Barrie

Anyone any experience of their work - good or bad?

Comments appreciated.........

caz1562

Barrie,

As SIDC rep for Stirlingshire, I've been in and made contact with the ex-Subaru dealer from Stirling, Fraser Anderson, who is helping Drive establish their francise over the next few months. I have asked what line of discount they will be able to offer for service & parts to SIDC members. I've also asked to see what assistance their sales & technical people will be willing to give us in the future. More info will hopefully become available soon. Their new workshops & showroom should be built by 1Q 2003.

Amanda-Jane

I've been over to have a look and discovered that the salesman is a friend of Grant Swans!

Although their cars were rather pricey

Amanda

ScottishMenace

Would be great to have a dealer 2 miles from my house but I am not conviced yet. From what I know the Scoobs are serviced alongside the rovers in Morrisons. Think it will be different when they are fully up and running. I go up there quite a bit now as the forecourt stocks that lovely juice they call Optimax hmm

caz1562

Dave, you are spot on, they do use the Rover workshop at present but when the new building is up 1Q 2003 then they will be seperate. I do know that they have Subaru qualified mechanic's so surely this has to be a good thing !!!!!

Barrie

Thanks for the feedback - wasnt aware they were building a new workshop.

Car goes in tommorrow for Service so will let you know how it goes

cheers

ozzy

Phoned them today looking for an ISO connector for my car and Fraser Anderson answered the phone. Used to deal with them in Stirling and had no problems, so maybe that's a good sign.

I'll need a lot of convincing though. I like the family-run feeling of Fraser Anderson and S&S, but when I had a look around Drive I didn't get that feeling at all. Only spoke to the one of the sales guys and he just had 'Cliché' written all over him.

Stefan

caz1562

Stefan,

Fraser is only there on a consultancy basis, once the dealership is established he will no longer be involved. This is a shame, but we have to give this dealer time to settle.

Amanda-Jane

at least the salesman spoke to me there! When I was in Falkirk I spoke to the salesman for a while and he did seem fairly knowledgable although their stock was a little on the expensive side!

I was in Eaglesham a while ago and had this guy come up to me in his wellies and just said "hi there" and then walked away!

Amanda

caz1562

Lol @ the wellies

Amanda-Jane

It was an old guy with his blue overalls on and his wellies! It was so funny! You really have to go to Eaglesham to see what I am talking about!

Amanda

ozzy

Sure it wasn't a farm you drove into

Don't you know they all wear wellies around that area 'specially East Kilbride; strange lot there

Stefan

caz1562

Latest - Drive will be reconstructing their dealership very soon. The Subaru showroom will be replacing the Nissan showroom at the Shell end of the building. The existing workshop (in the middle at present)is being converted into the Nissan showroom. At the rear of the building a new "All-In-One" workshop is being built to house all 3 manufacturer's, Rover, Subaru & Nissan.

As for the technical side of things, they currently employee 2 dedicated Subaru fully trained technician's. One of whom has been on the STi approved training course. Do not be too concerned at leaving your pride & joy with the mechanic for it to be driven by the "geek" 17 yr old boy racer. Company policy only allow the experienced mechanic/driver to ever roadtest your Impreza.

I've a meeting early next week to attempt to arrange discount for SIDC members and see what open days they could also help with. They also recognise the lack of Subaru support in this area and are willing to offer quality service at very competitive prices compared to T&C Perth etc.

I hope this helps build up your confidence in this new dealership (remember it takes time to build up a trustworthy name)

WATCH THIS SPACE !!!!!!

ScottishMenace

Nice one, keep us advised.

Dave

Barrie

Well the car was in for its 24 month / 20k service, no problems

They came and collected the car (older guy - wasnt worried handing the keys over!), and returned it when they said they would.

Service completed ok, following concerns I had with the rear suspension/handling they have spotted a problem with a shock strut which is now going forward to IM for warranty claim (fingers crossed). Thought they were playing the game when they said they had to replace rear window wiper - only £5 so hardly getting conned....

Only minor gripe was the car wasnt cleaned? Other car dealers before have usually given it a "jet wash" etc - then again I might just be getting lazy!

Cost for the 24 month 20000 service was just over £200 - dont know how this compares (I havent paid yet so if this is excessive would appreciate some feedback)

Good to see they are getting set up properly - saves a long drive to Edinburgh/Perth

Having experienced Subaru dealerships at their worst before (long story involvong IM / court case and a former dealer in Edinburgh following poor service in Stirling) have to say I was relatively impressed.

Cheers

ScottishMenace

I have started cleaning my car there as they have a great jet wash at the petrol station. What could be better, OPTIMAX, a Subaru dealer and the best jet wash around all under one roof.

Dave

John Stevenson

I dropped mine off there for a service (minor, oil change job) a few weeks ago. I was being dropped off down the town in my car by (probably) the afore mentioned old geezer. He started the car and said 'no need to ask what your in for !' What's that I say ? Answer.... 'A new Exhaust!'

Nearly pissed myself. He'll get over that misconception quite soon I should think, when every second car that goes in seems to need a new exhaust.

I have a funny story about it too, online is not appropriate though.

---john---

caz1562

LOL @ John. New exhaust Sir !!!!!!!!!