More than a third of second-hand cars on forecourts in Leicester were found to be unsafe, police have said.
An operation by Leicestershire Police and trading standards officers targeted car sales garages across the city, with trained staff carrying out inspections.
Police said faults ranged from tyre defects to faulty suspensions and excessively tinted windows.
A total of 28 cars were removed from sale by trading standards officers to either be repaired or disposed of.
Consumer protection
Garage owners could face a fine of up to £20,000 per car if the vehicles are not either repaired and pass an MOT test or destroyed.
Leicester Trading Standards manager, John Fox, admitted he was disappointed by the results of the operation.
"Clearly this is a problem that needs addressing with garages in the city," he said.
"I want to remind all used car dealers that it is not acceptable to put unsafe cars on the forecourt.
"Just repairing them at the time of sale is not enough, they must be safe when first advertised.
"We have the power to issue a suspension notice for any unsafe car that is being offered for sale. This power is designed to ensure that unsafe goods are not offered to consumers."
Comments ?
Edited by MikeTorque on 16/05/2008 at 23:57
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>>Garage owners could face a fine of up to £20,000 per car if the vehicles are not either
>>repaired and pass an MOT test or destroyed.
I really don't think that's good enough. I think they should be prosecuted anyway.
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More than a third of second-hand cars on forecourts in Leicester were found to be unsafe police have said.
No probs for me. I don't buy my cars in Leicester ;- D
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Its not unusual for a garage to not MOT a car until its sold. This may account for a higher than expected level of defects.
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>>Just repairing them at the time of sale is not enough, they must be safe when first advertised.
I don't see such a large problem here - as long as the cars are up to scratch when they are sold, what's the problem?
Look at it from the perspective of someone trading in older cars - you would soon begin to make a loss if you improve cars which don't sell for whatever reason, and you then have to make a loss when you put it through auction.
Obviously, if cars which are not safe end up being sold and used by a member of the public, that's a problem which should be sorted, but, while they're on a forecourt, I can't see the harm.
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NC, whilst I see your argument from a financial point of view about improving cars that never sell, how - as others have posted - can you take a customer for a test drive in an unroadworthy car?
That's part of the problem in trading anything. If you do it by the book, you don't make any money - because of the traders who aren't doing it by the book.
Eliminate the ones who don't do it by the book, trade-in values reduce accordingly, and the honest, safe traders can make money.
If Mark NoFM2R were here, he'd point out that the reason most businesses fail is because they don't budget sufficiently for contingencies. This is a perfect example.
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Most car sales involve a test drive in a car without an MOT if the garage always waits until there is a buyer. It wouldn't surprise me if most second hand cars were unroadworthy. Is there another sales industry that allows its customers to risk prosecution or injury when trying out one of their products?
A lot of the MOTs done by dealers are worthless as they invariably take them to a place down the road that lets them through. The one time I bought a second hand car from a dealer it had a catalogue of blatant MOT failures including defective tyres and non functioning lights.
Perhaps second hand car buyers should have an independent MOT done and the selling dealer must rectify all the faults listed FOC if the MOT is done within the first 28 days of ownership? This would hopefully help to weed out the rogue traders that get the dodgy MOTs. There also need to be some better guidance on what condition levels should be expected with each car. I think there needs to be a grading system so that the punter knows what they are buying. Eg an A graded car will have zero faults, everything will work and anything that breaks within the first 12 months is the dealer's problem to fix. B grade cars should be in good condition with only minor faults eg trim defects and minor issues and 6 months for any serious problems (with list available of what is covered and what isn't). C grade cars should be cars in average condition, faults listed that are known about and more emphasis on the buyer to check out the condition of the car fully. D grade cars should be the rubbish left over that should probably go to a scrapper rather than being sold onto a punter ie the old spares/repair taken away on a trailer kind of car.
Too many times dealers tell you the car is fantastic and the moment you have bought it is suddenly a bag of nails and nothing to do with them if anything is wrong.
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Why do I wish bell boy was still with us to give a salty dealer's angle on this?
If you are out there bb, now's your chance to come in like a Tornado fighter with a new handle...
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Im with Nc on this one. While the car is on the forecourt I dont see the problem.
I can understand the point about test driving a car that is unroadworthy; but they are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut here!
Probably 75% or more of the cars on the road are unroadworthy; and thats way more dangerous imo. A car on the forecourt isnt in use!
