STORM LOTUS LEICESTER

[oldbhp]

Hi all, I am now the proud owner of my first Lotus a s1 111s in Silver and am loving every minute, the point of this message is that the guy I bought it from had it from new from Storm in Leicester who he couldnt seem to praise high enough but apparently they were taken over buy Stratstone who are closing at the end of the month thus leaving Leicesteshire without a Lotus dealer. Having said that he has heard that a few of the original Storm people are looking at resurecting Storm and are looking at finding premises, it seems these people are enthusiasts who know there stuff so I for one say "good Luck" cause Lotus needs a presence in the area and I would hope if its ran by these apparent enthusiasts and not a large group service should be better???????

[andrew.]

i am well aware of pistonhead's naming and shaming rules so won't name names

several years ago i placed a deposit for a new elan with a dealer
the dealer failed to supply the car to the agreed timescale and then repeatedly failed to return my deposit as promised
eventually the matter went to the local court in, err, leicester
the garage concerned settled out of court immediately before the hearing, failed to honour that agreement, and eventually returned half my deposit and no car
a

[purpleperil]

andrew. said:

i am well aware of pistonhead's naming and shaming rules so won't name names

several years ago i placed a deposit for a new elan with a dealer
the dealer failed to supply the car to the agreed timescale and then repeatedly failed to return my deposit as promised
eventually the matter went to the local court in, err, leicester
the garage concerned settled out of court immediately before the hearing, failed to honour that agreement, and eventually returned half my deposit and no car
a

I tried to buy a new Lotus from a dealer in, erm Leicester, and they wouldn't even come outside to check out my TVR in the car park as a p-ex until I put a £1000 deposit down! The salesman was a right arrogant barsteward - needless to say they didn't get my money. Peter Smith SC, on the other hand, are great IMHO!

[Scuffers]

oldbhp said:

Hi all, I am now the proud owner of my first Lotus a s1 111s in Silver and am loving every minute, the point of this message is that the guy I bought it from had it from new from Storm in Leicester who he couldnt seem to praise high enough but apparently they were taken over buy Stratstone who are closing at the end of the month thus leaving Leicesteshire without a Lotus dealer. Having said that he has heard that a few of the original Storm people are looking at resurecting Storm and are looking at finding premises, it seems these people are enthusiasts who know there stuff so I for one say "good Luck" cause Lotus needs a presence in the area and I would hope if its ran by these apparent enthusiasts and not a large group service should be better???????

Real shame about the place, I used to deal with them all the time, both with Lotus stuff and Jeep (must have brought some 15+ cars from them in total)...

Place went down-hill fast some years ago, lost all the decent people, Stratstone brought them, end of story....

the guys that were there years ago were some of the best car dealer staff I have ever delt with, genuine decent people...

[oldbhp]

It is my belief that the Stratstone staff are all leaving, its three guys who were at Storm for many years that are looking at funding at resurecting Storm, im trying to find out who it is? lets just hope it happens and doesnt fall into the hands of a large group that dont really care about there customers or Lotus.

[Billy69]

Hi,

I had no idea this was happening! Which may seem an odd comment, but I walk past them every day as I live about 100 yards away. This morning I noticed they now have no Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge stock, and the signage has been removed, but the Stratstone Lotus signage is still up.

Furthermore, there were approx. 30-40 Fords on display, mostly recent 2nd hand. The remaining 7 Lotus were crowded around the main building. I think they were protecting the Sport Racer inside. There were 3 car transporters blocking Ravensbridge Drive, which was quite annoying.

Erm, on a completely unrelated note, when I bought my 111R I went to a closeby Lotus dealer in Leicester, and after a test drive, they showed no interest in selling me a car as I was a cash buyee uninterested in credit. I finally went to Dove House.

Billy

Edited by Billy69 on Friday 1st August 10:46

[bocky]

Stratstones in mk dont do spares now all come via jag mk, but you can get a deal on bits, just have to be bold and ask, just got -15% on two rear tyres. almost as cheep as lotus parts give or take £20.service was ok

[DT1960]

I've been a customer for a few years now, and knew the guys at the above mentioned garage well (both storm and thier second owner). I've been hearing that they may get moved to nottingham? I think they have a Volvo and Jeep garage up there somewhere,but no matter, i should imagine i'll still be going to them. Just a shame the jeep and chrysler caps didn't survive. The service people were always nice to me, and it will be a shame to not be able to see the same old faces again.