HumberMart
Active Member
Due to assisting 2 sons to buy cars over the last few weeks, and then one for myself, I've managed to max out my most pleasurable hobby quite well recently.
However it wasn't always a pleasurable experience of course, and it's fair to say that Mercedes were squarely at the bottom of the pile in terms enjoyment and success.
After nearly 3 years with an A4 which my elder son likes very much, due to the dreaded Multitronic gearbox issue, I thought I'd managed to lure my elder son into a new C Class, Namely a C200 AMG line. We had negotiated a reasonable deal, but would have course have to wait a good 3 months or so for delivery.
So we wanted a test drive. This was arranged for a late Friday afternoon, and we had been told that it would have to be a diesel, since they didn't have a petrol on demo. No probs we said.
Three times through the week, the salesman phoned to check what time we were arriving, and each time asked if we were sure a drive in a diesel was ok. I eventually emailed him all the details to avoid being pestered any more.
After lunch on Friday he phoned to ask if we could get there any earlier than 5, since he had another customer to deal with at 5.30. I said we'd do our best, but due to traffic, we managed to get there at 4.45, not too bad I thought.
He then tried to just get us to complete the deal without saying anything about the test drive. After I'd pushed him a couple of times, he wandered off looking a little disgruntled, 'to try and find a car'.
After 10 minutes, he came back and said the good news was that he'd found the car, but it was diesel. No probs we said, you said last weekend you only had a diesel on demo. So off he trotted again.....
5 minutes later he came back with the bad news....they had lost the keys for the demo. Needless the say we walked out of Listers Hull, never to be seen again (I hope).
So we went next door to explore the mega discounts on run-out A4's, but he ended up getting a super deal on an ex-demo 3.0 V6 Quattro, Black Edition, for the same monthly payment that the new C would have been. A happy ending.
T'other son wanted a new small car, the new Viva being top of his list (but after viewing the Honest John video review on YouTube, I managed to put him off, phew...!!) We went around many local dealers for such small cars, Evans n'Hellshaw, Marshalls, Hartwell, etc etc, and tbh, they were all much better at customer services and test drives etc.
Then I decided I wanted a new small run around. Tried to arrange an appointment with Listers at Laceby, where I've bought 7 new MB's from them in the last 7 years, and they were so inept, that after 2 weeks, I gave up on ever getting an appointment. I didn't really expect I needed an appointment really, but they insisted. Gone are the days you can just wander in and decide to buy a car it seems.
So I've just ordered a new Polo GTI, from Glasgow.
All the local VW dealers were almost as bad as Mercs for returning calls etc, or finding delivery dates, however I've always been a sucker for the Scottish accent, so maybe I'm just deluding myself.
However it wasn't always a pleasurable experience of course, and it's fair to say that Mercedes were squarely at the bottom of the pile in terms enjoyment and success.
After nearly 3 years with an A4 which my elder son likes very much, due to the dreaded Multitronic gearbox issue, I thought I'd managed to lure my elder son into a new C Class, Namely a C200 AMG line. We had negotiated a reasonable deal, but would have course have to wait a good 3 months or so for delivery.
So we wanted a test drive. This was arranged for a late Friday afternoon, and we had been told that it would have to be a diesel, since they didn't have a petrol on demo. No probs we said.
Three times through the week, the salesman phoned to check what time we were arriving, and each time asked if we were sure a drive in a diesel was ok. I eventually emailed him all the details to avoid being pestered any more.
After lunch on Friday he phoned to ask if we could get there any earlier than 5, since he had another customer to deal with at 5.30. I said we'd do our best, but due to traffic, we managed to get there at 4.45, not too bad I thought.
He then tried to just get us to complete the deal without saying anything about the test drive. After I'd pushed him a couple of times, he wandered off looking a little disgruntled, 'to try and find a car'.
After 10 minutes, he came back and said the good news was that he'd found the car, but it was diesel. No probs we said, you said last weekend you only had a diesel on demo. So off he trotted again.....
5 minutes later he came back with the bad news....they had lost the keys for the demo. Needless the say we walked out of Listers Hull, never to be seen again (I hope).
So we went next door to explore the mega discounts on run-out A4's, but he ended up getting a super deal on an ex-demo 3.0 V6 Quattro, Black Edition, for the same monthly payment that the new C would have been. A happy ending.
T'other son wanted a new small car, the new Viva being top of his list (but after viewing the Honest John video review on YouTube, I managed to put him off, phew...!!) We went around many local dealers for such small cars, Evans n'Hellshaw, Marshalls, Hartwell, etc etc, and tbh, they were all much better at customer services and test drives etc.
Then I decided I wanted a new small run around. Tried to arrange an appointment with Listers at Laceby, where I've bought 7 new MB's from them in the last 7 years, and they were so inept, that after 2 weeks, I gave up on ever getting an appointment. I didn't really expect I needed an appointment really, but they insisted. Gone are the days you can just wander in and decide to buy a car it seems.
So I've just ordered a new Polo GTI, from Glasgow.
All the local VW dealers were almost as bad as Mercs for returning calls etc, or finding delivery dates, however I've always been a sucker for the Scottish accent, so maybe I'm just deluding myself.
