Marshall Vauxhall garage wrote off RAF veteran's car
A garage wrote off an RAF veteran’s beloved car while carrying out a service and MOT - and then sold him a replacement for £7,000.
Michael Childe-Freeman, 84, sent his Vauxhall Viva off to Peterborough-based Marshall Vauxhall on December 9 last year.
But it was damaged when the employee driving it back to him that afternoon was involved in an accident.
He was initially told it could be repaired in 14 days, so he coughed up £25 to insure one of their courtesy cars on top of the £380 he had already paid for the service and MOT.
Yet more than five weeks later, having received little communication from Marshall, he was still without his car and decided to visit the dealership on Boongate to get some answers.
While there, a salesman sold Mr Childe-Freeman another Vauxhall Viva for £7,000.
He was then told several weeks later that his original car was “not repairable”, with the whole debacle now effectively costing him £7,405.
Mr Childe-Freeman and his wife Mary, 82, contacted the Mercury as they felt they had been treated poorly and had no one else to turn to.
“This has made me feel terrible,” said Mr Childe-Freeman, a great grandfather of Baston near Bourne. “I’m not sleeping.
“I was very fond of my car. I paid about £9,000 and it was meant to be my last car. It’s four years old with 15,274 miles on the clock and in mint condition. I’m a military man and cleaned it every day and kept it in our garage.
“I do 3,000 miles a year. I drive to Tesco in Bourne and Market Deeping and to see my son in Stamford and my daughter in Werrington and that’s it.
“I like my new car but I shouldn’t have had to buy a new one. I feel badly let down.”
Mary, a retired Macmillan Cancer Support nurse, added: “I’m so angry. To be treated like this is wrong. It’s caused us so much stress.”
This newspaper contacted the showroom’s general manager on February 19 outlining Mr Childe-Freeman’s grievances.
He said some aspects of the account were not accurate but did not elaborate and said the matter was in the hands of the legal team.
We then contacted the legal department who said they could not comment on an individual customer’s complaint without written permission.
The Mercury posted and emailed a letter, signed by Mr Childe-Freeman, on February 25, requesting an explanation and statement on the way he had been treated.
Despite several follow-up requests, no response has yet been received.
However, Mr Childe-Freeman said this week that he had now received a settlement offer of £5,765 to cover the cost of the written-off car, the service and MOT and the £25 insurance charge.
Despite still being £1,640 worse off than when he sent his original car in for its service, he said he felt able to accept the money in order to draw a line under the matter.
“It’s been making me ill this whole thing,” said Mr Childe-Freeman, who served with the RAF Regiment between 1953 and 1975. “It’s gone on for three months now and I just wanted it to end.”
Mary, who is registered disabled, added: “I don’t think the dealership should be able to get away with this. I want people to know how they’ve treated us.”
Mr Childe-Freeman has contacted the Motor Ombudsman about his ordeal and is awaiting a response.
