Avoid this car dealership-garage as they will rip you off

[Arriba]

It's going into auto electrics next week and they are going to fix it and do a full report on it for me.
The prick service manager at the motor park has fucked up big time by saying it was ok to put a stronger fuse in(I think once he's thought about it will never admit to that comment). A potentially dangerous short cut preformed by the twat mechanic endorsed by the boss to the customer. Unbelievable.
Says it all and proves they don't do work properly.
They have a don't care attitude and if he had spoke to me like he did on the phone to my face would have been eating pavement.

I wouldn't usually have used them but did as the car was under warranty at the time.  A trusty back steet garage is always the way to go with servicing and repairs.

[Leggett]

Where to start... my father in law (to be) is a chauffeur. His boss sent his car there for an MOT as a tester, they were looking for a decent garage to send all their cars to for work. Went ok, work was done well, not too expensive, but they had swapped the nice, non-rusty steel wheels on his car with an identical car on their lot, who's wheels were rusty and dented. As he couldn't provide evidence they'd swapped them, there was nothing he could do, they wouldn't do anything either.

I bought my Focus from there. 3 days later it needed some work, took it there before I went to work and they said they could drop it back at my work. Bonus, I thought, and told them to leave it with the guy at the front gate. Got a phonecall when I was out saying they'd dropped it off, but they had dropped it at completely the wrong place, I had to speed back as the place they'd left it shut for the night before I'd normally be back. I was fuming, didn't get an apology.

My driving instructor got crashed into by one of their mechanics who was joyriding in a customers car (who then drove off), but they wouldn't tell him who.

[ronnie21]

Didn't this used to be called Swindon Autos?

[china red]

Luckt this thread appeared when it did.  I'm back next week looking for a house and a car (need to try and find both in 4 days which is a stretch), was literally going to walk into this place and chose a car.

Anyone know any good places to buy second hand cars?

[thompske]

my wife took our people carrier into its dealership, having had a puncture and had "lost" the wheel locking nut, she was chareged £100+ for the tyre and £50 for a new lock nut!, they then told her that she needed emegency work done on the brake as they were dangerously worn ....if she booked it in there and then they would do the work for £685. more if she left. fortunatly she left.
took it to our local garage, his diagnosis was overcharged for the lock nut, the rear brakes had 5,000+  miles and the front 1000, nice dealer tried to rip off lone female customer!, to add insult to injury  having phoned to complain about there service - denied it ever happened!!, they phoned me a week later to see if I was interested in a service package with them! told them in no uncertain terms where they could stick their package. funnily not heard from them since and a years happy trouble free motering

[ronnie21]

If this is the same place I am thinking of, knew somebody who worked there as a foreman mechanic.  This was about 20 years ago, got fired out for getting caught drunk driving whilst so say taking a customer's car out for a test drive.  Turned out he had a whole cupboard full of spares that had been booked out to customers and never used and he was using on private weekend jobs!!  Mind you I would never trust any main dealer, Fish Bros are damned notorious!!

[Samdy Gray]

Anyone know any good places to buy second hand cars?

Privately.

You'll get more for your money and you can tell if the seller is genuine or not.

[Ginginho]

Interesting thread, will avoid this place like the plague when I look for a car.

Chances are when I leave my job later this year i'll be working in Gloucester so will need to sell our car and buy two, one for wiffy just to get to work and back and one for a commute to Gloucester every day.
Car Shop have a good selection, but I just hate the place and the people.

[Chubbs]

Privately.

You'll get more for your money and you can tell if the seller is genuine or not.

Its always a risk buying privatly as you dont get any guarantee, atleast with a decent trader, although you will pay slightly more you will get some form of gurantee. If you buy privately, and within two days the clutch goes, theres not  much you can do even if the seller did seem genuine.
Always handy taking someone with you from the auto trade to give it a once over.

[Sippo]

Swindon Motor park are truely awful, it's a shame it's the only seat dealership in town.

My advice is find a brand you want then look at various forums on the net for recommended dealers. I travelled to the south coast to get my skoda as heard dodgy stories about the fish bros dealership.

[Samdy Gray]

As above shows though, if the trader is a cowboy then the guarantee isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

I'd much prefer a service book full of stamps and a wallet full of receipts than an ex-fleet service sheet printout.

[Samdy Gray]

Chances are when I leave my job later this year i'll be working in Gloucester so will need to sell our car and buy two, one for wiffy just to get to work and back and one for a commute to Gloucester every day.

I'll do you a good deal on my Vectra. Nice commuter car that'll do 45mpg.

[reeves4england]

Luckt this thread appeared when it did.  I'm back next week looking for a house and a car (need to try and find both in 4 days which is a stretch), was literally going to walk into this place and chose a car.

Anyone know any good places to buy second hand cars?

I'm buying one from Slades of Devizes at the moment. A small dealership who've been around quite a while, and the guy seems like a top bloke. Can't guarantee that as I've not had any problems with the car yet, butI reckon it's a safe bet.

Not sure about places in Swindon.

[Ginginho]

I'll do you a good deal on my Vectra. Nice commuter car that'll do 45mpg.

How old is it Samdy? (how many miles, how much you looking for it, etc)

The trouble is, I don't know when i'm finishing yet, initially they said October, now they say it could be December, so i'm kinda stuck in limbo at the moment, we are/were planning on moving this year, so that's been put on hold until I know what i'm gonna be doing jobwise.

[DMR]

Slades of Devizes, Rowde etc are excellent