We bought a fleet of brand new cars in May when Arnold Clark opened up their new garage in Strathaven, Lanarkshire for our driving school. One of these cars went for a driving test the other day and when the Examiner inspected the car, he discovered that the tax disc and the registration plate DID NOT MATCH! The test was cancelled and the car was put off the road by the Driving Standards Agency, leaving a young girl, who was due to sit her test, absolutely distraught. Our initial thought was that they had put the wrong tax disc on the vehicle but after further investigation on our part, we discovered it was the wrong registration plates that Arnold Clark had fitted before delivery. This car has been running about since May on false plates!
The car has been off the road now since 8 November as we cannot legally drive it on the public roads, resulting in a vast amount of lost earnings. On Friday, 9 November, I went back to the dealership to ask what they were prepared to do about it. They asked "where's the car?" I told them it was in Gartcosh. Their reply was "Can you bring it over then? We've got new plates made for it" What part of cannot legally drive on public roads do they not understand? I told them it could not be driven and we were also looking for compensation for our loss of earnings and reimbursment of the driving test fee for the pupil who lost her driving test. They flatly refused saying that it was not Arnold Clark policy to reimburse anyone for loss of earnings.
It has left me with no alternative than to raise an action at Hamilton Sherrif Court on Monday and sue Arnold Clark for loss of earnings and loss of test fee for the pupil, stress and embarassment to my company and stress and embarrasment suffered by the pupil and the driving instructor concerned, all caused by this oversight by Arnold Clark. Also included in this claim will be the return of several hundred pounds that they charged me for the registration fee and the pre delivery inspection fee (will have definate monetary values by Monday) which is payable by everyone who purchases a new car. Arnold Clark certainly failed to register my vehicle correctly and failed in their pre delivery inspection of my vehicle by failing to notice that the registration plates failed to match the properly issued road fund licence on the car.
Dear Mr Arnold Clark, Directors, Managers, Salesmen......this isn't just a case of one man and his car. Over the last 40 years that I have been in business as one of Lanarkshire's biggest driving schools, we have bought several hundred cars from you, not to mention the several thousand pupils who we have introduced to Arnold Clark who have bought cars from you, similar to the one's used by us. My daughter has recently qualified as a driving instructor and will hopefully take over the reigns of my driving school within the next 2 years as I am due to retire. One of the conditions that I will impose is that she never buys another car for the fleet from Arnold Clark and she never recommends Arnold Clark to any of our pupils. I have also advised my current instructors, that under no circumstances have they to mention or recommend Arnold Clark to any more of the pupils. In fact, I've told them to tell everyone not to buy a car from Arnold Clark. I am also now in the process of taking any further bodyshop, mechanical, service, warranty work to some other dealership in my area.
This could all have been resolved on Friday for the paltry sum of £418.00 which only included our loss of earnings and the return of the pupils test fee. Now, as it stands, the loss of earnings will accrue on this car for every day it sits idle with it's false plates.......could be a really costly mistake Arnold Clark!
The car has been off the road now since 8 November as we cannot legally drive it on the public roads, resulting in a vast amount of lost earnings. On Friday, 9 November, I went back to the dealership to ask what they were prepared to do about it. They asked "where's the car?" I told them it was in Gartcosh. Their reply was "Can you bring it over then? We've got new plates made for it" What part of cannot legally drive on public roads do they not understand? I told them it could not be driven and we were also looking for compensation for our loss of earnings and reimbursment of the driving test fee for the pupil who lost her driving test. They flatly refused saying that it was not Arnold Clark policy to reimburse anyone for loss of earnings.
It has left me with no alternative than to raise an action at Hamilton Sherrif Court on Monday and sue Arnold Clark for loss of earnings and loss of test fee for the pupil, stress and embarassment to my company and stress and embarrasment suffered by the pupil and the driving instructor concerned, all caused by this oversight by Arnold Clark. Also included in this claim will be the return of several hundred pounds that they charged me for the registration fee and the pre delivery inspection fee (will have definate monetary values by Monday) which is payable by everyone who purchases a new car. Arnold Clark certainly failed to register my vehicle correctly and failed in their pre delivery inspection of my vehicle by failing to notice that the registration plates failed to match the properly issued road fund licence on the car.
Dear Mr Arnold Clark, Directors, Managers, Salesmen......this isn't just a case of one man and his car. Over the last 40 years that I have been in business as one of Lanarkshire's biggest driving schools, we have bought several hundred cars from you, not to mention the several thousand pupils who we have introduced to Arnold Clark who have bought cars from you, similar to the one's used by us. My daughter has recently qualified as a driving instructor and will hopefully take over the reigns of my driving school within the next 2 years as I am due to retire. One of the conditions that I will impose is that she never buys another car for the fleet from Arnold Clark and she never recommends Arnold Clark to any of our pupils. I have also advised my current instructors, that under no circumstances have they to mention or recommend Arnold Clark to any more of the pupils. In fact, I've told them to tell everyone not to buy a car from Arnold Clark. I am also now in the process of taking any further bodyshop, mechanical, service, warranty work to some other dealership in my area.
This could all have been resolved on Friday for the paltry sum of £418.00 which only included our loss of earnings and the return of the pupils test fee. Now, as it stands, the loss of earnings will accrue on this car for every day it sits idle with it's false plates.......could be a really costly mistake Arnold Clark!