Arnold Clark

I took my car to Arnold Clark (AC) as it was recalled by Kia. I was told it would be a few hours. I was then contacted with a notification that it required a replacement front tyre. I contacted them and agreed to the tyre replacement. They said they would again contact me when the car was ready. I then later phoned them again and asked if they could service my car, as it was due a service. I agreed to the full service, even though it was at more of a cost than previous quotes from other garages. They said my car would be ready later that day and they would contact me. I then received a video and a total cost for repairs that were required. The cost totalled £2606 for all the repairs. I was shocked as it had only been MOTd under four months ago and yet some of the repairs such as corrosion/breaks/splits to the suspension and steering had not been evident. The list also INCLUDED other faults such as both headlights not working, break pads/discs, back screen wiper replacement and other tyres. I found this strange as I had replaced the tyres at another garage who had performed the MOT. But AC had now deemed my car unsafe to drive, unless repaired. The car was taken out of AC and is now booked in for an independent inspection at another garage. I did have to ask AC to send me the list of faults to give to the other garage as the video was taken down by AC after only a few hours. The pther garage was sent the list. I received a phone call to book it in. The manager could not believe the over inflated prices. He also pointed out that the £2606 was only for the suspension repair and that the actual cost was more than that, (although AC had omitted the full total in the video costing). I did not understand this as the video had named all the faults and totalled £2606. I contacted AC and was informed that they had apparently not included the other faults in the cost of all repairs in the video. The actual cost of repair would be £4200. The car is 10 years old. But only 62000 miles on the clock. When I took the car to AC, I was aware that the brakes required repair and a few other minor faults, but my lights were working and the other three tyres were fairly new. I was shocked at the cost they quoted, both the first and second time. I had heard many people speak about their high costs and most people within my area said to avoid them. I will definitely do that now. It was AC that I originally bought the car from but I would never go back to them again. They did offer (although this could change I imagine, as they are not consistent with figures) approximately £1800 for a trade in, but I will await the independent review and decide from there. But will not go back to AC for a car