|
Efbe
Original Poster
4,866 posts
35 months
|
Hi alfa people. Anyone bought a car from Speciality Cars in Huddersfield? They claim to have been around for a while and specialise in alfa's, so was hoping someone might recognise the name. Just lookking for a review or comments about them 
|
|
|
DrCuts
1 posts
43 months
|
Hi Efbe, I bought a 156 sportwagon from them last month.. the guys there seem to know what they are on about. Only one word of warning; Carl (the owner) likes to talk, a lot. An old school car salesman if you will I saw your post when I was looking for any other's thoughts on the garage, because the only place they advertise online is eBay and they have 0 feedback. So I thought it only right to let you know that I reckon they are genuine chaps, my car is gorgeous, and didn't come with any nasty surprises. In fact, it's surpassed any of my expectations but that's more a compliment to Alfa and the previous owner!
|
|
|
Efbe
Original Poster
4,866 posts
35 months
|
Thanks for that. I ended up buying from them. thoroughly nice chaps I thought as well!
had a little bit of warranty work to do after, and though they weren't overly keen to sort it, they did in the end, so all is good.
|
|
|
Alfahorn
4,442 posts
77 months
|
DrCuts said: Hi Efbe, I bought a 156 sportwagon from them last month.  Absolutely fantastic cars and very, very rare already. I love mine! Here's a pic taken just last week. 
|
|
|
Efbe
Original Poster
4,866 posts
35 months
|
DrCuts said: Hi Efbe, I bought a 156 sportwagon from them last month.. the guys there seem to know what they are on about. Only one word of warning; Carl (the owner) likes to talk, a lot. An old school car salesman if you will I saw your post when I was looking for any other's thoughts on the garage, because the only place they advertise online is eBay and they have 0 feedback. So I thought it only right to let you know that I reckon they are genuine chaps, my car is gorgeous, and didn't come with any nasty surprises. In fact, it's surpassed any of my expectations but that's more a compliment to Alfa and the previous owner! Ah well, it was too good to last. Unfortunately having to change my opinion about them. When I test drove the car, I pointed out to the guy (carl's colleague) that there was a clonking noise from the suspension, and there was also a very loud 'angle grinding' noise from the air con. They agreed to fix these before sale. unfortunately they didn't. though they did say I could take it to a garage to have it looked at. Though they had said all work is done at AlfaTech, a reputable alfa romeo garage, it ended up being seen to by a back street garage. Not bad guys, but not alfa specialists. In hindsight I should have had a second test drive to check this was all sorted, but felt cheeky asking. Lesson learnt! Turns out the MOT had probably been hooky, the arm greased up to pass and stop making a noise. should definately not have passed, but they did fix this at their cost after a bit of arguement over who should pay. The aircon however did not get fixed, and now the drop links are making a noise. Carl at Specialist cars is refusing to touch the aircon, despite saying they would have it fixed for sale. Nice guys when selling a car, not so nice when trying to resolve a problem! I wouldn't trust the MOT they get for their cars either. I'll keep on at them, and hopefully my opinion in them can be improved.
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
fb902350
116 posts
66 months
|
Sounds like he's trying it on tbh. as a dealer, he should know full well he's in the wrong.
if all else fails, send him a letter before action, then threaten with small claims court?
|
|
|
Efbe
Original Poster
4,866 posts
35 months
|
Cheers for that.
I'd prefer to avoid going down the court route, but will if he keeps on holding out.
Just an annoying situation as it's a fault I pointed out to his colleague on the test drive, back at the office Carl said he would get it sorted. Even as soon as I left after buying the car I could hear the noise, unfortunately I bought into his sales spiel a bit too much and actually expected him to be helpful :/
|
|
|
flyingplum
44 posts
34 months
|
I've just had a similar experience - visited a reputable dealership, not mentioning any names (yet) and test drove a mint, low mileage GT. However, during negotiations on the sale, I pointed out that the brakes needed replacing and there was also a creaking noise from the front suspension, and asked if they would get the repair work done prior to sale, or reduce the price to accommodate the repair bill I would incur. They offered to do neither, but said they would put 12 months MOT on the car - if it failed on either problem, they would sort it. They also offered to sell the car with a 5 star warranty.
