Ok guys here goes.......

Took my car into Abarth for a knocking noise front end, due to the mileage I drive on a weekly basis was advised to have the car taken of the road. Lower link arm not in a healthy condition (due to speed bumps and pot holes we think) anyway dropped the car off one Saturday and Ian took it from me. I then had many of telephone conversations as there was no hire car available for me. Anyway cut a long long story short ended up getting in contact with Abarth UK in Italy I must add phone calls not cheap. ABARTH Italy sorted me a courtesy car out 4 days later.

I then proceeded to wait nearly 5 weeks for this new part to be delivered to Research. (Not research's fault). Finally get the call to pick my car up :-) and on arrival at the garage was given a handover of my car to be told that a dent was in my rear quarter panel which was NOT there when I dropped the car off!!!!

As you can imagine I was absolutely distraught to which Gary was absolutely great and after a bit of you pay 50% and we will pay 50% argument that I didn't even damage the car so I wasn't paying for nothing. They decided to honour the fact that it may have been done on site.

Anyway Abarth UK gave me a FOC service for my wait on the part and research were going to use a paintless dent removal on my car so I would only lose my car for 1 day. Well this turned into 2 weeks due to the fact the dent was worse than initially thought. Finally get the call to collect my car to have really bad masking marks down the crease of the door up the window screen and along the rain rail where their body shop hadn't sprayed it back or even tidied it up properly, the mats and seats were full of dust. We returned to research to find out that Gary had been made redundant and was no longer there and that Joe was dealing with it from here onwards. So lost my car for a further 2 days in which it was again meant to be sorted. The car was immaculatly clean on collection but still not impressed with the paint job.

And so tomorrow is another call to Research to see how the hell we get this resolved !

I have never ever had a problem with Research to this point and they are a great dealership with great people I just want my car put back to the way it was when I brought it :-/

Just want to say a public thank you to Ian and his team at Research this afternoon. Was in Nuneaton when I closed my door with the window 1/4 down and the glass falls in to the door. I Research was on my way home to Cov anyway I thought I'd pop in on the off chance someone could help! Didn't really fancy driving it any further and didn't want to leave my car with the window down with obvious reasons! I tried holding the glass up myself and seeing if it would re-sit it's self but it didn't.

Popped in and spoke to the receptionist and Ian who went looking for a mechanic - they normally finish at 12 (it was about half 12 I think) and luckily there was one still on site finishing off another job. He agreed to stay and take a look, which is above and beyond! He showed me what part had broken, the little cupping plastic that holds the glass in place, one side had snapped off and was in the bottom of the door. I was there for another hour or so whilst they fixed it (again above and beyond and technically the service centre was closed) and I managed to drive away with a fully working window!

Excellent service again from Research Abarth and I have felt very looked after!

Got my OS wheel bearing sorted this week, after having it inspected last Friday. Parts covered under warranty, just a shame the inspection fee wasn't!

Quick and polite service as per usual over e-mail with Ian and over the phone / in person with John.

Valeted the car when I picked it up as well which was a nice surprise, and was there or there abouts with the estimated time it would take to complete the job so all smiles from me

Well where do i start...
what a breath of fresh air research garage is.

Issue: i was unsure if my monza valve was sticking.

I Had a phone conversation with john i explained i didn't have much confidence with taking it to platts for them to check it so i wanted to try research and over the phone john seemed very knowledgable but suggested popping in so they could have a look. Obviously i couldn't just pop in as its not local but he said they would get it on the ramps and have a look at to see if the monza valve was faulty and wouldn't charge me for the inspection. I was advised by john to go in at 830 so we could be seen quick before the mechanics started to work on other jobs reducing the chance of me waiting ages which was a fair comment but i said i would pop in later when i could and i would be happy to wait.I got there for just after 10 expecting to wait but when i got there i was promptly seen by Gavin. John was there but i didn't get much of a chance to speak to him for long.As soon as i said my name to Gavin he knew what i was in for which was great.He explained what they would do and told me they would keep me up to date.I was expecting to wait in a que but no that wasnt the case, within 5 minutes or so gavin took the keys, spoke to simon the mechanic, went for a test drive and then took it on the ramps.

They Result was the Monza valve was moving fine
(they showed me how freely it should move and i can confirm it did seeze shut after 4 days before it got unstuck) but so far its fine.

