Advice when buying a second hand car

[sazaboo]

erm, millhouses isnt in the south of the city is it? ;-)

 

i know its not really important to this thread, before you start...

[rosaespanola]

erm, millhouses isnt in the south of the city is it? ;-)

 

i know its not really important to this thread, before you start...

 

I always thought it was south-ish, but I never did have much of a sense of direction so I'm quite prepared to be wrong!

[matssundin13]

Brake pads £40

Oil £15

Filters 30

Alt £50-£150

Labour at reasonable garage £30 an hour x £90

 

Total £250-400 ish less if you do it yourself but id be working on the dealer sorting it.

 

And the lesson is if you dont know what your doing,get someone who does!

 

That all depends on the type of car it is.

 

Pads for mine alone are £45+VAT, plus sensors, oil is £35 for four litres and other costs are quite high.

 

OP, depending on the type of car (i.e. you don't say what car it is etc), things may not be what they seem. E.G. if it's a diesel, the oil will be black anyway after about a 5 mile drive down the road from changing it.

 

As standard practice, I like to change the oil on any car I buy. Brakes are neither here nor there, you will always need new brakes at some point if you keep a car long enough.

 

Unless there's signs that the alternator is failing, that can't be predicted either (ours went on a 307 after a long drive, there was a screeching noise and the belt set on fire).

 

On the plus side though, you know that it won't need these new parts for years to come.

 

Don't let a main dealer do the work - at a normal 'specialised' garage, this wouldn't cost half of what you've been quoted.

 

E.G.

 

Main dealer quoted £130 for oil and filter

My 'specialist' garage of choice £65

 

Main dealer quote for rear brakes £402

My 'specialist' garage of choice £98

[carltoncdx]

It does state on the MOT paperwork that although the car has had an MOT test it does not mean that it is in satisfactually condition or words to that effect.

Alternators are not part of the test and can fail at any age.

IF the brake pads are as worn as the main stealer states the tester would have given an advisory sheet to cover himself.

Take the car to an undependant garage....preferebly on recomendation from someone you know.

[mistyblue]

You bought the vehicle from a dealer

 

Your consumer rights when you buy a vehicle from a dealer

 

If you bought the vehicle from a dealer, you will have certain rights under consumer law.

 

A secondhand vehicle must match its description, be fit for its purpose, and be of satisfactory quality. However, the standard for meeting the requirement that the vehicle is of satisfactory quality will be lower because it is secondhand. A secondhand vehicle should be in reasonable condition and work properly. When deciding whether a secondhand vehicle is in reasonable condition it is important to consider the vehicle’s age and make, the past history of the vehicle and how much you paid for it.

 

If a secondhand vehicle needs more extensive repairs than seemed necessary at the time it was bought, this does not necessarily mean that the vehicle is not of satisfactory quality. A secondhand vehicle can be of satisfactory quality if it is in a useable condition, even if it is not perfect.

 

If the vehicle develops a problem soon after you bought it, you may have a right to return the vehicle to the dealer and get your money back. This would probably need to be within about three to four weeks at the most of buying the vehicle. The problem would need to be fairly major, and you would need to take into account the age, mileage and price of the vehicle when deciding whether it is reasonable to take it back.

 

You must stop using the vehicle at once and contact the dealer. If you traded-in a vehicle, you are entitled to have it returned if it is still available, or to have the full value allowed on it, if it has been disposed of. If you have left it too late to claim a refund, or you don't want one, you may be entitled to ask for a repair or replacement. The fault must have been there when you bought the vehicle. If you do agree for a major fault to be repaired and the repair turns out to be unsatisfactory, it's not too late to ask for your money back.

 

If the dealer won't agree to put the problem right, you can take legal action up to six years from the date you bought the vehicle (five years in Scotland). However, it is probably unrealistic to take legal action for a fault in a secondhand vehicle, especially an older vehicle, once you have been using it for a reasonable length of time.

