# Awful service when buying a new car!



## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Hi all,

A good friend of ours was recently looking for a new car. She cam round to the house and we chatted about budgets, what spec, etc etc. We eventually narrowed it down to either a Vauxhall Adam or a Fiat 500. 

So, after getting a fair bit of advice from me about haggling, off she went to the local Charles Hurst Vauxhall dealership in Craigavon to look about buying an Adam. 

She went into the dealer, and asked to look at a few of the cars on site. She then sat with the salesman and asked about prices, in order to start the negotiation process. Bizarrely, the sales man flatly refused to give her any prices until she committed to buy the car first. 

He also wouldn't let her leave until she committed to buy a car. Luckily, she's made of strong enough stuff to tell him where to go, and promptly walked out. She returned later that day to give the guy a piece of her mind. He said that they're told to put people under pressure to buy cars. 

I genuinely thought this type of practice was from a different era!!! Just thought I'd share. 

Cooks 

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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

dont do themselves no favors do they


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

steveo3002 said:


> dont do themselves no favors do they


Totally agree chum. If the guy had tried that one with me, he'd have been gathering himself up off the floor lol.

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## Oobl (May 17, 2017)

Unfortunately it's not that uncommon a practice. Purchasing a new car should be an enjoyable experience however sometimes it feels like I'm buying a sofa from DFS


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## MDC250 (Jan 4, 2014)

Sounds like a Timeshare pitch, that's terrible. Who on earth would buy a car under those circumstances 

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## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

I remember a number of years ago looking to buy a new car and they wouldn't allow me a test drive until I'd agreed figures with them. When I asked the question "what if if I don't like it after driving it" I was met with a blank stare and no movement.

Needlessly to say I left the dealership rather sharply!!


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## Stokie (Jun 9, 2013)

I've had two bad experiences from BMW main dealers, 
1st I was almost 20, walked in the showroom, no greeting from anyone, no one serving, left waiting what seemed an age, eventually I went and asked the sales guy about a convertible 3 series they had, price wasn't on the car either, he couldn't be bothered to get off his chair to even have the decency to find out, his reply was, I dunna know, not I will find out, so I told him where to stick it. 

Promised myself I'd never deal with nor have a BMW after that.

Stupidly I went against my better judgement and 20years later, went again but to a different BMW dearlership (the other thankfully closed down) asked about the X6 they had, this time the sales guy said be right with you, so stood waiting, only for him to give the reception girl he worked with his chat, trying get her in a date (I heard it all) left me standing looking a like a proper melt, lost my patience so caused a scene in the showroom, with him and the receptionist. 

Phoned the manager on the dealership about it, apparently had issues with the sales guy doing this and to prospective customers girlfriends / wives so was dismissed, it was his last chance apparently. Told them where to stick there customer service and bought a new VW Touareg.

That's the last time I will ever walk into a BMW dearlership and will never own one either.


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

Had good and very bad, some sales men / women just don't have a clue.
They think they are doing me a favour by letting me buying a car:lol:
When we bought the first new Kuga for the missus, the dealer in Scotland was plain rude, insulting and wasn't interested unless we financed it. 
The dealer in Birmingham didn't fare much better, as he was sitting on the bonnet of the car which we where talking to buy, end of the show there.

We went to look at Toyota instead, the salesman in Scotland was amazing, very helpful, but we couldn't agree on the price, he was to far of with the trade inn (to be fair, not easy a 3 year old car in top condition with full service history but 100 k on the clock is not easy to price) 
When I spoke to Toyota in the midlands they promised me a test drive, when I turned up and waited for over an hour, the car turned up, dirty and with its fuel light on) 

In the end I bought from the Ford dealer in Derby, and they couldn't be helpful enough.
His offer was good enough, the test drive was relaxing and not full of bull and hot wind.
Yes a very pleasant experience.

The problem is when they start pushing, I just lock, or start very hard to push for an unreasonably low price.
I won't talk money until I had a test drive (only once for the same model, I don't go to three dealers to drive the same car) 
If they run my car down, that's end of the deal, I know what is right and wrong with my car.
I don't wait, I like to look on my own for a while, but I don't wait for a sales men (unless he is with another customer) 
I don't do finance, and I don't need to tell you that three times in a sales talk.

Sales men is not that difficult, but many are on a very low basic rate, and have to make their salary with bonuses and performance related pay.
This put unreasonably pressure on sales people, and it becomes a bit pressurised and unrealistic.


