Dealers Cull - Sad Day

[JCFlippen]

MG UK have just advised me to look for a new service centre. My excellent dealer Thompson First of Stroud has been removed from the dealer network. A sad situation when one reads of the many naff MG dealers out there.

 

[DB Go Rex]

They look to be one of the older, smaller dealers that held on during the bleak days of the transition/sale to SAIC.

MG seem to be cutting a lot of them loose in favour of the bigger places.

 

[Eclectic]

We lost the Canterbury (Chartham) F.G. Barnes dealership, one of the smaller ones, so it will be Ashford (Caffyns) or Maidstone for me to get service now.

 

[Lovemyev]

As MG increased it's sales in the UK they then expected their dealerships to be able to offer a minimum size of showroom space.
This was to display off a larger range of the newer forth coming models.
Some of the smaller / older established ( my be family owned ) sites could not meet the criteria required from MG, so resulted in either the dealer or MG themselves pulling out.

 

[Tim Green]

Yes, the garage we bought our car from subsequently dropped out because they could not afford to purchase the stock expected by MG. I don't rate the new agent, Waylands, very highly.

 

[tsedge]

Yes, I heard MG have new minimum dealer size / facilities requirements that mean some of the smaller shops have to close.

 

[Paulie68]

It is indeed a shame, especially as some of the larger dealer groups are just hideous to deal with.

The same happened to all the small Skoda dealerships back in the '90's after VW took control. They were often in villages with a 1 or 2 car showroom and gave great service.

 

[tsedge]

Yes, I agree. I understand the general idea is to make the dealers more professional and more upmarket but it does push out small scale local excellent service.