Benfield Motors - Newcastle upon Tyne..

[DGW]

Benfield Motors

Railway Street

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE4 7AD

0191 256 4636

Services: New, Used, Repair

[DGW]

Originally posted by pbirkett - Mon Sep 13, 2004

The location of this dealer made it a natural choice for where to buy my Fabia vRS, as it is a mere 10 minutes walk from my work place in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The quality of the showroom is quite good, but so it should be considering it is a brand new building.

When I first expressed interest in the Fabia vRS I went for a test drive, but was given no more than 5 miles in a congested city to find out what the car is like - not enough. However, the salesman (Gary Searle) is a polite and helpful man, a theme which continues during all of our meetings.

I ordered the car and was given a delivery date. They failed to meet the delivery date, but I was not told; No, I had to find this out by chasing them up days before I was supposed to get it. I would have thought it common courtesy to let me know that so I did not arrive at the garage on the day to find no car.

However, Gary sorted me out with an alternative car, a silver one (I ordered red) which was available straight away due to a cancellation. They met me half way with the cost of the metallic paint.

I asked about oil having read this forum, being that it is important to monitor this and not to let it run out. They told me that if it was low, to bring it in and they would top it up (nice of them I thought). However, when that time came, I was charged £12 for a litre of oil.

Finally, my latest dealing with this dealer was today for the service. Firstly, it costs an extortionate £175 for a 10,000 miles service. And if that was not bad enough, the car was not cleaned up. When I had a Nissan the car would receive a wash and valet on each service. When I enquired about this, I was told "they normally do clean the cars, but the cleaner was not here today". Well thats great isnt it? Nissan charge almost half as much for service, and the car appears new when you pick it up on a night. Not this time, the car was worse than when I dropped it off.

Overall, I am not very impressed with this dealer. Particularly the prices, which are disgusting, especially when I hear about people paying less than half of that in other places of the country.

Overall, do not be fooled by Skoda. The Fabia vRS may be a cheap to insure, good value hatch, but the servicing prices are pure extortion. £223 for the 20,000 mile service, and well over £300 for the 40,000 service are prices I have to look forward to in future. Needless to say, I will be shopping around very carefully in future.

[DGW]

Originally posted by jmed - Fri Jan 7, 2005

The location of this dealer made it a natural choice for where to buy my Fabia vRS, as it is a mere 10 minutes walk from my work place in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The quality of the showroom is quite good, but so it should be considering it is a brand new building.

When I first expressed interest in the Fabia vRS I went for a test drive, but was given no more than 5 miles in a congested city to find out what the car is like - not enough. However, the salesman (Gary Searle) is a polite and helpful man, a theme which continues during all of our meetings.

I ordered the car and was given a delivery date. They failed to meet the delivery date, but I was not told; No, I had to find this out by chasing them up days before I was supposed to get it. I would have thought it common courtesy to let me know that so I did not arrive at the garage on the day to find no car.

However, Gary sorted me out with an alternative car, a silver one (I ordered red) which was available straight away due to a cancellation. They met me half way with the cost of the metallic paint.

I asked about oil having read this forum, being that it is important to monitor this and not to let it run out. They told me that if it was low, to bring it in and they would top it up (nice of them I thought). However, when that time came, I was charged £12 for a litre of oil.

Finally, my latest dealing with this dealer was today for the service. Firstly, it costs an extortionate £175 for a 10,000 miles service. And if that was not bad enough, the car was not cleaned up. When I had a Nissan the car would receive a wash and valet on each service. When I enquired about this, I was told "they normally do clean the cars, but the cleaner was not here today". Well thats great isnt it? Nissan charge almost half as much for service, and the car appears new when you pick it up on a night. Not this time, the car was worse than when I dropped it off.

Overall, I am not very impressed with this dealer. Particularly the prices, which are disgusting, especially when I hear about people paying less than half of that in other places of the country.

Overall, do not be fooled by Skoda. The Fabia vRS may be a cheap to insure, good value hatch, but the servicing prices are pure extortion. £223 for the 20,000 mile service, and well over £300 for the 40,000 service are prices I have to look forward to in future. Needless to say, I will be shopping around very carefully in future.

[DGW]

Originally posted by kartingmofos - Thu Mar 17, 2005

i live 10 miles away from this dealership and i actually work for benfield motors but in there fiat/alfa place and i have to admitt the service from here is laxy dazy,very helpful when purchasing the vehicle but once they have your money don't seem bothered when comes to aftersales.

my car overheated on mon 14/03/05 telephoned them told me to drop it in but when i gave them the keys they could'nt look at it until tues 22/03/05

nothing i can do though as its undrivable at the moment -no courtesy car nothing and im a employee of this company

[JMK2]

OK it was nearly 6 years ago but I bought a felicia from them. Car wasn't even properly cleaned when I picked it up (OK it was 3 years old but I didn't expect sweet wrapers in the rear ashtrays).

