Evans Halshaw...any experiences?
Discussion
Which one?. They can't all be as bad as the one I went to. Went to look at a Mondeo TDCI Ghia X and was told I could not have a test drive until I had driven the other cars I was considering and had decided that the Mondeo was the car I wanted to buy.
I suppose I should be grateful as I took the salesman's advice, went out, test drove and bought a 330d the following week.
I suppose I should be grateful as I took the salesman's advice, went out, test drove and bought a 330d the following week.
I bought my Ford Ka from them a couple of years ago. I had the test drive and was happy with the Ka's performance but rather than commit on the day, said I'd think about it. They pushed the finance side, but I was a cash buyer and not interested. Looked on the internet for new Ka prices and when they called me a few days later I told them I could get a new Ka for under £5K elsewhere...they then matched the internet price.
Handover day - the salesman went through the basics...what all the switches/levers do etc. and then I had to listen to some more 'insurance type spiel' from another employee....just said 'not interested'...and off I went
Handover day - the salesman went through the basics...what all the switches/levers do etc. and then I had to listen to some more 'insurance type spiel' from another employee....just said 'not interested'...and off I went
I bought my Clio from the Aberdeen branch two years ago and was/am really happy with them; we had bought my mum's 182 from the same sales guy a couple of years earlier so had a good relationship when I went to look at the car. Got a good price (they beat the drivethedeal.com quote I'd been given for the exact same car) and have had good after sales.
Saying that I have heard some horror stories about Franchises down south from Family; luck of the draw I guess.
Saying that I have heard some horror stories about Franchises down south from Family; luck of the draw I guess.
I bought a car from Evans Halshaw and swore never to do so again! They tried to charge me £50 to HPI the car which I was buying (!!) despite the fact that they are obliged to do so as part of their due diligence. Also the car had apparently been valeted by... well actually they hadn't valeted it at all.
So my advice would be proceed with care.
As previously posted there are some good salesmen within Pendragon, but the culture tends to drive them away.
On the plus side I sold the car which I had bought from them for a profit a couple of weeks later having given it a good valet, and the lady who owns it is very happy!
So my advice would be proceed with care.
As previously posted there are some good salesmen within Pendragon, but the culture tends to drive them away.
On the plus side I sold the car which I had bought from them for a profit a couple of weeks later having given it a good valet, and the lady who owns it is very happy!
Three experiences, all with increasing degrees of terribleness (if that's even a word?).
Went to buy a new shape fiesta zetec's'.
1st garage - car displayed on website was being driven by a salesperson and it was their day off so couldn't be viewed that day. From the outset we made it clear to the salesperson we spoke to that the car was for my wife. He basically blanked her the whole time we were there and he spoke directly to me...she was raging!
2nd garage - the car was there this time but a salesperson had reversed into it and put a hole in the front bumper. When we asked about it being fixed, the salesperson said that as it was such a new model, there were no release dates for new parts so he couldn't tell us when it would be fixed. Ploughing on, we told him another dealer was selling the same car (minus hole) for £1000 cheaper. First he didn't believe us. We then had to produce a printout from the other dealer's website to prove that that was the price they were offering it at. When he saw it was true, he couldn't match it and walked away from us - not even a goodbye! sniff sniff.
3rd garage - After finally purchasing a fiesta (not from Evans Halshaw), i was looking at a focus st. The one i test drove was also being used by a salesperson. We got in and there were empty juice cans, an old t-shirt, sunglasses and various other stuff lying about the car. Didn't feel like buying a new car. Following the test drive we went in to talk money. They offered us a poor trade in price and wouldnt match a price we had had from another dealer. Before we even talked about the price of the st, they added on the hpi check, GAP cover and some diamond shine paint protection stuff. None of which we wanted. When we asked them to take it off, the girl we were dealing with couldnt do it herself ad had to ask her boss to take it off the package she had put together. The pushy boss then arrived, went through the whole GAP protection speech again and asked us if we knew how easy it was to write off a performance car and proceeded to show us pictures on his phone of a car which had been in their stock but which had been recently stuffed by the girl who was trying to sell us the focus. She was totally embarrassed, he was totally arrogant and we were totally put off buying anything from them. After much wrangling, they took off all the extras, gave us £100 more for our trade in but wouldnt budge on the price of the focus. 2 hours! later, we left and swore we would never buy from Evans Halshaw again.
May have just been bad luck, but that was three different dealers, in three different parts of the country and 4 different salespeople, all of which were terrible.
Went to buy a new shape fiesta zetec's'.
1st garage - car displayed on website was being driven by a salesperson and it was their day off so couldn't be viewed that day. From the outset we made it clear to the salesperson we spoke to that the car was for my wife. He basically blanked her the whole time we were there and he spoke directly to me...she was raging!
2nd garage - the car was there this time but a salesperson had reversed into it and put a hole in the front bumper. When we asked about it being fixed, the salesperson said that as it was such a new model, there were no release dates for new parts so he couldn't tell us when it would be fixed. Ploughing on, we told him another dealer was selling the same car (minus hole) for £1000 cheaper. First he didn't believe us. We then had to produce a printout from the other dealer's website to prove that that was the price they were offering it at. When he saw it was true, he couldn't match it and walked away from us - not even a goodbye! sniff sniff.
