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Another Stratstone Closed

12K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  Mike Rometer 
#1 ·
If it's of any interest to anyone from this neck of the woods, a friend of mine with an XF tells me Stratstone Swansea have packed up and the dealership is now with Sinclair. They seem to be dumping all over the country. Not sure if that is just JLR or others too.
 
#2 ·
If it is anything like my recent experience with Stoke Stratstone,the dealership was sold to Rybrook who then very quickly closed the Jaguar part and converted the whole site to Land Rover.
As someone who specifically chose the local dealer Carwow deal for convenience rather than much better deals from those further away it is deeply disappointing when you lose the local dealership that a decent relationship existed with,and have a 30 mile trip to an unknown dealer for anything needed.
Certainly on my new car buying checklist a local dealer was very high up......as I no longer have a local Jag one,the Jaguar will not feature on my next replacement list.
And raise the issue to Jaguar ? Absolutely no help nor interest........
 
#3 ·
Where I live I call 30 miles local, thats the nearest one too me, the next being 40+ miles away. At least I get to give any courtesy car a good test drive :D
 
G
#4 ·
Prestige said:
If it is anything like my recent experience with Stoke Stratstone,the dealership was sold to Rybrook who then very quickly closed the Jaguar part and converted the whole site to Land Rover.
As someone who specifically chose the local dealer Carwow deal for convenience rather than much better deals from those further away it is deeply disappointing when you lose the local dealership that a decent relationship existed with,and have a 30 mile trip to an unknown dealer for anything needed.
Certainly on my new car buying checklist a local dealer was very high up......as I no longer have a local Jag one,the Jaguar will not feature on my next replacement list.
And raise the issue to Jaguar ? Absolutely no help nor interest........
Just check with Rybrook Land Rover and see if they will still service and look after your Jaguar. My dealer is Rybrook Jaguar and they seem to service a few Range Rovers as I have seen the odd one or two in the large service area.
 
#5 ·
My nearest (3 miles) was a Stratstones back in 2011.
Walked in looking at a new vehicle and was ignored so went to a different dealer 12 miles away and have been with them ever since.
The Stratsones got taken over by Lancaster a few years ago and moved to a new designer premises. :roll:
One weird thing I have encountered since going over to the dark side is at my dealer the Jaguar and Land Rover servicing is a separate thing.
Same reception but different receptionists.
Same big workshop but the techs are dedicated either Jaguar or LR and cannot work on both brands.
Strange.
 
#6 ·
147daytona said:
Where I live I call 30 miles local, thats the nearest one too me, the next being 40+ miles away. At least I get to give any courtesy car a good test drive :D
There are still five main dealers within 25 miles of me, but I bet you have better scenery for the drive! :mrgreen:
 
#8 ·
I got a card for Swansway Jaguar, Crewe, in the post the other day, obviously sent by Jaguar UK, because Strastone/Rybrooke Stoke had gone L.R only. I've taken that to mean Rybrooke don't want to service my Jag any more. I've heard nothing at all from Rybrooke directly Crewe is about 30 miles away, so I very likely won't bother, except perhaps if looking to change again.
 
#9 ·
It seems very strange they are converting to Land Rover as I seem to recall the tale of a Jaguar dealer who lost the franchise because they didn't have space to take on Land Rover too. Maybe things have now changed.
 
#10 ·
spritely said:
I hope Stratstone Cardiff is not next - could be my only dealer left, and they are 90 miles from me anyway - yikes. :shock:
Mark
No need to be concerned. Sinclair have taken over the dealership so you don't have to come all the way to Cardiff 😊😊
 
#11 ·
BOBCDP said:
spritely said:
I hope Stratstone Cardiff is not next - could be my only dealer left, and they are 90 miles from me anyway - yikes. :shock:
Mark
No need to be concerned. Sinclair have taken over the dealership so you don't have to come all the way to Cardiff 😊😊
Thanks Bob - will at least save me some miles.
Mark
 
G
#12 ·
Right opposite my dealer is a Lookers new empty ex Vauxhall unit with all the gear and enough parking that would compliment the Jaguar showroom right opposite. That would then have MG, Jaguar and Volvo on each others doorsteps and the opportunity for a Landrover dealership would be a good idea to attract customers.
 