Car was not serviced and I had to take it to the local Halfords for new break pads within 2 weeks of purchase. I ended up getting the car serviced at my own expense from an ex Skoda dealer.

After a mere 9 months I needed a diesel due to a job move (was doing 800 miles a week) - and a Fabia was what I wanted. I was offered £1800 for a car I had bought for £4800 9 months and 12000 miles earlier. Other Skoda dealers offered £3k. Thankfully I had no problems with the Felicia but I would not recomend this dealer because of this.

[FTM]

I used them a few times for my mk1 vRS

they fixed a problem with the central locking and were very quick

they also replaced all 4 coil packs when 1 went and even included a copy of the bulletin when I picked the car up to explain why they had done it

just bought a mk2 vRS of them and they gave a good price on my old car and we were up front with everything and explained everything very clearly...their receptionist is also canny to craic on with while you wait

plus its close to the town centre..when i had my last service I got it done on a saturday so I could walk over and do some shopping

they obviously get a lot of business from the taxi drivers in Newcastle as just about every taxi is a skoda with a Benfield sticker (and there are a hell of a lot of them in Newcastle, mk1 and mk2 octavias as well as a few superbs..most of them black)...this makes me wonder how many private sales they need...keep the taxi drivers sweet and you have plenty of business...so if you go in to buy a tdi tell them you are a taxi driver

[Porsenna]

I also had a bit of a bad experience with them, but luckily didn't buy anything from them, and now I'm happy I chose that way! The seller tried to be friendly but was clearly acting, and was as pushy as hell. Even when I made it clear that I thought the car he was offering me was overpriced, he didn't cut a single pound off (and even a minor discount would have convinced me to buy), and he even called in his manager for support! This doesn't sound like good selling strategy!

The guy even called me at home and emailed me more than once, once again after being told I was not going to buy for that price, and my wife reports that he paid a last call just a couple of days ago to tell that "Your little car has been sold now, you lost a great occasion!"

What the hell? I'm sooo not going to buy anything from them in the future, and will stay clear of their repair service!

[amac31]

Very poor service, does not carry many parts in stock, Have to pay for parts first to order them and then collect two days later this is a thirty mile round trip for me.

Now started to use ETOS and now buy cross refferenced parts from my very local and helpful VW dealer

[burno20v]

Very expensive for servicing! Priced a 20,000 mile service for my fathers fabia 1.2 htp comfort and a 60,000 service for my fabia vrs and was quoted £270 for each service!!! My father went to sedgefield motor co and had same service inc brake fluid change done for £159 inc,they were also £2500 adrift on a deal for a new fabia my father tried to buy three years ago,clown in showroom added up "extras" which were standard on comfort se at the time to the tune of £1000 and added that to list price.plus they undervalued trade in by £1500! New fabia was bought from philip wilks witton gilbert who were superb.

[Chris the Tiger]

I'm a Fabia owner of a few years and I'm working away from home in Newcastle for 5 weeks and want to get my Skoda looked at (nothing major but a slight rumbling and want to make sure if there is a problem I get it sorted sooner rather than later). I Googled and got Benfields details and was about to book in but saw this page and decided it was probably best not to! Anyway, I can't find any more listed garages nearby and am struggling to find recommendations. Anyone got any suggestions?

[nobeard]

I've used them a couple of times in recent months for warranty work - the usual stuff - leaking door seals, stutter, drop links etc. No quibbles from them about putting any of it right.

They knew about all the common faults straight away, booked it in quickly, did the job as expected, rang me to tell me it was done - so no complaints. Was offered a courtesy car etc.

The guys on Service Reception were perfectly courteous and helpful. I can't comment on servicing as I always use my local garage. But I'm more than happy to leave it there for warranty work - which is more than I can say from past experiences with some other brands.

[IainsTheName]

When buying my car, they bent over backwards for me, servicing and other faults, they don't bother.

3 times it's been in and 3 times I've not had a courtesy car, always been told they're "Fully booked"

Also, the last time it went in (June I think) for an Exhaust and glow plug warning light activation I was asked to bring it in myself, got offered no courtesy car in exchange and when I asked for a courtesy lift off one of the staff to the nearest Metro station the receptionist said they were "Too busy" (Feet up on desks on a lazy Monday morning busy? yeah right) then to top it all off after receiving my receipt and walked half way through Newcastle City Centre I'd realised the stupid receptionist had given me a receipt to an entirely different car!

After ringing the lad up they said it wouldn't make a difference and to just present that after coming in.

