“I purchased a Ford Fiesta 1.0L Ecoboost (2014) from Arnold Clark Shiremoor in July 2020. The process to buy the car was very straightforward, and although they would not move at all on the price I was happy with the car.
A week after driving away from the lot there was a loud spinning sound coming from the front wheels. I booked the car in with Arnold Clark (the Newcastle Ford branch this time which is closer to where I live) and when I picked it up they told me quite a lot of work had been done to the car. Obviously this is work that should have been found and fixed before they sold me the car:
- Suspension drop link assembly replaced.
- Secured rear exhaust heat shield (which is now damaged again).
- Exhaust flexi snapped - replaced catalytic converter assembly.
- Replaced front brake discs and pads.
- Rear wiper not sitting correctly.
All of this done just over a week after driving the car away from the lot. All of which should have been done before I was sold the car.
The car was then working fine for a number of months until the spinning sound returned near the beginning of 2021. I took the car into an independent garage and they informed me my brake pads needed replacing. This must have only been around 5 months after they were replaced along with the brake discs in the first set of repairs.
Around a month after this the spinning sound returned for a third time. This time I took it to another garage (a Halfords Autocentre) for a brake check. This time I was told the brakes were all fine, and that they couldn't see what the spinning sound problem was. They did notice that the rear shock absorbers were leaking, however, and one of them was leaking excessively. I had only done less than 5,000 miles of light driving since purchasing the car due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
A few days after this I also noticed that the Start-Stop technology was working - I was completely unaware the car even had this feature as it had never worked. It was operational for a couple of hours before completely vanishing again.
I contacted Arnold Clark customer services about all of these issues and they told me that it was not their problem. I believe all of these problems I am still having were present in some form before I purchased the car, which means I should be entitled to repairs or a full or partial refund.
They have offered me absolutely no help whatsoever and have cut off the discussion, stating "After reviewing your concerns further we are unable to change our response on the matter. I would have to advise that this is our final response on the matter". I will now look to see what legal options I have with this situation.
If you plan on purchasing a vehicle I would be extremely wary of Arnold Clark as a whole, as once you have handed over your money they have no regard for the quality of the vehicle they are selling to you.
If nothing else, having over £1,000 worth of repairs done to a 2014 car in well under a year of purchasing with yet more issues to have fixed should put you off ever using them. I will be letting my family, friends and colleagues in the media industry know about this and advising them never to buy from Arnold Clark.”
“Drove over an hour to view a 2015 vw Polo in Chesterfield. I was promised the agreed value on my trade in at my local branch. The VW had damage to almost every panel and was not given the agreed trade in valuation. Will not waste my time again.”
“DONT GET A CAR FROM THEM. I wouldnt recommend them .We went to the one in leeds . Got a car that should never have been sent out without being checked first . Worst experiance i jave ever had .Been in contact with customer services and they are a joke cause they are just not intrested . Our car was sent out with cracked windscreen , damaged seats , m.o.t and service has less than 6 months , No hot air and just blowing cold at -16.4 and we had to drive home from leeds to Glasgpw .”
“I visited your Branch on Sunday looking to purchase a 2021 plate cash buyer to be horrified by the poor customer experience that awaited me. Myself and my partner entered the showroom to find 4 staff members. 1 x staff was indeed busy with another customer however the other 3 x were idle. 1 x inparticular sitting at his sales desk on his mobile phone. 3 x of them occasionally looking up and had spotted us both standing. As a Manager myself this is not how I'd treat my customers so we just left. Whoever the Manager is of Arnold Clark Renault Stirling branch, I urge you to train your staff again. As I said this was on Sunday 9th May.”
“So quick to get sale, aftercare is awful... back and forth for them to fix alloys, sold me badly scraped ones, chunk out sidewall of tyre, squeaking from car when turning, squeaks when i brake... up and down... really affecting my mental health :-(”
“i went on line for avaluation for my car i was selling and i was very happy with the quote iwent to preston branch after booking an appointment i was made very welcome with mr jamie whittingham he examined my car he was quite happy with the quote just redudced it by £13 for the milage he sorted everything out for me very professionaly recommend them to any body”
“Excellent customer service received from Zoe Strang at Arnold Clark Linwood. Very professional and efficient service from Zoe who listened to myself and gave personal treatment as I purchased my new vehicle, nothing was a bother.Thank you!”
“I would like to say that I recently purchased a car and dealt with Jack at click and collect Hamilton Rd. He was amazing professional, friendly and had everything ready for us . I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him and Arnold Clark to anyone they were fantastic.”
“I've noticed Arnold Clark don't have the trade in option on auto trader telling you roughly how much your car is worth now I know why they offer you the worst trade in price in the industry insulting quite frankly”
“Chapeau Arnold Clark Oldbury! I would like to thank you in particular to Gurminder Rai. I simply do not find enough words to thank you to this amazing person. So professional, so kind, so helpful... I will recommend this person to everyone and because of him, Arnold Clark have a customer for life. Thank you!!!”
“My son bought car last year broke down before Xmas still broke down and his partner has cancer he has 4 kids needs this 6 seater and theve a cheek to raise for charity customer service joke really terrible can't get to hospital there really bad”
“Great attention to detail, online and video calling was straight forward. Staff helpful and knowlegable. Easiest and best car buying experience to date.”
“I bought a car from Arnold Clark in November 2020 along with £249 service package. I realised recently in April 2021 that I had never received the paperwork for the service package and enquired. I had to chase the branch, they didn’t return calls, then asked me to prove I had bought the service package by sending in proof, then never heard back from them, then asked for my money back and was told no, kept pestering them and eventually am expecting my money to be transferred back. Avoid avoid at all costs. They were not interested once they got the sale of the car. I had to chase them for second set of keys that they told me would be personally delivered to my house in a few days but after chasing them again, they were posted out a month later”
“Had my service and first M.O.T .done 31/3.lasked them to make sure the service warning light was switched off as they had not done so at its last service .Day after service 5 other yellow warning lights come on on the dashboard.Take it back in .They tell me that's it ok now . A day later they come back on , I take the car back in a week later(first time I could make it .Told I need a new sensor £120 + vat as the car is now two weeks out of warranty.Not even a suggestion that they could contact Mazda to see if they might help .Completely not interested.Over the last 20 years I have bought at least six cars either for my wife or myself,but never again .”
“Bought a passat from them supposed to have changed the water pump as the same time as timming belt did not Inow have to replace both after 6 months also left the car short of oil at oil change”
“Brand new vehicle. Delivered filthy (mud) inside. Wouldn’t start (they said it had been tricky, but delivered it like that anyway). Had to put it on charge to start it, took it to the dealership who wouldn’t replace the battery without keeping it to test it. Whole load of grief over a brand new car, badly handled and poor customer service.”
“The worst people to buy from. Total cowboys and liars. Wouldn’t buy a car just for spare parts from here. Cars aren’t checked before sale and mechanics are amateurs. Cars are driven round the yard by uninsured apprentices with provisional licenses!!!!
Stay away at all costs don’t even browse the website!!!”
