Why the hell do they do it??

[XmisterIS]

My mum is out to buy a new car, she found what seemed liked a good deal on the internet, sold by a local trade dealer (not private). I told her to check the vehicle out on the internet ... it turns out that [a] he's lied about the number of owners (3 not 1) and the car's been clocked.

Naturally, the low-life scumbag will be reported to the Police and DVLA.

Why does this human dog-turd do that? It just makes me incredibly angry that he and his ilk are willing to screw an old woman out of money by plain deception, without batting an eyelid and without caring. And they think they're not going to get caught, what with the advent of instant car-checking technology on the internet??

She would have bought it as well, if I had not said, "hold on a second!!". He is lucky I was not there, or I would have been hard pressed to restrain myself from getting the fat slug up against the wall by the throat.

The man is lower than the belly of a snake.

 

[biggs682]

trading standards will be interested as well .

because they can make some extra money

 

[asterix]

You've not heard about car dealers!?

Even the main dealers know the tricks. When I test drove our car it was fine but just after delivery we discovered the battery was dud and it wouldn't start the car in cold weather. Not covered by warranty. Got my own back by claiming under warranty for the screen washer that failed altho they kept me waiting in the showroom for an hour or two whilst it was done. If they'd told me I'd have left it with them.

Previous dealer got miffed when we paid cash rather than gift him commission on a loan. The car had bits missing when we got it (under engine and arch seals) and I had to take it back for them to be fitted. (It'd only done 18k miles).

Used cars and car dealers - don't trust any of 'em.

 

[ufkacbln]

You've not heard about car dealers!?

Even the main dealers know the tricks. When I test drove our car it was fine but just after delivery we discovered the battery was dud and it wouldn't start the car in cold weather. Not covered by warranty. Got my own back by claiming under warranty for the screen washer that failed altho they kept me waiting in the showroom for an hour or two whilst it was done. If they'd told me I'd have left it with them.

Previous dealer got miffed when we paid cash rather than gift him commission on a loan. The car had bits missing when we got it (under engine and arch seals) and I had to take it back for them to be fitted. (It'd only done 18k miles).

Used cars and car dealers - don't trust any of 'em.

We bought a "pre reg" car as it was a significant saving, only had 10 miles on the clock and was supposed to be registered to us immediately. After a lot of correspondence asking for the documentation it eventually arrived with teh car registered 3 months after we were told it would be.

Turns out it wasn't a "pre reg", but a demo and they shouldn't have sold it to us at all, or their are financial penalties.

We are awaiting a reply from DVLA about reverting the date to the original purchase

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I would not trust anybody selling a car I learned the hard way. I bought a car that I foolishly never did a HPI check on. I grew concerned when I noticed that the airbag dash light was not working. I researched the car on the internet and took the rear seat bench out to find that the airbag/seatbelt pre-tensioner ECU had been removed. I then HPI'd the car to find out it was had been written off and repaired. I wrote a letter to the car trader and informed trading standards that the car was unsafe and not sold explaining these faults. The car trader phoned me up and threatened me with physical violence. He would also phone me at work giving me abuse then putting the phone down. In the end he offered to repair the car, but I did not trust the scumbag as far as I could throw him, so I returned the car minus a very large admin fee. I lost about £800 in the space of just over a week, but it was worth it not to be stuck with a worthless death trap. Out of curiosity I looked on the net a week later and the scum bag was selling the exact same car with no mention of it being written off or anything. Trading standards said that they had the odd complaint about the dealer but nothing excessive, probably customers were too scared. It was an expensive lesson for me but it taught me 2 things, never ever buy a car without doing your own HPI check, and I will personally never ever buy from a car trader again in my life. There is just not enough protection for car buyers, but I would imagine that it is far to hard to police that is why there are far too many shady people involved in the trade. Car traders can sell written off repaired cars at full price, the better ones will mention it in the advert and the car will be priced to reflect this, I do not know why at least this should be law to be declared when selling a car.

