Southport Automart

We went to view a few cars and had a warm and friendly welcome from Louise, there was no pushy sales and we were just left with the keys to view the cars by ourselves, we made our choice and was shown around the car just confirming a few details, 2 minutes later we were on a test drive, a lovely relaxed approach to what is a huge outlay for us!
Decision made we asked for a couple of things to be done before pick up,
The process was smooth, friendly and professional and the car immaculate.
Job done ...Louise was a pleasure to deal with and we are made up we came to Southport Automart.

Purchased a Black BMW 440i Gran Coupe FL67 VZM. It was around £1500 cheaper than all other 440i’s available at the time with a similar specification. That probably tells a story.

I quickly checked the car over and had my rose-tinted glasses on due to the excitement of a new car, I guess. When I got the car home, I was looking over it and started noticing some defects around the front end, particularly the passenger side where top of the bumper meets the bonnet. There was an odd defect in the front bumper which showed a horrible gap.

I removed the weather shield, noticed the front cross member/slam panel was not uniform and had a bent/crumpled section. This further raised my concerns and suspicions regarding the car being in an accident and poorly repaired/not recorded.

There were other defects which I didn’t pick up on such as the bonnet was sitting slightly higher on the passenger side nearest to the windscreen compared to the driver’s side. There was another small indentation in the front bumper to the left of the BMW logo, only visible in certain angles/lighting conditions. The driver’s side front panel had been moved/adjusted as one bolt showed a different colour underneath compared to the rest.

That was enough and my mind was set, I was contacting these cowboys and telling them the car is being returned for a refund under Consumer Rights Act 2015.

I contacted them by phone on Monday to inform them of my issue. I spoke to Rachel on the Honda service desk on numerous occasions who helpful to a point.

I informed her I will book annual leave on Thursday/Friday to return the car and gave her my reasons. She told me I didn't need to explain myself and if I am not happy. I am entitled to bring the car back as I've paid a lot of money and am within my rights.

On Friday, the manager of the site Stephen Donoghue came into the Automart office and asked for the keys and asked me what the issue was as he had looked at the car and thinks he knows what I am referring too.

Mr Donoghue then said it was an easy fix and this is something that he could get done. I said at the time I appreciate that but that would not be happening as I would not have purchased the car if I had known it had some form of damage. I made him aware I was rejecting the car as it was not of satisfactory quality and I have reasonable expectation that a car of this age, sold by a qualified car dealer should be straight and true and not subject to shoddy repairs.

Mr Donoghue obviously thought I was some sort of idiot and told me I must allow him by law to fix the car within 30 days and only then can I reject it. I have no idea why he told me this because he seemed to of missed the first part of the Consumer Rights Act.

Mr Donoghue must have then thought it would be a good idea to tell me no managers are on site who can authorise refunds and they are all on holiday. They return on Tuesday, and only then can he attempt to resolve my issue, but he was not promising anything.
At this point, I simply handed the keys over along with all documents and told him I am returning the car, I have the right to reject it and I am doing just that.

I then left site and when I returned home sent an email to Stephen Donoghue asking why he told me various things which were not true regarding the Consumer Rights Act. Questioned why I was told by Rachel to come on Friday when Sales managers were on site who can authorise refunds. I ended the email stating I expect a swift resolution and expect this to be resolved by Monday AM.

Guess what happened, Mr Donoghue emailed on Monday morning with a 4 line response which said he had spoken to his boss and if I forward my account details they will process the refund. I thought big bosses were on holiday till Tuesday yet he was able to email me on Monday morning 8.44AM telling me he had spoken to them? What a load of nonsense.

I also noticed the car is back for sale on their website “having just come in” with an extra £1000 on top. Just a shame the defect still visible.

Cowboys. Stay away and go elsewhere!

I bought BMW X3 HW15BWM Buying the car from this garage was ok, not the best experience to be honest. The sales video said that all stone chips etc would be dealt with, as my car was delivered dirty due to the drive and weather conditions I didn’t see the paint work clearly until I washed it fully, loads of stone chips was still there and there had been no attempt to deal with. The after sales from this garage has been zero, they had my money and that was it I have heard nothing since, not even to see if all was ok. To be honest as I am writing this review I realise how poor the after sale service was. The wheels were all scuffed, the interior door handle needed changing. The sales persons said the vehicle was in exceptional condition, in fact it was in ok condition for the age not exceptional, if I had of not bought it on-line I don’t think I would have bought it. But the after sales has been very poor, disappointing, not to even be rang to see if I was happy is astonishing to be honest. My advise is to not buy on-line with this company, go there as the video paints a different picture.

My wife has just bought a car off Michael, and it was a fantastic process through out, he was very helpful and just made the whole experience all the better.

Please be aware of this dealership, they were so helpful until we signed everything 😔 now turning out to be complete cowboys. The salesman offered to deliver the car to us, unseen but assured the car was in great condition. We received our vehicle yesterday (27.05.21) and it has arrived an absolute mess. All 4 alloys wrecked (was previously told aged related marks but nothing to this extent), arrived with a cracked front bumper, paint peeling off the car and also the car was MOT’d on the 26.05.21 and they never noticed there was a wheel nut missing, which is an automatic MOT failure! Very dangerous sending a vehicle to a customer with out the proper checks they claim they do. Have since been in contact with the garage and have been told they will not be covering all the costs of the defects the car has arrived with. Not what you expect when you purchase a £19,000 car. We are contacting citizens advise to see what we can do.

COWBOYS, please do not make the same mistake as I, and buy a car from this dealership.The individuals I have dealt with are named Adam Duquemin and Tom Flynn. I bought a mercedes CLA worth circa £15,50, I have now had the car for 6 days, after day 3 parts had already begun to fall off the vehicle. The garage has misrepresented the quality and standard of the car and I later found out from mercedes the car had been modified and had after market and not genuine wheels on. This also voided my insurance as I was under the impression they were the genuine manufacture wheels. Since approaching the garage, they have been nothing but unhelpful and refuse to accept liability for missing selling the quality of the car and its parts and also bodge jobbing the parts - some of which have been wrapped in PTSE tape - to temporarily fix the finite part. Disgusting, I have since raised a complaint with the affiliated company 'The motor Obudsmans' and My finance partner MotoNova Finance, I'm not seeking legal advice as only after 5 days the dealership is denying me on my consumer rights.

Purchased my bmw 1 series from automart, faultless car and brilliant service from Mike! Will be back in future

Just bought a car off Mike, pleasant experience from enquiring to picking the car up, highly recommended thanks Mike