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## leeandfay (May 2, 2017)

Went into a BMW dealership to buy a 330 / 335 tourer and at the time needed to trade in my Transporter T5 which was a minter.
Stood around for a while which is ok i dont want to be jumped on in seconds. 

Now i'm 6ft3 and 17 stone with tattoos from my fingers to middle neck with a shaved head and a beard so im not a suit wearing kind o guy.

So i get a lot of stereotypical ideologies about the way i look and most think im probably there to collect debts, smash the showroom up or cause trouble. 

Anyway, after the waiting time i was given the bumbling idiot of a salesman that was in the corner at the back of the showroom who had no clue what he was doing and then he said it 

"You do realise these cars are £40 odd grand"
:angry: 

I said, yes i do know that thanks very much can we look at one please. He was not arsed in the slightest and the wife whispered that theres no way he wants this sale. 

Sat at his desk for 10 minutes no figures, constantly being told to think about it first as its a big committment bla bla bla. 

Went to another BMW dealership in Crewe and in 3 months i bought a 330 Tourer and an M140i. Drove back to the other dealership in my 140 and the mrs bought the tourer there to the front of the showroom. 

His face lol

Didn't moan or kick off about how crap he made me feel but let him see the cars then drove off with a smile on our face.


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Just go to drivethedeal website and get a price the dealers won't come close to.

Job done.


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

only a matter of time until its more internet based , you will click on a deal and maybe theres a guy there to supervise the test drive


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

I bought through Car Wow and wouldnt hesitate to do it again. Far cheaper than anywhere else and quick easy service. I actually ended up changing the spec of the final order once I was in touch with the dealer and it was no problem. Saved £'000's as well.


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

I took a friend to go look at new cars, she wanted a small suv type thing a Peugeot 2008 Citroen Cactus size vehicle.

Went to a peugeot dealer near her, asked for test drive which was ok after telling him we were looking and going around all the other cars today.

Got back, started asking about figures...he said I can't do that until I get some sort of commitment from you, I said how can we compare cars without knowing what the prices are going to be and he said I'm not wasting my time asking for discounts etc when you aren't going to buy the car.

What a ******, not got much faith in the brand has he?

Funnily enough, she did buy a Peugeot 2008 but from a different dealer a bit further away who treated her like Royalty.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

my best ever story was when I went to Audi Northampton to look at a 6 month old A3 for my wife. I drove it, inspected it etc and told the guy Id bring my wife back later that day and she could make the final decision she wanted it. The guy quickly got the sales manager to come over and they tried to get me to make a deal there and then. I made it clear I wasnt going to buy a car for my wife without her seeing it first and I would come back. At that point the sales manager looked right at me and said "*In my house I'm allowed to make decisions without consulting my wife first*" to which I nearly decked him! Instead I kept calm and responded that as she is a highly qualified professional earning twice what the sales manager of a car dealership earns, it seems only fair that she have a say in buying her own car" and walked out never to return....That was quite a few years ago and I still wont ever set foot in there again.


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## Taxboy (Aug 23, 2006)

I went to look at a Jag XF and before I could get a year drive I was told I had to complete a finance questionnaire apparently its the law ! Despite telling the sales guy I was paying cash. Loved the look on his face when he started to type into the computer my details and when he asked how much finance I needed I told him £0.50 

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## ashleyman (May 17, 2016)

I'm 27 now but when I was 24 I was looking to buy either an Audi A3 or A4. We weren't sure which one we wanted as it really depended on the physical size of the vehicles. 

Went to Audi dealership with girlfriend and wanted to look round each model and explained that to the receptionist. The salesman came over and basically just took us to an A3 and said 'There's the size of an A3'. Then walked us to the A4 and said 'That's an A4'. 

I said was he not going to allow us to look inside or to sit in it to see how they felt etc... He then opened the door to the A3 and said 'Well there you go'. Girlfriend got in it and said it's quite nice but how's the A4.

He then said an Audi A4 was a very expensive car and was a big financial commitment. Took us to his desk to do some quotes and figures and kept going on about how it was a big commitment. Then when it came out at £500 a month he said we probably couldn't afford it. 

Girlfriend stormed out. He then started getting annoying saying 'Whats her problem...' etc...

