gaddafi

A rant that isn't tarring all dealers with same brush on the basis of one deal.

It's based on getting on for 40 years' worth of experience buying cars from dealers.

They just can't tell the truth. Is it in the DNA, is it learned behaviour or something else?

Somewhere in the spiel will be a lie - not a distortion of the truth, a lie. In fact, several probably.

My latest:

I'm buying a car with faults as a 'trade sale' and 'unroadworthy' so they/I have no comeback. Too much hassle for them to retail quickly.

That's fine. I do this regularly. I check the car over - one of several issues is a TC/brake/ABS error lighting up the dash like a Christmas tree. I make an offer which is declined and a couple of days later is accepted with a slight increase.

Pick up the car and the fault is still there but there are now other faults.

Me: "What have you done to it"

Answer: "We haven't touched it"

Me: "You fecking obviously have"

Answer: Usual variation on faux outrage/hurt/disappointment = "We honestly haven't touched a thing"

Me: "Look, I'm not trying to chip you. Just tell me what you've done. It will save me time fixing it"

Answer: "Honestly, nothing. We aren't trying to hide anything"

So, I buy the car and a few hours later and it's quite clear they've been fecking around with the electrics and mixed up some fuses. I can see why because it's by feel and a gorilla has big mitts. Half an hour with the wiring diagram and some skinned fingers and we're back to where we were with everything working/not working pre-offer and a £25 sensor later the codes are fixed. I could have used that time to play with myself (several times) or do something similarly gratifying.

Just why? Why not just say we tried fixing it, had a play with the fuses but we've made it worse?

EVERY....SINGLE....TIME there has to be at least one lie buried in the deal.

Which is why you have to factor a hidden repair cost into every transaction.

Oh yeah, they lied about a recent oil and filter change as well. FFS it costs about £20 in the trade!!

Anyway, I feel better now.

Post your experiences and vent.

GreenmanS2000

We went to look at March 2013 Panda last weekend to use as a daily beater - only 6k miles and described as excellent condition with full service history.

In reality, it had been serviced once (so not a full (annual) service) and every panel had a dent or scratch. There were also some interesting stains inside...the salesman couldn't understand why we walked away, despite me explaining that clearly we had different definitions of "excellent" condition.

Ultra_Nexus

Obviously they had second thoughts after selling it to you. Thought you knew something they didn't (which you obviously did) and by fixing it, they could have chipped you or welched on your deal.

To be fair, it's not just used car sales.

s2k4tony

A few years ago I was buying a new Focus ST asbo in electric orange (uncle had employee ticket for me). Anyway, I was trading in the wife's 85,000 mile, 8 year old 1.7 Puma. As it happens, the insurance ran out on the Puma with 1 week to delivery of the new ST, so I organized it to be px'd and drove it up there to hand over. It was ultra reliable the Puma, she had it 4 years. We were very fond of it.
Salesman checked it over, signed it off the balance owing. All good. I get a lift home in our other car, a rusty old N reg Escort.
Next day, Ford ring me...
"Did you have that Puma towed to us?"
Me : "no... why?"
Ford dealer: " well, we think the cambelt has snapped"
Me : "What the.. what? We had just been to Devon and back in it over the weekend. You're kidding me?"
Ford dealer : "..the engine is written off now, are you sure you didn't have it towed?"
Me : "excuse me, wtf are you accusing me of.. it was driven to you. I gave you the keys, you checked it over, and signed it off my amount owing on the order form".
Ford dealer : " well.. one of the salesmen took it home as his demo got sold. He'd just got home then the engine seized up and the belt went"
Me : almost laughing by now.. "really. That's a shame.. so your Salesman drove it like a dick and did the damage then. Not being funny but...do you know how an engine.. never mind"
Silence. Long silence.
Ford dealer : "it's gonna cost about 1500 quid this out of our pocket. With it being a ticket sale, the whole deal is a loss to us. Sorry but we had to ask you."
Me : "thanks for killing the car. Now I'm not looking forward to handover. I find it insulting to be blamed for your damage or antics. I will let Ford know about this. I'm fuming."
Phone goes down.
Then on handover day, Ivan, the sales manager (who reeked of cigarettes) did the whole handover instead of the Salesman. Creeped and creeped. I just wanted to get out of there, just looking at the lot of 'em made me angry.
4 years later, said Puma popped up in Wigan, parked in Asda. My heart sank, they'd fixed it after all and didn't write it off. It disappeared for a few years but seen again earlier this year in another supermarket car park - sporting dents, mega rear arch rust and heavily kerbed wheels. Poor thing, I felt sorry for it. Stupid really, but I did.
Did the dealer lie? I'll never know. Being an ex car salesmen, I jokingly warned them no funny business and keep me informed of delivery etc.

Today I went to SEAT and checked out the 290 Cupra. Nice thing. That diff is sensational, better than the XDS system in the GTD by a long way. The salesmen didn't know what colour it was. "Dynamic Grey", I said. "Oh.. is it?". Jesus - always know your colours. It's the first rule!

Think if I lease, I'll avoid the dealers.

Doyal

I still feel bad for part exchanging my old VW GTI (for the s2k actually) and not declaring the passenger window never worked!

Polemicist

A friend has recently purchased a 3 year old BMW 330d MSport XDrive. It was quite a rare colour and specification he was looking for and his choice of where to buy was limited; consequently it was bought from an well established franchise dealer, albeit not BMW. And at c. £21-£22K, wasn't a trade sale...

