Northern Ireland Dealers - who is best?

[Sportspack Mark]

Right guys, give me your opinions!

personally i think the country garage seems to be the best,

But ive heard good things about JCK and Prentices

Bavarian........................ emmmmmmmmmm

[Step_7]

Well, you know my feelings about Bavarian, from a sales point of view they are fine but their after sales/service seems to be the worst of all the local dealers. Country garage are fine but never seem to have many cars in stock any time I've stopped in for a look about. Never had any dealings with JKC so can't comment but have heard good things about them.

So far, Prentices in Portadown have my vote - I took mine there for Inspection II with no problems and they have supported us local enthusiasts (MINI nutters ) in the past and I suspect my next MINI will come from them, sooner or later........

[LeakyTurnip]

Im waiting on my Mini which I purchased from Prentice's in Portadown. So far they have been super. I did go do Bavarian at first (I work 2 minutes from them) and was shocked how filppant they were towards me. I got the impression that they thought I had no interest in buying the car so didn't really put in much effort! I e-mail the sales guy to ask about the possibility of an extended test drive in a Cooper D (2/3 hours) only to be told that "after an extensive drive like you had, that should really make your mind up."

This extensive test drive consisted of 15mins on the Boucher Road & Stockmans lane followed by a quick trip up the M1 and back to Boucher down the back roads, hardly extensive! Total trip approx 30mins. He also informed me that they only had one Cooper D and needed it for other test drives.

I took a trip down to Prentices and not only was their showroom about a million times nicer (and bigger) but the sales staff were also keen to help. We went out on a quick test drive, free of traffic, and then headed back to the dealership for a chat. The sales guy (Mark) couldn't have been nicer and never applied any pressure to buy. I remember him saying that it was a lot of money and not a decision that should be rushed, which was not something that I thought I'd ever hear a car salesman say!

I also asked about the chance to try out the car for a longer period of time, to which Mark's response was, when do you want to loan the car. Two days later I picked up the car at 08:30 and left it back to them at 20:00. Needless to say I was hooked and now I'm counting the days until delivery!

So I vote Prentice's...about a million times over!

[Step_7]

Told you so!!!!!

[Sportspack Mark]

Quote: Originally Posted by Step_7 (original)

Well, you know my feelings about Bavarian, from a sales point of view they are fine

It was the right car with the right spec at the right time at the wrong dealer - clearly

They seem to be trying to make things right so il give them a chance to see.

[Darthbladerni]

From past experiances with bavarian they have been very helpful. Probably because they saw a teenager with money walking in asking questions on how to make them money

I was asking about getting the aero spoiler and spot lamps fitted and he showed me exactly how they would do it and how long it would take, They also said they would give me a discount on fitting costs and total price because I was on R plates and I was going to get two things done at once.

So for that they are on the ball but I havent got it fitted yet. I will post again when the fitting takes place and let you know how they get on.

I get my car serviced at the country garage as bavarian charge too much and i dont trust them with things like that.

Where are all you guys from btw???

[Banana Panceyette]

Quote: Originally Posted by Darthbladerni (original)

From past experiances with bavarian they have been very helpful. Probably because they saw a teenager with money walking in asking questions on how to make them money

I was asking about getting the aero spoiler and spot lamps fitted and he showed me exactly how they would do it and how long it would take, They also said they would give me a discount on fitting costs and total price because I was on R plates and I was going to get two things done at once.

So for that they are on the ball but I havent got it fitted yet. I will post again when the fitting takes place and let you know how they get on.

I get my car serviced at the country garage as bavarian charge too much and i dont trust them with things like that.

Where are all you guys from btw???

Hehe, yes - wait until you get your things fitted before making any decisions on Bavarian's service dept

Actually, that said - the past couple of times I've had to deal with the Service dept everything has gone perfectly

Check out this thread:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/uk-irelan...ent-links.html

[Step_7]

I think if Bavarian MINI get their own dedicated service dept. things will improve a lot. To me it seems that MINI is viewed as the "poor relation" when it comes to the service guys. Perhaps they make more money servicing BMWs or something but it seems at times like they don't take you seriously when you point out the various things they haven't bothered doing......

