Advice dealing with a car dealership

Geodark

First thing I always do when I buy a car without history is change the cam belt. Its not worth taking the risk.

alan_d

Jamiekrux wrote: »

this whole idea that when you buy a car you should research everything about the vehicle that could potentially fail is outdated and downright irresponsible from the sellers

No, that's reality with any used car, whether you buy from a main dealer, private seller or small-time trader as you have.

A car is a complicated machine, there is LOADS that can go wrong due to age, wear, abuse, or poor design. A warranty usually only covers certain items - you need to read it carefully. I bet yours doesn't include the cambelt - i'm surprised they are repairing it at all.

If managing the maintenance and risk of an older car is too complicated for you, I suggest you stick with a PCP or lease on a newer car, and pay a fortune to always have a newish car that just needs normal servicing.

Jamiekrux

davidwood681 wrote: »

OP, just out of interest would you change the cambelt on a car you were about to part exchange if it was due in the near future?

Be honest

You want an honest reply? honestly I am not a car dealer and would rely on the experts to inform me when a part needs changing, If i was part exchanging a car I would rely on them to value it and know what attention it would need.


Maybe coming to a website where people already know what needs changing on a car was a bad idea, because you assume that other people have this knowledge, you assume we know we need to seek this knowledge prior to a purchase. Hell if it wasnt for the internet this information would not be available to people unless the car came with the manual or you had someone to ask with experience.


This is where the issue lies, assumed knowledge, let's for instance imagine a young 17 year old went to a dealer to buy a first cheap car, knowing nothing about cars due to age and lack of experience, a fair way to trade a vehicle would be to inform said customer of the condition of the car honestly, to the best of their knowledge with the history they had, and if none were present, a check over of the car and any serviceable parts would be fair to complete.


You can argue with me all day that so long as they have completed the bare minimum to make a sale i should not expect any more, but when the reality is you could spend potentially tens of thousands on a vehicle for it to break within a month without excessive use, with a part that was clearly wearing out at the time of sale, and not have any legal standpoint for the repairs is ludicrous. Whether the car is brand new or used, there should be a period of time where any major malfunctions are repaired, and to be fair this is what they are doing, props to them.

takman

Jamiekrux wrote: »

You want an honest reply? honestly I am not a car dealer and would rely on the experts to inform me when a part needs changing, If i was part exchanging a car I would rely on them to value it and know what attention it would need.

If you had spent the same amount of time researching what you need to do when buying a car that you have reading and posting in this thread then you could have avoided this entire situation.

When your spending thousands of pounds on something surely it's common sense to do some independent research online instead of blindly listening to someone who just want's to get your money.

In an ideal world everyone should be honest and fair but we don't live in an ideal world and that's why we have consumer laws and consumers need to think before they act. Your lucky you bought from a decent garage who will carry out the repairs, next time you might not be so lucky.

Jamiekrux wrote: »

Maybe coming to a website where people already know what needs changing on a car was a bad idea, because you assume that other people have this knowledge, you assume we know we need to seek this knowledge prior to a purchase. Hell if it wasnt for the internet this information would not be available to people unless the car came with the manual or you had someone to ask with experience.

Well we do have the internet and it's so easy to do research it's silly not to when spending thousands of pounds. Even before the internet people had enough common sense that salesmen (who are just after your money) should not be trusted 100%.

Also before the internet there were these things called books (they still exist) that allowed people to research things.

Jamiekrux wrote: »

This is where the issue lies, assumed knowledge, let's for instance imagine a young 17 year old went to a dealer to buy a first cheap car, knowing nothing about cars due to age and lack of experience, a fair way to trade a vehicle would be to inform said customer of the condition of the car honestly, to the best of their knowledge with the history they had, and if none were present, a check over of the car and any serviceable parts would be fair to complete.

You can argue with me all day that so long as they have completed the bare minimum to make a sale i should not expect any more, but when the reality is you could spend potentially tens of thousands on a vehicle for it to break within a month without excessive use, with a part that was clearly wearing out at the time of sale, and not have any legal standpoint for the repairs is ludicrous. Whether the car is brand new or used, there should be a period of time where any major malfunctions are repaired, and to be fair this is what they are doing, props to them.

