[vivekk]

Originally Posted by mjh93sa

...and so ends the mystery of why Viv keeps getting lost - he just doesn't hear his SatNav

Matt, well....I just love ignoring her & going somewhere else!

Viv

[m33porsche]

Originally Posted by rjs

Pretty much, there's too many dull cars about these days. I've driven silver cars for the last 10 years so felt like something a bit more colourful

It's also exclusive to the m-sport.

My second choice would be graphite, but not too keen on the pink tones in the sun.

Hope I don't change my mind

Don't change your mind....

I'm hanging onto Le Mans by the skin of my teeth - sometimes love it, sometimes looks wrong, ie the pics of the rear end up at the Solihul dealership.

I was particularly impressed by the photos of KenMSport's TiAg with 19' rims. I'm hovering around a decision to switch to TiAg and saddle brown

If you switch that'll be the final straw

[happyhammer1]

i used specialist cars from Stevenage.....great service. My local BMW dealer in GRIMSBY was ok until it involed looking for a car of the spec i wanted (used)....no follow up.

Paul at Stevenage even drove car to me (200miles) and rode my motorbike back which they part ex in the deal!!

[peterg1965]

Great thread, maybe BMW dealers should register with the site to get some feedback on their quality of customer service!

I live in the North West, my local dealer is Bateman BMW in the South Lakes. I have previously bought two cars from them, an E60 530i SE (3 month old ex management) and a brand new E91 320d M Sport. I highly recommend them, the quality of service is very good, prices for servicing is reasonable and the location is simply stunning. Test drives are never a problem and are always unescorted unless it is on trade plates.

Provided they come up with the right price for my E92 335i M Sport they will have an order for my third car.

[squeezebm]

My local dealers are either Shitners or Twatgate,both will always do a decent deal when buying a car, but trade in is just stupid. Brought a 330i sport touring brand new FULLY loaded on an 03 for 31k. 3 Months later decided i needed a M3 as you do, got offered 22k as a trade in !!!!!
This time gone to a smaller dealer got the deal i wanted told the salesman that if he looks after us we will do more business, had 7 cars in 3 1/2 years
so we'll wait and see on the next change.

[Alex H]

For what its worth - I went to local dealer in Devon, whose service was pretty mediocre. Their delivery of E93 was about 12 weeks. Rang Lovetts in Hungerford and got it in less than 6 weeks. Service was brilliant - but they didn't really have to sell it - just deliver it quickly.

Crazy thing was that when I told dealer in Devon that I wasn't buying from them and that it was mainly due to time for delivery, they replied saying that 'I should have told them as they always have a monthly allocation for customers who can't wait for delivery'

Hey Ho, guess most people wanting to spend £40 dont really care when delivery will be

Alex

[en1gma]

Hey, have you seen this site?

http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/garages_seng.html

it seems to be more about older cars, but still gives an overall idea...

In my experience, Altwood Taplow (now Stratstone), good at sales, not so good at service; HR Owen Chiswick (on the Great West Road in Brentford) - had to use them for some warantee work on the e39, and they just didn't want to know - basically get the job done and get rid of me. Very poor service, so bad, I ended up in Wood in Odiham

Actually got very good Sales service (the Business Manager, Noel, is excellent), although their initial p/x offer wasn't the best deal. Haven't done enough miles yet to see if their servicing is up to scratch, though.

[Serjames]

I really Rate Coopers of Cobham too.

Have now bought three cars from them (includes Minis).

Jasper their finance guy is very good and Jamie and Paul in BMW sales are thoroughly nice Chaps.

No experience of service yet as I do my own through (Birds) Their parts dept is top notch though and vey timely.

SJ

[booforty]

Originally Posted by Serjames

I really Rate Coopers of Cobham too.

Have now bought three cars from them (includes Minis).

Jasper their finance guy is very good and Jamie and Paul in BMW sales are thoroughly nice Chaps.

No experience of service yet as I do my own through (Birds) Their parts dept is top notch though and vey timely.

SJ

I use Coopers of Cobham too and they are first class!

Of all the dealerships I have used before these are in a league of their own.

Their Service Dept is superb too!

[CD]

Originally Posted by Touringman

Castle BMW in York are superb

Avoid Sandals in Wakefield - the salesman called me a liar when I said that I had been offered 11% discount via broadspeed.com

hmm when i went to castle in york, they were very helpfull too ... BUT when i asked what kind of incentive they could give me for giving them my business the salesman looked blankly at me, allmost as if i had asked him if they sold micras !! he just said ''sorry sir we dont discount out vehicles'' so i just walked out ...

i then went to Statstone in Hull, they were completely different, freindly from the work go and when i mentioned discount, the sales guy said ''im sure we can work something out dont worry '' .... they did come good as well , i got 3k off list and a few options thrown in like leather seats. When they didnt have a demo 335 the sales guy drove to the midlands (200mile round trip) to get one for me to have for the day ( castles would only let me have a 'acompanied test drive )

I would highly recomend Statstone Hull BMW

Castles in York.. well only if you want to pay full list price, but im sure experiences will differ, maybe i just looked dodgy that day

[Hoops]

Sytner Chigwell are a load of crap!