The GT passed it's MOT without any problems, so I purchased the car (without a second test drive either) but the creaking noise continued and the brakes were terrible! I contacted the dealership, who said I should to sort it out with the aftermarket warranty company. The warranty company said "take it to a garage and have the problems diagnosed". I then took the car to a reputable Alfa specialist who diagnosed a knackered drop link and arm, but worryingly, they said the brakes were so bad, they would not be happy letting me have the car back unless I had the discs and pads changed immediately. All parts changed, and several hundred quid later, I now have the car back, but the warranty company won't pay out for "wear and tear" and the dealership who sold me the GT are now ignoring my emails. The sales person who sold me the car has also since left the company.
Just to rub salt into the wound, the dealership lost the locking wheel nut key before I bought the car, so I had to buy a replacement locking key for £25.00, just so the wheels could be removed and the repair work carried out! The dealership did at least offer to pay the £25.00 for the locking nut. Guess who's still waiting for their £25.00…
|
|
|
rijmij99
324 posts
30 months
|
flyingplum said: I've just had a similar experience - visited a reputable dealership, not mentioning any names (yet) and test drove a mint, low mileage GT. However, during negotiations on the sale, I pointed out that the brakes needed replacing and there was also a creaking noise from the front suspension, and asked if they would get the repair work done prior to sale, or reduce the price to accommodate the repair bill I would incur. They offered to do neither, but said they would put 12 months MOT on the car - if it failed on either problem, they would sort it. They also offered to sell the car with a 5 star warranty.
The GT passed it's MOT without any problems, so I purchased the car (without a second test drive either) but the creaking noise continued and the brakes were terrible! I contacted the dealership, who said I should to sort it out with the aftermarket warranty company. The warranty company said "take it to a garage and have the problems diagnosed". I then took the car to a reputable Alfa specialist who diagnosed a knackered drop link and arm, but worryingly, they said the brakes were so bad, they would not be happy letting me have the car back unless I had the discs and pads changed immediately. All parts changed, and several hundred quid later, I now have the car back, but the warranty company won't pay out for "wear and tear" and the dealership who sold me the GT are now ignoring my emails. The sales person who sold me the car has also since left the company.
Just to rub salt into the wound, the dealership lost the locking wheel nut key before I bought the car, so I had to buy a replacement locking key for £25.00, just so the wheels could be removed and the repair work carried out! The dealership did at least offer to pay the £25.00 for the locking nut. Guess who's still waiting for their £25.00… ahhh the old, its not safe, i can't let you go story. in the future tell them to politely do one and go to another gargae
|
|
|
Efbe
Original Poster
4,866 posts
35 months
|
flyingplum said: I've just had a similar experience - visited a reputable dealership, not mentioning any names (yet) and test drove a mint, low mileage GT. However, during negotiations on the sale, I pointed out that the brakes needed replacing and there was also a creaking noise from the front suspension, and asked if they would get the repair work done prior to sale, or reduce the price to accommodate the repair bill I would incur. They offered to do neither, but said they would put 12 months MOT on the car - if it failed on either problem, they would sort it. They also offered to sell the car with a 5 star warranty.
The GT passed it's MOT without any problems, so I purchased the car (without a second test drive either) but the creaking noise continued and the brakes were terrible! I contacted the dealership, who said I should to sort it out with the aftermarket warranty company. The warranty company said "take it to a garage and have the problems diagnosed". I then took the car to a reputable Alfa specialist who diagnosed a knackered drop link and arm, but worryingly, they said the brakes were so bad, they would not be happy letting me have the car back unless I had the discs and pads changed immediately. All parts changed, and several hundred quid later, I now have the car back, but the warranty company won't pay out for "wear and tear" and the dealership who sold me the GT are now ignoring my emails. The sales person who sold me the car has also since left the company.
Just to rub salt into the wound, the dealership lost the locking wheel nut key before I bought the car, so I had to buy a replacement locking key for £25.00, just so the wheels could be removed and the repair work carried out! The dealership did at least offer to pay the £25.00 for the locking nut. Guess who's still waiting for their £25.00… well, do what I am very likely to do... small claims court. from my point of view I bought a car upon the proviso they fixed the aircon. they said they did (witness to vouch for this) so I bought it. Guy is now claiming they only said the would 'look at the issue' which apparently means I only expected them to look at it and not fix it. (which is a lie) WTF is he talking about?!? Who is their right mind would do that. Anyhow, he hasn't returned any of my calls, so it may have to be a different route
|
|
