Shirleys Garage

Author
Discussion

mohitos

Original Poster:

1,313 posts

198 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Morning All,

Anyone have experience of dealing with this place (they're based in Warwickshire)?

IMI A

9,410 posts

200 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Family run garage. Bought off them and they're absolutely fine.

Wozy68

5,387 posts

169 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Nice enough fella, just be absolutly sure you get all the info over the phone before travelling. I got there once and the 964 I was looking at wasn't quite the spec I thought from the telephone conversation.
I think he works mainly on SOR. Like I said though, nice bloke, just a little excentric at times. (Nothing wrong with that).
There's an Indy next door that is a separate business.

Sifly

570 posts

177 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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I went to view a 964 there a while back. Nice little set up, and the cars are not overly prepped from what I can remember
I was fairly keen on the car and asked for a test drive. I got a passenger ride of about 2 miles and we were back at the garage. I tried to pick the brains of the Indi mechanic there but got little help.

I walked away!

I'd just make sure the car is exactly what you want before you travel if its a fair way from you as I felt my trip a waste of time unfortunately.

SAG6Y

387 posts

188 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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I live a 10 minute walk from these guys. If you'd like me to have a look at a potential purchase, let me know and i'll go for a wander! Feel free to PM me. Kam

BUG4LIFE

2,007 posts

217 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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I've got an Uncle and cousin that have both bought 996's from Shirleys, and both seem to rate them...

steve singh

3,995 posts

172 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Good rep - cars not overly prepped and can be on the expensive side.

Pct also down the road...

Fat hippo

732 posts

133 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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I went 5 years ago when I was looking to buy a 993.
They gave a very giod px offer for my e36 m3 (9k when other dealers were offering 6k) and i was tempted to put a deposit on the 993 there and then subject to an inspection.
The chap there appeared to be offended by my suggestion of an inspection. He said the garage next door could look at jt but not someone else (such as peter morgan).

I was a bit surprised and ended buying from portiacraft.
It put me off then but I probably would buy from them in the future

Porkupine

1,709 posts

164 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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steve singh said:
Good rep - cars not overly prepped and can be on the expensive side.
Wow, I need to open a business like this. Don't bother prepping my cars, price them high and STILL maintain a good rep!!

Fastfred

125 posts

188 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Fat hippo said:
I went 5 years ago when I was looking to buy a 993.
They gave a very giod px offer for my e36 m3 (9k when other dealers were offering 6k) and i was tempted to put a deposit on the 993 there and then subject to an inspection.
The chap there appeared to be offended by my suggestion of an inspection. He said the garage next door could look at jt but not someone else (such as peter morgan).

I was a bit surprised and ended buying from portiacraft.
It put me off then but I probably would buy from them in the future
Ditto here - extremely put out by my suggestion that the adjoining indie might in some way be an itsbitsy kind of prejudiced in favour of their regular client rather than me, a complete stranger.

I also walked away.

I was also confused about their fullsome descriptions of cars/previous owners/condition because the cars lacked prep and they were in need of some TLC but were being described as being in far better condition that they were actually in.

"we like to leave them in the state that they arrive" - I think I've heard that before!

Hilux2400

231 posts

135 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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First let me say that I am not a business associate of Shirley's Garage and I am not a friend of the owner. I have bought a car from them which was a Porsche 996 in December 2012.

I found the owner: Carl, to be both fair and reasonable. The car was ready on time. It was not overprepped, but it was clean and tidy with no cover ups. This is how I like to see a secondhand car. The vehicle was not cheap, but at a lower price that many others I had seen.

Shirley's allowed any independent inspection and I asked Martin Brown from Porsche Tech to do this. He has his business in the next door shed. Martin's inspection was thorough. He made quite a few recommendations and found a few things that were needed. These included tyres, full service, brake discs and pads on the rear and a new serpentine belt. He also identified some body work that had been done, but this was mainly cosmetic which can be expected in a 9 year old car. Shirley's agreed to deal with all the mechanical things before handover.

Shirley's gave a three month guarantee, but it is not comprehensive only covering major stuff. There is a more extensive option available, but I did not take it.

Like all things experience is the key. This is my first Porsche and had I known a little more about various wheel types I might have been more observant. Having said that, I do not consider there was anything intrinsically wrong with the car at the point of sale.

So the crunch is would I deal with them again? The answer is yes, if they had the car I wanted.