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by bmwbailey

Sytner Chigwell are a load of crap!

Sytner Harold Wood are a load of crap too! My history with their service department has been well documented on here, but recently I have found out things which have horrified me. Not going into all the details any more, but just to give you an example, they were supposed to have replaced two parts under warranty, but on subsequent investigation another dealer discovered that those two parts weren't actually replaced at all, even though the warranty claim from BMW UK was still made!!

Anyway, my car has since only been to one workshop, and that's BMW Battersea on Stuarts Lane. The workshop is owned directly by BMW UK, as opposed to a franchise, and the technicians there have direct support from the bods at Bracknell. Suffice to say, my car is now in the most perfect mechanical condition possible. Highly recommended

[SeanC]

I purchased my E92 335D SE from Bluebell BMW in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

This was the first time I'd ever bought a new car and was interested to see how I got treated by the various luxury car dealerships. I was pleasantly surprised how well we were looked after. BMW, Lexus and Mercedes were all very, very helpful arranging accompanied test drives and then extended test drives as required. The worst of all were the local Audi dealer! They just couldn't get the A5 in that I wanted to drive saying it was with a business customer and after a couple of weeks messing about and then calling me during the working day they had it there and then, I just told them not to bother!

I had searched the internet for the best price for the 335D with the spec I wanted (nearly fully loaded). I was buying with finance and in the end Bluebell nearly matched the monthly figure I had been offered on the web. It was a little bit more, but thought it would be easier to do it with a local dealer. We went in and ordered the car (approx 10-11% discount) and was told we would sort the finance out later. In the end the car was available sooner than they said but we held off for an 08 plate. Of course, after a bit of badgering they finally got round to sort out the finance only to find they could no longer honour the quote I was give due to change in residuals and interest rates. At no point did they say that this would happen, even though thinking about it, it was to be expected. I felt they had let me down badly.

Anyway, I sourced some finance through and online broker (without the hand back option) and saved quite a bit of money over the original agrreed monthly payment, so in the end all was ok.

Overall dealer has been good. I'm having problems with their bodyshop (run as a separate company) after repairing some suspension damage (ride height is wrong and pull slightly) but the service manager has got involved and I'm hoping that will do the trick.....

Overall I would recommend them.....will be interested to see what trade in they will give me in 2 years time.....the big discounts may cause residual issues, though I was told that from 2008, BMW dealers will no longer be able to sell via brokers and therefore discounts will never be as high again!

[CardinalZeus77]

I have always found Sytner Leicester to be very good.

[Disco3]

Anyone got experience of Sytner Nottingham? I've just ordered a 330d cab from them and they seemed pretty professional. But then they would, wouldn't they?

regs
rob

[xenon]

Originally Posted by Disco3

Anyone got experience of Sytner Nottingham? I've just ordered a 330d cab from them and they seemed pretty professional. But then they would, wouldn't they?

regs
rob

Sytner Nottingham is one of the best.

[Disco3]

Oh, that's good to know. Very reassuring. Thanks.
regs
rob

[misterS3]

Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer

There are only 2 Glasgow dealers within a 25 mile radius of me, and I tend to use one for buying and the other for servicing/repairs. The reason I don't get the car repaired at the same dealer I buy from is that they once scuffed one of my alloys on the Z4 when fixing a rear coil barrel spring that snapped. Impressed with both, for different reasons!

Hi Z4 Beemer, i'm in Glasgow too, which do you use for servicing?
Ta

[stuartrav]

Hi,

Having seen the report on Harold Wood I am very glad that I didn't buy a car from them! Coming from Essex and with a car on order I wondered if anyone has any comments on the other dealerships in Essex.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by stuartrav

Hi,

Having seen the report on Harold Wood I am very glad that I didn't buy a car from them! Coming from Essex and with a car on order I wondered if anyone has any comments on the other dealerships in Essex.

Well, don't what ever you do go to Sytner Chigwell... the old service manager from Harold Wood has been shipped there, and his incompetence is causing chaos there too... Only a matter of time before he gets shipped out completely, I hope

They are now also going to have to deal with an audit of their warranty claims, after seven separate cases of warranty work were NOT carried out on my car, despite their claims to the contrary. Parts that should have been replaced due to TSBs issued by BMW AG, and were claimed to have been replaced by the service team at Sytner Harold Wood, have subsequently been found to be the original parts supplied on the car at manufacture, as each part has the manufacture date stamped on them It's a complete and utter con - so I would stay well clear of the Harold Wood and Chigwell...

I haven't used anyone else in Essex - i take my car down to Battersea as it's now always looked after by BMW UK

[GanjamanUSS]

yeah I'll give a thumbs up to Battersea BMW

didn't fix much but at least I felt like they were genuine and didn't care if they charged me or not

which is in stark contrast to BMW Chiswick

oh and they let me know I had two punctures rather than telling me after they'd replaced them which was nice

[booforty]

I highly recommend BMW Cobham. Best dealership I've come across particularly for after-sales service. Everyone there has been fantastic over the years, even when I had my E90