Evans Halshaw

Bumpy start but good resolution
I have been purchasing a second hand car from the Edinburgh branch which had been transferred through the «Move me closer» scheme from Motherwell. On test driving the car I had a peasant drive but that is where the enjoyment stopped.
Once at the desk with the sales agent I felt undervalued and didn’t feel that there was a great level of respect.
Since filing a complaint on the above I am happy to say that Evans Halshaw have worked well to resolve my issues both with the sales treatment and car purchase. I am now satisfied with the company, who have regained my faith in them and thank them for their prompt reactions in my case.
I have revised this review to reflect my positive experience following the initial complaint and based on this would consider returning to Evans Halshaw again.

DON’T GO HERE! My experience of Evans Halshaw was a painfull one. Silly me, I went and bought a car from them. When I came to sign the paperwork, the sales man refused to let me have the paperwork and turned over page after page of documents I had to sign while he held the top. One had a disclaimer that waived the right to any warranty repairs except the engine and gearbox. Now the way he folded the paperwork meant that I could only see part of the document. This was a devious and deliberate ploy. When it came to a warranty issue, they just laughed at me. You’re nuts if you even consider going here.

Car dealers are unfortunately all cut from the same cloth. They are there to fleece you and it’s up to you to make it the most dignified fleecing you can live with. These guys are especially dire in their pettiness so I felt moved to warn others. We bought a lightly used car from them exactly a year ago and were reasonably happy with the price. We added a 2 year warranty to cover it «bumper to bumper» as the car was a few years old. This «bumper-​to-​bumper» does not include wear and tear items like brakes and tyres. **fleecing alert** It needed all new brakes and tyres only 15,000 miles later. Not cheap items. We needed to trade the car in and were given a lower part-​exchange value than other dealerships were offering for our car. Even after getting dinged for the items mentioned, they were not doing us any favours on the price they offered. So while their prices are pretty reasonable, their service and loyalty to their «valued» customers is sadly missing entirely. Beware the old used tyres and brakes angle when buying used and beware the warranties they offer because they add nothing to the trade-​in value of the car when it’s time to sell your car on. As for me, I refuse to give my business to companies who treat customers with contempt. Avoid.

My experience with Evans has not been good. We bought our second hand Fiesta less than a year ago from them for £9000. After 15k miles of fairly sedate driving they told us it needed new brake discs and we paid over £400 although rather surprised at that. Tonight they offered us £6000 as a trade-​in for the car if we bought another one. They would not haggle on either the trade-​in price or the new vehicle cost. We left after wating a couple of hours in their showroom. As we left the «salesman» who I think was called Ruarigh was laughing at us. It’s an unusual business model but I suppose when you deal with used car sales this is what you expect. Consider us ex-​customers, and dissatisfied ones at that.

One very sad day at 3am in the morning on the way home…(STOP YAWNING!) … I hit a pot hole and lost control of my fifteen month old Ford. It hit a crash barrier at 56 mph. I was totally unharmed so well done Ford.
I phone the insurance company. They were amazing (Royal Sun Alliance — Through Bruce Stevenson). They told me life was going to get better as Evans Halshaw now have the car and would contact me within the hour to organise a replacement car. Two hours later no call. I called them. I was put through to the body shop and no answer. The people at reception said sorry it has been like that all day. At 4pm in the afternoon, 7 hours after they were suppose to call, the body shop manager called up. He must have been trained in the John Cleases school of Management. «Hi, I was expecting your call earlier» «Sorry I have been busy but have a car for you» «Great when is it arriving» «Tomorrow or the next day?» «Sorry i was promised it today. I need a replacement car for work» «come and get it then but we close in 40 minutes» «I could not get there in forty minutes, I have no car remember and you are six miles away» … It got worse and I eventually had to hire a car from Enterprise who offered to stay open late to give me time to get there.
The moto of the story, when you are stuck and need a reliable main dealer… phone ANYBODY APART from this mob!
By the way I did eventually get a loan vehicle from them. It was a new fiesta that looked like it had never been washed or cleaned internally or externally. The last driver might have been from Peppa Pigs family…