, they are effectively the cheapest around by far.
This is all hearsay tbh, the Alfa franchise rumours all came from the Alfa owners forum as apparently a salesman at Kemnay AC told one of the guys on there this was happening, someone else is in the know who mentioned about the Perth dealership, also the fact that Arnold has recently opened a new build Chevrolet dealership on Dunkeld Road on land they acquired as part of the J R Weir takeover, as you probably know as of 2015 Chevrolet are pulling out of the UK so that's a spare site they'll have to put another franchise in, they've also got the Kia and Chrysler Jeep dealership in Perth and the Fiat dealership in Perth, so they could group all the Fiat Group stuff together or as they seem to be doing elsewhere, put Kia in with Fiat and Alfa and Chrysler Jeep together, there's about 3 or 4 different ways of it going ahead.

I've seen the planning permission for Makro, and it includes planning permission for showrooms and used car display areas as well as people talking about when Arnold opens at Makro that since Booker Cash and Carry took over Makro and have premises round the corner from East Lane Paisley Renault that as part of the deal they'll be relocating to Arnies Renault.

Grassicks BMW Perth isn't independent, its owned by Cameron's of Perth who also own Perth Audi, Perth VW and Strathmore Volvo.

70mph

1 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
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Don't care where I buy from as long as I get a good deal

Martin_M

2,071 posts

226 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Can't tell you how much I dislike AC!

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Martin_M said:
Can't tell you how much I dislike AC!
Yes you can...

Go on...

ibizacupradan

5 posts

114 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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I hate AC too. I bought a year old Clio from the superstore in Edinburgh a couple of years back and when I swung by to pick it up, they had lost the spare key for it. Assuring me that someone from the AA would visit me at home to cut & code me a new spare, months later after no further correspondence, I had to phone up and kick up about my key.

No AA man - I had to drive out to the dealer again to get it myself. Chap who sold me the car - who acted like my best pal just a couple of months ago - didn't even recognise me or had any clue about my lost spare key incident. He palmed me off to their servicing dept round the corner who, after an hour of waiting, then palmed me off to the Renault dealership down the road. It wasn't until then that I finally got my key (having wasted a whole afternoon off waiting about in car garages).

In addition to that, I also discovered a bodge alloy wheel refurb job of theirs on the Clio. Silver overspray all over one of the rear drums, bottom of the shock absorber and ABS sensor. Unsurprisingly this then started to bubble and flake to reveal underneath a very poorly prepared surface onto which they painted (hardly surprising really, considering they painted the bloody thing ON the car...). No offer of rectification for this nor an apology. Never again.

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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ibizacupradan said:
I hate AC too. I bought a year old Clio from the superstore in Edinburgh a couple of years back and when I swung by to pick it up, they had lost the spare key for it. Assuring me that someone from the AA would visit me at home to cut & code me a new spare, months later after no further correspondence, I had to phone up and kick up about my key.

No AA man - I had to drive out to the dealer again to get it myself. Chap who sold me the car - who acted like my best pal just a couple of months ago - didn't even recognise me or had any clue about my lost spare key incident. He palmed me off to their servicing dept round the corner who, after an hour of waiting, then palmed me off to the Renault dealership down the road. It wasn't until then that I finally got my key (having wasted a whole afternoon off waiting about in car garages).

In addition to that, I also discovered a bodge alloy wheel refurb job of theirs on the Clio. Silver overspray all over one of the rear drums, bottom of the shock absorber and ABS sensor. Unsurprisingly this then started to bubble and flake to reveal underneath a very poorly prepared surface onto which they painted (hardly surprising really, considering they painted the bloody thing ON the car...). No offer of rectification for this nor an apology. Never again.
Interesting. I am going to presume that you are fairly young and most certainly naive?

This can be experienced from Dealers all over the country, remember that most sites are run on an individual basis, so you really cannot compare one with another.

I do not want to be seen sticking up for them, but I know a good few employees, fairy high up, and they work bloody hard.

S2red

Original Poster:

2,507 posts

190 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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I often wonder where a lot of his stock comes from

Looking for a Corsa for my wife dozens with Arnold all similar age mileage and price - ex Hire or courtesy cars?

Will they admit this if they are?

Craigie

1,223 posts

178 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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I can't believe people will buy a car without doing their homework and blindly believe the salesman or the dealer. I hear about it all the time, friends and relatives and the second key issue seems to be a common occurrency.

The minute you have the sales manager come up to you to shake your hand and thank you for your custom, you know the whole process is false. You accept the minute you walk out that door, you are worth zero to the salesman. You are not going to be buying another car for next month's target and by the time you do come to change your car he will most likely be away selling PPI somewhere because he is a salesman , not a car enthusuiast.

I buy all my cars from Arnold because in every occasion, they have offered the best deal to me. They absolutely screwed me over with my last car when they bodged a gearbox warranty job so I really don't trust their mechanic side but you also need to accept that as they get bigger and bigger, it will be perceived that they are having more issues but in reality these are probably issues that the other dealers were having but not as noticeable.

I absolutely would not hand over my money on the day unless I was totally happy with every aspect of the car - that would include keys, paperwork etc. In fact on my current car I got a brand new alloy and tyre put on my car which was a spare in another sale car because I was unhappy with the state of the wheel when I went to take delivery and refused to pay until it was sorted.

Like all sales companies, money talks. The sale negotiation is just a charade - decide in your mind what you are willing to accept, go in towards the end of the month, tell them what deal you are wanting and that your card / finance or whatever is ready and for the last 5 cars I have bought for them, this has worked for me.

Whether I could have got a better deal who knows, but I got a deal that I was happy with and thats what matters.

jaf01uk

1,943 posts

195 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Same here, they do a decent deal on sales price but would rather eat my own hand off than put a car near any of their "technicians" I had a verrrrry long catalogue of misfortune after a timing belt failure on a Pug 306gti-6 thankfully covered by warranty but cost me a fortune none the less!!
Gary