H

steve singh

3,995 posts

172 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Porkupine said:
steve singh said:
Good rep - cars not overly prepped and can be on the expensive side.
Wow, I need to open a business like this. Don't bother prepping my cars, price them high and STILL maintain a good rep!!
Overly prepped not equal to no prep.

Expensive given levels of prep imho - but that is an opinion.

Good rep as people get what they have been happy to pay for - nothing underhand etc.

smile

Pickled Piper

6,334 posts

234 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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steve singh said:
Pct also down the road...
This. No affiliation. However, if you want a used Porsche try PCT in Coventry.

pp

Pickled Piper

6,334 posts

234 months

Monday 25th February 2013
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Hilux2400 said:
Shirley's allowed any independent inspection and I asked Martin Brown from Porsche Tech to do this. He has his business in the next door shed. Martin's inspection was thorough. He made quite a few recommendations and found a few things that were needed. These included tyres, full service, brake discs and pads on the rear and a new serpentine belt. He also identified some body work that had been done, but this was mainly cosmetic which can be expected in a 9 year old car. Shirley's agreed to deal with all the mechanical things before handover.

I appreciate you had a good experience and I am not trying to detract from that message. However, the two businesses are colocated because they are dependent on each other for business.


pp


jimmy p

960 posts

165 months

Tuesday 26th February 2013
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I visited shirleys a couple of years ago to compare 993 against newer 911 variants. I found the chap very helpful with this giving me a short test drive in a 993 and 997. The cars are not prepped up to high standards imo however he was very honest with his assessments of the vehicles. The 997 we drove had recently been bought by him for stock. He told me on the test drive about a few faults on it I was not aware of that needed sorting before he sold it. My opinion is that he was a decent enthusiastic dealer however the cars were not all shiny with stone chips removed etc. Unfortunately for me I like my cars as perfect as possible and because of this and the prices being asked I bought elsewhere. If they did have a car in I was interested in which was very well presented then yes I would buy from him.

Ewa Woowa

26 posts

143 months

Tuesday 26th February 2013
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Hilux2400 said:
First let me say that I am not a business associate of Shirley's Garage and I am not a friend of the owner.
This.
I bought a Cayman S of them last year.

Hilux2400 said:
I found the owner: Carl, to be both fair and reasonable. The car was ready on time. It was not overprepped, but it was clean and tidy with no cover ups. This is how I like to see a secondhand car. The vehicle was not cheap, but at a lower price that many others I had seen.
This.

Hilux2400 said:
Shirley's allowed any independent inspection
This.
I used Peter Morgan - they gave the car a "9 out of 10" and Shirley's agreed to deal with all the (very minimal) mechanical things before handover.

Hilux2400 said:
So the crunch is would I deal with them again? The answer is yes, if they had the car I wanted.
This.
I was honest and told them I'd never bought a Porsche before, they let me try a Cayman and a Cayman S,... and even a 996 C4S just for the hell of it...
In fact, they let me take all 3 out on my own for a good 20 minutes+ each time and I did all this two Saturdays running, spending almost two hours each time with them... It was this point that gave me the most confidence in them (some car dealers won't even let you sniff the cars...)


Edited by Ewa Woowa on Tuesday 26th February 10:54

seemore7000

1 posts

133 months

Tuesday 26th February 2013
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I have bought several cars from Carl at Shirleys over the years and had no problems at all with the cars or the experience in general. I have seen the point about the cars not being prepped before sale. When I asked about this, he explained that he likes the customer to see the car "as is" to show that nothing is being hidden or masked. Of course, any problem with the car is fixed before handover. The mechanic on site is Martin Brown and if you check him out you will find that he is very experienced and highly recommended, especially in comparison to OPCs. All in all, you should be safe with Shirleys

jonamv8

3,145 posts

165 months

Tuesday 26th February 2013
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Carl at Shirleys - Sound and genuine

Martin Brown - highly experienced and genuine guy.

I live 5 mins away and use both of them when neccessary

craigdb

3 posts

227 months

Sunday 4th January 2015
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I bought a 987 Boxster from Carl - great guy and great car. I was hesitant driving 150 miles to collect the car without seeing it but it was exactly as described over the phone, and completely hassle free. I would recommend Carl and Shirleys Garage

xftdr

1,066 posts

203 months

Sunday 4th January 2015
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wow! nearly two years between postings! How does that happen then?