Adam J

Lindop Toyota. Be aware, not all snakes

After recent shambolic dealing with Lindop Toyota Wrexham I feel obliged to write a review warning of my experience. Luckily, for my families sake I am a technician for BMW meaning I can freely use a vehicle hoist at any time plus giving me a keen eye and the ability to not be brushed off with any motor trade jargon. Lindop don’t like this. Due to my lengthy commute to work I downsized my family car to two smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles. A 2009 Aygo with only 38,000 miles and a 2016 Yaris both from the Wrexham branch’ used sales department. I’ll start with the Yaris as this car is actually safe to drive even if the brakes are squeaking like a dog toy each time I decide to stop the car. Despite only spending 3 short years on Earth, the paintwork on said car in direct light appears to have only ever been lovingly washed with actual sandpaper. I'm not entirely sure you could cause more damage if you replaced your wash sponge with a house brick. This issue was raised and Lindop agreed to have the vehicle valeted “professionally”. I personally find that using approximately 8 litres of polish is not very professional at all. Especially as most of that ended up in the door shuts, panel gaps and smeared into various trims around the bodywork. Although, that’s “all” they can do. I probably could have managed this myself, Lindop. Moving onto my low mileage, no expense spared, fully serviced Toyota Aygo. All Seemed ok, a touch pricey at £4000 but its low miles and looked after, surely? No. I’m not sure what kind of approved used check is carried out by this particular retailer but it’s absolutely flawed and I now truly fear for any car which comes out of their workshop. From day one (of which it failed its mot for the brakes not working as they were leaking fluid and wishbone bushes - fantastic start!) Upon inspecting the 100% Toyota approved vehicle after its handed over I find a multitude of faults, most of which even an apprentice technician should be capable of finding when presented with a check sheet to follow. These include the following; a dangerously fitted and insecure right front shock absorber, four coil springs which to any untrained eye may seem to have spent their life alongside the titanic, a leaking water pump, a badly perished Auxillary drive belt, a snapped/ insecure exhaust mount, one tyre which is not only badly perished but also houses an old rusty nail for extra Lindop danger points, a battery which is improperly fitted, front brakes which are obviously well past their service life, brand new none genuine wishbones, a broken Aerial, a poorly fitted front bumper, a failing clutch, an array of broken plastic trim in the engine bay and a suspension mount which is also past its service life and for added amusement a steering wheel which pointed in no way the same direction of travel. Some of these faults are listed on previous health checks as requiring immediate attention, but it was still inspected and sold to me as 100% Toyota approved, I think not. Quite a list for a “checked” car, I thought? Sales manager Frazer who by now feels flush with his sale is uninterested, he’s Adamant he isn’t paying for the repair after several meetings. His ego is nearly as big as his high horse it would seem. His shear disrespect for paying customers is diabolical and totally unacceptable, he left me sat in a waiting room for 3 hours because “he thought I’d come to him’. I had to raise this issue to the dealer principle Glyn who admitted Frazer is wrong and he has been childish. I have also attended the retailer for arranged meetings regarding issues only to find no one is actually in to have the meeting with me? The vehicle was then inspected by the “master” technician who admitted several faults but proceeded to ensure me there was no fault with some of the parts. The repair was agreed to use none genuine parts as long as they are of reputable brands of my choice, I appreciated this and accepted willingly. I enjoyed almost one whole week of blissfully trouble free motoring before finding both rear lamps so full of water that sea world would consider them to be mobile Toyota sponsored rock pools. According to master technician Dave, this is normal because the lamps are not a sealed unit. I’m aware they’re not sealed because they’re full of water. So I’m told I need to live with this problem. No other Aygo has this issue but it’s normal for mine according to trusty Lindop. More recently, my problems extend to the door seals allowing rain water to pool in the footwells meaning the car then has more condensation inside than a cheap kebab shop window on a busy Saturday night. Literally every item inside the car is now moist. The seals were replaced after 3 visits to the dealership as they had to “decide” if the parts were warrantable. The swimming pool-like amount of water inside the car then started to cause odour issues similar to that of a supermarket fish counter, Lindop performed an air con regas this simple 20 minute task only took Lindop a full day and over night stay to perform. At this point (it had no effect at all) I decided to inspect the cabin filter myself. To my horror this “recently fully serviced” car had not received a simple cabin filter which costs around £4 and takes maybe 20 seconds to replace (no expense spared, 100% approved, remember) This was rectified immediately at my next visit and service hastily wanted to remove the part from my Hands as I compared mine to a service explanation chart in the Lindop reception for comparison, this is just cheap and shoddy, not to mention a down right lie. This now begs the question, has the car actually been serviced or is it running on borrowed time, Who knows? Next, the water pump starts leaking badly using coolant rapidly (as i already pointed out and Lindops most highly trained master technician stated was fine and not a problem) and not to mention the radio which occasionally works - not covered by warranty, however. My most recent problem is by far the most serious and worrying. The car abruptly develops a horrendous knocking from the front suspension (the recently repaired front suspension) the noise is the top suspension nut sheared clean off obviously due to being massively over tightened by the “master” technicians impact gun. Luckily I was on my own and in a suitable place to stop, all be it at 4am in the freezing cold and darkness. Director Glyn seems to think this is all ok because I have “1 years breakdown cover” I have made him very aware I no longer feel safe doing 100 miles per day, at night traveling to and from my job not to mention my friends and family who also use this car as I no longer trust this car or want Lindop to carry out repairs as they are obviously very careless in their sales and repair techniques. The amount of recent work carried out has thrown massive doubt of quality into my mind and makes me very anxious to even use the car. They now say they will pay £2500 trade value of the buy back cost, leaving me to pay £1900 to get out of a car I’ve owned for 8 weeks and it’s been back to Lindop with faults just as many times, not an option when I have a young family. Glyn says “we’re a business, we have to make money” Both true and understandable. You’re meant to sell quality products on behalf of Toyota, not used cars probably bought from an auction and immediately put on the forecourt. This is all not to mention that I’ve been obviously paying to fuel, tax and insure my own car as well as using the courtesy car on each visit. Literally doubling my monthly fuel bill. The car is simply not fit for purpose whatsoever. It and the work carried out are dangerous. Absolutely disgusting attitudes, careless nature of business and rude staff. Quite clearly taking the working public’s money and running from problems. Toyota UK and trading standards will shortly be notified with photographic evidence of all faults. Lindop Toyota. A disgrace to the brand.