Arnold Clarke stickers ?

[Ootohere]

There are cars that they have Advertised and do have, 

there are Prices they have advertised but that car has gone,

but they have another you can get.

 There are cars at a Price they will order for you, that they will take a Deposit on,

that might actually not then be ordered, but you are waiting on hearing about the Delivery Date, and there is no Delivery because there is no car ordered. Deposit Returned that is after you actually find that person always on a Day off, or moved on and the Sales Manager is having many days off as well.

Could that resemble the Practises of a Major Dealership Group in Scotland, to name no names.

[JohnMcL7]

If you watched the Documentary on the 'Killer A9',  you might remember the American Couple in the Motor Home noticed all 'Arnold Clark' stickered cars passing them.

 

I thought they were maybe thinking he was like 'Billy Graham',  

 

I was thinking of that when I saw this topic, they were thinking he must be a local politician or similar.

 

I didn't actually realise Arnold Clark had many garages in England until recently, I thought they were just a Scottish chain.  I bought a Seat from their Edinburgh branch as the sales person was very friendly obliging (unusual for me as most salespeople try to ignore me when I'm looking to buy a car), I knew I couldn't rely on the after sales service but it was only a couple of years old and never had any issues with it.  I'm sure like most big chains there is some variation between the garages, Arnold Clark have taken over quite a few garages locally and they're generally useless particularly the Skoda garage they took over and got rid of most of the Skoda staff.  On the plus side though their head service guy went to the independent garage I used which was handy when I had issues with the Octavia as he'd usually seen them before and fixed them without issue.

 

John

[Ootohere]

http://arnoldclark.com/newsroom/683-gtg-training-open-edinburgh

[WeirdKerr]

Ive bought 9 cars first was bought privately of the rest 4 were bought at Arnold Clark 2 others were bought at dealers which have subsequently been taken over By AC and the other 2, well it's probably only a matter of time before these 2 dealers get taken over.... lol

[Sittingbull]

We bought our Mk2 Vrs from Arnold Clark, almost a monopoly on car sales up here. Rally green with black roof and alloys, and a great big yellow Arnold Clark sticker right on bottom corner of rear window, you couldn't miss it and with the car colour scheme it looked awful. So I took it off while talking to the guy at handover to me.

 

I can also relate to squinty number plates, even though I have a squint myself. They had our car back in to change the plates over to put my wife's plate on, took the old ones off (they were on fine) and managed to put the new plates on at a slew. Worse was to follow when they sent me over the road (still in the complex they have at Linwood) into the Skoda garage to key in the second key. Rather stupidly as it turned out, I agreed to them giving the car a wash while they had it. On returning to collect the car we discovered a scratch of around 15 to 18 inches on bonnet. Car then ended up back in at them for the paint repair.

 

And that all ended happily. If you want a real horror story wait till you hear about the Golf my son bought from them. 

 

In fairness, I have to say that not all of the dealerships are bad, we have had some good experiences with them. It's probably the after sales that's the worst part, servicing included.

[Phil-E]

One of my bug bears are dealer stickers on cars!

 

It's the first thing I do when on my cars is remove any such stickers.

 

This Arnold Clarke ones are just ridiculous though!

 

Phil

[Ootohere]

There is a car they have stuck one on which it actually matches, and can carry it off.

[camelspyyder]

goneoffSKi, on 27 Mar 2015 - 22:18, said:goneoffSKi, on 27 Mar 2015 - 22:18, said:

Sorry were do they have a reputation as a reputable dealer.?

Which Branch.?

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Clark

 

AC Elgin are good

 

Bought 2 pre-reg cars there, prices as good as Motorpoint but without the 800 mile drive. (MP were only in Derby at the time).

 

After sales service fimne too.

Edited 13 April, 2015 by camelspyyder

[Ootohere]

2 Dealerships in Elgin.

When were you last a Customer of AC in Elgin?

 

Something has to be really going wrong if a Dealership can not sell cars and take peoples money and make it a pleasant experience. They sell enough cars, so it is their business and a very successful one obviously.

If they can be good with After Sales and any Warranty or issues with faults, then that is all good.

They get repeat Customers and good crits.

Edited 13 April, 2015 by goneoffSKi

[KenONeill]

Meanwhile, back at the point.

 

They leave a sticky mark at first, but a few months of weather and washing cures that.

[Wile7]

I thought Arnold Clarke was a golfer....what do I know.

[Ootohere]

Easy to remember there is no E in Arnold Clark.

 

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/34825-arnold-clark-inverness/page-2

Maybe read post #33 and think of this post any time you see an ARNOLD CLARK sticker on a car or think 

of going to get your car serviced at a ARNOLD CLARK Dealership or one of the other Dealerships owned by Sir Arnold.

