Maybe best to keep the Verso and find an independent garage whose labour rates should be cheaper than a main dealer's.

Edited by Avant on 24/04/2015 at 00:52

I'm a firm believer in 'better the devil you know' in these situations. As Avant said, shop around garages for prices on any work you might need doing, if it needs it.

Or, as I once heard someone say: "What do you want another used car for? You've already got one ..."

You can find shoals of statistics telling you which cars are on average the most, or least, reliable. You already have one car, which you may have decided is getting expensive to maintain. But you can only buy a sample of one, which may be a good'un or a not-so-good'un - you probably won't know till you own it.

Basically, no new cars are lemons from the word go - they are all 90% or more reliable. Some last better than others, which is why they get cheap quite quickly. In the end all you can do is buy carefully, making sure the car does what you are looking for, and all important documentation is in place. After that you are on your own. With care and a bit of good fortune it will be OK.

Avoid anything with turbo(s), any three capital letter combinations (e.g. DSG, DPF) and anthing requiring the fuel of satan.