[PmP]

Bavarian is the worst Mini dealership in Northern Ireland, Period. (I should know)

Tiny Showroom
Poor knowledge of Models and Accesories
Customer Loyality rewarded in no shape or form
Rubbish aftersales care
Service advisers who havent a clue what they are doing
Wash your car after service even tho you stated for it not to be
Rubbish Parts Department
No availability of courtesy car
No invites to new model launches


Prentices are excellent, would do anything for your trade, even drive a 100 mile round trip to collect your car for a service. And leave you a Mini.


Country Garages have the most helpful and knowledgable Parts department, used them several times. I know a Major accident repair firm use them for all their BMW/MINI parts.


Heard glowing reports of JKC sales team from various sources.

[Hugo]

Now don't hold back or anything PMP.

Bavarian have been excellent getting my problems fixed.

But theres small things that just annoyed me eg after my fourth major issue with this car sine July where there was no toeing eye to toe it away when the gearbox fell out off it it took them THREE attempts to order me in one. the third time they wouldn't take one out of the another car for 24hrs until they got a replacement. I put it down to one off things that could only happen on a blue moon but????

P.S No Grills for Aeroskirts more inconvience plus they wouldn't sell MATT BLACK structure paint for the aerokit but Mini do say they won't release it even to a bodyshop.

Leaky turnip have to agree with test drive.

[JpMcC]

Excellent Thread

From my own personal experience I have to say I am more than happy with Bavarian, in the past my clutch went bang in Dublin, they organised a curtousy car, and a service dept manager to meet me at the Dealers at 6pm on a Sunday Evening, I doubt many other dealerships would have done this, and even though I had to pay for the replacement clutch, they got me goodwill from MINI and offered me 25% off their Labour. Which I doubt many garages would have put the effort in for.

As for the sales dept, I have only delt with 1 individual and cannot praise his efforts enough, his patience with me when deciding what to buy was second to none and anything now I need answering I have an email response before the end of the day.

As for the parts dept, again I have a good repationship with one of the guys up there, he's very much on the ball and if he cannot answer a question he will make sure he can get the answer ASAP, again any queries I have are normally sent via email and I usually have a very quick response.

I can only comment from my own experiences and for me personally I cannot reccommend Bavarian enough, I'm always made to feel very welcome even if I only call in for a quick chat, time will tell with regards to the future of my serviceing with the R56, but if my past experience is anything to go buy then I'll be more than happy

My 2p worth

[PmP]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hugo (original)

Now don't hold back or anything PMP.

Bavarian have been excellent getting my problems fixed.

Leaky turnip have to agree with test drive.

Only stating what I've found over 6 years.

[Sportspack Mark]

Bavarian are moving next year or the year after to the Agnew Audi Site, at least then they will have their own service dept and parts department so things should be better on that side of things

i know i didnt have the best buying experience with them but they did put it right and you have to give them credit for owning up to their own mess up, the sales guy was really helpful and was genuinely annoyed that something had gone wrong

[Banana Panceyette]

Thought I would add my 2c to this thread since I've really just sat back and watched, I guess it's easy to jump in when something has gone wrong but people aren't so quick to praise people when something has gone right

Having just got my third () MINI from Bavarian, I think I'm in a pretty good position to give my opinion

In my experience, the sales department have never been anything short of first class. I've dealt with both Conor and Gemma now and they've both been absolutely fantastic right from the beginning - keeping me updated with everything and they've been SO patient dealing with everything I've had to throw at them - trust me, I like to query everything I've always found everyone in the bulding really friendly - I randomly call in all the time, ! I don't actually intend to keep buying cars - I just call in so often for a chat/coffee that it just kinda happens

I guess most people have had issues with the service dept but I do think it's improving. My MCS went in on a couple of ocassions and everything was perfect. On the one ocassion that I did have an issue, Conor jumped in very aplogetic and sending a car down to my workplace. That's all I can ask for, mistakes happen

In short: Would I recommend them? Yes! and I have! We now have 7 MINIs sitting in the car park in work

[Sportspack Mark]

i got a brand spanking new cooper as a courtesy car for a week when i had to take mine back due to an admin error

it was great, i didnt want my own car back

Salesman Kenny was great! i was on the phone a lot asking questions and badgering him! he never lost the plot