Advantages: Good deals possible, special offers, extensive choice. Disadvantages: Bad aftersales, rubbish part exchange valuations, staff not always very knowlegable.
...you bought the car from Arnold Clark, or the car itself has been through one of their showrooms at some point in its past. The simply dominate the Scottish car market in new, pre-reg, and second had sales and have franchises covering practically every car you can think of. Overall they run over 120 different showrooms (including a couple in the North of England) ranging from Citroen and Ford up to Volvo and Lexus.
At the ripe old age of 24yrs old, ... ...I went to a different Arnold Clark showroom to have a look around. . The guy who sold me the car I was driving at the time recognised it (could have been due to my number plate) and approached me and addressed me by my name which was a very nice touch and pre-empted my reason for getting a new car as he remembered my reason the last time and within two minutes had told me of a couple of cars that would have suited me. I do think that that was the ...
drewboy 03.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
I went to Arnold Clark to buy my first car and was very pleased with the service i recieved from the sales staff, i spoke to 4 different people and all were helpfull and friendly. I signed up for a used 55 reg Ford Focus, which i recieved a great deal including 6% finance including 12 months warrenty, 6months MOT and 12 months autocare mechanical warrenty (which i later found out i was paying for and they weren't free as i was lead to believe) I ... ...and then found that the bonnet would not open, I phoned them up and was told i wouldn't be able to take it back until Saturday, my dad then phoned and i was told to take it back immediatley. I dealt with the servicing manager Ian (who you would assume would look after customers to his best ability.... wrong!) It then took until the following Monday for them to get the parts in. I dropped the car off on Monday evening and was told someone would ring ...
made_in_wigan 01.10.2008 (30.09.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: A good range of vehicle makes and models Disadvantages: Dishonest and no genuine Customer Services
Given my experiences with Arnold Clark, I would advise anybody thinking of dealing with them to look elsewhere.
I purchased a second hand car from Arnold Clark Leyland. My experiences are listed below in chronological order:
1) I was told during a test drive that the car had one previous owner. Once purchased and upon delivery of the log-book from DVLA, I discovered I was the sixth owner of the vehicle. The car was less than six months old at purchase.
... ...- I sent e-mails to Arnold Clark Leyland asking for someone to contact me. No one ever did.
- I sent e-mails to Arnold Clark Leyland asking for someone to advise me of the complaints procedure. As above no one did.
- I visited the dealership and brought the issue to the attention of the Sales Manager. He assured me everything would be sorted, of course he took no action.
- I wrote to the Sales / General Manager asking them to resolve the problem ...
pjascroft 07.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
...ordered a New Clio with Arnold Clark at the beginning of July. The sales people are very pushy and we should have walked away before signing the contract and found another Renault Dealer at that point ........ ! I will learn from my mistakes. They tried to push us into buying a second-hand car, but I stood my round and ordered a new one in the new pistachio colour, they continued to try and push us away from buying the new car in the specific colour ... ...finally got a call from Arnold Clark on the 20th October letting us know that our new car was ready for collection. Due to financial commitments we could not collect the car till the 28th October, and Arnold Clark were very happy with this as it gave them time to sort out our new car ready for us to collect ....... yeah right !! We called into Arnold Clark yesterday to check what was required of us to complete the sale, we pulled into the car-park ...
silverstarlet 25.10.2009 (26.10.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Plenty of Dealers within Scottish Central Belt Disadvantages: Poor Customer Services for such a large company
...out from the crowd was Arnold Clark. They regularly advertised in the national press, and given the size of the company, seemed to value their customers...hmmm.
I went along to the dealership just off Lothian Road in Edinburgh where they had quite a good selection of vehicles. After browsing for a while, I was approached by a salesman and asked if anything took my eye, or was I looking for anything in particular. I told him that I was looking for ... ...the roof was scratched from fitting the new sunroof - something I was unable to prove, and I had no end of problems with the car until I gave up the ghost and traded it in for another. Surprisingly enough, not at an Arnold Clark dealership... but that's another review!!! ...
