Poor main dealer network and customer service?
Discussion
The main thing putting off buying an Alpine 110 is the apparent woeful main dealer network and poor standard of service and repairs provision around the UK.
Across several forums there are too many 'anecdotal' instances of poor quality customer service (or standard of repairs) to ignore.
Fine if you want to drive an Alpine for only a year or two and then move it on, but definitely a downside for prospective long term and high mileage owners. Such a shame, as I really want one! 🙁
I'd be interested in everyone's objective views, taking off the rose-tinted specs.
Across several forums there are too many 'anecdotal' instances of poor quality customer service (or standard of repairs) to ignore.
Fine if you want to drive an Alpine for only a year or two and then move it on, but definitely a downside for prospective long term and high mileage owners. Such a shame, as I really want one! 🙁
I'd be interested in everyone's objective views, taking off the rose-tinted specs.
Within about 50 miles of London there are at least 3 long-term positive main dealers and a similar selection of non-franchise
Porsche owners often struggle to understand that for several well-known makes the network is a fraction of the size because the numbers are relatively tiny: 500 cars not 25000 per year in the case of Alpine
Porsche owners often struggle to understand that for several well-known makes the network is a fraction of the size because the numbers are relatively tiny: 500 cars not 25000 per year in the case of Alpine
16610LV said:
The main thing putting off buying an Alpine 110 is the apparent woeful main dealer network and poor standard of service and repairs provision around the UK.
Across several forums there are too many 'anecdotal' instances of poor quality customer service (or standard of repairs) to ignore.
Fine if you want to drive an Alpine for only a year or two and then move it on, but definitely a downside for prospective long term and high mileage owners. Such a shame, as I really want one! ?
I'd be interested in everyone's objective views, taking off the rose-tinted specs.
Honest opinion from an owner here (4yrs in & bought used) is you don’t need Alpine to service and look after an Alpine, it’s not a difficult car to look after, just use a respected local Indy outside the dealer network, even more so long term as you reference above. If something unusual crops up the dealers are there if you need them, albeit not necessarily local to you I appreciate.Across several forums there are too many 'anecdotal' instances of poor quality customer service (or standard of repairs) to ignore.
Fine if you want to drive an Alpine for only a year or two and then move it on, but definitely a downside for prospective long term and high mileage owners. Such a shame, as I really want one! ?
I'd be interested in everyone's objective views, taking off the rose-tinted specs.
A common theme here, clearly location dependent.
As above I have found Alpine themselves, well the one hard working guy I seem to get, to be decent, responsive and helpful.
Local two main dealers are woeful and expensive, for servicing and parts.
As above I have found Alpine themselves, well the one hard working guy I seem to get, to be decent, responsive and helpful.
Local two main dealers are woeful and expensive, for servicing and parts.
Edited by Bushi on Monday 19th January 13:48
Probably doesn't help the original poster, but I'll write this anyway to bring other perspective to this discussion.
I'm from Finland and bought my A110 as new from Belgium in 2022 since we have not had an Alpine distributor here in Finland. So far I've had my A110 serviced twice in Germany and once in Belgium. So quite a trek to get the car serviced. None of which have tarnished my ownership experience of the Alpine. Lovely car, just a little bit of work to get the car serviced. Well worth the effort anyway.
The Finnish Renault importer did import three new A110's to Finland last year even though our country is not listed as a country where Alpine has official distributor. The local Renault importer apparently now has a mechanic trained as an A110 service person (or whatever that is called) so life might be a bit easier in the future in terms of getting the A110 serviced closer to home since the location where the service might be available is only a little over 100 km from where I live. Although, I'm not so sure how capable mechanic that person is since they will still have very limited experience on servicing the A110.
I'm from Finland and bought my A110 as new from Belgium in 2022 since we have not had an Alpine distributor here in Finland. So far I've had my A110 serviced twice in Germany and once in Belgium. So quite a trek to get the car serviced. None of which have tarnished my ownership experience of the Alpine. Lovely car, just a little bit of work to get the car serviced. Well worth the effort anyway.
The Finnish Renault importer did import three new A110's to Finland last year even though our country is not listed as a country where Alpine has official distributor. The local Renault importer apparently now has a mechanic trained as an A110 service person (or whatever that is called) so life might be a bit easier in the future in terms of getting the A110 serviced closer to home since the location where the service might be available is only a little over 100 km from where I live. Although, I'm not so sure how capable mechanic that person is since they will still have very limited experience on servicing the A110.
