Swancar Loughborough www.swancar.com

I purchased a 2003 Auto Chrysler Crossfire from them- They gave me an honest assessment over the phone and when I viewed the car they did not disappoint in their accurate assessment. The two guys I dealt with were easy to deal with and I was happy with the transaction. I lived some 150 miles away, drove the vehicle back home and all went well for a few days until a total transmission failure – no drive or reverse. To cap it all the RAC arrived and informed me that this was the 6th call out in the last 12 months for precisely the same problem. I recovered the vehicle to a nearby gearbox specialist and contacted Swancars. I was concerned that they may fob me off or at best repair the gearbox which obviously does not work because the previous owner had the same problem, tried to fix it on 6 occasions which hadn’t worked so fobbed it off to “we buy any car”. It wasn’t Swancars fault as they purchased it in good faith but where did that leave me as RAC refused to confirm the previous callouts due to “data protection”. I did some research and found that this was a known (though not common) problem with the Mercedes SLK auto gearbox (which is what is fitted in the Crossfire). A batch of faulty radiators cracked the cooling pipe in the gearbox leaking fluid into the workings which kills the gearbox. Symptom is no drive or reverse (rather than stuck in gear or going to “Limp Mode”). The gearbox AND radiator has to be changed with a new or recon/second hand one. I contacted Swancars and the person I dealt with was great. He arranged for the vehicle to be recovered to Loughborough, as I said some 150 miles away, and left a courtesy car with me. They said they would look into it but I sent my research up to them and they spoke to their gearbox specialist who concurred with my findings. They seemed willing to refund me but liked the car and was happy to have it back with a replacement gearbox and radiator fitted. Swancars arranged this and sourced a second hand gearbox of similar age and mileage. However on advice of their specialist they fitted a brand new, fault free, radiator (rather than a recon one which could develop the same fault!). All this was done and the vehicle returned in just over one week. Very impressed with Swancars. All dealers will sell faulty cars. It is impossible not to as there are hidden faults on many vehicles. It is the measure of the customer back up that sorts out the good car dealers from the bad and Swancars certainly gave good customer service and I would recommend them to anyone.

I cant thank Alastair and the guys enough. I made a return to the garage having bought my previous 2 perfect cars from there. Unfortunately they did not have the vehicle i wanted when i looked online. I had been looking for my mercedes for 3 month and all but given up.

I mentioned to the guys what i was after and they sourced me the car within days. The cars was like new (very much like the rest of their stock). I could have searched the country and not found another this nice, to top it off the car was under my budget.

I now have the guys looking for a mini for my daughter and know without doubt we will be looked after again.

Thank you again. I would recommend these guys to anyone. They are always willing to help with advise even if they dont have the vehicle your after.

Marcus.