Issues with recently bought used car

fiish

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some advice on a used Honda Civic I bought last week. I bought the car from a Honda dealer as an approved used car with a warranty.

As far as I can tell, the car is mechanically fine. It was fine during the test drive, it looked OK under the bonnet and it still drives fine now, that is to say it is comfortable, quiet (except when I accelerate onto a motorway in 2nd just to see what Honda's engines can do) and feels safe, as a current model Civic should.

The issues are around paperwork:
1. When I collected the car I checked the service booklet and the stamp for the first service is missing. The dealer checked with Honda on their computer and said that the service had been done at a different Honda dealer, so they could not fill the missing stamp. Unfortunately I got told 'full service history' only verbally (because I asked during the test drive).

2. The car was advertised as having one previous owner. I just received the V5C in the post today and it says there were 2 former keepers. Thankfully I saved a copy of the ad that shows it saying "Previous Owners: 1".

With these factors in mind I now feel like I've overpaid for the car; if I had picked up on those points before deciding I would either have walked away or pushed for a more substantial discount than I did get.

But feelings are one thing and rights are another. Do I have any right to complain to the dealer about these issues with the car? Can I claim that it is 'not as advertised'? Or does the Consumer Rights Act cover me only if the car has a physical fault?

Fat_Walt

fiish wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some advice on a used Honda Civic I bought last week. I bought the car from a Honda dealer as an approved used car with a warranty.

As far as I can tell, the car is mechanically fine. It was fine during the test drive, it looked OK under the bonnet and it still drives fine now, that is to say it is comfortable, quiet (except when I accelerate onto a motorway in 2nd just to see what Honda's engines can do) and feels safe, as a current model Civic should.

The issues are around paperwork:
1. When I collected the car I checked the service booklet and the stamp for the first service is missing. The dealer checked with Honda on their computer and said that the service had been done at a different Honda dealer, so they could not fill the missing stamp. Unfortunately I got told 'full service history' only verbally (because I asked during the test drive).

2. The car was advertised as having one previous owner. I just received the V5C in the post today and it says there were 2 former keepers. Thankfully I saved a copy of the ad that shows it saying "Previous Owners: 1".

With these factors in mind I now feel like I've overpaid for the car; if I had picked up on those points before deciding I would either have walked away or pushed for a more substantial discount than I did get.

But feelings are one thing and rights are another. Do I have any right to complain to the dealer about these issues with the car? Can I claim that it is 'not as advertised'? Or does the Consumer Rights Act cover me only if the car has a physical fault?

The time to check service history was before you bought it. Same with the log book.


I had one previous keeper, plus the keeper on the log book. Now there are two previous keepers. You are the third.

You may have kept the screen shot but you misunderstood the term previous keeper.

fiish

Fat_Walt wrote: »

The time to check service history was before you bought it. Same with the log book.

Yes, I made that mistake and I knew it before writing the post.

Fat_Walt wrote: »

I had one previous keeper, plus the keeper on the log book. Now there are two previous keepers. You are the third.

You may have kept the screen shot but you misunderstood the term previous keeper.

Thanks, but I'm not sure I follow this clearly. Obviously I am the third keeper since that's what my V5C now says. My question was whether advertising the car as having one previous owner should have implied 1 previous keeper when I received my V5C (i.e. that the V5C the dealer had before I bought the car should have shown 0 previous keepers).

lincroft1710

It is possible that an "owner" is not the same as a "keeper". Car may have had one owner but two consecutive keepers. Also does a "one owner" car attract that much of a premium? An article in a car magazine several decades ago about jargon busting stated "One owner - who knows exactly why he is selling it!"

fiish

I'm probably just more annoyed at the document not matching the ad.

The car was presented in good condition, and I'm technically minded so I spent more time looking under the bonnet, thought that if it was being sold approved used with a Honda-backed warranty it would have a good history and I guess that's why I forgot to check before I bought it. Lesson learned there....

I think the dealer was already nice about promising to chase up the service history, and if there's a record with Honda UK, and approved used warranty remains valid, then from the point of view of owning the car I'm fine with that, since what really matters is whether the actual car develops actual problems. It was with consideration to the car's resale value that I thought the history might be an issue. Will it even matter when I try to sell the car on in 5-6 years' time?

lincroft1710

fiish wrote: »

It was with consideration to the car's resale value that I thought the history might be an issue. Will it even matter when I try to sell the car on in 5-6 years' time?

No, because at that age no-one will care if it has had 3 or 4 owners or that there is no record of 1st service.

facade

fiish wrote: »

I'm probably just more annoyed at the document not matching the ad.

It did.

As Fat Walt said there was one previous keeper on the log book when they sold it.

They didn't say "one owner from new" which would mean no previous keepers.

Afraid you were caught out by technically correct, but misleading advertising. (Happens to us all)

fiish

Thanks. So easy to get confused. Guess my pride is a little hurt as well because friends and family say I have lots of attention to detail.

I'll just have a friendly chat with the dealer on Monday to clarify things, at least I know what to expect now thanks to you all. And I really mean friendly - they're near where I live, my Honda-owning friends are positive about them, so I do want to use them for maintenance going forward; would prefer to be on good terms with them.

Fat_Walt

fiish wrote: »

Thanks. So easy to get confused. Guess my pride is a little hurt as well because friends and family say I have lots of attention to detail.

I'll just have a friendly chat with the dealer on Monday to clarify things, at least I know what to expect now thanks to you all. And I really mean friendly - they're near where I live, my Honda-owning friends are positive about them, so I do want to use them for maintenance going forward; would prefer to be on good terms with them.

So drop it and don't bother them, you've done nothing wrong and you'll only come out of it looking stupid.

fiish

Have to go in anyway because they want to valet the car - they intended to do it before delivery but their valet person was off ill. I don't plan to mention the V5C but will still follow up with them on the service history since they said they would trace it.

Richard53

fiish wrote: »

Obviously I am the third keeper since that's what my V5C now says. My question was whether advertising the car as having one previous owner should have implied 1 previous keeper when I received my V5C (i.e. that the V5C the dealer had before I bought the car should have shown 0 previous keepers).

The car was advertised as 'one previous owner', i.e. the current owner and one before, total two. You are now number three. It's quite simple, but a little ambiguous. I asked the very same question on this forum only a couple of weeks ago, as I wasn't sure either. My Merc was advertised as a one-owner car, and when I got the V5C it said Previous owner, Mr John XXXX, previous owners 1. I wondered if that meant 2 (Mr XXXX plus the PO) or 1 (where Mr XXXX was the PO). It was the latter. If I sell the car, it will be with 'one previous owner', i.e. Mr XXXX, and one current owner, myself. Clear? Sort of.