 

[Globalti]

Car traders will stitch up their own families as well.... a housemate of mine bought a Fiesta for £700 off his brother (who had three driving licences, one in the name of his cat) and apart from having been resprayed in a horrible orange colour it looked tidy, until my friend asked me to help him fit a stereo. It was when we pulled up the carpets that we discovered the welds and realised it was two Fiestas stuck together.

 

[yello]

It just makes me incredibly angry that he and his ilk are willing to screw an old woman out of money by plain deception, without batting an eyelid and without caring.

I'm with you there. I know I'm naive but I do find it deplorable that people can knowingly do such a thing. Be they a used car salesman or otherwise.

 

[Vigilies]

Re Cheesney Hawkes (above) Why did you have to pay an admin fee? As far as I understand consumer law if you are rejecting the car for the reasons you stated you would be entitled to a full refund. You may be able to claim this money back.

 

[ufkacbln]

The car trader phoned me up and threatened me with physical violence. He would also phone me at work giving me abuse then putting the phone down.

Friend of ours actually ended up with the Police after a similar situation and an elderly relative.

Turned out that the guy doing the threatening was well known and the threatening be haviour breached the terms of a probation order he was serving.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Used cars and car dealers - don't trust any of 'em.

How else are you going to buy a car? Don't let a bad experience cloud your judgement against all car dealers, we're not all like that you know

PS: I actually work in parts, but I have to defend the industry I work in from sweeping generalisations, I'm sure you'd do the same

 

[ASC1951]

How else are you going to buy a car? Don't let a bad experience cloud your judgement against all car dealers, we're not all like that you know

Quite right. Over the years I have bought a dozen second hand cars from a Moggie 1000 for £75 to a Merc Estate at an auction and I have only been cheated once, by a dealer in London. He sold me a clocked vehicle and in fairness it was perfectly possible that it had been clocked by the "private" seller he got it from. All the others have been solid, reliable and genuine.

 

[mightyquin]

Caveat emptor!

The alternative to buying from a dealer is to buy privately, but then you have much less come back. Dealers have legal obligations which private sellers don't (although a genuine private seller is I guess less likely to try and stitch someone up, who might then hassle them and knows where they live!). Franchised dealers are better, they will be financially stronger (i.e. more likely to pay up if you go legal) and because if something does go wrong you can always complain to the company they represent as well.

Apart from giving a secondhand car a thorough check (or getting someone who knows about cars to view it for you) you should always check the paperwork, service history if there is one, etc., before committing. Where did the last seller live, how long did they have the car for etc., does the service history tally with the mileage on the clock?

Another good check is to note down the name & address of the last owner and then call them (assuming you can get their telephone number). I've done this a few times.

Apart from a couple of minor niggles I've not had any big problems buying from dealers. In fact the last one, a small 'back street' type of place which I'd usually avoid, sold me an excellent car, and had it looking like new when I went to pick it up.

The dealers to avoid at all costs are the guys selling cars as a sideline, pretending to be private sellers. A good ploy when phoning up about a car being sold privately is to say you're phoning "about the car for sale". If they ask which one then leave it. I also trust my instinct, if I don't like the person selling, then I don't buy.

 

[Archie_tect]

A company I worked for years ago sold their Fiesta office pool car privately for £300 [the one the young technician thrashed within an inch of it's life which had been resprayed after a rear end shunt]. It was only 3 years old but had done 129,000 miles. We got a phone call about 2 months later from someone asking about it. He had just bought it from a back street dealer for £800 but became suspicious when things seemed a bit more worn than he expected. He asked had it only done 29000 miles...

 

[PaulB]

Dodgy car salesman; the perfect apprenticeship for politicians.

 

[tarquin1234]

It's all good complaining about dodgy second hand cars, but then when we wanna get rid of that car that requires a £1000 repair we all just wax and buff the exterior and fool the next man in to buying it full price! This is how to world goes round.