Mercedes restructures dealer network in ireland

goochy · 19-02-2014 9:49pm #1

It has been mentioned b4 on boards about how as merc having an oldie image, their importer and dealer network ( too many dealers selling other brands also) don't help either when it comes to competing with bmw and audi.

It now seems MB irl have taken the franchises off a no. of dealers - including some who have been dealers for long time and were once prominent dealers even b4 celtic tiger .

mc elligotts Tralee - too many other franchises
tim hastings Westport - doesn't need merc dealer in area - should be one in galway city
Michael moore portarlington - once a very good dealer selling new/ used mercs all over country.
denis mahony - Toyota never went well with merc!
annesley Williams - were a very good dealer b4 celtic tiger but haven't been bothered to invest in premises for merc. in recent years.

this means there is currently not merc dealers in the west of Ireland and prosperous north east Dublin

it would make a lot of sense if someone like joe duffys used the former bill Cullen premises in airside for a Mercedes outlet - they couldn't use the duffy name of course as that's associated so much with bmw.

road_high · 19-02-2014 10:03pm

Michael Moore Portarlington is a shocker. I associate him with Merc since childhood around these parts. Also no longer Audi there either. Just VW now so. I guess Laois in particular has been hammered by the reccession with sales probably shot.

Are Sheehys in Carlow still on the books?

mickdw · 19-02-2014 10:04pm

Yes was surprised a couple of months back when I visited tim Hastings that they had no new Mercedes in the showroom only to find them removed from the dealer listings when I checked.
Quite a big hole now in the West. Won't help mercedes fight against bmw and audi in these parts.
Having said that dealers they had were worse than useless. Borderline sniggering at me just cause I was early 30s and enquiring about an e class. More than any other brands, I always seemed to have that experience with mercedes dealers.
I would like to see some proper outlets and better availability and advertising of finance deals etc as really they are not at the races compared to bmw and audi in terms of pushing finance deals

Patrickheg · 19-02-2014 10:23pm

road_high wrote: »

Michael Moore Portarlington is a shocker. I associate him with Merc since childhood around these parts. Also no longer Audi there either. Just VW now so. I guess Laois in particular has been hammered by the reccession with sales probably shot.

Are Sheehys in Carlow still on the books?

He still has Audi, new showroom beside the vw one

Stavros Murphy · 19-02-2014 10:28pm

Patrickheg wrote: »

He still has Audi, new showroom beside the vw one

Surprised at Moores losing Merc, they were a decent Merc dealer tbf. Very good VW dealer too. I always associated them with Mercedes. Any reasons for this "move of wonder" being given?

road_high · 19-02-2014 10:41pm

Patrickheg wrote: »

He still has Audi, new showroom beside the vw one

Is that in Athlone though? I didn't think he had Audi in Portarlington for many years?

patrickc · 19-02-2014 11:44pm

road_high wrote: »

Are Sheehys in Carlow still on the books?

they have mercedes and VW

goochy · 22-02-2014 5:25pm

I would say Michael Moore lost merc to fitzpatricks due to being a bit out of the way to attract buyers new to merc it would have been good if Moore could have bought / leased the showrooms fitzpatricks are using in Kildare town now to sell Mercedes as Moore has a great reputation Anyone know did n conlans lose or give up the BMW main dealer franchise ?

GTE · 22-02-2014 5:48pm

From a servicing point of view, I am not surprised that Michael Moore lost it. Their service department has produced some shockers over the course of the past few years with myself and family. It came to a head recently in bringing a Merc to a dealer in Dublin after an unexpected NCT failure and they couldn't believe it had been main dealer serviced for the years previous at Moores.

Patrickheg · 22-02-2014 8:53pm

bbk wrote: »

From a servicing point of view, I am not surprised that Michael Moore lost it. Their service department has produced some shockers over the course of the past few years with myself and family. It came to a head recently in bringing a Merc to a dealer in Dublin after an unexpected NCT failure and they couldn't believe it had been main dealer serviced for the years previous at Moores.

We have the complete opposite experience to you. Makes you think......

Drummerboy08 · 22-02-2014 9:07pm

goochy wrote: »

I would say Michael Moore lost merc to fitzpatricks due to being a bit out of the way to attract buyers new to merc it would have been good if Moore could have bought / leased the showrooms fitzpatricks are using in Kildare town now to sell Mercedes as Moore has a great reputation Anyone know did n conlans lose or give up the BMW main dealer franchise ?

Conlons still have the franchise in Limerick and gave it up in Kildare to focus on Land rover or so the story goes.

They'll still sell a BMW in kildare via the Limerick branch id imagine.

GTE · 22-02-2014 9:30pm

Patrickheg wrote: »

We have the complete opposite experience to you. Makes you think......

It is definitely a mixed bag of reviews out there. A reason for the quantity of good reviews may come from a lot of their clients not knowing enough about cars and having a level of trust in them. I could see that in the group of people I know who used the place. It was only when things kept getting so expensive that they eventually changed garage instead of heeding my advice of a second opinion at a different main dealer.

When the car went to the other Merc dealer they found a non OEM battery was used which was unsuitable for the car and once it was swapped out for the correct one the electrical issues disappeared. The same electrical problem was originally traced down to an alternator issue by Moores. When that didn't fix it, they blamed the company they use to fix alternators and still tried to charge for swapping them around. The other Merc dealer also said they the tracking doesnt look like it was ever done in the rear, despite what the recepits/service history said. Whatever about an older E-Class rear setup, a special tool is needed to carry out the work. Moores also wanted to swap out a whole steering rack to fix a knocking that a shock mount was causing.

For my car, they gave me back the car with a clean bill of heath with unsafe brake condition. This was so early on in my motoring life that I placed the trust in them. A guy changing my tyres warned me about the brakes. Thankfully that was shortly after I got the car back. Long story short, I contacted Volkswagen Europe and they were not happy with Moore and said to me they were not happy that brakes in the pictured condition were given a year/10,000 mile bill of health.

On another car, and this is only on attention to detail, they didn't replace to broken bulbs on a pre-NCT check. The owner made a big scene and replaced the bulbs themselves in front of the sales department :pac:

Anyway, despite my brake problems and the fact the rear tracking on that E-Class was just within tolerances, most of the issues described would not have always had an effect on an NCT outcome, so from that point of view I would wonder how many similar things happen to people who do place the trust in them but do not have the car know how to test that trust, which is of no fault of those owners.

lomb · 22-02-2014 10:53pm

Its not Moores its individual employees. Someone told me recently they serviced their car with the largest franchised dealer in Northern Ireland recently and marked the oil filter and brake fluid drain with a mark and found after the service they were untouched bar one drain he complained and they told him theyd give him a voucher and refund. He told them he wouldn't be back. Any business relies on its employees and if they are lazy or overworked or underpaid or undersupervised it turns into animal farm.

On another note I notice Sheeys in Naas(they have a Merc franchise in Carlow, VAG in Naas ) have a grey 2013 E220 cdi convertible which they've had on sale now for over 8 months. If I owned the dealership I would be very concerned the car was still there. What are Merc sales like these days?

chuckyarelaw · 26-02-2014 8:07pm

Bought a Merc in Moores last week. Mentioned this to the sales guy. It's no biggie. They still have main dealership in Athlone so getting service and/or cars is no problem.

Can't speak highly enough if them in Moores Portarlington. Superb service and customer care.

Car great too.

Killer K · 18-01-2021 7:56pm

Hi all,

Know this is an old thread but anyone have any experience of Mercedes service with Denis Mahony?

biko · 18-01-2021 8:30pm

Start new thread please.

Mercedes restructures dealer network in ireland

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