Hi, I am collecting my car from Stratstone LR Newcastle on Saturday. It's 3 years old and coming from LR Cardiff. I've seen pics but not the car in person. I have been looking to get a mobile detailer to give the paint work a good going over prior to collection, unfortunately I can't find a one one at short notice. Does anyone know what sort of prep/polish the car will receive prior to collection? I appreciate it's not a new car but want it to look as good as possible. Many Thanks. Dan

in my experience, a powerwash / quick going over with a wash mitt and a cursory camois. You'll likely want to arrange a proper detail after collection, or invest in the products / kit yourself so you can continue to maintain the finish.

ref Stratstone, I had a miserable experience and will never darken their door again, although this was Cheltenham so fingers crossed Cardiff / Newcastle may be a different story.

Best of luck & enjoy!

Thanks. When I spoke to them they did say the car receives a hand polish but could not confirm if it would be to the standard of a professional detailer. I will get it booked in somewhere for the beginning of next week.

JCW wrote:

in my experience, a powerwash / quick going over with a wash mitt and a cursory camois. You'll likely want to arrange a proper detail after collection, or invest in the products / kit yourself so you can continue to maintain the finish.

ref Stratstone, I had a miserable experience and will never darken their door again, although this was Cheltenham so fingers crossed Cardiff / Newcastle may be a different story.

Best of luck & enjoy!

In 2014 I bought a 2010 Audi A8 from Stratstone Perth over the phone, sight unseen but was assured it was in perfect very low mileage condition and I have to admit that the photos were very impressive. It was delivered to my home not a local Stratstone, which at the time I thought very considerate but in hindsight was a big mistake.

The car had less than 20,000 miles on it and had been owned by a retired Surgeon, cosmetically it was perfect but after driving for a few miles I noticed a slight judder when putting my foot down. Anyway long story short, because it was parked up and not used by the Surgeon for a year or two the paper/fibre plates in the gearbox had broken down and basically disintegrated (I was told later it was a well known fault that Audi refused to acknowledge and therefore issue a recall) and a nice healthy estimate of over £5500 for a new gearbox was presented to me by Audi. I duly passed this onto Stratstone and they refunded the cars purchase price immediately.

So my advice is drive it extensively before actually paying for it, looks aren't everything in the grand scheme of things.. ______________________________
Simon
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Range Rover Classic 3.5 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 3.9 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE - Sadly gone
Land Rover 110 3.5 - Gone
Range Rover P38a 4.0 SE - Pleased it's gone
Range Rover P38a 2.5 DHSE - Just sold
Range Rover L322 4.4 v8 Petrol - Current

A Second to for Stourbridge on the incompetence, mind numbingly so. Sent me off with no tax disc, then when I returned for it and drove a 100 miles home I found that the tax disc referred to one car, the number plates to a different one still and the one on all my paperwork, which was the one I'd insured was a third different registration.

On the positive side Stratstone in Bury were good, so with luck they get better the farther North you go.

A different site, but I too didn't have a particularly good experience of Stratstone. I think a lot of it is down to the individual sales person. I dealt with two - my sales woman, who I thought was excellent and her boss who was an arxxhole and from whom I wouldn't have asked the time without getting a second opinion!

It's a real dilemma when you find what appears to be the right car, but it's miles away from you. I've actually bought my last 2 cars from distant dealers, but only after finding a way to make a trip to see it in the metal. I'm too nervous to buy at distance - all cars look pretty perfect in photographs and I've always found a dealer's view of a car's condition to be a little different to mine! I've been to see cars that needed quite a bit of work to bring them up to scratch - even though the dealers have told me that they're immaculate.

There's plenty of good cars out there though and fingers crossed that yours is a one of them. I hope its a cracker! 2014 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Corris Grey with Ebony/Cirrus
GONE - 2012 TdV8 Westminster Orkney/Ivory
GONE - 2012 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Luxury Orkney Grey/Ivory
GONE - 2006 3.0 Td6 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue/Parchment

Thanks for all the feedback

from my experiences - best of luck! you'll need it....

A third for Stourbridge Land Rover.

Just bought a used L405 from Stratstone Stourbridge. Told there was service history, so as everything is recorded on a database I asked a printout of the service history and I am still waiting to get this - the salesman is now ignoring / not returning my telephone calls. I think the old method of stamping a service book was better. Car delivered without the locking wheel nut key, still waiting for that also and hoping for no punctures, not sure what were going to do when we need new tyres!!! I would have expected that the presence of the wheel nut removal key to be part of the approved Land Rover multi check. Not happy, if I don't get a result soon there will be a phone call made to Land Rover UK. Just to update, Stourbridge Land Rover sorted everything out. Happy.

Last edited by b2dnd on 30th Jan 2018 3:53am. Edited 1 time in total

NEVER buy a car unseen!

Would you buy a house without viewing it? Would you buy a boat without a survey and sailing it? Would you buy a sofa without sitting on it?

Then why on earth would you buy a car without driving it and going over it with a fine tooth comb???

Jim

^ Lots of people do though Jim......

Bizarrely most people spend less time choosing a house than they do a holiday, and the sofa you sit on in the shop isn't the one you get delivered.

It's the same with cars I guess. You generally know what you're getting although personally I would always want to see and drive the car myself before parting with my cash. 2021 D350 Fifty Edition - Carpathian Grey
2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography (2021-2024) - Santorini Black
2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster (2016-2021) - Santorini Black

Rob - and there lies madness!

Why on earth would you spend tens of thousands of pounds on something that it secondhand and unseen.

The expression “A fool and his money are easily parted” springs to mind...........

Jim

I think that's a little harsh Jim. I've bought six full fats remotely. I speak with the sales manager and they always say that they will send a video. I tell them that they need to go and have a careful examination of the car as their eyes will see any imperfection that is missed by a video. I then go through in fine detail exactly what is wrong with the car and how it's going to be rectified (if needed) before purchase.

I have it committed to paper and I make it clear that I expect the car to be exactly as described. Just once was I very disappointed and I eventually rejected it after giving them an opportunity to put it right. 2016 SDV8 Autobiography
And several others previously.

I am forced to buy long distance as I can never get a deal locally. They are very stubborn.