You just far too trusting and i'm surprised you haven't been ripped off/scammed a lot in the past.

jonnyd281

Jamiekrux wrote: »

Hell if it wasnt for the internet this information would not be available to people unless the car came with the manual or you had someone to ask with experience.

Haynes manuals are pretty good for telling you what needs doing and when, I have had them for every second hand car and motorcycle I have had. I even have them for the donor parts for the cars I build. These have been around since long before the internet. They are worth the investment, since they have idiots guides on pretty much everything, and a rating on how complex the jobs are. Some of the older ones have instructions on stripping down and rebuilding the gearboxes. They are well worth the investment for an older car.

Jamiekrux

Well people I will definitely be taking some good practices away with me, thanks to anyone who posted non judgemental advice. I believe everything that I wanted to know has been discussed, whether I agree with it or not, although some of that information will be taken with a pinch of salt. I very much doubt I will be using this forum again, mainly due to the unsympathetic attitudes that frequent it, I came here for help and advice and not passive aggressive beration.

Mercdriver

Jamiekrux wrote: »

At the time of purchase the cam belt was due to be changed within 6,000 miles, which should really be done before that to be safe, there was no service history to state it had been changed at all since manufactured, yet they did not mention anything about the cam belt and assured us that a full service and mot would be completed, it is poor duty of care expecting us to know that it needed to be changed almost immediately. I really can't believe the blas! attitude many of the posts have about this issue. I wonder if you would feel the same way if you drove a car off the dealership forecourt and proceeded to drive your loved ones into another car days later. I guess the fact they are repairing it is all I need to know, i'm pretty sure they wouldn't be if they believed it wasn't something to do with how they sold the car. Any further sarcastic comments are irrelevant.

Stop judging them with knowledge gained in hindsight. You knew nothing about change intervals when you bought the car. Too many people seem to think that they don't have a responsibility when buying a car.

You bought this car with blindfolds that you put on yourself. The dealer is fixing what he doesn't necessarily have to fix. Quit while you are ahead, and next time do more homework before purchase.

Mercdriver

Jamiekrux wrote: »

You want an honest reply? honestly I am not a car dealer and would rely on the experts to inform me when a part needs changing, If i was part exchanging a car I would rely on them to value it and know what attention it would need.


Maybe coming to a website where people already know what needs changing on a car was a bad idea, because you assume that other people have this knowledge, you assume we know we need to seek this knowledge prior to a purchase. Hell if it wasnt for the internet this information would not be available to people unless the car came with the manual or you had someone to ask with experience.


This is where the issue lies, assumed knowledge, let's for instance imagine a young 17 year old went to a dealer to buy a first cheap car, knowing nothing about cars due to age and lack of experience, a fair way to trade a vehicle would be to inform said customer of the condition of the car honestly, to the best of their knowledge with the history they had, and if none were present, a check over of the car and any serviceable parts would be fair to complete.


You can argue with me all day that so long as they have completed the bare minimum to make a sale i should not expect any more, but when the reality is you could spend potentially tens of thousands on a vehicle for it to break within a month without excessive use, with a part that was clearly wearing out at the time of sale, and not have any legal standpoint for the repairs is ludicrous. Whether the car is brand new or used, there should be a period of time where any major malfunctions are repaired, and to be fair this is what they are doing, props to them.

Belts are wear and tear items and are generally excluded from warranties, just as brakes, and clutches are.

davidwood681

Jamiekrux wrote: »

Well people I will definitely be taking some good practices away with me, thanks to anyone who posted non judgemental advice. I believe everything that I wanted to know has been discussed, whether I agree with it or not, although some of that information will be taken with a pinch of salt. I very much doubt I will be using this forum again, mainly due to not being told what i wanted to hear.

Fixed it for you :money:

CarolK

There is a system available that allows the car dealer to be connected directly to a qualified inspection engineer via a video-streaming-conference link.


A full inspection is undertaken during the conference and any work needed (and associated costs) are agreed on the call.


The video conference is then stored and is accessible at any future date


The system is generally used by insurers for vehicle repairs, but is now being widely used by second hand car dealers, finance companies and warranty providers


Though this is too late for this OP, I would strongly recommend its use for any car buyers, particularly used.