MagicGordon 01.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Can do good prices on new/pre-reg cars Disadvantages: poor quality used cars, service, staff
Used to work for Arnold as a Trainee Sales Mngr, one of my duties being a buyer of used car stock. Often went out to look at a range of vehicles with a view to buying - often they were ex-rental and had various problems including (often) accident damage. Would on many occasions not have touched the car with a barge-pole myself, however, I was often instructed to take the vehicles anyway, as the managers would buy any old junk provided it could be ... ...bit off).
On the up-side, Arnold can do some good deals on new/pre-reg stock - matching most of the large car supermarkets in England. Although I swore upon leaving the company that I would never again deal with them, I bought a pre-reg car in March 2002 as I needed a car in a hurry, and didn't have the time to go to the bigger English car supermarkets to do the deal - MISTAKE!
Car arrived valet outside, but mud and dirt all over interior (and ...
j4zz4 18.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Network of dealers across Scotland Disadvantages: Family firm that has turned very commercial
Arnold Clark has grown into one of Scotlands largest Car Dealer franchise networks.
I bought my last car from Arnold Clark on Pollokshaws Road (Vauxhall), Glasgow. They agreed to price match a similar car, through NetworkQ from another Vauxhall dealer in Scotland. Since it was going to cost me about £50 in transport, they had no need to. However, I also needed a local dealer to service my car.
Since I drive 40K miles a year I made this very clear ... ...Vauxhall were the only manufacturer to offer an "unlimited" mileage warranty, so all servicing had to be done at a Vauxhall dealer.
The car was delivered early and an inspection was permitted on the day it arrived.
On the agreed delivery day it had clearly been cleaned, although there were some marks on the inside which had not been attended to.
The car was still missing its "spare" key and security passcard. These were promised within 4 weeks.
...
MJKerr 17.05.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Pile em high, sell em cheap Disadvantages: Watch out, follow up customer service is abysmal
...- still no contact from Arnold Clark so again I chased - now they advised that they needed the car again.
When the car was examined they claimed a new speedometer was required at a cost of £125, and worse - a new clock was required at a cost of £150.
Hang on! This service reset thing has been going on since the first service - why wasn't it diagnosed properly? and the clock worked perfectly until Arnold Clark started dismantling and testing electrical ... ...Office Customer Services organisation of Arnold Clark. This is a bizarre experience. I am told that I should not be bothering the General Manager and that Service Manager is entitled to his lunch!!!!! Incredibly patronising, no apology. no recognition that I have been considerably inconvenienced throughout this episode.
Well, I'm certain that I won't be doing any more business with SIr Arnold Clark's organisation (and this was my 4th car from them). ...
mcneild 26.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Reasonable initial pricing Disadvantages: Poor products and aftersale service
...Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 diesel from Arnold Clark with approximately 16k miles on the clock. At the time the car cost £10,500. Initially I was very happy with the car. Before the car reached 20k and I had owned the car 8 months the clutch began to fail. The pedal going down to the floor but not returning. I approached the Stoke on Trent where I bought the car from but I was told the car was still under dealer warranty and it was down to Vauxhalll themselves ... ...bought the vehicle!! My Brother also bought an Astra at the time of my first purchase again this was not without it faults, the engine cutting out at various speeds. In my opinion a deathtrap.I would never buy another vehicle from Arnold Clark!!Please make your own decision!! It's your choice!! ...
ArfurDaley34 23.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: None! Disadvantages: Forget 3rd Year Warranty - worthless
...rear] and my experience with Arnold Clark is woeful. Just as my 3rd Warranty was about to go out I had a few problems like Fuel Injection failure, not covered per se. Anyway whilst in another local garage for it's service I decided to get it's first MOT done. I was shocked to find that all 4 tyres were severely perished between the treads. The tread was fine since we'd only done 10,000 miles, I felt this was either the dealer (Arnold Clark) the manufcturer ... ...who should be responsible. Arnold Clark were useless & felt it was up to me to chase it elsewhere - I did, but no joy. The company that I got to replace all 4 tyres reckoned that the tyres had perished probably because the car had been parked on a wet muddy field (we've all seen the photos of hordes of 'new' cars lying outside in fields) for a couple of years before I'd bought my 'new' car. When buying a 'new' car, do you have any idea when it was ...
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Everything, Poor Customer Service, Poor Products, Poor After Sales Care
I had heard of Arnold Clarke (AC) as their show rooms are local to where I live, and my research indicated they offered competitive finance deals.
