Sold a misdescribed used car by a franchised dealer

pumi63

Hello,
I purchased a used BMW from a franchised dealer. The vehicle was described as a 1 owner car however when i received the logbook, i was shocked to discover that i was the 4th owner. I asked my son to contact the dealer and eventually a frustrated and angry sales manager gave us £200 discount and were told that it was a clerical error when the information was forwarded to Autotrader for the advert.

I have now contacted the previous owner of this car as he had part-exchanged it for a BMW i3, and by coincidence he also discovered that instead of buying a 1 owner car that was less than 1 year old, it appears that he was now the third owner!!

Naturally, he is also very angry at having been duped by the same dealer since it does impact upon the resale value of a car and had this information been presented correctly then we should have paid less for our cars.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated as i have contacted BMW UK three times, but they have not bothered to respond.

Thank you ,
Perm

Grumpy_chap

pumi63 said:

Hello,
I purchased a used BMW from a franchised dealer. The vehicle was described as a 1 owner car however when i received the logbook, i was shocked to discover that i was the 4th owner. I asked my son to contact the dealer and eventually a frustrated and angry sales manager gave us £200 discount and were told that it was a clerical error when the information was forwarded to Autotrader for the advert.

I have now contacted the previous owner of this car as he had part-exchanged it for a BMW i3, and by coincidence he also discovered that instead of buying a 1 owner car that was less than 1 year old, it appears that he was now the third owner!!

Naturally, he is also very angry at having been duped by the same dealer since it does impact upon the resale value of a car and had this information been presented correctly then we should have paid less for our cars.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated as i have contacted BMW UK three times, but they have not bothered to respond.

Thank you ,
Perm

Did you buy the car in person at the Dealership, or using one of the online services where the car is delivered to you?

shiraz99

All depends on what outcome you want and whether you want to keep the car or not. If not, then formally reject it and stop driving it.

Car_54

1. V5C shows keepers, not owners.
2. Your grievance is with the dealer who sold the car, not BMW.

Keep_pedalling

What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car.

caprikid1

"What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car"

The fact that someone has started the thread shows it matters to some people. If it matters to some then they are put off and value is affected.

I appreciate you don't think it matters but to many it does.

shiraz99

caprikid1 said:

"What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car"

The fact that someone has started the thread shows it matters to some people. If it matters to some then they are put off and value is affected.

I appreciate you don't think it matters but to many it does.

I have to agree. Rightly or wrongly if I were looking at a number of similar cars to buy I'd definitely take into account the number of previous owners into the equation, I don't personally know anyone that wouldn't. If your car's less attractive to sell on due to the number of owners/keepers it's had then that's naturally going to have an affect on it's value. Look at any car dealer and there will be a premium attached with cars with less keepers.

Maybe in today's climate of a used car shortage it isn't such an issue but that's not going to last forever.

Flight3287462

You have already accepted the £200 by the sounds of it.  Just put it to bed.

If you weren't happy you should have rejected the offer.

ontheroad1970

How did you get the previous keeper's details?  You are not allowed to see them due to privacy rules...

sheramber

A one owner car could have been driven by a whole family plus anybody else who was allowed to drive the car.

caprikid1

sheramber said:

A one owner car could have been driven by a whole family plus anybody else who was allowed to drive the car.

The fact is the dealer knows a 1 owner car is worth more and has lied. We also know he has done it before so not an accident.