I'm in Scotland and Arnold Clark Glasgow is my dealer. It's 40 miles away / about an hour. I'm in there for a couple of hours once a year. Frankly I couldn't care less how nice the coffee is or how plush the ambience. They are taking oil out of the car, putting fresh in, changing filters. It's a car like any other. They handled my recall efficiently, are always polite and chatty and what does it matter if the guy next to me is getting his Dacia fixed?
What are these terrible customer services that people speak of? Maybe I'm just lucky or my expectations aren't that high?? I book online, take it in, wait, pay, leave and don't seen them again for 12 months? None of the bills as yet have been outrageous.
How bad must it be to make you decide it's so bad that you'll pass on the car and miss its fabulous everyday driving experience? I don't get it personally.
What are these terrible customer services that people speak of? Maybe I'm just lucky or my expectations aren't that high?? I book online, take it in, wait, pay, leave and don't seen them again for 12 months? None of the bills as yet have been outrageous.
How bad must it be to make you decide it's so bad that you'll pass on the car and miss its fabulous everyday driving experience? I don't get it personally.
I've just had the 3 year service at Winchester - £519 for a service, brake fuid change and MOT is OK (I mean, in real terms its expensive, but in line with what I've paid Merc and BMW in the past).
I've only had one problem in 3 years and 15500 miles due to a discharged battery which the RAC man (as part of Alpine recovery) resolved with his power pack and I only waited 30 mins.
I've extended the warranty for 4 years for less than £900 (think its only £1250 when not on offer), try that on your Porker.
All of which puts BMW (had to have the rear lights replaced under warranty because the indicators didn't work and it was quite a struggle to get the parts) and Merc (full respray due to paint bubbles - red SLK...) to shame, both owned for a similar period and mileage.
Both those were sold after 3 or so years, but I can see the Alpine soldiering on for a while yet.
Just washed it and the Orange paint just looks fab...
I've only had one problem in 3 years and 15500 miles due to a discharged battery which the RAC man (as part of Alpine recovery) resolved with his power pack and I only waited 30 mins.
I've extended the warranty for 4 years for less than £900 (think its only £1250 when not on offer), try that on your Porker.
All of which puts BMW (had to have the rear lights replaced under warranty because the indicators didn't work and it was quite a struggle to get the parts) and Merc (full respray due to paint bubbles - red SLK...) to shame, both owned for a similar period and mileage.
Both those were sold after 3 or so years, but I can see the Alpine soldiering on for a while yet.
Just washed it and the Orange paint just looks fab...
bigglesA110 said:
I'm in Scotland and Arnold Clark Glasgow is my dealer. It's 40 miles away / about an hour. I'm in there for a couple of hours once a year. Frankly I couldn't care less how nice the coffee is or how plush the ambience. They are taking oil out of the car, putting fresh in, changing filters. It's a car like any other. They handled my recall efficiently, are always polite and chatty and what does it matter if the guy next to me is getting his Dacia fixed?
What are these terrible customer services that people speak of? Maybe I'm just lucky or my expectations aren't that high?? I book online, take it in, wait, pay, leave and don't seen them again for 12 months? None of the bills as yet have been outrageous.
How bad must it be to make you decide it's so bad that you'll pass on the car and miss its fabulous everyday driving experience? I don't get it personally.
I'm in Europe and traveled 300kms to Hungary last year for the first annual service. As the date was a special day for us we used the opportunity to visit places. So I left the car for a few days but it was ready in 2,5 hours after I left it.What are these terrible customer services that people speak of? Maybe I'm just lucky or my expectations aren't that high?? I book online, take it in, wait, pay, leave and don't seen them again for 12 months? None of the bills as yet have been outrageous.
How bad must it be to make you decide it's so bad that you'll pass on the car and miss its fabulous everyday driving experience? I don't get it personally.
For me covering the seat was important and they did it along with the steering wheel. I put some covering over the floormats and good that I did it (I found an oily foot mark on return). Maybe they would also cover the carpet if I didn't.
If they're finishing their work in 3 hours and not charging a ridiculous amount I don't know what else to expect. Maybe this year I can test drive A390 while waiting. I only wish they offer extended warranty. If you know any EU country offering extended warranty please report.
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