I reserved a BMW 3 Series from John Clark BMW Aberdeen exactly one week ago and this has been, without exaggeration, one of the worst dealership experiences I’ve had.
I initially dealt with Daniel Moate in sales. I had already arranged third-party finance before reserving the car. Daniel offered in-house finance but couldn’t match the APR, so he confirmed the dealership was happy for me to proceed using a third-party lender called Car Money.
When Car Money contacted the dealership to request the invoice to release funds, John Clark BMW Aberdeen suddenly refused to work with them, claiming they “don’t work with that company anymore” — despite having worked with them in the past. This was never mentioned before my credit file was subjected to a hard search.
I had also requested a video of the car on Monday, yet did not receive it until Thursday, which already raised concerns about how slow and disorganised this process was.
Because of the finance issue, I asked for my reservation fee back and decided to walk away. At this point, the sales manager Andrew Lax contacted me and said he would match the finance rate I had been offered externally if I used their in-house finance. On this basis, I agreed to proceed.
The following morning, I received two separate emails from Daniel and Andrew confirming the finance was approved and everything was in order. Daniel then called me and arranged a same-day handover.
I live three hours away from the dealership. I arranged transport accordingly. As we had just left my house, Daniel phoned to say they could not release the car due to a “system error” and told me to wait while he resolved it so the journey would not be wasted.
That was on Friday at around 1:15pm.
It is now Monday, and I have heard absolutely nothing from Daniel or Andrew despite trying to contact them.
After allowing a hard credit search knowing they might not proceed — which was bad enough on its own — they then carried out another hard search themselves, and yet here I am with:
• No car
• No explanation
• No contact
• Two hard searches on my credit file
• My reservation fee still out of pocket
To make matters worse, the car is not even reserved. It is still showing as live and available to reserve on both their website and AutoTrader, despite me supposedly having an agreed deal and confirmed handover.
This dealership:
• Changed their stance on finance mid-transaction
• Allowed multiple hard searches without completing a sale
• Confirmed approval and handover in writing
• Cancelled at the last minute
• Then went completely silent
No update.
No apology.
No professionalism.
This is not how a premium brand should operate. I have wasted time, travel arrangements, and damaged my credit profile for nothing due to poor internal communication and complete lack of customer care.
I would strongly advise anyone considering buying from John Clark BMW Aberdeen to think very carefully before committing to anything.
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John Clark Motor Group is an award winning dealer group based in Scotland. We represent Alpine, Audi, BMW, CUPRA, MINI, BMW Motorrad, MG, Jaguar, Land Rover, Nissan, SEAT, ŠKODA, Volvo, Volkswagen and Commercial vehicles. We have dealerships in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Elgin, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy & Perth,
John Clark Motor Group has 37 dealerships and 5 manufacturer approved accident repair centres across Scotland. We are a family run business and employ over 1300 employees.
We believe that our relationship with our customers goes far beyond the initial purchase of their car. van or motorcycle. It is hugely important to us that we deliver on our promises and offer full transparency to deliver an exceptional experience.See more
