Garage mis represented car history

ji79

I recently visited Wayside Milton Keynes garage with my friend to buy a second hand vehicle. As this is the very first time I have purchased a vehicle I chose to go to a main dealer as I had more confidence in them. I saved up £8000 to buy my first car. With this amount I believed that this main dealer would offer me a good product and not take advantage of me.

The salesman, Geoff, approached me. After he had ascertained what I was looking for he started to show me a few of the options. One of the cars I was interested in and I asked a number of questions such as mileage, previous owner etc. On the previous owner question I was told that this was an ex courtesy car. I was anxious that I did not buy an ex rental car as I had been advised not to buy one for several reasons. Because I believed I had been told where the car had come from, after a test drive I decided to buy it and I took delivery 10 days ago

This week I received the Registration Certificate from DVLA. I was shocked to find out that the previous owner was Europcar, a car hire company. The first thing I did was to telephone the garage to make a formal complaint. They did not even return my call. I kept phoning the garage to chase it up and eventually I spoke to the General Manager, Spencer, and the used car sales manager, Mark. They used so many excuses to delay sorting this matter out. The most important thing is that according to them when I asked the question about the previous owner the salesman, Geoff, gave me the answer that it might have been an ex rental car, or an ex courtesy car or an ex dealership car and accused me of not asking for more clarification or to see the Registration Document. I am a first time car buyer, I don’t know such a document exists. But I am not so stupid as to accept such a vague answer to a straight forward question. Also my friend who was with me that day when I purchased the car heard him clearly say it was an ex courtesy car. As you can see this was an important issue for me otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to ask. I just want to return the car and get my money back. I have hardly used it since I bought it (about 200 miles) and it is now sat in my garage at home.

I don't know what to do next. Can anyone advise me?

Reggie_Rebel

To be honest I doubt there would be much difference in the way a hire car and a courtesy car had been treated.

How many miles has the car done and how old is it?

Hintza

Tend to agree with Reggie. If you didn't want ex rental, thewn ex courtesy car should have fallen in the same bracket.

Go to dealer and get loud.

mluton

Mine is an X demo car and it has been the best car I've owned.

People always slate, X demo, Rental, Lease, X Company cars, X Police cars, But all of the cars you are more or less garantee'd full service history and no expense spared for repairs and all work is main dealer.

It was wrong of the dealer, not to say, but unfortunatly its your word against his.

But again saying that, there should be some sort of "if your unhappy, return it to us in 30 day, no questions asked" policy at the dealer, ussually is.

They will not want to take the car back easily, but may offer help you out on future servicing, Mot's and repairs at a discounted rate as an alternative.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

It may have been owned by a car hire company but who is to say that it wasn't a courtesy car?

You're moaning about nothing. If the car is in good condition and working correctly, who cares? I wouldn't worry about it. Condition is much more important than history, mileage, or ownership.

hewhoisnotintheknow

mluton wrote: »

Mine is an X demo car and it has been the best car I've owned.

People always slate, X demo, Rental, Lease, X Company cars, X Police cars, But all of the cars you are more or less garantee'd full service history and no expense spared for repairs and all work is main dealer.

It was wrong of the dealer, not to say, but unfortunatly its your word against his.

But again saying that, there should be some sort of "if your unhappy, return it to us in 30 day, no questions asked" policy at the dealer, ussually is.

They will not want to take the car back easily, but may offer help you out on future servicing, Mot's and repairs at a discounted rate as an alternative.

Big difference between a Demo car and a hire/courtesy cars

At my work hire cars get bounced off the limiter each morning then for the rest of the day, i belive the term is 'Drive it like you stole it' When they start making a noise or smell, no one cares as long as it runs and you dont dent the body work!

A demo car is used in a controlled environment, so much less scope for abuse

TiTheRev

mLuton is spot on. An ex courtesy/rental/lease/company/etc car will have been scrutinised every time a person brought it back. Every ding, scratch or mark will have been rectified to OE spec. We do all the courtesy/staff vehicles this way where I work. They will also be fully serviced and have had levels and light checks every couple of weeks. If anything they will be more looked after than used/part-ex cars as they may have been owned by maintenance novices and left alone?!

I agree, the salesman appears to have been misleading, but unless the conversation was recorded you cant do anything about that. I honestly believe you've got a fair deal and not a bad car as those who'd spoken to you before purchase may have suggested.

Take mLuton's advise and keep the car, but kick up a stink about poor service and ask for reduced rate service/mot or something free! If it's the Wayside VW dealer I know of, threaten them with a poor CEM score...they'll know what that is!

Conor_3

Another vote for mluton. Ex fleet/hire cars are far better maintained than Joe Bloggs. Whether or not Joe Bloggs services his car depends on how much money Joe has in his pocket at the time.

mikey72

One of the best cars I ever had was an ex Eurocar. I bought it from a car warehouse, it wasn't an ex hire car, it was ex lease. (It was part of a fleet, with consecutive number plates, and oddly enough they started to appear on main dealers forecourts within the next couple of weeks as well, but a couple of thousand dearer) You haven't said the mileage or age, that's usually a give-away, otherwise you can't tell. Mine was less than a year old, and lowish mileage. Ex rental are usually higher.
Ex courtesy cars are hammered as much as rentals. I used to get one for days at a time if mine needed repairs (not the one above), courtesy cars are usually small, and small engined, but they get thrashed like a bigger car. They’re not all driven for short test drives, but they are on the road permanently.

markelock

I know several police officers who wouldn't buy a police car, despite it being maintained

Idiophreak

I'm with Reggie...just really can't see any difference between a hire car and a courtesy car...seems a bit like you've found something else about the car you don't like and are trying to use this as an excuse to get out of the deal - probably what the dealership think, anyway.

Anyway, I've just been given a courtesy car (from a hire company, just by-the-by) - I fully intend to try the "drive it like you stole it" thing - and will be buying future cars only with "one careful, lady driver"