Lancaster Reading

Morning guys, been a lurker for a while, soaking in all that has been said

I have been on and off about commiting to an order for a while, but we were invited to the unleashed event a couple of weeks ago, which was great I assume i was invited because i showed very early interest in the car.

Anyway, I digress, whilst getting the tyres done on my other car, I thought I'd take a trip to lancaster Reading to just have another look around, and to see if I could secure a test in the sd4 dynamic, the one i took on the event was the si4 dynamic, which I thought was superb! But to keep a degree of sensibility about this I have thrown in the economy as a factor, so an extra 10mpg for slightly less power (and more torque).

I have to say, I was disappointed in my reception, I wasn't "dressed up" as this was an impromptu trip, but expected at least to be approached?
Anyway, I interupted a casual conversation between 2 of the sales guys, who asked how he could help.... But " be quick because i have an appointment at 2"..., okay, but its only 1 now?, " I have a lot of preparation and need to be prompt".

I chose to leave it there and said I'd be in touch and book myself an appointment at a later date. He gave me his card, but I'd rather give the sales commision to his colleague!

Bit disappointed really. I did have a look around the rest of the evoques they have there (about a dozen!) and am still really keen to get myself on that waiting list!

Anyway, just saying "Hi", I have already recognised a couple of names from other forums I reside on.

Welcome. My dealer is now communicating with me well. I tend to be quite demanding but that is because I want everything right from day one. Credit to Harwoods Pulborough Brendan and Alaistair are doing well in a fluid situation. I am a conquest sale and was not used to the more laid back approach. They have me sussed now !
Just need final delivery date - looks like 1st week Nov but might be earlier.

Racingsnake head up the A40 to Lookers Park Royal. Rubbish dealers don't deserve your business!

I could be wrong but the poster without his cameras was also from Reading so says it all if he bought it from there.

I'd give Crapstones in Slough a miss too

Moderators should this not be moved to the Dealer Feedback section so it doesn't get lost as new threads are put on as this is very good feedback for others to know.....just a suggestion.

With hindsight, i should have made 2 posts, my general "hi" post, and then my initial feedback :s

I'd give hunters at guildford a miss too....the crowd at Basingstoke weren't too bad when I pop in for some advice...

Hi and welcome to the forum. I too had a really poor overall experience with my dealer but don't let it put you off the car because it's simply stunning. Just make sure that you do your research on the forum and pick a dealer that will treat you the way you would hope to be treated. personally speaking James at LPR gets super feedback and my dealing with him have been great. It maybe worth travelling for the right experience.

Just thought I'd supplement this with my latest expedition to Lancasters.

Now I've been pretty vocal about the moving dates, lack of comms etc etc, that seems pretty standard with most dealers.

But I made another trip to the dealer for 2 reasons yesterday (actually 2 trips because I missed my sales chap).
I was told to go round and speak to one of the business managers, because the sales guy was busy - not a great start.

What was immediately apparent, was that this business guy is a wannabe sales man, I started with point 1... questions about the cabrio.
The conversation wasn't really fluid, but was most of the time him telling me how Lancaster Reading have one of the largest allocations, and you have the best chance ordering here etc etc... This is almost a carbon copy of what was said to me when I ordered the coupe, and look where that got me!!
I did point out that the reality of that comment didn't hold up, but he assured me it was true

Anyway, next onto some figures, we have 25 letters of intent, so be quick.... my response of a letter of intent surely does nothing other than give numbers, not orders... so how many orders have you got? "7 or 8" followed closely by another line of "you have to get in quick or you'll join the queue"!!!
having only been told the previous day, they have 1 confirmed order I was a little sceptical.

I then asked, how many first batch deliveries would the anticipate (difficult to quantify I know), he told me 20-25. I mentioned that I thought 5 or 6 is probably more realistic, and then we came back to the largets allocation in the UK etc etc.
To note, I had a mental note than if there were already more than 6 orders I would go elsewhere, as I am not prepared to wait like I have done for the coupe!!

At that point, the sales guy I usually deal with turned up, so I had a quick chat and asked him how many confirmed orders there are... "1".
This was in full presence of the business guy, who didn't then say a word.
Nevertheless I did hand over a deposit and got my order in


My second reason was about my current order, and that since I had a confirmed delivery date, did it have an associated build date? I was told "no" as the delivery date is first confirmed, and then about a week after, a build date is assigned to match - which is why cars are often delivered early.
My build date is due any day now, so am expecting an email this morning.


Anyway, I turned that into a bit of a rant, but I was all set to just walk out following all that crap about largest dealer, and 8 orders, and 25 cars on the first deliver (christ, the transporter wouldn't even hold that many! lol). Just the sales patter gets my goat, tell me how it is. ffs

My initial order was with Lancaster Reading, I placed a deposit with them last May.
I found them fairly unhelpful and vague at the best of times, they made me feel like they were doing me a favour selling me the car.
I cancelled the order and bought mine from Lookers Park Royal, they seem to have a genuine passion for the product and their customers.

Evoque Convertible is purely a concept at this stage (as was LRX to be fair) therefore any dealer quoting specific allocation numbers should also be quoting lottery numbers!

We are doing the same as we did with LRX which is taking an initial £1000 deposit which is refundable at any time up until a vehicle is physically ordered with the factory.

If you were quick then you would be #3 at LPR.

James