 

If you take the vehicle back within six months of buying it, the dealer should accept that there was a problem when the vehicle was sold and offer to repair or replace it. If the dealer doesn't accept that there was a problem when the vehicle was sold, they will have to prove this.

 

After six months, it will be up to you to prove that there was a major problem with the vehicle when it was sold. You will have to provide evidence of this so it may help to get an independent report which could establish the condition of the vehicle when it was sold.

 

If the dealer agrees to repair the vehicle, the repairs have to be carried out within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you. The dealer must pay the costs of the repairs. If the repair has taken a long time, you may be able to use a service loan car or claim compensation, for example, for the cost of hiring a vehicle. If the dealer refuses to repair the vehicle, you are entitled to get it repaired elsewhere and claim back the cost from the dealer. If the vehicle can't be repaired or replaced or this is considered too expensive, taking into account the type of fault, you may have the right to get some or all of your money back. You will have to negotiate with the dealer to decide on what would be a reasonable amount. In deciding what is reasonable, you will need to take into account how much use you have had out of the vehicle.

 

For more information about your rights: Citizens Advice Bureau:

 

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs/buying_second_hand_vehicles.htm

[rosaespanola]

Thanks for all that, I'll have a look at the links. I have already contacted Consumer Direct and if I don't hear back from them in a day or two then I'll phone them, I want to get this sorted out as soon as possible but I want to know what I'm talking about when I speak to the dealer so they can't just fob me off.

[toytown]

I had a problem with a three year old car I bought from DC Cooks when they were going, within a few weeks the clutch was going and they would not do any thing about it.I spoke to a solicitor who told me that because I bought the car using a finance company the best thing to do was contact them and tell them i was rejecting the car under the sale of goods act and that I also wanted my old car back. Within a hour my car was booked in for repair at no cost to me.

Good luck just keep at them from what I remember they have to prove the faults were not there not the other way round and as for the mot take it to vosa for a check if I remember right there is a vosa centre in Sheffield somewhere.

[Mayfield]

Rights: You have few rights when buying a car privately but when you buy from a dealer you have a lot of rights. I will publish these below in another box.

 

You have very little rights when buying a used vehicle. I went through a load of problems when I bought a car from a dealer last year. I contacted all the relevent authorities, took legal advice and even went without a vehicle for a month as I tried to reject the vehicle through the sales of goods act. My experiance was slightly different from the OP as the dealer was carrying out the repairs, well they would do as they were carrying out the repairs on the extended warrenty I purchased!!! Each time it went in with one fault it came out with another and this went on for over 2 months:suspect:

[Shogun]

Ive been a mechanic all my life and have sold many cars in the past,I always try to do a good job on all the cars I sell, and always try to be honest as possible,but cars are mechanical things and no matter how hard you try they will brake down at any time,brakes and safety things should never be over looked and a new MOT is the best way every time,If the brakes past an MOT at the time of the test the brakes were OK the MOT tester can not take the brakes to bits and check the thickness of the brake pads, as for oil being dirty no one can tell how long oil has been in an engine some engines especially diesels mess the oil up strait away after changing,an alternator can go at any time the dealer would not sell the car with a dodgy alternator as it would have been obvious for any one to see at the time of sale as there would have been a light on on the dash board saying that the alternator was not charging the battery,some times its bad luck with cars and you have stand to it but if you dont know any thing about cars you always think the worst, to me the jobs on that car would be no problems at all the alternator would cost about £50 for a second hand one and the brakes would cost about £40 to replace all round,if I bought a car with just them faults on it I would be quite happy.

[Big Sigh]

Are you sure your car needs this work doing ?, The " main dealership" may be exaggerating. Are you in the AA or RAC they may do an independant report for you.Good Luck

The company i used to work for the van needed a new a heat deflector on the exhaust manifold which was fine. Before work commenced they phoned up saying it needed new windscreen wipers, a new clutch, new oil filter and two new tires. Head office would have paid for the repairs until i pointed out that the same repairs were done 1 month earlier. Also told by a mechanic that garages often ply for work that does not need to be done.