The Great Hunt: Been mis-sold car finance?

andrar · 9 March 2018 at 12:45AM

Firstly I’m pretty shocked by some of the comments being left on this thread. The MSE forum has traditionally always been a supportive place and quite a few of these comments are shaming people for not being as clever as you are. Why would anyone want to post their comment following that? Well I will and troll away shamers...

I bought my car a few years ago now so not sure it quite fits your two year timeline but I feel it’s relevant. It was the first car I’d ever bought and I was in a fairly vulnerable position having just lost my parents at 23. I definitely felt rushed into making a decision after only two test drives. The pressure succeeded in doing its job and I bought the car, the sales guy sent me to a room with a different man in and shut the door - he was there to sell me an extra three years cover for ‘parts’ or something of the like on the car. I wasn’t sure what to do to be honest and wasn’t confident enough to ask the right questions, he made me feel I’d be an idiot not to sign he deal. It ended up costing me 100s of pounds more than I would have paid for the car and I still don’t fully understand now what it was I signed up to.

This wasn’t me being a “financially irresponsible debt junkie” as mentioned in a comment above - this was me being a vulnerable 23 year old with no experience of buying a car, no one to support me who had that experience and then taking full advantage of that.

I can look back on this now as a learning experience, hindsight is fantastic but it doesn’t help you in the moment. Hopefully some of the shaming commenters can have a little heart in future - some of us aren’t as lucky or supported and knowledgable as you.

Mercdriver · 9 March 2018 at 2:40AM

andrar wrote: »

Firstly I’m pretty shocked by some of the comments being left on this thread. The MSE forum has traditionally always been a supportive place and quite a few of these comments are shaming people for not being as clever as you are. Why would anyone want to post their comment following that? Well I will and troll away shamers...

I bought my car a few years ago now so not sure it quite fits your two year timeline but I feel it’s relevant. It was the first car I’d ever bought and I was in a fairly vulnerable position having just lost my parents at 23. I definitely felt rushed into making a decision after only two test drives. The pressure succeeded in doing its job and I bought the car, the sales guy sent me to a room with a different man in and shut the door - he was there to sell me an extra three years cover for ‘parts’ or something of the like on the car. I wasn’t sure what to do to be honest and wasn’t confident enough to ask the right questions, he made me feel I’d be an idiot not to sign he deal. It ended up costing me 100s of pounds more than I would have paid for the car and I still don’t fully understand now what it was I signed up to.

This wasn’t me being a “financially irresponsible debt junkie” as mentioned in a comment above - this was me being a vulnerable 23 year old with no experience of buying a car, no one to support me who had that experience and then taking full advantage of that.

I can look back on this now as a learning experience, hindsight is fantastic but it doesn’t help you in the moment. Hopefully some of the shaming commenters can have a little heart in future - some of us aren’t as lucky or supported and knowledgable as you.

So he held a gun to your head to do the deal?

You have no responsibility for your own decisions at the age of 23?

Should we raise the age of responsibility to 25?

Grow up. If you are old enough to take on a debt you are old enough to take responsibility for it by working out your outgoings against your income. No one forced you to buy a car. You could have walked away but you chose not to walk away.

By going through the experience you learned some valuable lessons, I am sure.

andrar · 9 March 2018 at 9:29AM

You’re missing the point entirely - I could afford the payments I just ended up paying more in the long term than I needed to. It wasn’t about ‘taking responsibility’, I did that, it was about a salesperson pressuring a vulnerable young adult into signing a document they didn’t understand, and making money from that. That was the irresponsible thing to do in that situation.

I suppose if you’ve always felt confident, never been in a situation where you’ve been left without any family at a young age to rely on for support, and have always been knowledgeable about the sales industry and their techniques then it can be difficult to understand how other people might be affected by this but I urge you to try and understand rather than jumping to slurs and attacking people for not being as intelligent as you.

motorguy · 9 March 2018 at 9:38AM

andrar wrote: »

Firstly I!!!8217;m pretty shocked by some of the comments being left on this thread. The MSE forum has traditionally always been a supportive place and quite a few of these comments are shaming people for not being as clever as you are. Why would anyone want to post their comment following that? Well I will and troll away shamers...

I bought my car a few years ago now so not sure it quite fits your two year timeline but I feel it!!!8217;s relevant. It was the first car I!!!8217;d ever bought and I was in a fairly vulnerable position having just lost my parents at 23. I definitely felt rushed into making a decision after only two test drives. The pressure succeeded in doing its job and I bought the car, the sales guy sent me to a room with a different man in and shut the door - he was there to sell me an extra three years cover for !!!8216;parts!!!8217; or something of the like on the car. I wasn!!!8217;t sure what to do to be honest and wasn!!!8217;t confident enough to ask the right questions, he made me feel I!!!8217;d be an idiot not to sign he deal. It ended up costing me 100s of pounds more than I would have paid for the car and I still don!!!8217;t fully understand now what it was I signed up to.

This wasn!!!8217;t me being a !!!8220;financially irresponsible debt junkie!!!8221; as mentioned in a comment above - this was me being a vulnerable 23 year old with no experience of buying a car, no one to support me who had that experience and then taking full advantage of that.

I can look back on this now as a learning experience, hindsight is fantastic but it doesn!!!8217;t help you in the moment. Hopefully some of the shaming commenters can have a little heart in future - some of us aren!!!8217;t as lucky or supported and knowledgable as you.

So wheres the mis-selling? He sold you some sort of warranty / insurance policy and there was a value add for that purchase.

Just because someone is "sold" something that they later regret buying, doesnt mean they were "mis-sold" it.

There is a huge mis-use of the terms "mis-sold", "not fit for purpose" and "scandal" these days - usually by people who want to jump on the compensation band wagon in blame & claim culture Britain.

As adults we need to take responsibility for our own decisions, and ensure we read and understand what we are signing up for rather than being blinded by the shiny new car in the showroom.

I've done it BTW - i've bought cars in hindsight i shouldnt have, did deals that werent necessarily in my best interests but i "own" those mistakes, not try to weedle a way out of them by blaming others- as will an awful lot of debt junkies out there today if they are given half an opportunity to.

Life is about actions and consequences. We cant just walk away from our actions because we dont like the consequences.

almillar · 9 March 2018 at 2:21PM

I could afford the payments I just ended up paying more in the long term than I needed to

andrar - I'm not here to tell you off, but you weren't mis-sold, you were UP-sold. It's what salesmen do. Whatever decision you were rushed into, it was a 'yes/no' decision, and I assume you were free to say 'no'.
If you don't like the place, walk out and go elsewhere. If you think you were pressured into selling any finance product, you have a 14 day cooling off period

motorguy · 9 March 2018 at 2:33PM

almillar wrote: »

andrar - I'm not here to tell you off, but you weren't mis-sold, you were UP-sold. It's what salesmen do. Whatever decision you were rushed into, it was a 'yes/no' decision, and I assume you were free to say 'no'.
If you don't like the place, walk out and go elsewhere. If you think you were pressured into selling any finance product, you have a 14 day cooling off period

+1

Great summary

The Great Hunt: Been mis-sold car finance?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free