Has anyone in the Toronto area found a qualified and reliable shop to service/work with your AM's...other than the Dealership??

The gripe; Making the common switch from years in 911's, I tested the waters with my 2007 AMV8 and once happily convinced by the physical car, I considered trading up to the 4.7. However, after a series of painful experiences with the one and only AM dealership within 500km's(where I purchased the AMV), I'm relegated to simply ugrading my 2007...

The service is so poor, that even with an active 2 year AM Extended warranty(basically threw away $10K) I still won't even take my car into the dealership.

A rather sad state of affairs for the AM Brand...at least in Southern Ontario as my opinion/experience is not isolated.

 

I do not even waste my time with official dealer. Go to a true high end exotic independent shop that you trust and stick with them from beginning to end. Keep a record of all maintenance & upgrades performed. You will save a lot of time & money this way and will end up getting significantly better customer service (as a much lower price to boot) ... win-win
________
WELLBUTRIN PROBLEMS

 

haha Grand Touring strikes again. Yes, they are the worst dealer out there, I bought my car from Frankie & he used to sort out everything for me, after many bad experiences.. In fact, they annoyed me so much, I refused to step foot into their Dealership & arranged to always have my car picked up & dropped off to me. I never dealt with the service advisers, they change so often & really do a poor job representing the brand & the dealership.

Frankie left earlier this year and sadly the new sales staff is not up to the job. Went in to look at a Vantage V12 & walked out 10 minutes later, very unimpressed & shaking my head. I can't see these guys holding onto the Aston franchise for that many more years with the amount of complaints I hear, not to mention how many people won't buy a second car from them. Ask Gekko about his first Aston from them and what he went through!

Now to your question (sorry, had to get my rant in)
Unfortunately, they are not many options out there. Cross Auto in Oakville is one of the few places I've heard that has experience on current Astons. It's not a slick looking garage, but I've seen Porsches, Lambo's, Astons etc in for service & knew a few people that where very happy with the service. I believe the owner is Sam.

http://www.crossavenueauto.com/about_us/default.cfm

Good luck.

PS: The 4.7 is a much better car than the 4.3, drove one for 2 weeks in Europe this past year & couldn't believe how much better it was in every-way compared to my past 4.3.

 

If you ever find yourself in the Greenwich CT area (7 hours south of Toronto, I do the drive alot) Miller Motor Cars has an excellent Aston Sales and Service center.

 

The dealers in the States know that we will buy from any dealer, and they have a tendency to treat you better to get the sale. I don't plan on using the dealer for service, but that is mostly from the standpoint that they charge too much for what they do. A good qualified indie here, and we are blessed with tons of them, is a much better bet, IMHO.

 

Just as a note for you since you're from the area-I LOVE Aston Martin service with Park Place. The head guy over there, Vince, is unbelievable and extremely helpful.

Now, keep in mind that they are completely separate from the rest of Park Place's service department. I owned a Lotus Elise prior to the Aston and dealing with their general service department was a nightmare.

 

So.....

To the Ontario owners....

Is this experience in Toronto with the Dealer typical? This is making me somewhat concerned as I live well outside of town. The buying experience and delivery was not the best I have ever experienced, calls with questions about the car are not readily returned, I can live with that... at this point I have not had to take it in for service (new in late fall '10). I am assuming as I have lots of warranty that in order to protect my investment and warranty that I should be doing regular maintenance with the dealer?

Where are Ontario owners going to service their cars, one post said in Oakville, where else?

 

Another Ontario owner here, and hoping someone will respond to nacelle's question! Sad to say my Grand Touring experience is the worst I've had at any car dealership, bar none. Pretty sad that this is Aston's largest of 3 official Canadian representatives. Dealing with the sales guy was like talking to a cast member of Trailer Park Boys. These guys don't return calls, their staff seems to change on a monthly basis so you can never deal with the same manager, and the service manager at my last visit was frankly rude. They don't fix the cars properly on the first visit (an issue if you are driving 4 hours to get there), they return your car with faults that weren't there when you dropped it off, and they don't have your car ready when they promise (also an issue when you live 4 hours away!)

 

Wow...you guys should Call David Janine personally. I Used to know all of the guys there when I was in the Jag Business. but what a shame!

 

I would expedite your complaints to the Regional Manager for AM in Canada, or to the corporate office in SoCal. They really don't want this kind of bad press.........

 

Agreed

 

Every single person I speak to about Grand Touring always gives me such negative feedback.

I think this says it all, found this a few years ago when looking for reviews on Grand Touring.
http://grandtouringautosucks.blogspot.com/

GEKKO, seriously you should tell them about your Grand Touring horror stories! Amazed you didn't set the car on fire.

Check out Cross Auto, if you want to avoid the dealer for out of warranty work.

 

I have the impression AM couldn't care less. Here's why: following my purchase I was called three times over the next 12 months by AM NA customer care. Each call consisted of a survey of the purchase/ownership experience to date. The caller asked detailed questions when I spoke of the problems at Grand Touring and said someone at AM would likely contact me for futher discussion. Here we are several years later, and no further followup. AM customer service = FAIL.

 

Spinecho, I just read your first post again and have to agree that the service manager is a joke. He never repsonds to calls quickly, knowledge is seriously lacking on the ailments of Aston's and is forever saying I check into that, and yes you guessed it he never gets back to you. Also great at making excuses, my tactic became like another members, I email ahead, but make sure my they also go to the general manager, salesmen & AM uk, you should see how quick they respond to emails and phone calls then !!

 

Interesting stories and can't believe something hasn't been done about it. I will actually speak to the northeast regional rep. I plan to bring it up to him and ask him about it. Will post what a hear.