Andy

Bad experience

I bought a 2015 plate Ford Fiesta from Scott Robertson from here middle of February. I went through on 14 Feb to pick it up all the way from Fife. My partner left in her car and left me to drive my new car home but within half an hour of driving home, I felt the car wasn’t right at all and I noticed that the engine management light was on. I stopped and phoned Scott and he told be to bring it back so they could look at it. I then spent the best part of 4hrs sitting in their repair and servicing department. They eventually said they would need more time to look at it as they couldn’t diagnose the problem. I was given a courtesy car to drive home in, getting home late evening. I got the car back on 20 February and they said it was repaired (something to do with one of the valves). Anyway, between going on holiday then having to isolate for 14 days, I hardly drove the car for about 5 weeks after getting it back. Then one day in late March the engine management light came on again and the car seemed to be struggling. By this time the Arnold Clark branches had closed due to COVID-19 but I was happy to see there was a customer service number I could call. I called the number but was told that there’s nothing that could be done till the branches re-opened. I was worried that I was going to damage the car by driving it so I took it to a professional mechanic to have it checked. He diagnosed the problem within half an hour (bearing in mind EaSt Kilbride motor store had it for 4.5 days before supposedly fixing it). He said that he did a compression test on the cylinders and one of them was basically knackered. He estimates £500-600 to repair as it’s a complex job. I am unwilling to pay this as this should be covered under my warranty. He also warned me about driving the car as I could end up damaging the catalytic converter. So here I am with my car having been off the road for weeks now, not knowing when I am going to get the car repaired. All in all, a pretty horrible experience and I would strongly advise to be very wary of buying a car from here. I understand that the branch closures could not be helped but my issue is that they sold me a faulty car and failed to carry out proper tests and repairs which to me appears to have been an already existing problem which they may well have known about. I won’t be buying another car from East Kilbride Motor Store.