Dodgy Dealer? HELP!!!

Strider590

Late to the party on this one, but I've got to say my first car was a bag of nails, a 1986 Austin Metro, it cost me £650 on apprentice wages of around £30 a week, my parents did not pay a single penny (and not because they were short of cash). I got the car before I passed my test. Armed with a Haynes manual and a basic tool kit, I spent a few weeks working on it, removing rust, touching up paint, cleaning the interior, etc etc etc, it wasn't easy but I believe it served me well.
Most importantly I had respect for the car and that's probably the only reason it didn't end up upside down in a ditch.

My kids are going to have the same, I'll use what I know to help them find a half decent vehicle, but they're going to fund their own cars, they're going to learn to look after them and when they're in their mid-30's they will also have saved a fortune on the costs of running cars.

In the first post you mention a couple of things that quite frankly should be an easy fix and I would be encouraging my son (or even daughter) to fix it themselves, regardless of any warranty on the car.

The wet carpets after rain are in all likelihood being caused by a build up of leaves and debris under the windscreen scuttle, a really nice easy fix that would encourage confidence in future work, rather than viewing cars as a tin box full of mystery.

AdrianC

cavyslave wrote: »

Just looking at the failure notice now and it failed on the road springs, the ball joint and the track rod end, and advisories were exhaust has minor leak of exhaust gasses and tyre worn close to the legal limit near side front. I know for a fact he said he put 4 new tyres on because I have it written down. I'm guessing it is possible for a new tyre to wear down to the legal limit in 3 months then?

The springs could fracture at any time, and there's no way to predict them. That's not something any warranty would cover.

Ball joint and TRE are wear-and-tear, and you knew from the previous advisory that they were nearing the end of their lives - again, no warranty would cover them,

You would have heard the blowing exhaust. Again, wear-and-tear.

As for the tyres... A very quick visual check as part of your son's regular basic check of tyres, lights, fluids would have shown whether they were new or not, and whether they were wearing rapidly.

There's nothing I can do then seemingly, just be more wary next time I go to buy a car and not be so trusting of people.

Sorry, but I don't think there's anything here that you can put onto the supplier of the car. It's a £1500-from-the-trade car with some fairly typical maintenance items needing attention.