Bought a car with no cat!

Horizon81

Coming back to this, OP, I think you need to get on an R32 owners forum. Could it be that the R32 has 2 catalytic converters (i've found forum posts saying that some mk5 Golfs have 2), so it's possible that both garages are telling the truth to some extent. You really need someone who knows R32's inside out.

Retrogamer

fivetide wrote: »

What a shame you can't just go "oops missed that" instead of trying to be patronising.

Because as far as i know I didn't miss anything?

fivetide wrote: »

I'm sure the OP has the print out of the emissions. If not they should get it.

The OP has said they asked for a print out of the emissions but the garage declined to provide it.
A few posts back i suggested they contact VOSA due to the garage not keeping records correctly of failed emission readings

fivetide wrote: »

My advice stands - get a 3rd party to look at the car. You are not helping the OP by trying to pick fault for no reason.

I have no idea what you're talking about.
The OP's concern is they were told the car has no cat. The garage has obviously lied about this since the OP posted their husband seen the OEM cat on the underside of the car.
What help will contacting a third party do when you can visually see it's there?

fivetide wrote: »

As others rightly said. the car could have been mapped, have other non-standard parts etc etc.

At the start of the thread yes. The reason they thought it had been mapped is because they thought the cat was missing but the EML light wasn't on. As per recent posts from the OP the cat is there so there's no reason to suspect it's been mapped now.


What seems to have happened is the garage lied about the cat being missing. It's not missing but they said it was.
This is likely why they have refused to provide the emissions data for the failed MOT. I suspect the readings for it are either fine, or they don't exits at all. What other reason would the garage have to decline providing them?

Horizon81

It seems they do have 2 cats - but they're side by side rather than one in front of the other. OP, when your hubby was under the car, did he see 2 cats or just one?

fivetide

Retrogamer wrote: »

Because as far as i know I didn't miss anything?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Oh the irony.

Horizon81 gets it - the car might have more than one cat.

I specifically said get it checked as the emissions (which were noted as being high even if it wasn't the reason for a fail) were ok when the other garage checked it and the 'missing' cat was amazingly back.

Given, as I clearly said, it is possible for a car to pass a dodgy MOT with no cat if the emissions are ok (and then an even dodgier one if they aren't).

As the selling garage has a financial interest in telling the OP "all is well" it is always worth taking things with a pinch of salt

Instead of trying to pick fault where their isn't any try getting back to the business of helping the OP.

I have no interest in dragging a thread off topic with someone who can't/won't read the thread properly. End of discussion from my side.

Feel free to have the last word. I am sure you won't be able to resist!

holsbrown

Horizon81 wrote: »

It seems they do have 2 cats - but they're side by side rather than one in front of the other. OP, when your hubby was under the car, did he see 2 cats or just one?

It has 2, side by side, and all the welds to the rest of the exhaust system look original, he actually took photos of it all just in case we needed the evidence.

Another slightly different but IMO relevant question, is a VW approved repairer/servicer the same as a VW main dealership? I've just found out the 'VW' garage that advised the cat was missing and failed the MOT was taken over a while ago and may not necessarily be a main dealership now - does that make sense?

Thanks to everyone that has helped with this BTW - I'm learning lots :-)

Clive_Woody

I would be interested to know which VW dealer this was as my wife and in-laws are all VW drivers?

If you don't mind sharing.

Horizon81

holsbrown wrote: »

Another slightly different but IMO relevant question, is a VW approved repairer/servicer the same as a VW main dealership? I've just found out the 'VW' garage that advised the cat was missing and failed the MOT was taken over a while ago and may not necessarily be a main dealership now - does that make sense?

Glad the 2 cats are in place! A VW approved repairer/servicer will not be the same as a main VW dealer and this may explain the confusion. As a few of us have already said, even though we may mis-trust dealers, telling such an outright lie did seem beyond the realms of possibility.

I have no idea who regulates these 'approved' garages but I'm sure VW would be intrigued to hear your story. Do you have anything in writing that says that the cat needs to be changed? I suspect not and that these charlatans will live to fight another day.

Retrogamer

You could check the online MOT history to see if the fail for missing cat/s shows there.