Best dealers / Indies

[Diablos-666]

Hi you lot. TVR owner here.

Have been reading pages and pages of threads on here, as well as asking Di her opinions between TVR's and AM's as I'm thinking of moving over within the next year or so.

Anyway, I just wanted to get an idea on who the best dealers / indies to use.

The TVR forums are full of praise for certain garages i.e str8six and power. Was wondering if there are a certain few which stick out above the rest for AM's?

Thank you

[krisdelta]

Hi Diablos,

Second hand evidence only, but Bamford Rose, McGurk and Trinity all seem to get recommendations on here.

Cheers

Kris

[AdamV8V]

I would personally add Nicholas Mee (W London) to the above.

Great service in terms of both sales, service and upgrades.

And a treasure trove of a workshop

[lady topaz]

Hi Cliff. Glad you took my advice and ventured on here. We don't bite, well except Jockman, but he's toothless.

Following our email chats you should also invest in Grant 3's Definitive guide to Gaydon Aston Martins. A fantastic read which will answer most of your queries/concerns.

Happy hunting and keep I touch.

Di

[Diablos-666]

Hi Di, I have my eye on that book on fleabay, think its about £20. Will be purchasing that soon.

Thanks for the recommendations so far, I'll be having a look at all those suggestions (if they have websites)

[ShortTimers]

Diablos-666 said:

Hi you lot. TVR owner here.

Have been reading pages and pages of threads on here, as well as asking Di her opinions between TVR's and AM's as I'm thinking of moving over within the next year or so.

Anyway, I just wanted to get an idea on who the best dealers / indies to use.

The TVR forums are full of praise for certain garages i.e str8six and power. Was wondering if there are a certain few which stick out above the rest for AM's?

Thank you

Before I purchased my second one I spent the last 5-6 months reading posts on PH and I think we are lucky as we seem to have a lot of very good Indies and some good main dealers, so it depends on what are your in and if you are happy to travel. The guys at Grange were great with my first car and they were competitive when trying to find my second but I went down the Indie road (McGurk) this time as they had the car I wanted... they had some great comments on PH and were so professional, helpful and with a great knowledge of the cars. It’s the little touches that make the difference they guys opened up especially for me on New Year’s Eve and the deal was almost done. I would highly recommend them.

Good luck with your search.

[Jockman]

Bonjourno Cliff.

All the Dealers - the Stratstone network essentially - drive people to make very positive comments on here. At the same time, all the Dealers drive people crazy with annoyance over niggling issues.

Try your nearest one, see how you feel, then spec your car. Not inconceivable that you may have to travel to find the car you want, though Wilmslow did cart mine down from the North East just so that I might examine it.

Give McGurks a try too. I get the feeling you're pretty savy for a QS.

Now, do you know of a good dentist where I can get my teeth sorted

[Diablos-666]

I should say that my budget is towards to bottom end of the market, low to mid 30's.

So I can't be too picky in terms of options. At first I wanted a sportshift but these are out of my budget.
I also understand that the sports suspension makes a big difference, not sure if this would be within my budget?

I also need a couple more months to save up for the last 4/5k or so, and also depends how much I get for my car.

I don't want to trouble dealers just yet as I'm not ready to buy. I wouldn't want to tempt myself, I know what I'm like.

If I were to get an Aston it would be my only car. I don't need it during the week as I commute by train so it will be a weekend car.

I play footy on Sundays and often the pitches are down some tight country roads.

I have to be very very careful in the TVR as sometimes there are quite big ditches.

Would I have the same problem in the Aston? It's a sickening feeling in the TVR so god knows what it's like in an Aston!

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for the replies so far.

[brakedwell]

My nearest dealer has just come up with this excellent scheme:

[Jockman]

brakedwell said:

My nearest dealer has just come up with this excellent scheme:

I suppose it makes sense John that the even number services on the DB9 are more expensive, as the wipers and pollen filter get changed.

Last year a Dealer quoted me £1k for the 20,000 mile service.

Nice to see they've come down a Fiver

[brakedwell]

70k service must inlude a plug change, which I understand is a bit of a bugger.

[Diablos-666]

I've order the AM guide now, so will be giving that a good read over the next few weeks.

Been having a look at some cars for sale and one mentioned a recent service bill of over £5k. This was on a normal 4.3 Vantage, but did include brake pads and ipod dock / parrat installation.

Are there many of you out there that has paid a similar price?

[Jockman]

Diablos-666 said:

Are there many of you out there that has paid a similar price?

No. Servicing costs are generally in line with the above chart. Occasional replacement of brake pads etc will obviously inflate the cost but there must be something else untoward on that bill (tyres??).

As you would expect, the older the car then generally the potential is there for more work to be done.

Difficult to say without seeing paperwork

[Diablos-666]

Re-read it again and it did include new boots.

So it was a sevice, new boots, new pads and installation of the ipod dock / parrat thingy.

[Jockman]

Diablos-666 said:

Re-read it again and it did include new boots.

So it was a sevice, new boots, new pads and installation of the ipod dock / parrat thingy.

Makes sense Cliff. The only reason for advertising a £5k bill on a car for sale would be to emphasise the positives.

You really need to put your credit cards in a drawer then go and have a wee drive in one

[Diablos-666]

Haha my credit card would be useless anyway, wouldn't have even covered that service we were talking about!

[theno23]

I used Stratstone in West London (actually on a grotty industrial estate, in the middle of nowhere and they were very good. Knowledgable, helpful etc.

I also recommend Grant's book, it's really helpful.

- Steve

[alxce]

brakedwell said:

My nearest dealer has just come up with this excellent scheme:

Hope you don't mind me asking but which dealer is this ?

[Diablos-666]

Tried getting an insurance quote today from the same company that insure my TVR but the underwriters said I they wouldn't insure me because of my age (26)

I don't have a very good history too had a claim in Feb last year, my fault.

Have an open case pending too after a lorry decided to up a restricted road and scraping my paintwork

Of course he denied responsibility

I'll do a search and check who's an AM friendly insurer.

[V8 Animal]

Diablos-666 said:

Tried getting an insurance quote today from the same company that insure my TVR but the underwriters said I they wouldn't insure me because of my age (26)

I don't have a very good history too had a claim in Feb last year, my fault.

Have an open case pending too after a lorry decided to up a restricted road and scraping my paintwork

Of course he denied responsibility

I'll do a search and check who's an AM friendly insurer.

Blimey