I then decided I would show him my bank balance, so I pulled out my phone and started to explain how I didn't want finance, was looking to buy cash and that my girlfriend was annoyed because he's insulted her. Showed him my phone bank balance which showed I could probably buy 3 or 4 Audi A4's outright. That changed his attitude ' Sorry sir' 'get her back in and we can show you the cars'. 

I politely declined and walked out. The dealership phoned a few days later for feedback so I told them exactly what had happened. Salesman phoned to apologise a few days after that and offered me an Audi RS3 for the weekend. Then a few days after that a manager phoned and asked if there was anything he could to do get us back in. 

Haven't been back since!


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Cookies said:


> Hi all,
> 
> A good friend of ours was recently looking for a new car. She cam round to the house and we chatted about budgets, what spec, etc etc. We eventually narrowed it down to either a Vauxhall Adam or a Fiat 500.
> 
> ...


I've heard the same said about the same dealership Cookies. How can anyone commit to buy a car before having prices? The whole point of quoting is to get the business. You have to work to get business, if that means quoting back and forth until you can come to an agreement then so be it.

Tell your friend she needs a Polo


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## RaceGlazer (Jan 10, 2007)

Bigpikle said:


> she is a highly qualified professional earning twice what the sales manager of a car dealership earns, it seems only fair that she have a say in buying her own car"


Love it !

Years ago we went to buy a company car, my then wife had a free choice and no fixed budget so had lots of options for an estate car.

So, both smartly dressed, turned up in my 911 and were ignored by Citroen, told by 1 Honda dealer they only have so many cars and none were available (so why did they have salesmen?), blanked by Audi and others, but when we went to Nottingham Honda and answered the first polite question 'Is it a personal or business purchase' we were allocated the Fleet Manager who was superb - despite it being a total fleet of 3.
She's had 4 Hondas now...

I deal with many car salesmen for work, and as a former motoring journalist even more, and find the vast majority unimpressive - lazy, arrogant, judgemental and with egos far bigger than their pay grade. There are few I would employ.

This thread is going to get very long and hugely entertaining...


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## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

Had a terrible experience at the local Kia dealer a few years ago; was tempted by a Pro_Cee'd, so went to the showroom to have a look.
Checked out the one in the showroom, thought it was nice, went away to do a bit of research. List price was about £18k, found online for about £12k but it was up North (not a problem, have family up north so for the price of a train ticket up, would happily go up there to collect if needed).

Phoned up the dealer to arrange a test drive, and mentioned the lower price found online. Salesperson said that was fine, and she was sure they could come up with a deal. Test drive booked for 3pm on the Saturday (salesperson had no appointments that day, so I was free to choose the time I wanted).

Saturday comes round, and I receive a phone call while at work - can't take it, obviously, but just assumed it was the dealership reminding me. Picked up the message after work, was asking if I could move the test drive back a bit. No reason, and I assumed since I'd been unable to confirm, the test drive was still booked in for 3pm.

Turned up with my dad (2nd pair of eyes, etc.) just before 3. Salesperson not in the office, nobody knew where she was. 45 minutes later, barely any contact from staff beyond still not knowing where she was and inviting us to sit in their waiting area. Turns out she'd been out on a test drive with someone else, you'd think they'd know that. No apology at any point from anyone, which I thought was poor. I'd decided by this point I wouldn't buy from them, but wanted the test drive anyway.

After the test drive, all very cordial until I refused to pay an extra £500 above the price I'd showed them I could get it for. "Would you really want to go up North to get it?!". Anyway, after several trips to her manager, they finally agreed to match the price we'd found. When I said I wanted to go away and think about it (having never actually committed to buying, this was just a test drive remember), salesperson got borderline angry with me.

Anyway, chatted to a friend about alternatives, suggested a Volvo C30 - found one locally to check out, ended up buying that a few days later, for much less than the Kia (they don't make C30s any more, so this was used but in very good nick), and the service was so much better. Salesman interested, keen, couldn't do enough to help us, and didn't pressure me to buy. He was busy when we first visited on Saturday, so asked if we could come back on the Sunday at a given time 'so he can give us the attention we deserve'. Had a minor technical issue with the warranty 6 months later, sent him a quick email and it was sorted in no time. 

Night and day.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

And dealers wonder why places like we buy any car and online lease companies are stealing massive amounts of their business.

For many many people, buying a car is a hateful ordeal, and dealers are still packed full of slimy, smarmy trained pressure sellers who have zero interest or knowledge in the products they're selling.


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## BrummyPete (Jun 10, 2010)

Never had a bad experience buying cars, reading this thread I feel very lucky, even buying my last car a couple of weeks ago at Seat in Shirley I test drove the same car twice because I wanted to be certain about going manual or dsg, they bent over backwards to make sure I was happy 

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## Nozza (Mar 1, 2006)

I remember when I bought my Subaru, I went out with the salesman for a test drive, looked over the car and afterwards said 'I'm interested in buying it', to which he replied 'seriously?'. I drove it home a week later, as it was exactly what I had been looking for on my 6th attempt of looking over cars.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Cookies said:


> Hi all,
> 
> A good friend of ours was recently looking for a new car. She cam round to the house and we chatted about budgets, what spec, etc etc. We eventually narrowed it down to either a Vauxhall Adam or a Fiat 500.
> 
> ...


Cooks, ask her to get in touch with the ombudsman, they have enough teeth to deal with this kind of practice.


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## angel1449 (Apr 15, 2012)

Best i had was when i had rented a ferrari 360 and went to porshe in my usual everyday clothes nothing special, salesman looking down his nose at me trying to get out of his way and asked what are you driving now anyway to which i pointed and said that ferrari out there then suddenly i was sir and would i like a drink sir etc, he was told to wrk his car where sun dont shine


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## ollienoclue (Jan 30, 2017)

The problem is that sales is not the kind of thing you can just drop into and be good at it.

It takes a long time to learn how to do it. And by the sounds of it the car industry is full of muppets.

I am involved in sales and routinely sell in excess of 600K of stuff a year. More senior colleagues who have been doing it twice as long do 1.5-2 million a year.

To me, flogging cars, where the customer comes straight in the door to you, would be nearly laughably easy compared to what I have to do. I don't know why car salesmen appear to be so incompetent or ignorant. It is like they need to spent 6 months working in a pub behind the bar first so they can learn to speak to actual human beings.

There is no reason to treat people like ****e after 10 seconds of cursory inspection, when I first began in my job, now 5 years ago, my boss simply told me: I am paying you to speak to people'. And that was that. The selling of actual products came much much later.

To me, being allowed and paid to sell cars, something I am naturally enthusiastic about and interested in, would be living the dream. I would offer every man jack a drink and chat to them, it would be better than having nothing to do at all.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

I would hate to have to go to a Main dealer and spend big money. The whole wanting to use psychology, and mind-games for a good deal fills me with dread. Now I would just see if the final figures match up, and just do it as a numbers game. Most dealers think they have the Declaration of independence written in Mandarin. Even if it's a 2.0 belly-button Turkish prison spec diesel. I'm grateful in a way that my kind of budget leaves me at dealers where they have last night's kebab on their top, and smell like they've done the backstroke in Jim Beam. At least I know what I'm getting. I'll probably have my Celica until the end of time because finding a car I like is like finding a copy of the mail without reference to a drug that will help you outlive the sun, or refugees in your shed making your house worth 8 pence.


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

Its when they blatantly try give you peanuts for your P/X that really ****es me off. 

Yes I get its not going to be retail value and yes, I know they're going to make roughly £4k on a £20k P/X but at-least give me the damn book value. Sometimes its like they just pick a figure out of the sky. 

Then when you negotiate they're like - oh we can't reduce our car by much because we've given you more for your car than we intended (well yes because you started off with a figure £2-3k less than its trade price!). Flipping hell its like you can't win with these folk

Even worse when another brand is giving you more for the P/X and bigger discounts on their car. You'd expect a little more for loyalty from your own brand but doesn't work like that Im afraid


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## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

I have owned around 15 Mercedes cars over the past thirty years, including a V12 S Class and several SLs. Mercedes will have made a small fortune not only out of the sales but all the service items as I insisted on genuine MB parts not pattern over their service life. 

No more. 

First in the late 90s, the quality went out of the window for several years and I was extremely unhappy at the cavalier dismissal of rust appearing in an E300 boot less than 12 months after buying it, then something similar in my wife's SLK. (Not to mention having to ask them around twenty times for her spare key, which wasn't coded when it eventually arrived). 

I then discovered when renewing my insurance that one of my cars had been involved in an accident. I asked the insurance company for better and further particulars, checked the date and found that the car had been with the MB garage for a service. They had not told me. By the time I discovered this, the garage had closed but MB UK was not interested at all. 

I vowed never to darken MB's doors again. But...(and I won't name names but there aren't that many).

