Not joined yet? Register for free and enjoy features such as alerts, private messaging and viewing latest posts and topics.

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Whether it's exceptional service or a bad experience, post them here. (Disclaimer: posters views are their own and not that of z4-forum.com)
Post Reply
propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:39 am

Hey all,

Sadly I will have to leave out a lot of detail in the interests of keeping this a reasonable length. Back in December (2016) I bought a Z4 Coupe from Abbey Cars, Poole, a family run business fronted by a man named Nick. The vehicle had impeccable history which at the time allowed me to overlook the dealer's lack of actual car knowledge, so I went ahead with the purchase. The vehicle came with a 3 month warranty which at the time the dealer said would be redeemable at my nearest main dealer should any issues arise. Sadly I did not get this in writing.

After a week or so I notified him of several issues, some of which were quite serious and became more prominent as I drove the car more. Ironically, it was at this point the dealer simply advised me to drive the car more as it had been stationary for a while. The issues included no auto levelling on the N/S Xenon headlight, difficulty getting the car into some gears with occasional crunching, faulty alarm bonnet sensor, vibrations under braking and general erratic handling, especially at speed. At this point I was offered a refund which I denied as I wanted the car to be repaired. The dealer changed his mind about having the car repaired at my local dealer, so I took it back to his garage of choice where nothing was fixed. After 2 months and a couple of failed collections of the vehicle, I decided I wanted a refund, something I was very entitled to under the consumer rights act. This was refused.

To cut a long story short, I ended up taking this dealer to County Court, won and received my money back, albeit 8 months after I bought the car, 7 of which it was on my driveway not being used.

I want people to be aware of this dealer, their poor business practices, knowledge of the cars they sell, the law and just terrible social etiquette. As I said, I have left out a lot of detail from this case, but this individual is prolific in their unprofessional behaviour, something that was apparent right up until the vehicle was collected, where I was messed around with the collection date and payment method, both of which were agreed straight after the court case.

I've posted this partly to warn people away from the dealer, the website of which can be found here: www.abbeycars.net but also the car, ensuring our small community know the issues that exist with it and that it should not be considered without proof of the repairs to the aforementioned issues.

VIN: WBADU52090LF68066
Reg: LJ56EGC
Model: Z4 Coupe 3.0si
Colour: A08 - SILBERGRAU METALLIC
Miles (when returned to dealer): 104040
Last edited by propaintballa on Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:54 am, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
Buckz
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:00 am
Location: West sussex

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by Buckz » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:49 am

thanks! :) bet it will be useful for people looking to buy in the future.
Image

User avatar
chinobeano
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 5:00 pm
Location: Dorset

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by chinobeano » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:55 am

Sorry to hear about such a bad experience, but glad it was resolved in the end. And thanks for the warning, much appreciated!

As a thought, it may be worth adding the VIN number to your post (if you have it), in case anyone searches for that in the future rather than the Reg?

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:59 am

Buckz wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:49 am thanks! :) bet it will be useful for people looking to buy in the future.
No problem! I certainly hope no one has to endure a similar ordeal!
chinobeano wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:55 am Sorry to hear about such a bad experience, but glad it was resolved in the end. And thanks for the warning, much appreciated!

As a thought, it may be worth adding the VIN number to your post (if you have it), in case anyone searches for that in the future rather than the Reg?
No problem :) I have added the VIN to the original post. As you say, hopefully it might be of use to someone in the future :)

User avatar
Joycey
Member
Member
Posts: 667
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:28 pm
Location: Basingstoke

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by Joycey » Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:23 am

Sorry to hear the bad experience you've had, one thing I would like to add though is the dealer will now have a bad rep here but don't let that effect the car. The car itself most likely needs some refreshing up front to sort the steering issues out. Hope you find another :driving:
Image

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:30 am

Joycey wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:23 am Sorry to hear the bad experience you've had, one thing I would like to add though is the dealer will now have a bad rep here but don't let that effect the car. The car itself most likely needs some refreshing up front to sort the steering issues out. Hope you find another :driving:
Of course, but that's why I stated that people should be aware of the issues that existed whilst I had it and to make sure they have been rectified before considering it should it come back up for sale :)

However, I do think they go hand in hand. In a hypothetical world where the problems were cured and the vehicle came up for sale under the same dealer, I'd still be extremely cautious for the reasons I stated in the main post, should anything go wrong within the warranty period etc. I certainly would not buy again from this individual, regardless of the vehicle! :headbang:

Dav the wheel nut
Lifer
Lifer
Posts: 3066
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:40 pm
Location: Somerset

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by Dav the wheel nut » Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:45 am

Good post :thumbsup:
I see you've posted it under dealer feedback and I've been wondering for sometime if there should be a specific section for 'cars to be aware of' as there have been a number of cars highlighted on the forum lately as having issues and the details are on various threads. Anyone else got any views on this?

