New Jeep - Western Motors vs Al Futtaim

Waldemar · Post by **Waldemar** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 10:18 pm

Hi All,

Which company do you recommend to buy a new Jeep Wrangler from, Western Motors or Al Futtaim.
I know that both are selling exactly the same cars, prices, warranty and options will vary.

Main questions is about service, which dealer has a better service.

In the above context I want to share my Experience with Al Futtaim Toyota Service and Repair Workshop.
Recently sold a Toyota that was serviced in AUH, I was happy with the car, but the service and accident repair workshop was tragic.
It was so bad that I am never going to consider buying any Toyota in AUH, and probably UAE.
In AUH, the service is actually just changing oil and refilling wiper fluid while charging 1200 AED.
2 days after major 50k Service my buyer took the car for a checkup in one of the Musaffach services.
They found few issues with the car, including an engine error in the computer.

The Workshop is even worse. I had a minor accident, bumper had to be change to new and few parts had to be painted as they were scratched. I went there 3 times to pick up the car and every time I had complains. Body part's weren't matching and not all elements were painted. For no good to me reason they changed on of the fenders and to a new one and repainted, unfortunately only from the outside, and this was revealed during the pre sale inspection.
Additionally there was one part of the chassis that was bent, but wasn't change as part of the repair as it woudl probably be too much work for them. (Insurance covered everything anyway)

I am happy that I've sold the car as this allows me to move forward, but I am so much, much more happier that i will not have to deal with those people (censored) ever again.

Anyway on this context, what is your experience with Service and Workshop with Western Motors vs Al Futtaim.

Thansk,
Waldemar

scotchyl · Post by **scotchyl** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 10:42 pm

The service centre on airport road is first rate and I can recommend the guys there. Service, parts and also any easy mods I did to my car were done using instructions from manufacturer and never had any complaints. I occasionally drop in to ask a favour to look at something and they always see how they can accommodate me. As for musafah I would prefer not to say, it has been tragic.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalkbp

Tavo · Post by **Tavo** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 11:41 pm

I'd say Western Motors, i bought 2 jeeps from their and i couldn't be happier. When it comes to cars, it a long term commitment for me so i made sure i know every single person in the showroom who were extremely friendly, so whenever i get into service issues, i know who to call for favors. If you need any help please let me know, i go to visit them regularly for some chitchat and coffee, as i said, long term

Good luck

K84 · Post by **K84** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:25 am

In my opinion, WM service is not that good.

Scorpionita · Post by **Scorpionita** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 11:25 am

Dear Waldemar

If you are looking for Quality in all aspects (price, service and etc.) then sure you are going to WM.

Thanks

Rahman · Post by **Rahman** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:31 pm

Waldemar

I used to have a Jeep before and now i'm having a Prado. Having dealt with Al Futtaim for Toyota and WM for Jeep, i would say WM is really good when dealing with customers. Al futtaim really needs to work on their customer care part.

Kalahari · Post by **Kalahari** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:35 pm

Hi

I purchased my Jeep from Trading Enterprise in Dubai as that is where I am based and i was still very new to AD4x4

The service at the Sheikh Zayed Road was generally good, however, a lot depends on the service advisor - Sarabjeet ended up being the best. The parts manager is excellent and really went out of the way to sort out the accessories I wanted to fit. I never had issues with the accessories that were fitted by Ramy, so I can't answer any warranty claim questions.

Having said all of the above, Abu Dhabi 4x4 has a very special relationship with WM that has been established over many years. As a result, I personally believe that they will really go out of their way to assist and resolve any queries. They also appear to be well versed in the typical modifications that we do with our jeeps. A number of their employee's are members of AD4x4, so they are part of us and we are part of them.

If I was to purchase another Jeep - I would buy from them.

After owning many cars, the service experience depends on the workshop manager and the culture that is created - you should always build a strong relationship with the service manager.

Hani AMJ · Post by **Hani AMJ** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 2:20 am

Kalahari wrote:Hi

Having said all of the above, Abu Dhabi 4x4 has a very special relationship with WM that has been established over many years. As a result, I personally believe that they will really go out of their way to assist and resolve any queries. They also appear to be well versed in the typical modifications that we do with our jeeps. A number of their employee's are members of AD4x4, so they are part of us and we are part of them.

If I was to purchase another Jeep - I would buy from them.

I agree. I believe 90% of jeep owners in AD4x4 will agree as well.

futureshock999 · Post by **futureshock999** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 3:53 am

I cannot IMAGINE having to buy another vehicle from Al FU-ttaim. Firstly, I believe they sold me an FJ that had been sitting in the showroom as "new", which I could never prove entirely, but I have good grounds to believe...things like missing decals, the radio being totally programmed with local stations for Dubai, and the fact that the only TRD on display happened to be white, and missing off the showroom the day before I picked mine up! They have denied this extensively...but the coincidence is too much.

Secondly, the sales experience was rushed, the handover to me terrible (I left the stealership barely knowing anything about what anything did in the cockpit).