A few years later, I turn up at a shiny London showroom and wait and wait to be dealt with. No greeting, no acknowledgement, nothing. Three or four characters doing very little from what I can see. OK, possibly bad management in this one. I turn on my heels and exit after 20 minutes.

Showroom number two: Again, same experience. After 20 minutes, I find the head sales bloke and tell him I'd come in to buy a new SL, but MB clearly can't be arsed about their customers so they have converted a sure sale into a sale for Porsche. And off I go, never (and I mean it) to darken their doors again. I bought a Panamera - I know not an obvious equivalent to the SL but it is closer than first appears, so it seemed rude not to.

This is not to say, don't buy Merc. I have found the specialist independent garages and mechanics to be among the best in the business, in the same way that I loathe the Alfa dealer network but the small guys (most of them) are fantastic.

Peter


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## youngwangie (Oct 9, 2016)

Now I'm going back a little with this story, The CAR IN QUESTION WAS NEW SO WILL GIVE YOU AN IDEA HOW FAR BACK. Lad I use to work with was in his very early 20's. He went to a local Ford dealer on Merseyside to Buy an ESCORT COSWORTH. Probably due to his age the salesman or should I say, men, wouldn't give him the time of day. he was adamant it was a genuine inquiry. anyway, he left. Went to a Ford dealer in Warrington ordered his ESCORT COSWORTH. The day he took delivery he phoned the Merseyside dealer & asked if the salesman he had spoken to was in, yes but he's with a customer, ok I'll call into see him. So Paul drove to the dealership in His nice NEW Cosworth to see him. Walked in said hi do you remember me. I came into buy a ,OH yes he said . Can I show you this they both walked out Paul got in his Cosworth & Drove off with as he said a ******* Big smile on my face


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## griffin1907 (Mar 4, 2006)

sounds like a typical trip to The Car Shop!


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## Overdoser (Oct 25, 2010)

Only ever bought from main dealers on three occasions, Lexus were fantastic. Volvo were pretty good. Honda were pathetic, very rude and had a poor attitude.


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## LewisChadwick7 (Aug 22, 2014)

only ever used a dealership once but it wasnt a second hand used car centre, wasnt expecting much tbf but he was very friendly gave me the keys to have a look round told me to have a little go round the industrial estate if i like and if i have any questions just give him a shout, fair to say i did what i needed did allmy checks had a drive etc and after about 45 minutes i then when in to barter him on the price as i had my price in mind before goign and purposely only went in with that much cash and basically told him take it or leave it.....i came away with the car :lol: i wasnt all that bothered about going with all the stories like above but fair play to him and how he runs his business


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## ashleyman (May 17, 2016)

Just to add, the dealership I originally wanted to buy my Golf R from wouldn't even give me a test drive without a £500 deposit. I got them in trouble with VW UK about that little practice they had going on. I now take my Golf R back to them for service and every little issue. They probably hate me but they damn sure know I was serious about buying a Golf R!


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## BigJimmyBovine (Jan 23, 2012)

Honda Swindon, ignored my mate 2 or 3 times when he was looking to buy a brand new type R outright.

Toyota Lincoln, kept trying to sell us an overpriced car we didn't want on finance when we told them if we bought a car it would be cash. Also kept adding a £1500 3 year extended warranty on to the cost of every car we looked at, then when we found a car we wanted took the extended warranty off the price but refused to remove the delivery pack at £500 because it helped both me and the dealer out. It consisted of a tank of fuel, a boot liner even though the car came with one as standard and paint protection. After our £1200 part ex was taken off the car was coming out at more than the price they had it up for because of everything they kept adding on! We didn't buy in the end, they rang 3 times before we'd even driven home then several times a day for a week offering us different cars then finally silent calls so I started doing it back to them.

Nissan Swindon, brilliant! Friendly salesman who put no pressure on us, probably because we knew exactly what we wanted. Stayed late to help me get the purchase sorted as it was the only time I could get there. Didn't try and push paint protection after I talked about looking after cars, stopped dealing with another customer when I bought in paper work a few days later to apologise for being busy, instructed the new salesman not to try and sell us extras as we didn't need it. He rang us on a Monday to see how our first weekend with the car was, fitted us in for some very minor warranty work when I called in on my way to town just to book an actual slot. And after I booked a service online using Nissans main site that they ended up having no record of they managed to service my car and sort me out with a lift to the shops while I waited.


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