Buying Approved Used Cars

oliver1950

Having just purchased a used Honda I have become aware of one anomaly (and there may be more), plus an interesting issue about my preconceptions. I thought it would be worth sharing and seeing if others has a similar preconceptions and or awareness of similar issues with other manufacturers.


First issue, the HONDA approved car site is currently giving out incorrect specs on the Honda Jazz S. Apparently it defaults to the standard SE specification. I have drawn this to Honda's attention and also to Motorcode's (an industry body).


The preconception, misconception is that when one buys a used approved vehicle, along with the 12 months warranty, you get the car serviced and mot'd so that , when you drive away , you have 12 months warranty, next service is 12 months away ( or next service interval) and MOT is 12 months away. OK, Ok call me naïve , but that was what I thought. Boy was I ever wrong.


Honda customer care tells me that MOT and servicing is down to the dealer. So you could drive away from the dealer, needing a service tomorrow and an MOT in just over a months time. The MOT is slightly different because you can't tax a car with less than 1 months MOT.


This has an impact of course when you are comparing cars on the approved site. Because two apparently identical cars at an identical price, can actually have a significant price difference, if one car has more time before the next mot and the next service than the other. In percentage terms of course this will be less significant on a more expensive car , but become more significant on a lower cost car. Ok we may be only talking a few hundred pounds, but hey this is moneysaving expert.


Remember also you have no way of knowing this. Of course where this impacted me, was that I'd seen a car at a dealer a long way from home, I mean a long way from home. The attitude of the dealer was take it or leave it.
So cautionary tale.

k3lvc

You're right in one sense - it's an issue with your pre-conceptions and, unless it's part of their offer/T&C's then it's unlikely a fresh service/MOT etc will be included


Very much a case of buyer beware and all part of the negotiating tactics e.g. when buying Approved Used and the car is less than 3yrs old then make sure the 1yrs warranty/breakdown starts at the end of the manufacturers warranty/breakdown and isn't concurrent.


As for the specs on the used car site you always, always check the specific vehicle that you're looking to buy and don't rely on the paper promise of what the spec is (as I found to my cost years ago with a Merc that (allegedly) had a CD changer but didn't and wasn't retro-fittable at the time

worried_jim

oliver1950 wrote: »

The MOT is slightly different because you can't tax a car with less than 1 months MOT.

This I did not know. I always thought as long as there was an MOT it could be taxed no matter how long left on the ticket.

TadleyBaggie

worried_jim wrote: »

This I did not know. I always thought as long as there was an MOT it could be taxed no matter how long left on the ticket.

You think right, I recently taxed a car online on the 14th of the month, when the MOT expired on the 15th.

force_ten

I recently looked a german car manufacturer approved used cars and they offered and MOT guarantee

you take the car with balance of existing MOT and when new mOT is due it is free of charge and any work required to pass is carried out at no cost to the customer

also any service work required in under 6000 miles or six months are completed pre delivery unless the car has a service pack covering service costs then the figure drops to 3000 miles or three months

Mercdriver

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

You think right, I recently taxed a car online on the 14th of the month, when the MOT expired on the 15th.

I did something similar myself...so I call double poppycock!

forgotmyname

I did have a woman in the post office tell me she couldnt issue my tax because the insurance ended in a few days. After i said but the new policy is not valid until after that date and not valid today she gave in and handed me the tax disc.

Never had an issue with short MOT's though.

The OP seems confused, and yes its perfectly acceptable and legal to sell a car that needs servicing the next day. Its upto the buyer to negotiate that.

zappahey

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

You think right, I recently taxed a car online on the 14th of the month, when the MOT expired on the 15th.

This, in theory, shouldn't work as the insurance and MOT are supposed to be valid on the day that the new tax comes into force. So, in the old days, the Post Office would, quite rightly, refuse to issue a new disk.

I guess with the current system, the theory is that we'll take your money anyway and let the ANPR sort it out.

TadleyBaggie

zappahey wrote: »

This, in theory, shouldn't work as the insurance and MOT are supposed to be valid on the day that the new tax comes into force.

Except insurance is no longer checked when taxing a car, just the MOT.