Anyway booked it in at about 11ish and rang before I left Newcastle at half 3 to see if it would be ready, they told me no it wouldn't be ready today so as I got home (Using Public transport...*Shudders*) they rang me at 20 past 4 to tell me my car was ready to pick up. Got there at 10 to 5 after a courteous lift from my sister and got given my keys and maze well have been told to bugger off, no receipt, no papers telling me what was carried out or anything, also my car hadn't been cleaned at all and 12 miles had been put onto the clock, is a test drive needed for 12 miles long?

Anyway After sales this company is terrible in my opinion, stay away!

[zappa_kat]

When I had my mark 1 vRS Octy I had the 2nd gear selection problem...

I took the car to Benfield, they gave me a date for getting the car back. This date kept getting extended & they let me keep the fabia courtesy car I was loaned.

I eventually got the Octy back 10 days late. They kept blaming "parts not available"...

When I got the car back I noticed the exhaust tailpipe was at a strange angle, the mechanic blamed the fact it was removed to access the gearbox. Fair enough.

I did go to the Dealers a while later & watched one of the Nissan mechanics (who share the site) crash into two other cars as the site is very, very tight... the service desk rang the damaged cars owners & claimed "parts not available" whilst they sent the said cars to a bodyshop.... This makes me think they may have bumped my car too.... I looked under my Octy & the exhaust had been broken, a sleeve put over the break in the pipe & it was held on with heavy duty hose clips.

I also discussed selling my Octy with the vRS "expert". He offered me £3.5k less than the book price. I kept the car for 2 more years & still got over £1500 more than the to**er offered me.

Would I use Benfield's again? Not an effing chance....

[Hofmiester]

I also havent had great service from them. I bought my '06 VRS from them when it was 18 months old giving my Seat Ibiza in PX.

Deal was £13500 with £8000 for my car. That was fine but when I picked the car up the recept said £12500 and £7000....the amount of cash i needed to pay was the same but this meant that the ROI insurrance i bought was for £1000 less than the car was worth :(

Lastly, car wasnt valeted and still had someone elses sunglasses in the holder :( crap ones too!

The car was set up for the long service intervals but after 10K miles the light came on.....someone didnt set it right when it left the dealership.

Not horrendous but not good either

[barnyg]

Dealers have moved to Railway Street, Newcastle (near the Arena).

Met the managing director of Benfiled who was visiting when I was buying the car.

He is a v.nice person. He was telling me what he is trying to do with the group as a whole.

My experience was excellent - couldn't fault it. They were willing to discuss things, although that is not suprising in these 'hard' times.

Got a cracking deal.

Will have to wait & see what the service is like although I couldn't fault it the times I dealt with them in the past with my old car.

Mod's Note: TY. The Dealer's address and telephone number have now been updated. DGW

Edited 31 January, 2009 by DGW

[Hearny]

Just had a 20,000 mile service done and they price matched a quote I received from Pulman in Durham (£154). Had two slight problems, Glove Box rattle and rear speaker vibrating.

Having already been in for the very same problems a year ago in a Skoda dealers not to far North of them, they agreed to fit replacement parts for both. The other dealers said the glove box was to big a job and the speaker stilm vibrated.

I dont understand why attitudes differ from Dealers so close, you can't tell me they dont compete for the same custom, but Benfield have been excellent.

[andy71]

Travelled down from Aberdeen to buy a 55 Octavia VRS and I have to say it was a very hassle free deal with no pressure and got the car at a good price.

*************************************************

Edited 1 November, 2009 by DGW
All off topic comment deleted, including inappropriate recommendation of another automotive firm.

[vrsadz]

had a pop in when i went to newcastle, good priced cars and tidy aswell staff are very freindly

[SB1962]

I don't use them for servicing as it took ages to get a price & it was miles out once I got it.

Last week I lost the locking wheel nut key (long story) for my car & popped into this Benfield as it's closest Skoda dealer to me. I was told they'd have to book the car in, drill out the locking bolts & order me a new set of 4 with new key.

I declined - I'd have thought they would have a master set & be able to figure out which mine needed & just order the key.

I rang the dealer I bought my last 2 Skoda's from (MSB Darlington) & was told to pop in & they would do just that. I pick up the key tomorrow.

[BigHusky]

My front wiper blades on my Skoda Yeti SE needed replacing as they were coming apart and the leasing company told me it's included in the maintenance package 9so free) but I must use a Skoda dealer. So I phoned Benfield Newcastle, and booked the car in, plus they would swap over my summer tyres for the Falken winter tyres I had bought last December (at my expense). So arrived there at 11.30a.m.,and the woman on the service desk tells me it probably won't be ready till 3pm. I wasn't to happy as I live 35 minutes drive away and have kids at school. I arrived back at Benfield at 2.45pm thinking I would have a short wait and get away.