#13 ·
Stratstone is the premium car division of the Pendragon Group. The Car Store used division seriously under performed in the last year and adversely affected the groups results. The senior Pendragon management have been reviewing the group's portfolio of businesses and dealers and were they have found poor returns they are selling off or closing down. Inchcape is also going through such an exercise and have recently sold a number of dealers to other groups. The new car market is falling and the used car market is starting to stall, with no decision on the 'B' word, RDE2 (Real Driving Emissions) tests coming into use in September 2019 meaning old stock needs to be shifted and customers, both private and fleet holding off replacing vehicles, tough trading conditions are starting to affect the motor retail industry.
 
#15 ·
Vespa said:
All thanks to VW
Not really all the legislation to replace the old emissions test was already in place by the EU before the VW scandal broke in America. It just means that any new car sold after September 1st must have a valid RDE2 certificate, and that applies to all types of power plant testing. Look out this month for old engine non RDE2 certificate models been pre-registered to get them off forecourts. Many manufacturers built up stock levels pre original Brexit date back in March, but that never happened and lots of that stock is still around and some built with non compliant RDE2 engines. RDE = Real Driving Emissions not as some believe Real Diesel Emissions, it applies to all vehicle power types.
 
#18 ·
Just to counter the bad news of dealerships closing, I receieved an email yesterday to say that the new Inchcape combined Jaguar/Land Rover showroom in Derby is expected to open in December - only a move down the rooad for the exisiting showroom, but good to see some investment in the group....
 
#19 ·
Gaspode.....indeed seems good news. Have you sufficient experience of them to recommend them on the forum ? With the Stratstone Stoke demise I am after a recommended dealer.....I seem to be about 30 miles ( ish) from Crewe,Wolves,Tamworth and Derby dealers and the Jaguar " business transferred to" one isn't working out well.
An A50 trip is pretty painless for me ( and probably easiest journey) if they are well recommended ?
 
#20 ·
In the northeast we've lost the Houghton Le Spring jaguar dealership and Land Rover Stockton on Teeside have moved into jaguar premises. I understand the logic in consolidating but think Stratstone might be suffering a downturn in fortunes as it cuts back

Introduction
I'm a new member to this forum having owned two XF's (275bhp) in the past and having just bought an XE 2 litre SE diesel.
 
#22 ·
Prestige said:
Gaspode.....indeed seems good news. Have you sufficient experience of them to recommend them on the forum ? With the Stratstone Stoke demise I am after a recommended dealer.....I seem to be about 30 miles ( ish) from Crewe,Wolves,Tamworth and Derby dealers and the Jaguar " business transferred to" one isn't working out well.
An A50 trip is pretty painless for me ( and probably easiest journey) if they are well recommended ?
I'll let you know after I take my car in for a service next week - fingers crossed!
 
#24 ·
Cheers Bob. That is at least news. I'll reserve the 'good' bit 'til it happens and has proved to be acceptable. Sorry if that sounds uncharitable, but having been let down already they have some ground to make up.

I could almost walk home from there, courtesy cars having in the past been few on the ground to non existent.

It says that Customers are aware of the move??? First I've heard of it and I've been a customer of theirs for about 15 years!

So what was the point of kicking out Jaguar from the existing site??? :? :roll: :? :roll: :? :roll:
 
#25 ·
If only the Stoke Rybrook news was so.....this article is from March this year with the then fantasy of a new combined J and LR site next to the Stoke City FC stadium. Since then they have closed the Jaguar Hanley site(made it a sole LR dealership) and "transferred" our Jag business up to Crewe. Still half way through my 3.5 weeks wait for my first appointment there.
If only we were getting a nice,shiny new combo site in Stoke.....perhaps the frustration of Jaguar ownership in this area may be less !
 
#26 ·
Gaspode said:
Just to counter the bad news of dealerships closing, I receieved an email yesterday to say that the new Inchcape combined Jaguar/Land Rover showroom in Derby is expected to open in December - only a move down the rooad for the exisiting showroom, but good to see some investment in the group....
The same thing happened near me. There were Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships in Chester. They were both taken over by Inchcape who recently built a brand new joint dealership unit on the Landrover site and closed down the Jaguar one. Very impressive, I'm sure they will sell a lot of cars. However, the service department is shocking. I won't go into everything but had problems everytime I had to take my car there over the last 18 months. Plus they NEVER return promised phone calls. Another problem is not enough courtesy cars for the amount of work they need to do. It seems they have invested loads of money in beautiful buildings and loads of nice new vehicles. But neglected to spend much on the important part i.e. keeping their cars on the road.
 
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