Used car market UK - complete joke

fridgeracer

hi all,

over the past 2 years, i have owned and either sold, refunded, scrapped 7 cars.

in order:

VW Polo reg 2000 - bought and was fine. day later ECU packed up. needed a new ECU costing 700 quid. dealer spent 2 weeks dicking around before getting 1 for me and ended up sending the car to a VW specialist to fit it

Audi A3 reg 2000 - part exchange polo. was all fine except the exhaust pipe was not fully in place. took to local mechanic and had to be welded back on.

Renault Clio reg 2001 - part exchange audi for cheaper road tax and good fuel economy. did hpi check and all was ok. during buying saw warning light about airbags. took to renault. car was in previous crash, last owner stuffed newspaper in the seats and stiched them back up, all this depsite HPI check being ok.

Renault Clio reg 2002 - all fine. dealer was reliable and trustworthy, but was in yeovil - somewhere north of dorset in middle of nowhere. if he would to mess people around up there his business would not last a week, i guess. probably the only reason why this car was good.

Skoda Octavia reg 2000 - lifestyle change again. needed more space and a solid car. part exchange clio. all fine except when i drove 2 hours to get to the dealer saw a large dent on the back and broken wing mirror control. also later on found the wipers were always clogging up for no reason, to then be fine a day later and repeating the same thing. dealer obviously said none of this.

Renault Clio reg 2002 - here we go again. skoda was far too rubbish on economy and was not worth the extra space. decided to revert back to trusty eco friendly clio. dashboard had warning light about glow plug aparently. was told to get it changed to a new one and all would be fine. took to renault for a service and checkup on the warning. fuel system contaminated with metal swarf due to fuel pump breaking up into pieces. needed complete strip and new fuel system placed. 3000 quid. scrapped. still battling the dealer for my money back.

Citroen C3 reg 2003 - didnt want it to be honest, wanted the clio. heater fan was always blowing. asked dealer. said its working as intended. did research after buying. faulty control unit for the air con. told them, then they agreed and fixed it. problems starting from cold in the morning which i am still battling. took back to them, they spent 2 days fixing. gave back to me assured it was fixed. gave me no documentation on what was done. tested it. still not fixed. now have no choice but to give to citroen specialists to fix it properly.

so nearly... not a single dealer has been truly honest and reliable. this country for used cars is a joke to be honest. the 3 month warranty they must provide apparently only applies when you buy something over 1000 quid. even then if you get one, they spend ages dragging everything out giving you less time to act and claim on the warranty.

every time ive had a problem and gone back to a dealer, they change from being friendly and selling you the car you love to arrogant, abusive, and shout down at you until you back away and are unwilling to lift a finger to help you.

something really needs to be done. its almost a free pass for organised and legal crime on selling cars that are unfit for the advertisements put out there for them, and leaving buyers out of pocket spending their own money to fix their legal problems with the dealer or fixing the car.

withabix

You seem to have a penchant for buying old knackers.

What has this got to do with the 'UK used car market being a complete joke' ??

Ten year old cars aren't going to be 100% reliable.

Sgt_Pepper_2

That's what you get when you buy ancient cars from Arthur Daley type traders.

agrinnall

I would imagine that for what those 7 cars have cost you, you could have bought one considerably newer and much more reliable car. It's your choice to throw your money away on bangers, the "UK used car market", whatever that is, isn't forcing you to buy them.

fridgeracer

my point is that yes, i know cars of this age may or may not be 100% reliable.

that's why i would except any motor trader to do the right things:

-any car they receive they place a new MOT on it before advertising it for sale
-any car they want to sell must have already been given a full service
- any car they want to sell must have already been given an independent health check and diagnostics and all issues it may or may not have been fixed, if of course they dont want to advertise it with all these problems listed, otherwise they MUST list all issues and problems the car has so the buyer knows what to expect and what to expect to pay in time or money to fix if they really want to spend on that particular car

i think that those things need to be done as part of the law, i.e. it is illegal to sell a car as a motor trader without doing all of those things.