So when a customer bring s in his used car to trade in (in a normally unroadworthy condition) then why isnt he prosecuted for driving such a vehicle by this council?
And what is unroadworthy? All very (very) subjective!
Selling a car in an unroadworthy condition should be prosecuted heavily. But offering one for sale with an mot and warranty thrown in?
Have they not more important issues to deal with?
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Third of used cars 'unroadworthy'
At least 50% of drivers are 'unroadworthy' as well. It's often easy to fix the car but not so easy to change drivers' habits!
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You can say that again movilogo!
:o}
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More than a third of second-hand cars on forecourts in Leicester were found to be unsafe police have said. A total of 28 cars were removed from sale by trading standards officers to either be repaired or disposed of. Consumer protection
I just wonder if this is just aniother case of Council Tax funded busy bodies having nothing better to do than persecute anybody trying to make a living.
If the two sentences I pulled from the original are to be believed then
either:
There aren't many cars for sale in Liecester. Iif 28 is 'more than a third', then it aint much of a survey.
And if it was a bigger survey and trading standards only pulled 28, then both the police and 'consumer protection busy' bodies have quite happily left a number of unsafe cars up for sale.
See, either the 28 cars were all of the 'unsafe' ones. Or there were more than 28 unsafe ones but they weren't pulled and are still on the forecourt.
A typical press item selectively printing 'facts' to suit the story.
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Teabelly, you must have either been in New Zealand, or studied our system. Dealers here are required by law to grade their offerings with warranties according to the vehicle's age. All vehicles, new or used, must have MoT not more than a month old and seller [ whether dealer or private sale ] is responsible for having the test done. This is not required only if there is a written contract is for "as-is-where-is", such as buying an insurance write-off.
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Damn statistics.
28 cars removed from sale. Is that a third of cars for sale in Leicester?, no, it's a third of cars for sale on iffy forecourts probably.
It's a bit like locally they said a third of cars were un-taxed - what came out later was that they had a spotter who flagged up the cars to stop, so it was just iffy looking cars and drivers who got checked.
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I remember about 10 years ago a friend of mine was looking to buy a s/hand large car. I went along with him for moral support and because I know a little more about cars than he does.
He spotted a Passat that he liked the look of.
The dealer (independent on a street corner) threw him the keys and told him to take it for a drive.
It didn't feel quite right. A throbbing from the front of the car at speed and my friend said the steering felt vague.
When we got back I looked more carefully at the car. There was a HUGE bulge on the inside of one of the front tyres (which were also very low on tread). Also I felt the steering and whole lower column area seemed to be loose, like it had been removed and not fitted back properly. This made my hair stand on end since we had been up to 70mph on a dual carriageway!
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Any used car dealer who made every car he displayed for sale ''roadworthy'' would soon be bankrupt IMO.Cars can sit in stock for months and years sometimes.They may be traded on,they may be ''sold as seen''they may be scrapped,or they may be retailed,in which case they must of course be ''roadworthy''at the time of sale with some sort of warranty.Lets not forget that all these ''unroadworthy''cars were all driven by members of the public before they passed into the motor trade.I have never known any motor dealer make a car ''unroadworthy''and I've known a few.
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Lets not forget that all these ''unroadworthy''cars were all driven by members of the public before they passed into the motor trade.
That's irrelevant. If the car is not roadworthy then the dealer should not allow a test drive. To hand over the keys of an unroadworthy car to a potential purchaser is irresponsible.
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If it runs, doesn't buck and corkscrew like a Bramah bull when the brakes are applied and steers without excessive drama, and if the brake lights work, then it's roadworthy.
What is all this nursery carp for heaven's sake?
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I can't believe some of this.
Apart from an Arthur Daley type outfit selling knackers, I as a customer expect a trader to have higher standards than a private seller, which is why i'd be prepared to pay a Retail price.
I'm never going to buy a car without driving it...so...everything on the forecourt ought to at least be roadworthy and legal.....surely?
Is it the norm for the customer to be held in such contempt that they will be allowed out on the road in a vehicle with known defects and/or things wrong with it that are leaving the driver liable for traffic offences..if so, then our domestic car industry needs to up its' game with customer service.
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I went to buy a car once-car drove OK but all four tyres were very worn;pointed this out to the dealer who swapped them with the car standing next to it.I was OK but who bought the other one?
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