Orchardbike
Well-known member
I know there has been a. Few mentions of the above company in various posts, but I thought I’d create a specific post, due to the issues I’ve encountered.
Firstly, they are not members the Motor Ombudsman, so if you have issues with them, post purchase, there’s no mediator, you’ll have to do it yourself.
I bought my Emira from them on the 13th December. During the phone discussions regarding the car, they were very pro-active, ringing me regularly and I eventually put a deposit on a 2023 V6, manual with less than 500 miles on the clock. It was described by the sales director (Tom) as “effectively new”. The advert and the conversations during discussions stated the car as “beautiful” and “immaculate”.
When I got to the garage (over 130 miles away), the car was shown to me, in a relatively dark garage, and all the time, they describes the car as effectively new and immaculate. However, even in the relatively dark garage I could see that both the doors had bubbling paint. I knew this was an issue and can be sorted under warranty, but I said that it should have been stated to me, either in the advert, or over the phone, before I drove a 260 mile+ to see the car. As everything else looked OK, from what I could see, and as it had done less than 500 miles and was “effectively new”, I decided to purchase.
At that point, they made it clear that the car only had one key (and one tracker fob, more on that later). I stated that I wasn’t happy with that but they stated that they are ‘only’ £200-£300 pound. I think at that point, I should have walked away, but the car was so low mileage and the colour combination I wanted, that after much thinking I agreed to purchase especially when they said (after 25 minutes of wrangling) that they’d knock the £300 key cost off the car price.
So I bought the car. On the drive home, it became clear that there was a noise from the engine that didn’t sound ‘right’. It was dark when I got home, so I parked the car. The next day, I washed it. It then became obvious that the car had issues (over and above the door paint bubbling). 1. Damaged clear coat on the bonnet. 2. Damage to the grey plastic tailgate liner in 3 places. 3. A faulty door mirror motor. 4. A ‘suspect’ battery.
On the Monday, I tried to buy another car key. It turns out the fob only is circa £300, but that doesn’t include the ‘blade’ key. The total cost is actually £700 plus VAT. Then I tried to sort out the tracker. It turns out that this has never been activated and wasn’t registered to the car. I’d need a lot of documents to get it sorted (some I didn’t have at the time) and pay £155 to activate it and another £40 for a second fob. There’s no point in having a second key, if you haven’t got a second fob, as if you use the key without a tracker fob, the car will show up as stolen.
I noticed that the dash was stating ‘low battery’, so I put the car on charge for the day and overnight. I disconnected it on the Tuesday morning and by Wednesday morning, the dash again said ‘low battery’. Clearly something is wrong. Being that it had only done 500 miles, then I suspect that the battery has been flat for long periods of time and this therefore damaged (it could be other issues of course).
So on Wednesday, I decided to take it to the local Lotus dealer to have them listen to the engine noise and see if they thought it was an issue. Within 10 miles of home, the noise was getting much worse, so I decided to turn around (home was still closer than the dealer). Within a few miles the car became un-driveable. It wouldn’t change gear and the noise was horrendous. The AA was called and they stated that the clutch had “exploded” (their words). They put it on the back of the truck and took it to the lotus dealer.
I tried to contact Auto100, by phone and email, with little success until Friday. The sales director (he who said the car was effectively new), emailed me and said it’s not their issue as the car is under warranty, so I needed to get it sorted. With regards to the costs to sort out the non-warranty items (estimated at £1400 plus the cost of a completely new tailgate liner), he said he’d pay an invoice for a new battery only, so long as it was “a reasonable price”). I have responded and advised that this is not acceptable and they are no longer replying.
The Consumer Rights Act (2015), states that a car bought from a dealer, should be of ‘satisfactory quality’, ‘fit for purpose’ and ‘as described’. A failure on any of these conditions entitles the buyer to a full refund within 30 days of purchase (I’ve had the car 10 days). The car isn’t of satisfactory quality, it isn’t fit for purpose and it wasn’t as described, so it fails on all three counts. The act also states that my contract is with the dealer and not with the manufacturer and therefore any warranty issues are up to the dealer to fix, not the purchaser. So I’ve had my ‘effectively new’ car for 10 days, driven it twice and the Lotus garage think they’ll need 4 -6 weeks to sort out all the warranty issues.
Auto100 have stopped communicating even though they’ve been advised of the consumer rights act and that they are legally required to refund the full cost of my car. I now have to go to court to force them to comply with the consumer act.
Yes, I know I should have walked away at the start, but, as stated, it was the colour combination I wanted at a very low mileage etc. (not to mention that at that point I’d driven two and half hours to get there).
The only reason for my post is so that anyone else looking at dealing with Auto100 know how they operate and go into a]discussions with their eyes open. If the car you buy is a good one, then you’ll probably be fine, but if things go wrong, don’t expect them to help, be sympathetic or even to return your call!