[ScotsDave]

When 90% of the AC cars have squint number plates, that should tell you something about their "skills" and "quality control".

[bhoywonder]

When 90% of the AC cars have squint number plates, that should tell you something about their "skills" and "quality control".

 

Drives me mental - Millions spent designing/developing a car then some idiot at a dealership cant be bothered putting the number plate on straight.

[Ootohere]

Sir Arnold Clark has died. RIP

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-39554441 

Edited 10 April, 2017 by Awayoffski

[mac11irl]

Does that mean the yellow stickers are now worth more?

[Aspman]

12 hours ago, mac11irl said:

Does that mean the yellow stickers are now worth more?

 

That depends, what's your monthly budget

[WillM82]

My Octy was originally new from Arnold Clarks in Scotland, when I went to view it the sticker was still in place. The used dealer here peeled it off but it has left adhesive on the back window.

 

Is there a handy way of getting rid of this type of adhesive without damaging the window? (I don't want to scrape it off)

Edited 21 April, 2017 by WillM82

[Kenny R]

1 hour ago, WillM82 said:

My Octy was originally new from Arnold Clarks in Scotland, when I went to view it the sticker was still in place. The used dealer here peeled it off but it has left adhesive on the back window.

 

Is there a handy way of getting rid of this type of adhesive without damaging the window? (I don't want to scrape it off)

http://www.diy.com/departments/de-solv-it-sticky-stuff-adhesive-remover-bottle-250-ml/254704_BQ.prd

[KenONeill]

@WillM82 - As I said some way upthread, wash it regularly for a few months.

[WillM82]

She is well overdue a wash.

Unfortunately between our climate and the newborn I don't get a chance to shine her as often as I would like :(

 

I will likely try Kenny Rs suggestion from B+Q.

[Brian69]

On 4/8/2015 at 23:33, Sittingbull said:

We bought our Mk2 Vrs from Arnold Clark, almost a monopoly on car sales up here. Rally green with black roof and alloys, and a great big yellow Arnold Clark sticker right on bottom corner of rear window, you couldn't miss it and with the car colour scheme it looked awful. So I took it off while talking to the guy at handover to me.

 

I can also relate to squinty number plates, even though I have a squint myself. They had our car back in to change the plates over to put my wife's plate on, took the old ones off (they were on fine) and managed to put the new plates on at a slew. Worse was to follow when they sent me over the road (still in the complex they have at Linwood) into the Skoda garage to key in the second key. Rather stupidly as it turned out, I agreed to them giving the car a wash while they had it. On returning to collect the car we discovered a scratch of around 15 to 18 inches on bonnet. Car then ended up back in at them for the paint repair.

 

And that all ended happily. If you want a real horror story wait till you hear about the Golf my son bought from them. 

 

In fairness, I have to say that not all of the dealerships are bad, we have had some good experiences with them. It's probably the after sales that's the worst part, servicing included.

The AC VW dealership that used to be on Kilmarnock Rd. (it has since moved) was pretty decent - they were always fair with me - a few competent people who care about customers obviously slip through AC's recruitment programme now and again.

Edited 22 April, 2017 by Brian69

[KenONeill]

On 4/22/2017 at 20:02, Brian69 said:

The AC VW dealership that used to be on Kilmarnock Rd. (it has since moved) was pretty decent - they were always fair with me - a few competent people who care about customers obviously slip through AC's recruitment programme now and again.

I know what you mean; my Sis once booked a test drive in a Nissan Micra from her nearest branch (branded Nissan franchise), turned up and was told that they had no Micras available! Long story short she's had a Honda Jazz for the last 10 years, and my Mum has had one for the last 8.

Edited 24 April, 2017 by KenONeill
Addl info

[WillM82]

Got the last of the sticker adhesive off with the powerhose and sponge after giving it a good wash at the weekend.

 

As others have said, I really dislike dealer stickers.

They aren't paying me to advertise for them, if anything I'm paying them for the privilege of driving around with a car with their name on it!

 

Though on the other hand, it is nice sometimes to see a classic (or near-classic like early 90s Favorits/Felicias) car with an original dealer sticker.

 

Numberplate dealer tags are another thing, technically legally required, the used car dealer I bought mine from is part of a Hyundai dealer, so mine has a little tab at the bottom of the plates with a Hyundai dealer name on it.

No big deal, I will probably re-register it on a Northern Ireland numberplate at some point, and order a fancyplates.com set of plates  - standard font, possibly a small Skoda logo on the bottom (had previous in the past, and on my wife's car with a little SEAT logo, never had issues at MOT time).