Advice needed on purchase of used car !

motorguy

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Please yourself.

its not a matter of 'pleasing myself' - its a matter of looking at the facts and understanding whats happening, not knee jerking into ringing the police

[Deleted User]

You do enjoy putting words into other people's mouths.

motorguy

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

You do enjoy putting words into other people's mouths.

Your words not mine....

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

The car could be a ringer.

I'd be inclined to inform the police.

asim2002

Hi Paul

Really appeciate your reply. I am going to ring the DVLA tomorrow because personally I could not get an HPI check done on the car as the databases showed that the reg does not exist.

I did go back to the dealer today and asked him to show me the HPI check he claimed was clear yesterday (I admit I am stupid to not have asked for it yesterday when I paid him the deposit but he had reassured me that the HPI is clear). So today I basically said show me the report.

The HPI report printout he showed me had exclamation marks next to "finance" and "plate transfer". The details show that the car does not have clear finance. I asked him why this is, the dealer said it is clear but the website has not been updated that is why it is flagging it up. At this point in time I said to him that there are too many discrepancies and I would like my deposit back because he told me that HPI was clear. He plainly refused and said you wont get a penny back and that the HPI is clear but its just not clear today and will be tomorrow !! (does that make sense to anyone??). He made me sign a binding agreement and took a deposit claiming that the car was HPI clear yesterday... now he is telling me it will be HPI clear tomorrow and that I have no right to my deposit... is this legal ?

I am thinking of going to a small county claims court for this. Luckily I had my neighbour as a witness with me today so he saw the whole thing go down.

Notmyrealname

The finance isn't a big issue when buying from a dealership. Most car dealers use finance to purchase their stock and clear it when the car is sold. You'll probably find it is something like BMW Finance which I know Quicks use. Phone up the finance company and ask them - thats how I found out.

motorguy

asim2002 wrote: »

Hi Paul

Really appeciate your reply. I am going to ring the DVLA tomorrow because personally I could not get an HPI check done on the car as the databases showed that the reg does not exist.

I did go back to the dealer today and asked him to show me the HPI check he claimed was clear yesterday (I admit I am stupid to not have asked for it yesterday when I paid him the deposit but he had reassured me that the HPI is clear). So today I basically said show me the report.

The HPI report printout he showed me had exclamation marks next to "finance" and "plate transfer". The details show that the car does not have clear finance. I asked him why this is, the dealer said it is clear but the website has not been updated that is why it is flagging it up. At this point in time I said to him that there are too many discrepancies and I would like my deposit back because he told me that HPI was clear. He plainly refused and said you wont get a penny back and that the HPI is clear but its just not clear today and will be tomorrow !! (does that make sense to anyone??). He made me sign a binding agreement and took a deposit claiming that the car was HPI clear yesterday... now he is telling me it will be HPI clear tomorrow and that I have no right to my deposit... is this legal ?

I am thinking of going to a small county claims court for this. Luckily I had my neighbour as a witness with me today so he saw the whole thing go down.

Finance companies take a couple of weeks to register that they no longer have an interest in the car with the HPI companies, therefore its quite likely that thats all thats happened. Sometimes they dont bother - i've had to go back after six months before now and check.

An easy way to check is to ring the finance company thats listed on the HPI report and ask them.

Irrespective, because you are buying from a dealer, its HIS responsibility to clear any outstanding finance not yours, so if they have given their word then that is enough.

I'm not seeing *ANY* discrepencies here - you've just ended up in the middle of a reg transfer and finance clearance process which should all fall out the other end without any hassle to you.

You are buying from a main Ford dealer - its not going to be in their interest to be dealing in 'shady' cars.

Go back tomorrow and ask to speak to the sales manager and get him to put you over it again.

[Deleted User]

pgilc1 wrote: »

Your words not mine....

I don't see the words "ring/ringing the police" in that, or indeed any of my posts :huh:

disco.stu

They may not be acting illegally, but judging by your original post, their behaviour certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

Irish plates are certainly not "very desirable", and are in fact less desirable than a UK reg, for exactly the reasons you are now finding in tracing the car's history.

Your original post was a little unclear - are you saying that the car originally had a UK reg and this was then changed to its current Irish reg?

The UK V5 document will only show any owners in the UK, so in theory it could have had any number of Irish owners.

Make sure you hold the dealer to their promise of replacing the tyre, and make sure it is a match for the other three tyres. Do not accept a used tyre or an inferior brand compared to the other three. Ideally, you should have had this written on the contract.

If you are unhappy with the conduct of the salesman, ask to deal with the sales manager. If you are still unhappy, you can speak to the dealer principal. If this is not sufficient, you can contact Ford Head Office and ask them to verify the car's history.

redped

disco.stu wrote: »

Irish plates are certainly not "very desirable", and are in fact less desirable than a UK reg, for exactly the reasons you are now finding in tracing the car's history.

Your original post was a little unclear - are you saying that the car originally had a UK reg and this was then changed to its current Irish reg?

The UK V5 document will only show any owners in the UK, so in theory it could have had any number of Irish owners.

The OP talks about DVLNI, which is the Northern Ireland equivalent of the Swansea-based DVLA - so he's actually referring to an NI reg rather than the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, it's still a UK car, just not one from England, Scotland or Wales.

Reg plates from NI are desirable to some on the GB mainland as they don't indicate the year of registration, therefore disguising the age of the car.

thegirlintheattic

The reg problems are probably just the transfer from DVLNI to DVLA. My car was a transfer from the Channel Islands and when I brought it was not showing on the DVLA yet. Same as when I did the insurance it wasn't listed. All sorted within a few weeks.

Service histories now are often stored on dealer computers. So if it's ford and at a ford dealer I'd expect the printout to be real.