Gavin introduced me to simon.
Simon the mechanic was very knowledgeble,friendly and down to earth and more importantly seemed to know what he was talking about aswell as enthusiastic.They got me to have a look under the car which was great and at no point did i feel rushed.They answered all the questions and clearly too.Gavin stood on the side listening in instead of running off which was nice and i felt like a valued customer.I wasn't expecting much because at the end of the day i got the monza from platts. Research inspected it and took their own time and expense to help me at no charge.Even from the phone john seemed to want to help me and want my business returning my phone calls and trying  very hard to find out information and tried to explain things over the phone.

The overall experience was smooth, full of knowledgable people and a very good vibe and i felt like a valued customer and i came out walking happy.

I really thought i would just go in and then get told "ye thats ok"cya sort of attidude but no.Simon showed me how the monza worked and gave me tips on how to know if its stopped working etc.

Simon, Gavin and john are a credit to the company.I have decided i will take the car in for future servcing to research.I think they are maby more expensive but based on today's experience i would be more than happy to pay the extra but the difference between research and Platts are night and day.

I was going to buy some new  wipers from halfords at some point but i was that impressed i bought the wipers from research today even though they was around £10 more but i felt it was worth it as i was that impressed with the overall experience today.I look forward to taking the car in next year for its service.

A1 research keep up the excellent work guys.

So having placed my order for a new 595 Competzione back in May, I finally got to pick the little beast up on Friday there. The drive down to the dealership wasn't a bad one and easy enough to find, my satnav took me right to the doorstep of Research. Parked the Punto up, emptied the car out and had a little look around, without spotting my car I headed into the dealership which was shared by Alfa Romeo, not Fiat which was a nice touch

Before anyone could get near me to help, I clocked a Biposto sitting proudly in the showroom and made a route straight to it. This was the first I had actually seen in the flesh and boy did it look menacing. Upon observation I realised this was a new Biposto, fully spec'd and not the standard one I had first inquired about purchasing. The thing was stunning... Was thinking I wouldn't have minded one of these after all! 







While looking at the Biposto Phillip was the first to come introduce himself, he dealt with the final part of my car delivery and was in on his day off just to greet me and handover the keys which was a nice gesture!AI drink was sorted out for myself and we dealt with all the documents etc, this gave me a chance to have a look around the showroom also which I have to say is very nice (take note AC) It had all the Abarth photo's and signs plastered around the dealership, along with the fancy abarth racing computer seats, it wasn't mixed with a Fiat dealership like I am used to and really had a touch of class to it, adding to the occasion. Oliver also came over and introduced himself who sold me my car, we chatted for a bit before the 3 of us went back outside to view my 595.

The car was waiting at the exit for me and looked stunning. Everything about the car was perfect, I checked the paintwork etc thoroughly which I think Oliver and Phillip expected and prepared for, hence the car being immaculate haha! They also managed to source and fit the yellow center caps I requested to my car to match my yellow brembo's instead of the red that came with my wheels, a very nice touch from them.

While Phillip showed me all the added touches and how the buttons and dash worked within the 595, I was also invited back by Oliver and offered a hotel room on the 27th of Sept for a track day at Rockingham in the 2 Biposto's they have in stock, that was the icing on the cake for me and now look forward to heading back down for that 

Overall, the experience was about as good as I could have expected, if not better! Having dealt with AC previously for all my car purchases, this was on a different level to how I was dealt by with AC (Which wasn't bad on the sales side). I was regularly updated via email about the status of my car, sent photos of it when it was delivered to the dealership and just dealt with really well, everything was smooth and efficient and the guys at Research seemed to always go that extra bit for you at every possibility. I am over the moon with the whole experience and look forward to dealing with them in the future no doubt with the future release of the 124 Spyder 

So here is the car as picked up at the dealership and also a few of it when I stopped off at a service station on the way home, I have photo's to go up next of its first detail which was done on Saturday















So again, a massive thank you to Oliver and Phillip for making the Abarth purchase a very nice experience and also going that extra mile with regards to my p/x and the overall deal I got, the center caps I asked for, discounts on Gap insurance and also the added track day and hotel for the night (Really looking forward to this one ) I really can't recommend the guys at Research enough as they were genuinely fantastic, they clearly had an enthusiasm for the Abarth cars themselves and that's the main thing.

ps. I got home safe and sound Alan thank you The M6 was a bit of a nightmare on the way home mind
When did you pick your car up from Research?