Buyer Beware

mugpunter1970

Long story short...have been hoodwinked buying a 2004 ford focus as a runaround from a private seller, who i now suspect is a back street dealer....the warning signs were all there, but somehow I managed to miss them.

Anyone else thinking of buying privately, beware, spend as much time checking through the paperwork as test driving or you could live to regret it.

The last 3 service stamps, at 60k, 72k and 84k [how did i not spot that] were all carried out at the same garage about 30 miles away from where the last keeper[not the seller] lived.

Last years mot cert states mileage as 87770, mileage now is 84150, a sign the clocks have been out? Would doubt anyone would go to the bother of knocking 10k off a 10yo car.

Car is mechanically sound, needs a couple of brake discs, but now think he - and a garage he is in cahoots with have - had the clocks out and blacked out the airbag and abs warning lights.

Which I didnt spot failing to light up for a few seconds when ignition was turned on. Even though one of the first questions I asked him before going 40 miles to view was if there was any problems with the dashboard lights!

Am not really a car person....

Am hoping it will be something simple to get the problem fixed and lights back to what they should be, but my gut tells me it wont be, as presumably they ran diagnostics and realised it was too expensive to fix. Am guessing my first port of call after next mot in [2 months time] will be the local scrapyard.

Am not expecting tea or sympathy by posting this, as I've been a plonker, just hoping someone else can learn from my schoolboy errors.

WTFH

What makes you think the warning lights have been disconnected?
Have you taken the car to a garage to get them to check if the diagnostics are throwing up errors, or are you basing it on something else?

Regarding the mileage - there are a few threads on here (and elsewhere) where the wrong mileage is entered on an MOT certificate.
Also, going to a garage 30 miles from where you live is possible - particularly if it's run by a friend of yours, you happen to work near it, or you've moved house.

I owned a car a few years ago which I bought from a dealer in Buckinghamshire. It was serviced by them at the start, then I moved to Surrey, but had a weekly commute to Leeds. The next two service stamps were for a garage in Leeds. It was never serviced by a garage in Surrey, all the stamps in the book were for garages 50+ miles away.

altin_2

Hi mugpunter1970.
Sorry to hear about your experience...I've been on (almost) identical situation...(see "Advice on Cat D car" on same topic).
Life is full of surprises...and lessons to learn.

mugpunter1970

Your suggestions are all possible, but my gut feeling is I've bought a pup.

Leaving it back to my mechanic next week so he can try and get to bottom of it before the mot, but neither light is coming on at ignition, and he pointed out that the screws holding the dashboard clocks have been removed recently, its all guesswork at the minute.....but had I spotted the difference between clock reading and last years mot cert, not to mention the nicely spaced 12k service intervals, I'd have run a mile, before parting with any cash

mugpunter1970

altin wrote: »

Hi mugpunter1970.
Sorry to hear about your experience...I've been on (almost) identical situation...(see "Advice on Cat D car" on same topic).
Life is full of surprises...and lessons to learn.

Thanks, like to think I wont get fooled again, but bet I do

As you say we live and learn...

atrixblue.-MFR-.

altin wrote: »

Hi mugpunter1970.
Sorry to hear about your experience...I've been on (almost) identical situation...(see "Advice on Cat D car" on same topic).
Life is full of surprises...and lessons to learn.

your situation is quite clear you were told it was cat d damaged car at point of purchase, its not upto the seller to tell what Cat D means its yours to research it.


when buying prom a private seller, always google the mobile number or home phone number supplied in the ad as it can throw up other cars a home trader is selling on other ad sites.


the next is to check the V5C matches the address your at buying the vehicle never meet at services, mothers house, friends houses of the seller ask meet at his home address and see if he comes out the address, if he's waiting for you outside the house on the street, no harm in looking at it, ask to see the v5c mot etc if he pulls them out the glove box then you have to ask why its not in the house not gone in to get it.


when contacting a seller about a car never say im calling about the focus, always say im calling about the car you have advertised, if you get a reply saying which or what car hang up and move on and save yourself the hassle.


take the AD with you, print the advert take it along and look to see if things line up with the ad, if theres a minor discrepancy like the odometer is 80k but has 82k its been rounded down we all do it, but if it says 4 new tires by 2 are bold, electric heated mirrors but their manual then its not as described and you have the right to back out of the deal (ebay especially binds you into commiting to buy it to check the ad matches).


research the car before you buy it, look at youtyube video's of the start up dashboard light sequence of a properly working model, then keep it in mind and check againt the one your buying.


with a older cars I tend not to look at service history with a car that has 100+ miles on it and the last service stamp was 75k miles, I want recent receipts for oil filters and things that I cant see like timing belts. no receipt then assume it hasn't been done and don't take the word of the seller draw your own conclusion from how the sale feels.


ive walked away form cars in the past because I didn't like the seller, not because the ad was wrong or the car was faulty just because the seller made me feel uncomfortable around them. theres plenty of fish in the sea so to speak I don't use ebay so no commitment to buy it if its as described, I tend to look online at ads and make private arrangements to view it like I had seen it in the free ads or gumtree.


caveat emptor "let the buyer beware".

Hoof_Hearted

"I've walked away form cars in the past because I didn't like the seller"

Completely agree with this. Don't just look at the car but also at the person selling it. You may know nothing about cars but we make judgements about people all the time.

mugpunter1970

Bit of an update, the muppet had been in behind the clocks with a soldering iron and destroyed the airbag light, tried a 2nd hand set of clocks in it and the airbag light now works for some reason....fingers crossed.

As for the abs light, its a puzzler, diagnostics shows no abs fault yet the light doesnt illuminate at all even when you turn the ignition on, and without the 4 second test, car will fail the mot.

Have tried 3 different sets of clocks and the abs light doesn't come on with any of them.

Anyone any ideas? Could this cowboy have snipped a lead somewhere to disable the abs light permanently?