Firstly, they are not members the Motor Ombudsman, so if you have issues with them, post purchase, there’s no mediator, you’ll have to do it yourself.
I bought my Emira from them on the 13th December. During the phone discussions regarding the car, they were very pro-active, ringing me regularly and I eventually put a deposit on a 2023 V6, manual with less than 500 miles on the clock. It was described by the sales director (Tom) as “effectively new”. The advert and the conversations during discussions stated the car as “beautiful” and “immaculate”.
When I got to the garage (over 130 miles away), the car was shown to me, in a relatively dark garage, and all the time, they describes the car as effectively new and immaculate. However, even in the relatively dark garage I could see that both the doors had bubbling paint. I knew this was an issue and can be sorted under warranty, but I said that it should have been stated to me, either in the advert, or over the phone, before I drove a 260 mile+ to see the car. As everything else looked OK, from what I could see, and as it had done less than 500 miles and was “effectively new”, I decided to purchase.
At that point, they made it clear that the car only had one key (and one tracker fob, more on that later). I stated that I wasn’t happy with that but they stated that they are ‘only’ £200-£300 pound. I think at that point, I should have walked away, but the car was so low mileage and the colour combination I wanted, that after much thinking I agreed to purchase especially when they said (after 25 minutes of wrangling) that they’d knock the £300 key cost off the car price.
So I bought the car. On the drive home, it became clear that there was a noise from the engine that didn’t sound ‘right’. It was dark when I got home, so I parked the car. The next day, I washed it. It then became obvious that the car had issues (over and above the door paint bubbling). 1. Damaged clear coat on the bonnet. 2. Damage to the grey plastic tailgate liner in 3 places. 3. A faulty door mirror motor. 4. A ‘suspect’ battery.
On the Monday, I tried to buy another car key. It turns out the fob only is circa £300, but that doesn’t include the ‘blade’ key. The total cost is actually £700 plus VAT. Then I tried to sort out the tracker. It turns out that this has never been activated and wasn’t registered to the car. I’d need a lot of documents to get it sorted (some I didn’t have at the time) and pay £155 to activate it and another £40 for a second fob. There’s no point in having a second key, if you haven’t got a second fob, as if you use the key without a tracker fob, the car will show up as stolen.
I noticed that the dash was stating ‘low battery’, so I put the car on charge for the day and overnight. I disconnected it on the Tuesday morning and by Wednesday morning, the dash again said ‘low battery’. Clearly something is wrong. Being that it had only done 500 miles, then I suspect that the battery has been flat for long periods of time and this therefore damaged (it could be other issues of course).
So on Wednesday, I decided to take it to the local Lotus dealer to have them listen to the engine noise and see if they thought it was an issue. Within 10 miles of home, the noise was getting much worse, so I decided to turn around (home was still closer than the dealer). Within a few miles the car became un-driveable. It wouldn’t change gear and the noise was horrendous. The AA was called and they stated that the clutch had “exploded” (their words). They put it on the back of the truck and took it to the lotus dealer.
I tried to contact Auto100, by phone and email, with little success until Friday. The sales director (he who said the car was effectively new), emailed me and said it’s not their issue as the car is under warranty, so I needed to get it sorted. With regards to the costs to sort out the non-warranty items (estimated at £1400 plus the cost of a completely new tailgate liner), he said he’d pay an invoice for a new battery only, so long as it was “a reasonable price”). I have responded and advised that this is not acceptable and they are no longer replying.
The Consumer Rights Act (2015), states that a car bought from a dealer, should be of ‘satisfactory quality’, ‘fit for purpose’ and ‘as described’. A failure on any of these conditions entitles the buyer to a full refund within 30 days of purchase (I’ve had the car 10 days). The car isn’t of satisfactory quality, it isn’t fit for purpose and it wasn’t as described, so it fails on all three counts. The act also states that my contract is with the dealer and not with the manufacturer and therefore any warranty issues are up to the dealer to fix, not the purchaser. So I’ve had my ‘effectively new’ car for 10 days, driven it twice and the Lotus garage think they’ll need 4 -6 weeks to sort out all the warranty issues.
Auto100 have stopped communicating even though they’ve been advised of the consumer rights act and that they are legally required to refund the full cost of my car. I now have to go to court to force them to comply with the consumer act.
Yes, I know I should have walked away at the start, but, as stated, it was the colour combination I wanted at a very low mileage etc. (not to mention that at that point I’d driven two and half hours to get there).
The only reason for my post is so that anyone else looking at dealing with Auto100 know how they operate and go into a]discussions with their eyes open. If the car you buy is a good one, then you’ll probably be fine, but if things go wrong, don’t expect them to help, be sympathetic or even to return your call!