3rd garage - After finally purchasing a fiesta (not from Evans Halshaw), i was looking at a focus st. The one i test drove was also being used by a salesperson. We got in and there were empty juice cans, an old t-shirt, sunglasses and various other stuff lying about the car. Didn't feel like buying a new car. Following the test drive we went in to talk money. They offered us a poor trade in price and wouldnt match a price we had had from another dealer. Before we even talked about the price of the st, they added on the hpi check, GAP cover and some diamond shine paint protection stuff. None of which we wanted. When we asked them to take it off, the girl we were dealing with couldnt do it herself ad had to ask her boss to take it off the package she had put together. The pushy boss then arrived, went through the whole GAP protection speech again and asked us if we knew how easy it was to write off a performance car and proceeded to show us pictures on his phone of a car which had been in their stock but which had been recently stuffed by the girl who was trying to sell us the focus. She was totally embarrassed, he was totally arrogant and we were totally put off buying anything from them. After much wrangling, they took off all the extras, gave us £100 more for our trade in but wouldnt budge on the price of the focus. 2 hours! later, we left and swore we would never buy from Evans Halshaw again.
May have just been bad luck, but that was three different dealers, in three different parts of the country and 4 different salespeople, all of which were terrible.
t 5-10 years ago on multiple occasions - whether buying, selling or servicing cars.I went to EH Ford in MK.
The new car chaps were pretty good - offered a good deal, good trade in, straightforward and easy to deal with.
The used car department were the biggest bunch of shysters I've ever encountered. They tried to sell me a year old Fiesta for a higher price than a new one, with a lower trade in and higher APR. It was all big-knotted ties and hair gel. It actually scared me how they were willing to shaft the unwary buyer into such a shocking deal.
The new car chaps were pretty good - offered a good deal, good trade in, straightforward and easy to deal with.
The used car department were the biggest bunch of shysters I've ever encountered. They tried to sell me a year old Fiesta for a higher price than a new one, with a lower trade in and higher APR. It was all big-knotted ties and hair gel. It actually scared me how they were willing to shaft the unwary buyer into such a shocking deal.
Bad times with this lot for me:-
- Went to local dealer with a specific car in mind
- Salesman found the car in another branch
- Talked finance, Salesman came up with a monthly payment figure which he couldn't explain how it added up. When pushed, it turns out it was due to a bundle of things such as GAP protection I hadn't asked for being added, and some Supaguard protection that I didn't want.
- Salesman asked for £500 to bring the car up to let me see it as it wasn't in stock at that dealership.
- When asked if I wanted to do a deal that day, I said I needed to check some finance options out myself before going ahead and I wasn't happy about the £500 transport fee
- He stood up, walked away and called me a timewaster.
- Complained to manager and took my custom elsewhere
The best bit was being told that if I had Supaguard protection on my current car, it would have been worth more as the body would have been in better condition - I didn't realise that Supaguard can stop scrotes dragging a key along your drivers door. That is worth the money.
- Went to local dealer with a specific car in mind
- Salesman found the car in another branch
- Talked finance, Salesman came up with a monthly payment figure which he couldn't explain how it added up. When pushed, it turns out it was due to a bundle of things such as GAP protection I hadn't asked for being added, and some Supaguard protection that I didn't want.
- Salesman asked for £500 to bring the car up to let me see it as it wasn't in stock at that dealership.
- When asked if I wanted to do a deal that day, I said I needed to check some finance options out myself before going ahead and I wasn't happy about the £500 transport fee
- He stood up, walked away and called me a timewaster.
- Complained to manager and took my custom elsewhere
The best bit was being told that if I had Supaguard protection on my current car, it would have been worth more as the body would have been in better condition - I didn't realise that Supaguard can stop scrotes dragging a key along your drivers door. That is worth the money.
Sorry bit of a thread resurrection.
I went into a dealership today to look, possibly buy a car.
All was going very well, had a good relationship with the salesman until it came to crunching some figures.
Apparently they have done some research and the general public don't like buying cars and therefore they have made the experience more enjoyable.
I proceeded to watch a unbelieveably crap presentation about how 'funky my new car was'.
That coupled with £1300 worth of extras I could buy (anything from 2 years MOT/Servicing to diamond shine) made the whole experience quite annoying.
I only popped out for some baby milk and bread.
I went into a dealership today to look, possibly buy a car.
All was going very well, had a good relationship with the salesman until it came to crunching some figures.
Apparently they have done some research and the general public don't like buying cars and therefore they have made the experience more enjoyable.
I proceeded to watch a unbelieveably crap presentation about how 'funky my new car was'.
That coupled with £1300 worth of extras I could buy (anything from 2 years MOT/Servicing to diamond shine) made the whole experience quite annoying.
I only popped out for some baby milk and bread.
One in altrincham not good for servicing. They tried to tell me they needed to strip down my gearbox on my mondeo to sort a 'seizing' issue. As this was significant cost all I did was ask what they based that on and was promptly faced with a rant about how many years experience the tech had, basically I am thick and they are experts. I took it elsewhere and turns out was DMF and consequently clutch. Was not a cheap job, but at least it was the right one. How they did not think it might be a DMF I have no idea, as after doing merely 5 mins of reading on the internet, I found this to be an extremely common issue. Oh and they wanted to bill me £40 to fit a few bulbs and then got arsy when i said just supply the bulbs and i would fit them myself. Also, just generally people not being friendly and just a general reek of bad dealership. I will never go back.
As it happens I bought my new daily hack from the one in Burton-on-Trent very recently and have to say they were excellent even though they were only getting £500 of my money and taking a ten year old high mileage Legacy in PX I thought they were very good, kept my good lady and junior entertained and were very professional.
Chap I bought from was Carl nice chap down to Earth, polite and reasonable. I will definitely use them again.
Chap I bought from was Carl nice chap down to Earth, polite and reasonable. I will definitely use them again.
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