On arrival the staff were friendly and pleseant, and the show room seemed very professional. I chose to buy a used 03 peugeot 206 cc. After having the car for two days I noticed noises from the exhaust, brakes and the roof squeaked, I approached AC immediately regarding this, stating I was unhappy and ... ...repair any problems but I did not want any repairs undertaken, as my point was the car should have not been sold in that condition. They carried out repairs to the exhaust but the problem still remained. AC advised me if I wanted to swop the car I would have to trade the car back in at a considerably reduced price. The manager who was scottish, (Colin) was extremely rude and shouted at me at the top of his voice, reducing me to tears!! I threatened ...
RKhanum 30.12.2007
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Advantages: Cheap (but for good reason) Disadvantages: Everything - terrilbe after sales, shoddy servicing, rude staff, AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE
...needed to go back to Arnold Clark. They serviced it and returned to car to me with an added whistle when in gear, which I discounted as what could be wrong with a newly serviced low milage car? More fool me. 12 days later the gearbox failed - diagnosed by the gearbox specialists subcontracted by Arnold Clark as due to lack of oil in the gearbox. No coincidence that the car had just had a major service - which included replacing the oil in the gearbox.
... ...of buying a car from Arnold Clark - DON'T! You might think you're getting a bargain because their prices are so cheap. But there is a reason for that... you don't get something for nothing in this life. And from AC what you get is horrific service, possibly very dodgy cars and don't EVER trust them to service your car.
To anyone else reading this who has had similar experiences to me (and there seems to be many) please contact the BBC's Watchdog ...
flipperjoe 17.03.2007
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Advantages: Help you to avoid Disadvantages: You may be ripped off as well
...Omega in June 2005 from Arnold Clarks Newcastle Stoke-on-Trent, After 16 days my husband had to take the car back as the engine management light had come on, they had the car for 1 week, and told us that it was now fine.
It was fine until February 2006 when again the engine management light came on and the car (It is Auto) went into what they call get you home mode, whereby the gearbox sticks in high gear meaning the car has to be driven manually. ... ...NOT buy a car from Arnold Clark as once they have had your money they do not care. Incidentially the car cost £6000 with a 2 year warranty that is not worth the paper it is written on. We have a car that we can not sell and is only worth scrap value. I am currently awaiting to see what Trading Standards next course of action is and then will be taking them to court.
Today, had a phone call from Trading Standards as Arnold clark stated that they ...
pvfc1876 06.09.2006 (13.09.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Selection of cars Disadvantages: Don't want to know you if you've got problems
...one year old car from Arnold Clark in Edinburgh in 2006. The salesman lied about it having side air bags & locking wheel nuts (though he did produce the latter after I complained). I pointed out the door handle was scuffed, he said he'd have it fixed. Collected the car - the handle was still scuffed and he disappeared for a few minutes, came back with some black stuff painted on handle, told me it would "fade to match" (it never has). I discovered ... ...make it look as if Arnold Clark had serviced it at a given mileage, whereas they hadn't (it was the previous owners who had done it at Kwik Fit in England at a different time). I started getting suspicious. Within 3 weeks I found my antifreeze was leaking. I called out the RAC who confirmed this and asked if I did a lot of offroad driving as the underside was caked in mud. They also pointed out that my two front tyres were very worn (verging on the ...
kittykat2906 01.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Arnold Clark
Advantages: Cheapest deals and great after service Disadvantages: None
...bought a new car from Arnold Clark and felt I should write about how great a deal I got and on how excellent the after sales service has been for me with arnold in the past. It seems that people are more likely to write a review when they have had poor service and I think it's time to give people an idea of the good side of Arnold Clark- who are the UK's biggest and clearly this is down to sales and service.
I bought my car recently (my 2nd from ... ...Arnold Clark website. I ended up getting a great trade in on my old car and managed to get my new car for even cheaper than I thought.
I think the main thing is that I gladly returned to buy my new car from Arnold Clark after assistance I received after some damage sustained to my previous car. The service department were very helpful and my car was returned good as new in next to no time.
For anyone reading these reviews, I think it should be ...
gh1122 15.01.2007
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