To avoid naming and shaming I won't specify the region I live in or the particular car I was looking for, but let's just say I've been looking out for a certain diesel warm hatch for a few weeks now. With bank loan finalised and cash burning a hole in my bank account, I spotted a promising example at a car hypermarket (not a HJ advertiser I might add) some 30 miles down the road and thought I would go and take a look.
The price was competitive, but not exceptionally low. The car was just out of warranty with 50K on the clock. All started well - I phoned up to check the car was still available - it was, the sales manager offered to move it round the front in case I should want a test drive.
On arrival the car still looked promising. The exterior condition wasn?t brilliant, but it was consistent with age/mileage and the few minor scratches and chips could probably have been put up with. It has FSH and ?a full RAC inspection? which the salesman assured me was ?extremely thorough? and had come out "completely clear".
Off we went on a test drive. The predefined route was only around the block (no roads faster than 30) but it was obvious that something wasn't right. This is not the most refined car at the best of times, (I'd already driven several) but this one sounded very, very rough - the engine boomed and rattled and in a very conspicuous way. The clutch was heavy, the gear change notchy and upon driving back into the hypermarket I noted an odd sound from the front suspension.
By this point I obviously wasn't going to buy, so I told the salesman of my concerns and began my usual exit strategy. Not so fast - he went inside to fetch that RAC report - if anything were genuinely wrong, they would have picked it up. Stupidly, I indulged him.
That suspension problem must be - "nearside droplink worn". Hardly serious, except the noise I was hearing (and able to reproduce by lightly leaning slightly on the corner of the car) was on the offside! At this point, salesman handed me the RAC report, which also noted "engine management light on". "What did you do to rectify that?" I asked. "We've sorted that", came the reply. "How?" "if anything was wrong it would have been sorted. If you put a deposit down today, everything else will be sorted by the time you collect the car".
I wondered out loud why everything couldn't be 'sorted' before I put a deposit on the car (big mistake): "Look mate, at the end of the day it's a business - we're not gong to spend thousands on a car if no one's going to buy it - we'll just end up putting it through auction."
At that point, I did what I should've done 10 minutes earlier and headed rapidly for the exit. This point of reciting this story is not to denigrate all car supermarkets, merely to remind anyone who is perhaps not mechanically minded that it is perfectly possible to pick up a bag of spanners from a supposedly reputable dealer, RAC inspected or not. I wouldn?t want to be the one testing if their after sales service was as convincing as their salesmanship.
|
I suppose, from a business point of view, the salesman had a valid point. I was surprised that Mercedes Benz Direct was just like this - any work needed on the car was done after you'd committed to buy it. On the 5mth old car I bought, that was nothing more that touching up stonechips, but they didn't even do that properly, and missed several.
However I certainly would avoid anything with an engine managment light issue - I had that on a previous company car and it was never right in the last 18mths I drove it.
|
Worth bearing in mind that at any car sales site they are unlikely to even mot a car until it is sold so any test drive is on a potentially poor (or even dangerous) car. Certainly they may put right any issues you may raise, but only on the basis of a sale ?
As for inspections they are not as thorough (often) as you may believe, and if that site uses a particular inspection service for their sales they might not be too keen on failing too many cars (biting the hand that feeds etc).
If you are using an inspection for a condition of the car, it is better to arrange for your own inspection service? Far better to use a family owned car sales site than a multiple to avoid this sort of problem (imo). They are more interested in their reputation than in the bonus per car they sell?
|
|
I certainly have an instinct to trust my servicing business, such as it is, to a family run firm. I have had good service from garages (A Member of the ?????? Group) who have 25 franchises in Bedford/Cambridgeshire. I prefer to give a chance to any local frim which is run by a family of the same name and all the key staff are close relatives and/or in-laws. Their livelihood may depend on running good sales and after-sales service ie they have an incentive to be good!
|
I agree as far as minor defects / stone chips go, in fact the car I have put a deposit on (went with a franchise in the end) is currently undergoing exactly this treatment during the next week. I still don't think it's realistic for a dealer to expect anyone to commit to buy a car with engine/suspension issues which could have implications on safety and/or reliability. IMO If they're not prepared to fix it they should put it through auction, not advertise it to punters at full retail price - perhaps I am being a bit idealistic!
I certainly agree regarding servicing - I use a local, family owned specialist for my car.
|
|
I once test drove a 1.7 could have been a 1.6 TDCi Ford fiesta at a big car hypermarket and while on the test drive around the bloke i noticed that it pulled to the left, Clutch would just bite not a gradual thing if you know what i mean and the engine ran pritty eratic. I was given the line what could i do so you could drive the car away today and even though i had told them of the defects i had noticed they still wanted me to sign on the dotted line and drive the car away within a hour plus the p/x was rubbish on the car i had. No doubt i told them where to go after they would not listen. Anyone who is not mechanically minded please take someone who is to these car hypermarket.
|
I have checked over a fair number of cars at hypermarkets and to be fair the motors are usually in pretty good condition. Most of the hypermarkets are set up to turn over a lot of nearly-new low-mileage cars that require minimal work- they're not so good on the higher mileage cars that need more prep.
It is normal practise with many dealers to carry out rectification work only after a buyer has been found. The reason is that a car may not find a buyer within a reasonable space of time and the dealer will want to put the car back into the auction - he'd then lose any money spent on rectification. Obviously dealers try to buy cars that don't need any work - but may occasionally slip up and buy something that requires extensive work - in which case they may still try to palm it off on an unsuspecting punter. Its the same as its always been with used cars - don't believe a word the salesman tells you (he probably knows less about car mechanics than you do) and 'buyer beware'.
|
|
I think that echoes the comments about using family type places where their reputation is more important than their bonus and are more likely to be honest about the car ?
|
i think that aprilias answer is so spot on even down to the "smarmy man" at your local auctions buying everything up with a "i know my job better than you attitude" and then seeing the same cars a few months later coming back through but glistening.
This job will never change ,if everyone knew about cars then we would all go down the auctions ,the main thing is if something doesnt feel right then it usually isnt........ so 10/10 to brommers for running away
We all buy lemons ive got 5 at the moment but i wouldnt try and retail them thats what auctions are for at the end of the day removing the pain and allowing you to move on to worse tragedies .......
|
|
|
