Rejecting a used car within 30 days of purchase

ontheroad1970

Both so called AA and RAC garages are effectively just people paying the two for using their names to advertise.  Plenty of bad stories about both of these types of endorsements.

TheMidnightSkulker

Yes. The dodgy MOT, however, was more extreme than I was expecting. 

TheMidnightSkulker

To be clear: I mentioned it was an AA dealer because that is why I assumed that any "independent" inspection done in my absence (because the dealer was far away) would only be done by the AA.

The reason I mentioned its being an AA dealer, wasn't because I thought that automatically made them trustworthy.

I did every bit of due diligence including background checks on the number plate, video viewings of the outside, interior and underside plus opinion of a more knowledgeable friend; test drive; background checks on the VIN number and MOT history. It had only failed once, a few years back, on an issue that was reasonable relative to its age and mileage at the time. I then, as stated, got a fresh MOT done, and it passed. 

The one thing I didn't do before purchase was get it inspected. That'll learn me.

TheMidnightSkulker

Herzlos said:

Also, why a petrol hybrid? You're really narrowing down your choices there over just petrol.

And I should add, there are no adequate petrol cars (that I've found) in my price range either. 

I reckon I might as well not get a hybrid, if I have a choice of not getting a hybrid or not getting a petrol car.

macman

I have to ask-why go 2 hours away (that's maybe 120-140 miles) to buy a Honda Civic? They're not exactly a rare model.

TheMidnightSkulker

That was the nearest one in my price range that passed the vehicle check.

It's about 30 miles. As someone already pointed out upthread, I could have got there much faster if I'd gone by car. But that posed a bootstrapping problem.

jimjames

TheMidnightSkulker said:

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And now the search recommences for a citrus-free automatic petrol hybrid with <100K miles, a reasonable MOT history and not more than say 12 years old.

Glad to hear you managed to get rid of it in the end.

I would suggest that your criteria would be worth expanding. If you're prepared to go to 12 years old then in my view it would be worth not limiting mileage to 100k. You may find a perfectly maintained car with over 100k that is newer and a far better option than an older low mileage one.

TheMidnightSkulker

I actually had changed another parameter: I'm looking at a 2007 Toyota Prius now, with mileage listed as below 100K. If anybody has experience with a Prius that old I'm interested to hear about it.

It's only with certain makes and models that I'm willing to go beyond 10 years old, because they have a reputation for being so durable. The Prius being one of them. If anybody knows something like "oh no, the Priuses from the Ides of March 2007 turn into a pumpkin under specified conditions" I'm all ears.

MalMonroe

TheMidnightSkulker said:

Herzlos said:

Also, why a petrol hybrid? You're really narrowing down your choices there over just petrol.

And I should add, there are no adequate petrol cars (that I've found) in my price range either. 

I reckon I might as well not get a hybrid, if I have a choice of not getting a hybrid or not getting a petrol car.

I've just done a quick google for Toyota used cars for all their UK dealerships and found quite a few petrol cars under £5k.

I'm a bit of a Toyota fan. I bought my current 65 reg Toyota Aygo from a Toyota dealer three years ago at a cost of £6000 with one previous owner, 23,500 miles on the clock, 12 months MOT, 15 months warranty and free breakdown cover for 18 months. There's never been any road tax to pay on my particular model either. It's a very economical car to run.

I can recommend both Toyota Yaris and Aygo models and now I have had a fairly new (to me) car I wouldn't want to go back to older versions. Although I know some older cars are great and run forever.  You can get a really good petrol only Toyota for between £3000 and £5000 - and not as old as a 2009 model either. 

I'm a single female driver and I trust my local Toyota dealership because I've never been sold a dud and I know that if I have any problems at all I can just phone them and they'll collect the car, take it away and do whatever's necessary before returning it. They don't charge for collection/return. They've also told me that when it's time to change my car I can choose one from any of their dealerships, doesn't just have to be the one near me - and they'll be able to get it for me.

When looking to buy a car the things I consider most important are - age of the vehicle, miles on the clock, fuel consumption, how long is the MOT, what is the road tax, what is the insurance likely to cost. I always check cars online via the government  website too via the link 

https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla 

You can also check a car's MOT history, which I think is invaluable.

I see you're considering a 2007 Prius but I really would go for something newer and smaller myself. Mileage below 100k is good for the age of the car but it's still too high for me. You also have to think - how long is a 2007 vehicle going to last? It's 14 years old now with nearly 100k miles on the clock. Buying cheap but old cars is something I'd not do now, having made errors in judgement like that in the past. Buying old and expensive - well, no. With buying from an established dealer, I do feel confident that if anything goes wrong with my car I can complain, since it's supposed to be eminently roadworthy and send it back for either a free repair or a free replacement - but that's the worst case scenario. 

These are just my thoughts, obviously and if some of them are helpful I'm glad - but I have been through some really bad experiences with used cars in the past and I've also lost a lot of money in the process. Thankfully, that's not the case for you but I really would take some time to consider all your options. 

TheMidnightSkulker

Thanks for that, because I haven't looked at the Toyota dealership in a while - I had only been looking at the used car listing sites. I really appreciate your comments because this is the thing I would like to be able to talk through.

It sounds like I've been looking at the same things as you do, which is reassuring since you are obviously more experienced at buying cars than I am. I only ever had the one car before this. And yes I definitely always check the MOT history and the car I'm going to view tomorrow recently had an advisory to replace the tyres, which I don't mind haggling with the dealership over. It also failed on brake discs and brake pads in 2017, and then previously had advisories on tyres and (in 2013) damage to the windscreen. None of those things look like cause for alarm now (should they?). Although the lemon had a much cleaner looking MOT history than this one, so who knows. 

So I'm looking at usedcars.toyota.co.uk and I'm wondering if I'm going to the wrong place:

• Price to £6,000
• Mileage to 100,000 mi
• Fuel type Petrol
• Transmission Automatic, Semiautomatic (in fact I can only drive Automatic but the search is too unusable to change)
• Toyota Approved Used
• Nationwide

I get ONE result, a 2006 Yaris for £5990. 

I appreciate that £5000 may be cheap in the ultimate scheme of things, but it's actually more than I can afford. I can't buy a car on finance because I'm on a fixed term contract with nothing else lined up yet. 

£6000 is also more than I can afford, but on current evidence, that's what it costs. And yet I do need it to last. My previous car lasted me 18 years, I need this one to last me at least half that length of time. And yet from what you say, 2006 is too old and not going to last anyway.

But hang on - £5000 is what I was willing to pay for a hybrid at the start of this process, less for a petrol car because I don't actually want a petrol car, I want a hybrid.

A month ago there were several hybrids for £5000 and under, no older than 2009, with less than 100K miles on them. Now I can't even find a petrol car for less than £6000. I went on Pistonheads and they were telling someone the world is awash with Toyota Avensis for under £3K, and I thought I could accept that, but it's moot because I can't actually find a petrol Avensis newer than 2005 for less than £5K. Apparently all those cheap Avensis got snapped up in the two weeks since they had that discussion.

I'm in a bit of a pickle, from the looks of things.