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:53 am

Dav the wheel nut wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:45 am Good post :thumbsup:
I see you've posted it under dealer feedback and I've been wondering for sometime if there should be a specific section for 'cars to be aware of' as there have been a number of cars highlighted on the forum lately as having issues and the details are on various threads. Anyone else got any views on this?
I don't think it's a bad idea at all, I've seen similar things on other forums :)

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:22 am

Just so everyone is aware, the car has been relisted on autotrader here:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... BMW&page=1

Kenster
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:27 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by Kenster » Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:43 am

Oh shoot I test drove this car not long back in August! Hadn't joined these forums back then but I walked away from it for some reasons mentioned above.

I was told that the car had just come from a garage in London been locked away for ages due to the previous owner sadly passing away in his sleep.
I test drove it and quickly picked up on the vibration under braking as you mentioned and commented on, which I think he mentioned may need a long run as it had been sadly sitting in the carpak unused for a long time! Also quite a few small marks around the car good to fair condition. Gearbox seemed ok but didn't feel smooth put that down to lack of my own familiarity.

Thanks for posting this, im pretty disappointed he wasn't more honest about the history especially using the above reason for it's sale.

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:11 pm

Kenster wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:43 am Oh shoot I test drove this car not long back in August! Hadn't joined these forums back then but I walked away from it for some reasons mentioned above.

I was told that the car had just come from a garage in London been locked away for ages due to the previous owner sadly passing away in his sleep.
I test drove it and quickly picked up on the vibration under braking as you mentioned and commented on, which I think he mentioned may need a long run as it had been sadly sitting in the carpak unused for a long time! Also quite a few small marks around the car good to fair condition. Gearbox seemed ok but didn't feel smooth put that down to lack of my own familiarity.

Thanks for posting this, im pretty disappointed he wasn't more honest about the history especially using the above reason for it's sale.
Oh damn! When I went to look at the car around Christmas time, he very much gave the impression he had it for a few weeks at most. I believed this as it had only just popped up on Autotrader!

Interesting to hear from you though. The gearbox was odd, at times it would feel absolutely fine but would always be quite hard to get into first, sometimes grinding. A similar thing used to happen when moving in third as well. This gradually got worse during the period I drove the car, though would still be considered quite sporadic.

Seems my fears about this guy are further confirmed. The car came back up for sale for £1000 more last week some time and is no longer on there, so I certainly hope the issues have been fixed. I do actually wonder whether the backstory was even legitimate really. The guy couldn't even keep his word right up to the day he came to pick the car up. Lessons learnt I guess, but will make my next car buying experience and extremely paranoid one!

Kenster
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:27 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by Kenster » Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:53 pm

I have to say I am deeply reluctant to buy another car from a garage ever, unless it's a brand spanker, I was stiffed on my last 2nd hand car over the service history.

propaintballa
Member
Member
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:40 pm

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by propaintballa » Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:57 pm

Kenster wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:53 pm I have to say I am deeply reluctant to buy another car from a garage ever, unless it's a brand spanker, I was stiffed on my last 2nd hand car over the service history.
I am very much in the same boat! I was always very against buying brand new cars until now. Not to say that people don't get shafted by main dealers on brand new cars! Have heard several bad stories with brand new BMWs :/

TimothyTub
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2019 5:00 am
Location: Denmark
Contact:

Abbey Cars (Poole) - LJ56EGC - Z4 Coupe - NOT RECOMMENDED

Post by TimothyTub » Sun Feb 03, 2019 12:43 am

I have never suffered from warped discs, not when racing, track daying hard road riding.
May be its the way I brake, hard and short ????

Post Reply