Has Vantage Toyota changed ownership?

[Perfection]

I always uses this dealership to service all my Toyotas. However, today I just feel that the company's business operations style has changed from good to poor. 

They seems to have overbooked for car service. Spent 20 minutes waiting just to drop the key at the service desk for the car to be serviced  and to collect at 14.30.

The car was not ready until 15:30 which meant I was late to get the children from school.

When I got home I checked all the paperwork (which I have specified when booking the service) and clearly the service sheet which checks the condition of the tyres and brakes are missing and I assume they have not performed the inspection.

I was hoping that they have done that so when I take the car for mot next week I know the status of the tyres and brakes.

When I checked the service book, the style of the service stamp has changed from last year. So it's highly likely that it's a new ownership has taken over. What a shame.. 

Anyone else experienced similar poor service at Vantage recently? 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

I don't use the Birmingham dealership after two poor test drive experiences when it was Toyota World (Sytner Group), preferring to use Inchcape Burton for sales and servicing of my last four Toyotas, despite the fact Vantage are around 5 miles away and Inchcape 20.

Nothing I've seen suggests any change in ownership - in fact last year they bought Toyota and Lexus dealerships from Charles Clark.

[Perfection]

...Frostyballs, I did use Inchape before in Burton, I wasn't impressed. They have not even bother to put the engine cover back on after they serviced it. They also have put wrong oil for my car with dpf. 

I then used Inchape in Derby, that then even worse.... they put any oil they could put their hands on into the gearbox. Immediately causing gear change problem then just lies after lies. I had to replace the oil by another garage in the end to fix the oil problem. 

I used to use Bromsgrove Toyota and they are really good. I find their Mechanics are really trustworthy..

I may need to go back and use them again despite the distance.

[FROSTYBALLS]

I haven't had any issues with Inchcape. Always used the oil I specified for the last three cars (0W-20), happy for me to tailor service plans to my requirements, and no problem with servicing.

Won't consider going back to the Birmingham dealership for either sales, service or parts.

Personal choice.

[Perfection]

I also used to use their Tamworth branch 3 years ago and I didn't have any problem. They were honest....the reason? I asked them to change the gearbox oil and they said they haven't got the right one in stock so did not carried out the work. Which was fine, so I took it to Inchape Derby that's when the problem started, Inchape put any oil they could get hold off. Madness!!

 

 

[Mooly]

I've mixed thoughts on Vantage (Lancashire) having used them from the outset. They got too big and impersonal imo, and my local Vantage then also became a multi-franchise. Experiences of service have varied over the years although I was less than impressed when my own car was returned some years back with a lot of scuff marks around the front bumper corner. I suspect that was caused by dragging a gritty and wet hose around the front in the car park. Air bag recall work on our Corolla left the air bag warning light permanently on. How could they sign the work off and not check the system had been reset? Once around the car park and then immediately back to have it put right.

The 'which oil did you use' question always left me wondering. On the one hand I was told (on more than one occasion) that only 0-20 was ever to be used and yet paper work often had 5-30 written on it. So I never really knew for sure what went in there. Last time a total computer failure left them unable to do any service work or MOT's and that meant my car hadn't even had work started until around 2pm, despite being there for a first booking at 8:30am. Have to say they were very good over that and ran me home (which was around 35 miles round trip).

For the first time this year (well last year actually if you count our ancient Corolla) I used a local independent (Bosch Service Centre) and couldn't be more pleased. Rang up on a Monday and they offered to do the service and MOT next day. Even more unexpected was the free offer of a loan car... a new Kia Picanto. Having discussed 'oil issues' and bearing in mind the car is now 9yrs old and with 60k I said I would be happy to try (my preference) switching for  certain to 5-30. Castrol Magnetec was used and so far its running better than ever. I'm not sure whether mpg has suffered noticeably, my first reaction was 'maybe' a percentage point or so but with slightly warmer conditions the trip computer is back to around 52mpg. It was around 4 weeks ago this service was done and so it will be interesting to see. 

   

 

[Perfection]

Molly, when you say Multi Franchise... What do you mean? Is the Vantage starts to franchise out the Vantage name? Like McDonald's?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Multi-franchise usually means more than one vehicle marque sold from the same site by the same dealer group. For example, Colliers in Erdington, before they sold the site to Sainsburys for redevelopment, had Honda, Peugeot/Citroen, Mazda, and Land Rover franchises on the one site.

[Mooly]

1 hour ago, Perfection said:

Molly, when you say Multi Franchise... What do you mean? Is the Vantage starts to franchise out the Vantage name? Like McDonald's?

As Frosty says, more than one marque. In this case its Hyundai. 

[Perfection]

Thanks that is very clear explanation.