Agreed to buy a car. Before collecting, they told me it needed to get a repair. Arnold Clark

onewaysteps

I'm wondering if someone would be able to give me their thoughts on this situation.

I bought a car from Arnold Clark. Drove it for an hour and realised it wasn't for me. The seats were very uncomfortable. I let Arnold Clark know. Informed them I would like to purchase the GT version as it has better seats. They said the seats were the same in the GT but they aren't. Sourced a GT they had in another branch. Also sent them information on the seats being better in the GT which I have owned in the past also. The price they are giving me for the car I just bought is £2,000 less. The GT was ordered and moved to their branch. On the day of collection, after driving 1 and a half hours towards them, they called me to said the cars display had an issue and it needed to go in for repair. 3 hours driving in a car I am uncomfortable in. I told them these things should have been checked. They told me it was ok the day it arrived.

I haven't seen the GT, and I haven't complete all the online forms required. I emailed their complaint department and got a call from a horrible women. Have asked for the call to be pulled on that one. I thought buying a new car would be a nice experience. Should I cancel down this mess and ask for my deposit that was taken to move the vehicle to them? Buying a car for over £30,000 and there is already an issue with it. This is the worse experience I have had with Arnold Clark.

Aylesbury_Duck

Are you already £2000 down?  Do you mean that they bought the car back from you after one hour's use for £2000 less than you paid? And you're spending over £30k on another car you haven't seen, let alone driven?

Sometimes small things go wrong.  If you still want the car, it seems silly to reject it in a fit of pique for something they're going to fix.

Arunmor

onewaysteps said:

. I thought buying a new car would be a nice experience.

So you bought a brand new car and are only down £2k?  That's a bit of a win.

You have given no indication of the fault on the GT?

onewaysteps

Aylesbury_Duck thank you for taking the time to reply. £2000 down after 1 hour. Just seems a lot. Especially when I'm buying a more expensive car from them. Buying a car at the price I'm paying I would expect there to be no issues. It's done 1,000 miles. Is this the sign of things to come?

onewaysteps

Arunmor thank you for replying. Fault was with the dash display. So if that goes then you have no idea what speed you're doing. 'Sorry officer I didn't realise I was going 400mph, my dash is playing up'

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP did you buy the first car at a distance (online, over the phone, etc) or in person at the dealership please? 

I assume when you say new car you mean new to you and it was second hand? 

onewaysteps

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head email discussion. The sale isn't complete yet. Car unseen. Only pictures.

onewaysteps

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head sorry I misread. First car was at their branch.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

onewaysteps said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head sorry I misread. First car was at their branch.

So typically with an in person purchase like this there isn't a right to change your mind, I assume the dealership were happy to offer this cancellation on the prospect of you buying the other car?

Exact issue is a bit unclear so just to clarify you have two issues

1) The £2k deduction on the first car
2) The second car (the GT) has a dash fault 

If this is correct and you like the GT I'd let them repair and then when in person to collect it negotiate on the £2k, deduction, even if they won't reduce the cash value of the deduction for car 1 perhaps you can squeeze a dash cam or something similar worth a few hundred quid out of them. 

If you don't purchase the GT they should refund your deposit (as they admit a fault is present), the £2k deduction on car 1 is tricky, unless they have some kind of voluntary return policy but that doesn't sound like a thing a car dealer would have (of course I may be wrong on that). 

onewaysteps

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head that's exactly it. Thank you. Just needed it to be clear in my head. Appreciate you taking the time to detail it like that. Thank you so much. 

dumpster_fire2025

onewaysteps said:

Aylesbury_Duck thank you for taking the time to reply. £2000 down after 1 hour. Just seems a lot. Especially when I'm buying a more expensive car from them. Buying a car at the price I'm paying I would expect there to be no issues. It's done 1,000 miles. Is this the sign of things to come?

I watch a few car dealer YouTube channels. The stock they get in for p/x or from auction rarely comes in with no issues whatsoever, there's always at least something they're going to replace or repair.

I suspect almost any second hand car (and even some new ones) is going to have had an issue at some point that has been rectified. 

Google the problem. See if it's a known issue and if it is easily fixed. If it is, happy days, you got it fixed before it went wrong when you owned it and you had to foot the bill. If it is something that people are saying their cars keep going in for a fix for, it works for a bit and breaks again, it's probably best to walk away.