On the test drive, the car was fine, albeit there's a warning message that coolant level us low.

A deal is agreed on the basis that this car's 19" wheels with run-flats were are to be swapped with another car's in the showroom, which had 18" wheels. The latter were in dark grey and were to be changed to silver. Tyres on the 18" rims were almost new, matched Bridgestone run-flats. Don't ask why the rim change, but that was the deal...

On the appointed day, the friend picks up the car from the dealer; it's torrential rain outside as the car is handed-over. He drives home and next day looks at the car.

One of the tyres on the car is clearly well-used; the outer edge is down to the wear indicator. It also appears the wheels are not the colour changed 18" ones as agreed, but from another vehicle, as one is scratched and there is no sign of dark grey ever having been on the wheels. The brands of the tyres are not matched either.

Repeated calls to the dealer have, unsurprisingly, been unreturned.

And to add insult to injury, a couple of days ago I enquired if the vehicle had adaptive headlights... the friend investigates and it does, but when activated, the dash throws-up a message stating 'Adaptive headlights malfunction.'

A niaive purchaser most definitely, but also completely untrustworthy dealer.

My last three car purchases have been from private sellers on eBay; two bought unseen at car considerable distance, and I have had no regrets. Unless I was contract hiring a new car, which would only ever be for a period of the manufacturer's warranty, I shall only ever buy a used a car privately. There are few certainties in life, but like death and taxes, used car dealers are all deceitful.

s2k4tony

Another one ...
Also a BMW (used buy, no other than a 330d M Sport) from a Sports & prestige car dealer in Southport. I wish I was able to name & shame.

On test drive, the (!) was showing in the amber triangle - meaning fault. I was told it was the TPS due to low type pressure. This did make me wonder if one of the alloys were cracked (common problem if you are clumsy enough to clip a curb with MV3 alloys). Turned out it was far serious - Electric steering lock mech was beginning to fail (£1270 job to replace) and 2 weeks into ownership - it showed up after I plugged in my laptop with INPA. I wished I had took my diag stuff with me to run a fault finding test before buying. They probably not telling the truth - plus it was very likely a battery disconnect temporarily shrugged the fault away until the ridiculous BMW sensors came back to life. Irritating - I was just beyond my 14 day rights to return the car.

As it happened, the TPS was showing a fault but due to a badly fitted set of tyres and they were losing pressure. The dealer declined to give a warranty. Although I was suspicious, I DID suspect the steering fault as I'd done my homework before buying on how to fix it without paying £1270. (cost £80 instead). My brother was with me, and I recall saying to him as I paid a deposit for the thing, "Bet it's the steering fault". "Walk away" he said.

Trouble is, like Gad, I'm a sucker for a cheap car. At 6k, it was too cheap. It was like, you "know" its dodgy. But i'd brave enough to take a punt and fix myself.

8 months later, i got shut for £6600. I did get a driving awareness course courtesy of its mid range poke getting me into bother.

fluffyninja

Too many reasons to list.

Examples I've come across in my time:

Car a bit in the way but with big "do not start" sign in windscreen. Mechanics under pressure to clear jobs goes bollocks to it and starts it to move 10 feet. Oil was dropped and of course it ran with no oil pressure and buggered the bearings. 300miles later conrod exits block left.

Some oil staining on the oil pan. Oil pan, chain cover, head gasket, chain tensioner, head cover gaskets all changed since dealer gets paid for repairs rather than diagnostics. Actual fault, cack handed oil fill down the back of the engine.

Sales vs Service; you feckin grease monkeys better make sure this car has no faults when I try to sell it. Yeah you poncy Del Boy, you'd sell them if you knew that warning light was caused by low tyre pressure.

As Ron says; this guy reckons he's getting a bargain. What does he know that we don't?

I can't be arsed inspecting the car properly, I'll shift it on to some mug

To be fair the latter is all part of the game. Some dick head yoof tried for a gap that wasn't there and shattered the housing of the wingmirror of my gt86. I knew the wingmirror mechanism could be bought for an avensis for £125 but they wanted to charge £500-600 since it was exotic. something like £150 for fitting that actually works takes 15mins tops. Bollocks to that. Went back with about its own weight in superglue holding it together. Dealer will either have never noticed or tried to pass it on without telling the customer.

cheshire_carper

At service, main dealer, under filling with oil. I mean massively under filling. Like a few litres too little in a big old lump I had. Overfilling oil. Feckin terrible overfilling.

Clearly I have lube issues.

Buying a car private from someone who has owned it for a few years is a far safer bet than from a dealer, just recieved it, knows f@#k all about it, cares f@#k all about it and tells you it's the best model/variant to ever grace god's green earth. If you are diligent, the private market is where it's at.

keyCuk

I drove all the way from Brighton to Nottingham (400 mile round trip)to look at an s2000 a couple of weeks ago.
The lying morons said it was in great condition mechanically with loads of bills and service history but a few easoly sorted cosmetic issues.
I got there, Gave it a good check over and long test drive. The clutch was slipping and the brakes were all over the place. They said after the test drive there was no negotiation on the price, then when they took off the hard top the roof underneath was completely ruined and leaking like a sieve!
They also couldn't understand why I was walking away.
In the end I bought one privately from 20 miles away.