Priory Automotive Avis 

I was treated courteously and efficiently throughout the whole process, which was fully explained to me at each stage. The car arrived on time and in such good condition, both inside and out, that I found it hard to believe it was not brand new. I can thoroughly recommend Priory Automotive for their excellent service. Six months later the car continues to please!

Very polite, helpful service. Found the car I wanted very quickly and delivered as agreed.

Excellent service from start to finish, would highly recommend, the whole process was seamless and communication at each stage was first class

I have bought three cars from Priory automotive over the years, and that should be enough to underline my high opinion of them. In each case the service has been impeccable and the vehicles have been exactly as stated, the purchase process fuss-free, and delivery was on time and with an 'as new' feel. There is an element of 'caveat emptor' about this: you do need to be absolutely clear about what it is you are looking for, and how much scope there is for variations on your 'perfect' specification. Once they know, Priory Automotive are good at sourcing the right vehicle, but they can't read your mind! And you don't get to see the car or road test it until it is delivered. That is a business model that is based on trust. If that works for you, as it has done for me, then you will be well satisfied.

Great help and advice in choosing a car that best suited our needs. Excellent service all round.

Have bought two cars from Priory (most recent July 2018) and on both occasions received excellent service. Good advice, no pressure and speedy delivery. Will use them again when I need to upgrade my current car.

We’re writing this because we checked for reviews before we bought from Priory but didn’t find much – we used them on the recommendation of a friend who had gone with them a few years ago. We knew we were paying above market price but were willing to do so because we needed a reliable car promptly and part of the deal was a 15-month warranty.
Our contact was a good, friendly salesman, “M”. Unfortunately our experience of M changed after purchase of the car.
There are 3 issues we’ll mention.
1. When we looked at the service history booklet, there were lots of dates missing and it did not make sense. We wrote to M for help, without success. We then phoned and he was cross and defensive until he looked at the attachments we had emailed and saw the errors – he then checked his VW database and told us what to correct/write in. No big deal but not pleasant.
2. An ABS warning light came on. Our two local garages would not deal with Priory’s warranty company so the company suggested two other garages in south Birmingham instead. They did the repair for £150+ but the warranty company refused to cover it as the problem was a sensor, which was in their exclusions. We’d only seen the exclusions when the car was delivered – several days after we had paid for it. (NB The bill was also more than our local garage would have charged).
We phoned M. He later phoned us back and said the warranty company would agree to pay half. When we replied that we thought the whole repair should be covered, he said that that we should have expected lots of exclusions in the paperwork as this is normal (NB The same garage did an RAC warranty repair on a sensor the same day, which was covered); if we did not like the warranty paperwork when it was delivered, we should have sent the car back to Sheffield and asked for our money back; that a warranty was not the same as a guarantee (we didn't understand this point); that the warranty was free – we had paid for the car, not the warranty (ditto); and that next we would be asking him to replace everything, even tyres. We sent M the invoice and chased nearly a month later. He then got the warranty company to send a cheque for half the bill.
3. When the car was delivered it was clear the previous owner had kept a dog. The smell went after a few weeks but we would have liked to have known about this before it was delivered – one of us is mildly asthmatic and did not want to travel in the car to begin with.
So, all in all, we would recommend that if you use Priory, you ask for full details of the warranty up-front, you don’t expect much in the way of after-care apart from the warranty, and that you ask questions about the car and the previous use if this could be an issue for you. There are worse dealers out there, but next time we will try to find one who charges less or provides better after-service.