Used car without MOT (yet)

AliceBanned

That's helpful. I've never had a Corsa. I've had a Fiesta and think they are good cars though just felt like trying other makes/models. All my Fords have ended up costing quite a bit in the end but were good at lower mileages.

walwyn1978

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Moral here is that you will won't be getting much of an advantage buying from any dealer at that price point than you will buying privately. The level of consumer protection is pretty low in either case, but your grand buys you a grand's WORTH of private sale, as opposed to a £500 (if that) worth plus margin of dealer car.

That. In spades. Any warranty that is offered through a dealer at this price point is 95% likely to have so many exclusions and get outs it's essentially worthless. Go private every time for this amount of money.

jimjames

AliceBanned wrote: »

Makes perfect sense - though he didn't seem to know it expired in Jan 2017 and started getting a bit vague. he did say I could check online but at first he said that 'they don't issue paper MOTs' which I know is rubbish and is only the case for road tax.

Just to clarify but the dealer is correct. They no longer issue paper MOTs, they give you a receipt of the test but it's not an MOT certificate like you used to get and the main record is the online version. It always helps to have the one with the car but as it could be forged it's always better to check online anyway

arcon5

I'm all up for treading carefully as far as dealers are concerned but as the saying goes a little knowledge can be dangerous

AliceBanned

arcon5 wrote: »

I'm all up for treading carefully as far as dealers are concerned but as the saying goes a little knowledge can be dangerous

How does this apply here - a little knowledge can be dangerous? Not sure what you mean.

AliceBanned

jimjames wrote: »

Just to clarify but the dealer is correct. They no longer issue paper MOTs, they give you a receipt of the test but it's not an MOT certificate like you used to get and the main record is the online version. It always helps to have the one with the car but as it could be forged it's always better to check online anyway

OK - not sure when this changed as I have always received a printout - and thought this was the 'official' document.


Also the point here was he didn't know whether it had a recent MOT or not and I had to find out by looking through everything. He obviously didn't want to say ' it has a very short MOT' as part of his sales pitch but I think it backfired as that is when I started to mistrust them. I wanted to see a recent MOT and check it as the advert had given the impression that there was one. They only have about 8 cars for sale so he must have known but was avoiding the issue. I didn't know at this point that this as common practice.

BeenThroughItAll

AliceBanned wrote: »

OK - not sure when this changed as I have always received a printout - and thought this was the 'official' document.


Also the point here was he didn't know whether it had a recent MOT or not and I had to find out by looking through everything. He obviously didn't want to say ' it has a very short MOT' as part of his sales pitch but I think it backfired as that is when I started to mistrust them. I wanted to see a recent MOT and check it as the advert had given the impression that there was one. They only have about 8 cars for sale so he must have known but was avoiding the issue. I didn't know at this point that this as common practice.

Since the MOT system was fully computerised a few years ago, the paper printout has been just that - a printout of the official electronic record. It does even state that on the MOT 'certificate' - which isn't a certificate but is rather confusingly still known as one.


I really wouldn't read too much into the dealer not knowing the MOT date. If he has 20 cars on the lot, he's not going to know or care about the history of each and every one; all he may know is that they will be sold with a full MOT as that's the usual way they do things, or perhaps given a full MOT only if the old one has less than three months to run or something.


There's nothing in your story that would make me trust them any less - because I would walk into any situation like that assuming that the salesman will a) know nothing and b) be prepared to say anything to get a sale - so the bar of trust is set pretty low for me.


That's yet another reason why I would always suggest buying privately at this price point - dealers are in the business of selling, and will do anything in their power to do so; but I do know what I'm looking at in detail.

AdrianC

AliceBanned wrote: »

OK - not sure when this changed as I have always received a printout - and thought this was the 'official' document.

It changed about five years ago - if you look at the current "certificate", it explains that it's just a "receipt", and that the primary record is the online record. Before that, the actual piece of paper you received was the primary record. Before about 2005, and the advent of computerisation, the piece of paper was the only official record.

AliceBanned

I only have money on a credit card at the moment. So I would have to do cash withdrawals from it to pay a private seller- whereas a dealer would take a card. Can't seem to get a loan - well I have just been turned down for a loan by Tesco Bank so not sure it's a good idea to try anywhere else. May have to wait even longer but I have been without a car and trying to be even more frugal since September.


I have £900 in a credit union account but have to pay off the balance before withdrawing more. It seems crazy to borrow money when it is so tight but it is getting a bit boring without a car as I don't have good enough public transport in the eves and weekends to get to places.

Sam_Fallow

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Sam.