It was 3.30pm before they had parked the car next to some massive roadworks truck outside, on a busy junction( took me 5 minutes to pullout!)The young lad who parked the car had to be called back when I realised my 4 summer tyres were not in the boot! By the time they brought them round and put them in the boot it was nearly 4pm and getting dark, and the trafic was building up. As I drove away the maxidot told me the boot hadn't been closed properly, so I had to find somewhere to pull over in a very busy city centre. All in all I wasn't impressed, not by the staff in the showrrom who were very helpful, but by the service dept who seem very amateur

[nurse vrs]

also had a poor experience with this dealer car was at ingram skoda ayr for its first service 2010 vrs cr td and i asked them to look at the rear wash wipe as you could hear it leaking behind dash,they told me on collection that they would need the car for three days to repair hose as its a time consuming job,very happy with there service and have used them previously with our fabia vrs.as the car had to be off the road for three days and its a company vehicle it had to be booked in to benfield skoda newcastle as our main office is there and i needed a hire car as they could not give a courtesy car for that length of time. so car was booked in for second service and previous info supplied, but they quoted two days including service. so dropped the car off mon morning then late tues afternoon was told that ooh its a big job we will need the car for another three days . some people just dont listen when told vital information. also spoke to workmate who has same car and he did not rate there work at all.

[skodanorman]

I have had several dealings with Benfield Skoda in the past year. 

 

I first approached Benfield last year as I was keen to test drive a new Octavia vRS for the purposes of writing a review for the Skoda Owners Club magazine. Bearing in mind the car was newly released at the time and in very high demand, the obliged and lent me the Sales Manager's car for a whole afternoon. Fantastic service. This review has now been printed in the Club's latest issue of the magazine. 

 

More latterly I have bought a car from Benfield. I was only passing to catch up and wanted to receive some feedback on the article but got chatting to the sales staff. They were most accommodating and answered all of my questions and took the time to show us round their whole site looking for a particular car to demonstrate particular features to the model we were interested in. We dealt with Chris Arkley during the sales process and eventually settled on the car and options. Now we just have to wait for it!! 

 

Whenever I contact Benfield I am dealt with in a timely and professional manner and all the staff who I have spoken to have been very friendly and welcoming regardless of whether I spending £2.60 or £26,000. 

 

Head on down and see what you think for yourself.  

[GeoffH]

Phew! Skodanorman's comments make me feel a bit happier..... The first to say anything good about this dealership.

I have just ordered a Yeti 170DSG Outdoor and have to say the staff I met were excellent.

I've just got to wait for delivery now and hope I find service as good as sales.

[Sandancer]

Bought my 2013 Elegance from Benfield the other week. Looked after by a young lad under training (Kris) - keen as mustard, but could do with either a bit closer supervision or a check list to follow. Pushed by along by another salesman to catch the end of a 0% deal that day - only when I got home I found it wasn't the good deal it looked, plus extras that i wasn't told about. Following morning spoke to the Sales Manager (Gary...) who was given the 'I'm not paying for Gap Insurance as I said I didn't want it, and what's this £126 Supagard - I'm not paying that! And if you're think I'm paying £20 for fuel when it's already got over half a tank, forget it!' Rather dissappointingly he said 'ok'. Then I really turned the knife when I challenged him to a deal that I got from my bank. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't match it. Also got a better than expected deal for my Ford Focus, so was pleased with that.

When the day came to collect, the forecourt was rather sparse, as a 36" water main a short distance away decided to deposit its contents into the garage that morning. Surprisingly my car was one of a few that didn't sink or float towards the River Tyne - the tide mark underneath shows it was a fraction from breaching the door seals.

Directed to Benfield Kia next door where I met the previously pushy but now bedraggled and obviously stressed salesman. Handover was very good considering the surrounding chaos - they could have easily cancelled the handover for a day or two while they got themselves sorted out, but didn't. So hat's off to them. A final hurrah - the car also had been given this Supaguard treatment as they had already started doing it when I told them nooooo! And they paid the £20 tax. So bonus there - every little helps as they say.

So overall, they were polite, helpful, accommodating, and in the thick of it, continued to crack on as if nothing had happened. Only time will tell if their service department can step up to the same mark.

[jobsworth]

Well after a day trying to get a price out of them... massive failure.

 

Called at 9.15am today, was told someone would ring back ASAP. They never called. I called them at 4pm today and waited an hour for a return call.

 

Yes we have some cars you would like... great. I'll get prices to you before I leave at 7pm. Alas no call or email with prices. With customer service this poor before a sale, it's not going to improve after sale