currently, a private seller will part exchange their car that has some issues or major problems to a motor trader and that trader will just take that car, not check anything, not give it an MOT or service unless the buyer demands one as part of the sale, and most certainly will not ever in their wildest dreams put the car in for an independant health check and diagnostics on any problems it may have for the buyer. that's because they simply dont want to know, and dont care - they want to sell it on and leave the buyer with the problems. if they can give it up with no warranty, they are effectively robbing you because they did not advertise any problems with the car, and are not obliged to fix because of no warranty. if they did give a warranty, and get everything fixed with a buddying garage - they can drag the time out as much as they want to since they get a cheap deal with that garage, and the longer it takes the less time you have on your warranty to stand on.

the car is not the issue here, the issue is on how these dealers mis-sell and mislead people. it should also be 100% illegal for a private seller to part exchange a car with problems and not notify the dealer of those problems.

im sorry but it is not right that you MUST accept that spending money on a 10 yr old car cheaper than newer cars WILL land you with problems, crappy dealers, and bad service that is not governed by any laws to protect consumers. you should have the same rules and servicing, and trust with motor traders as you do with main dealer manufacturers, regardless on the car's price - the way they are meant to be sold should be a law.

mgdavid

one might expect that after 7 occurrences the penny might drop and you'd have learnt something; Most 10 year old cheap cars are bought and sold privately; ones for sale in the trade are often there because they have faults and/or are knackered so the previous owner didn't have a hope in hell of selling privately and the only way to shift it was to p/ex it.

Sgt_Pepper_2

You need to buy a newer car from a main dealer and pay their premium if you think that way. Any change to the law would just pass on costs to the consumer.

artbaron

Buy privately. That way if it does go wrong you can used the money you saved on ridiculous dealer prices to fix it. Plus, privately sold cars tend to be better quality than dealer ones. People with knackered cars will often part exchange them at a dealers to save hassle.

Re 10 year old cars - yes, most non-performance and non-specialist cars of 10 yrs+ will not be in good condition. It's really depressing. I plan on selling my 8yr old car soon and buying another of similar age but it's a huge struggle to find something of comparable condition. I've kept my car showroom, it's mechanically and cosmetically 100% with literally not a single blemish or fault, and the best part of all it was easy to do. Wash it regularly, polish and wax a few times a year, service it promptly, it's not rocket surgery.

CKhalvashi

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

You need to buy a newer car from a main dealer and pay their premium if you think that way. Any change to the law would just pass on costs to the consumer.

This is the point.

It's only correct to study cars carefully before buying them, even more so at this age.

I bought my niece two older cars, a 'W' reg Focus 1.8 petrol with about 200k miles on it when bought (which she p/ex'd with about 240k a year later), then a '55' plate Volvo V50 2.0d with about 115k, which now has just under 190k on it, 18 months later, both from the same local dealer. I paid £1000 for the Focus, and £4500 for the Volvo.

She's had no problem with either, and the only reason she changed the first one was because of the miles she does (she works in social care, so a lot of running around)

CK

StrongWork

Old cars in having problems shocker?

Seems like a non story to me. Perhaps you're just rubbish at buying cars.

FWIW, last September I bought a 1998 BMW 328i. In November I drove it to Berlin and back.

Good cars are out there, you just need to know where to look (and take your time).

Private sales FTW imo.

TrickyWicky

fridgeracer wrote: »

VW
Audi
Renault
Renault
Skoda
Renault
Citroen
so nearly... not a single dealer has been truly honest and reliable.

You think it's the dealer. Did you ever stop to look at the type of cars you were buying? VW and Audi are actually reliable unless they've not been looked after. In this country its not so much the second hand market as it is people who don't spend maintenance money on their cars. People think German cars are indestructible and thus many won't bother spending on them - then you'll suffer later on in life.

The other brands you mention are just crap. It doesn't matter how much money people sink into those, they still get worse as they get older.

Seriously, if you want a solid car, go and find a solid brand. Stop messing about and get something proper like a toyota, volvo, lexus (dare I say this?) bmw, etc. Something that is well built.

The VW polo is a budget VW. Sure VW have a cult following but you get what you pay for - the Polo is a cheap car and will be made cheaply. Sure its one up from a ford Ka but ford engines and ECUs seem to be up there with Volvo - indestructible (trust me, we have both and neither have had an oil, plug or filter change since we've had them).