Has my ex-demo car been in an accident?

vansboy

Ask the dealer that sold it to you, outright, as to its accident history.

Get it confirmed in writing, their reply.

You'll then need to have them deal with the problems you mention. no need to get other garages involved at this stage, really.

You might find speed bumps etc have caused the vibration .

VB

raskazz

The HPI check will only check if the car has been previously written off as unsafe (category A/B), uneconomical to repair (category C/D), or stolen and not recovered. It will not give any information on whether the car has been involved in a straightforward accident and subsequent repair process.

stumpjumper

I don't know how you'd get this done cheap/ free, but when I had a quote for my car from a proffessional car detailer, he used a lazer paint depth measuring tool and was able to tell me which panels had been resprayed/ replaced after the car was new. I already knew about the front wing and the bonnet, but was also told that the rear wing had been resprayed in recent years.

As for the juddering, book the car in for a full alignment with an independant french car specialist and they should be able to sort it or at least tell you what's the matter.

cyclonebri1

To be honest as an ex demonstrator it must be fairly new? Doesn't mean it hasn't had some sort of minor tap tho, which will go unreported.

Don't spend any money yet, get back to the garage and tell them you've received advice as to the posibility of it being in an accident and would they like to give you full details of it's history.

No threats, yet.;)

cornerstone13

Thanks to you all for your help. It has only done 5000 miles and there is nothing I can see that points to accident damage, other than the "juddering" - I wouldn't have thought of accident damage myself (wouldn't have a clue to be honest) but it was suggested by friends.
I will go back to the dealer and ask them about it - their website says they check for this - surely they should know anyway if it's only been used as a demo - although it was registered to a person, not to the dealership.
Your advice has been invaluable (not least to calm me down) - thank you all again.

cyclonebri1

cornerstone13 wrote: »

Thanks to you all for your help. It has only done 5000 miles and there is nothing I can see that points to accident damage, other than the "juddering" - I wouldn't have thought of accident damage myself (wouldn't have a clue to be honest) but it was suggested by friends.
I will go back to the dealer and ask them about it - their website says they check for this - surely they should know anyway if it's only been used as a demo - although it was registered to a person, not to the dealership.
Your advice has been invaluable (not least to calm me down) - thank you all again.

They will check as there website says because they can't sell a car with a dodgy hpi report, or at least not without disclosing it possibly. However as others have said this really only covers insurance claims. If it was the dealers own demo and a staff member had a minor prang, it would probably be repaired on the premises, as the cost would be less than the loss of value to a nearly new car.

All I'm saying is that not all damage is traceable via hpi etc;)

shown73

One dead giveaway is if any components look significantly newer underneath, such as brake discs, suspension arms, calipers etc. Might need someone knowledgeable to check for this. Could be a relatively minor shunt that was not repaired properly. A lot of places would repair these sort of things, but would balk at a subframe, or just not realise that it was slightly out. Balance the wheels first, of course, and have a close look at the tyres.

harveybobbles

Keith wrote: »

I'd put money on them finding a fault!

New pads
new discs
new shockers
full exhaist stystwm
maybe 4 new tyres
full service
but they will do a free aircon top up.

maniac886

harveybobbles wrote: »

New pads
new discs
new shockers
full exhaist stystwm
maybe 4 new tyres
full service
but they will do a free aircon top up.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

blue_haddock

You would be amazed at how many vehicles are actually damaged before being registered. After working in a dealers i can tell you a few stories but it would put you off buying a new car for life!