Best (and worst) VW dealers

[Tailpipe]

Very interesting to hear everyone's experiences with different dealers when you've bought a Golf GTI. I'd love to hear which particular garages do the best job, even names of particular salesmen.

I live in Central London and have to say I haven't been exactly overwhelmed by the dealer I've come across: Dovercourt Battersea. Their salesman still hasn't responded to an email sent 10 days ago.

Hope this thread can become "sticky" because it should help everyone.

[VWKev]

I think thats a very difficult question to answer. If I go to a dealer and have a good experience then thats service I expect, for me thats not a good dealer. If I find a problem, and they have a good attitude, nothing is too much trouble, get it fixed for me with as little hassle as possible thats what makes a good dealer. So for me, I'd need to wait till I had a 'problem' before I could recommend anyone.

[percymon]

I called my local dealer and arranged a test drive before my visit, so they knew i had a purpose there.  The same dealership 10 years ago when i had a 10 month old mint Audi80 and the new A4 was released didn't get out of their chairs in 30 minutes of me perusing the car, i left disgruntled !

Same dealership last week when my parents called in about a MkVI Golf Estate - 30 minutes before anyone asked whether they needed assistance, no cars to show them but a demonstrator will be available at Christmas !


Some dealers appear to be very abrupt wth their answers to enquiries too - i guess if they have sold their quotas they can afford to be, but when full volume returns theyll need to be a bit more proactive and courteous.

Its not just VW, though - one Skoda salesman i spoke to responded almost like he wanted to punch me when i asked for a discount !  No wonder the car industry is strugglling if this is how they treat customers looking for a quick cash buy.

[FamilyDub]

See thread section 'Good Guys'.

Also, get friendly with an independent garage who in my experience - around Glasgow, in any case - seem to know more than their franchised counterparts and charge less for the privilege.

[gossa]

In my experience, they are mostly sh!te. My local dealer is Breeze in Poole and I tried hard to buy my Scirocco and GTI there but they weren't really that interested so I spent my £45K elsewhere.

I bought the GTO from Loders in Dorchester and they were pretty good, defo best i've dealt with but they could all try a lot harder!