Lastly, my service experience with them has been SO negative I was forced to post a complaint on the Al Futtaim Toyota Facebook page...it's still there last I looked, and I still get a lot of "likes" for my scathing review. They did not properly deal with my complaint of an alignment issue when I had 10k service, preferring to "adjust the steering wheel centre" rather than perform an alignment, and as a result I needed two new fronts at 20k. For TWO new fronts, which were THEIR fault, they demanded that I pay them 2400 AED!! That happens to be 200 dirhams less than the price of 5 new Yokohama Geolanders for those rims! I went round and round with the service manager, the exec for customer service, you name it. Finally they "took off" 400 AED...and I decided to buy Coopers for my baby instead of paying Al FU-ttaim any more money.

I love my Toyota, and don't regret purchasing an FJ. But for the life of me, I wish there was another STEALERship than Al FU-ttaim Motors...

Ancient Mariner · Post by **Ancient Mariner** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 2:55 pm

futureshock999 wrote:I cannot IMAGINE having to buy another vehicle from Al FU-ttaim. Firstly, I believe they sold me an FJ that had been sitting in the showroom as "new", which I could never prove entirely, but I have good grounds to believe...things like missing decals, the radio being totally programmed with local stations for Dubai, and the fact that the only TRD on display happened to be white, and missing off the showroom the day before I picked mine up! They have denied this extensively...but the coincidence is too much.

Secondly, the sales experience was rushed, the handover to me terrible (I left the stealership barely knowing anything about what anything did in the cockpit).

Lastly, my service experience with them has been SO negative I was forced to post a complaint on the Al Futtaim Toyota Facebook page...it's still there last I looked, and I still get a lot of "likes" for my scathing review. They did not properly deal with my complaint of an alignment issue when I had 10k service, preferring to "adjust the steering wheel centre" rather than perform an alignment, and as a result I needed two new fronts at 20k. For TWO new fronts, which were THEIR fault, they demanded that I pay them 2400 AED!! That happens to be 200 dirhams less than the price of 5 new Yokohama Geolanders for those rims! I went round and round with the service manager, the exec for customer service, you name it. Finally they "took off" 400 AED...and I decided to buy Coopers for my baby instead of paying Al FU-ttaim any more money.

I love my Toyota, and don't regret purchasing an FJ. But for the life of me, I wish there was another STEALERship than Al FU-ttaim Motors...

Hmmm...You were not impressed then

Waldemar · Post by **Waldemar** » Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:33 pm

Hi All,
Thanks a lot for all your replies.
futureshock999 I am really sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience. Unfortunately this just confirms my experience. Every visit in Al Futtaim Toyota had to be followed by another 2-3 visits with complains.

It looks like I will be buying my Jeep from Al Futtaim. I want to get a JKU Sport in Manual.
WM doesn't have any in stock and they aren't planing to order any in 2016. Only JK in manual will be ordered.
Ordering a JKU just for me will take 3-4 months to ship.

During last 2 months I've visited the AL Futtaim JEEP showroom few times asking for manual JKU. They've told me that there is no stock and new will come mid December. Last week I've called the call centre to check when new stock is coming and was told that they will not order manual JKUs in 2016, but they have 3 JKU manual from 2015. Excited I went to the show room on Saturday to have a look at them, and again in the show room I was told that there are no manual JKUs available.

This just shows how professional al Futtaim is again. I think those JKUs are in stock as I received an email from sales dude with a copy/paste from their system, I just don't understand why guys from showroom don't want to sell them.

Currently I am waiting till mid December/early Jan, I am expecting to get those 3 that are in stock with a discount.

Thanks,
W

Ancient Mariner · Post by **Ancient Mariner** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:14 am

Al Futtaim at Festival City or SZR?

I had really good experience with Derrick Farrao at the Festival City branch and total indifference at the SZR branch. I met Derrick at the motor show and he has been transferred to the SZR branch now. I think it must depend entirely on the individual salesman. Maybe I was just lucky! I must have been a PITA customer as I took 2 months over my decision to buy but he was neither pushy nor discourteous.

Martin

Phoenix Rising · Post by **Phoenix Rising** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 12:18 pm

Waldemar,

I have experience with both TE and WM for Jeeps, having bought 2 Jeeps from TE and 2 Jeeps from WM. I first bought a Grand Cherokee in 2011 from SZR. At the time they were OK, and Service at TE was OK. As someone else mentioned, I used Sarabjeet as the other 'advisors' were very poor and had little knowledge of the vehicle. Last year I bought a JKU Manual, this time from Festival City, Mohammad Akash was the salesman. He is a Jeeper as well which helps. At the time I had just moved to Abu Dhabi and TE are (were?) the only stockists of manual unlimited. I unfortunately had an accident earlier this year which wrote off the 2014 JKU, and was looking to buy another Manual. Nil stock and Nil due for months. I opted to buy from WM as it was more convenient for me, and took delivery of a 2015 JKU Auto in October. I have to say that it is as good, if not better than the manual!! As we have a special relationship with WM through the Club, I would definitely recommend buying from them. I have since bought a new Grand Cherokee as well, and have not regretted it at all. At the end of the day, go with what you feel best, but there are many Jeepers who use WM and only WM! I can talk to you about it if you want - as we are neighbours almost in Al Reef!!

Good luck.

:ad4x4: