Have been thinking about this for a while, when someone rejects their new car beacuse its faulty etc, what then happens to the car? Does the deal fix it up and sell it on as a used car to someone none the wiser anything was ever wrong with it?
Cheers.
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A few years ago around 1997, Rover were doing a 30 day money back no quibble advertisement. I was tempted to buy a new shape Rover 214 Si.
After a few days, I noticed it was leaking around the windscreen so I took it back, They arranged for their service dept to have a look at it and the verdict was to take the windscreen out, re seal and put it back. I said no way, you can have the car back and I'll take my money back too.
The senior salesman stepped in and said don't worry, we wont do that. So they looked at it again and decided a few 'bungs' hadn't been fitted. To say I was sceptical was an understatement.
Anyway, a few days later it rained again and I found water in the car. I took it straight back and sai I wanted my money back under the terms of the 30 day arrangement.
The sales man said ok. He told me the car would be returned to Rover and dismantled to find the cause of the problem etc.
About 2 months later, I got a call from a woman in Bristol (Im in Lancashire) asking if I was the previous owner of the car. I asked why? She said she had bought the 214 which had been described as a demonstrator off a local Rover dealer but when she got the docs, I was registered owner.
So, I don't think they do anything with them except sell them on to any unsuspecting poor mug!
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I bought a Y plate nearly new Vectra in January of this year which then proceeded to spend more time being repaired at the dealers than it did with me. No less than 10 repairs... After kicking up a stick with Vauxhall themselves the car was replaced to my satisfaction. Low and behold two days later it reappears on said garage's forecourt. I would be very interested to hear what the garage tells some prospective buyer as to why someone only owned it for a couple of months. Interestingly, when later at the garage having new Vectra serviced, I casually asked the sales guy what the problem turned out to be that was causing dreadful bearing noise at 70mph. "Oh, we only sorted the aircon before we put it back out again..."
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I would think the likes of motorpoint etc buy up ex hire cars rather than these?
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I bought my previous car knowing it had been rejected by the previous owner (206HDi 1.4). It was one month old (200 miles on the clock). As I recall it was 10.5k list and the best the dealers/brokers would do for a new one at the time was 9.4k and I was offered this one for 8.4k.
The salesman seemed very genuine and was 100% upfront about it being rejected; he showed me all the paperwork and explained the problem. Apparently it had a cracked turbo pipe and they couldn't source a replacement quickly enough and the previous owner's father worked at the neighbouring garage and knew his rights when it came to rejecting cars.
Naturally I was sceptical but he did offer the previous owner's details so I could call and confirm (naively I didn't bother). Weighing it up I felt it was a risk worth taking because it had a three year warranty and with only 200 miles on the clock how much damage could have been done?
As it was I ran the car for 20k miles over 2.5 years and although it had some minor electrical issues after 18months I don't believe these had anything to do with the car being rejected initially and they were fixed under warranty. The MPG was never as good as I hoped ~ 55mpg but it was acceptable and I always wondered if this was to do with its start in life.
I may well have been lucky but I would still consider a car that had been rejected provided that I was comfortable with the explanation, price and the risk that comes with it.
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I think a website database should be compiled of all the car registrations spotted of ex vehicle manufacturer press department demo vehicles used on motoring programmes and magazines which are bound to have been thrashed to an inch of their lives.
Just who buys the demobbed 'reasonably priced car' in the end? Or is it responsibly scrapped? Discuss ...
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