Are you happy with the seller of your car?

[SC03OTT]

Never bought private but the dealer experiences I have had have been positive enough.

When buying my Focus, I dealt with two sales reps. One was new so was getting help. He was clueless about the car but seemed a nice guy so I wasn't bothered. I'd done my research anyway so didn't need much info from him. When picking the car up, they took 5 mins to show me how the main features of the car worked. That was a nice touch I thought, Instead of just sending me off with no clue how to use the wipers for example.

VW and Renault were both ok. Nothing to write home about but not bad either.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

No, not at all. Unfortunately I was naive and rushed into the sale, bought the first one I saw.

- Told me it had an alarm, it didn't, turns out it's one of those grey imports with no alarm/window markings
- Told me it had both cup packs, I didn't really know much about the cars, but it didn't have a splitter or cup spoiler (I've since fitted a skoda splitter and bought a cup spoiler)

Those are the two main things.

 

[fletch8]

mine told me cambelt had been done. according to birchdown they were 99% sure it hadnt. was getting it changed anyway which i told him but would of been good if he had of been honest

 

[alex-avfc]

Dealer I bought mine off was a nice guy but turned into a nob the day I picked the car up.

"Are you sure you have got insurance for this?"- Yes I'm sure.
"Dont go and crash it within 24 hrs" -I'm a perfectly capable driver
"You sold your old car on Pistonheads? Aww, bless you."

and the icing on the cake:
"You could have had this for £1k if u pushed me harder, I gave £950 for it trade in" - I'd paid £1250, £250 off what it was up for which was cheap enough for me.

 

[davo172]

Dealer I bought mine off was a nice guy but turned into a nob the day I picked the car up.

"Are you sure you have got insurance for this?"- Yes I'm sure.
"Dont go and crash it within 24 hrs" -I'm a perfectly capable driver
"You sold your old car on Pistonheads? Aww, bless you."

and the icing on the cake:
"You could have had this for £1k if u pushed me harder, I gave £950 for it trade in" - I'd paid £1250, £250 off what it was up for which was cheap enough for me.

What a **** !! Who was the dealer ?

 

[-J-]

Got my cup from a Porsche dealer in Enfield.

Top bunch, but then as a Porsche dealership you wouldn't expect less.

Looked like a Baus rolling up in my mates MK1 Fiesta XR2 to collect a Clio whilst people were in picking up their new 911's

 

[Hixle]

The bloke I bought mine off has a sheddy Trophy and is a massive bender

 

[The Boosh!]

Bought the RB off Makavelli. No hidden surprises or anything. Was great.

 

[Sir_Dave]

The bloke I bought mine off has a sheddy Trophy and is a massive bender

:butt:

 

[alanc1000]

I buy most of mine through dealers and they mostly treat me well, but have had some bad experiences.

1st car - Uno Turbo - car was a shed it was my first car and i was very naive, seller blagged me all the way and was lucky that i was a total mug!
2nd - Honda CRX - was from Dad, so i knew it well and it was perfect!
3rd - Saxo VTR - from a private seller and it was still fairly new, very nice car and very honest seller
4th - Mg ZR - ex demo from dealer, great except he forgot to tell me the cars are absolute s**tE!
5th - Clio 172 - from an independent dealer, car was fine and he didnt mention that the old owner had left a porno mag under the boot carpet but i was fine with this!
6th - clio 182 - from a renault main dealer - honest deal and no problems
7th - clio 197 - from another renault main dealer and very happy with description and level of service
8th - Z4 coupe - from BMW main dealer and superb service during the sales process, best i have experienced. Aftersales and service from that dealer crap so i now go to another dealer
9th - Porsche Cayman - TOTALLY shafted on this one, car engine a write off but the dealer wasnt to know, and gave me a refund, could have ended very badly though if i hadnt had an independent inspection done
10th - Z4 - very happy with service and description!

I did also buy a motorbike once from ebay that was shagged, i went to pick it up and the seller started to try and haggle MORE money as he didnt think it sold for enough.. then after a few days i realised the bike was in s**t condition but it was only £900 and i put it down to experience.

 

[alex-avfc]

What a **** !! Who was the dealer ?

Vaughan Motors in Sheldon, near Birmingham airport. Don't get me wrong, straight enough dealer, just very patronising!

 

[withoutabix]

Vaughan Motors in Sheldon, near Birmingham airport. Don't get me wrong, straight enough dealer, just very patronising!

FLOL this dude is a full on Douche, a right c**ky B*****D

I took my Mrs Panda 100HP to see if he would be interested it taking it off our hands, TBH he loved the car and then started telling me that it was worth well below the glasses guide price because it never had full Dealer history and due to the fact id had it serviced at Freds that the Warrenty with Fiat was now void and he wouldn't be able to sell the car and that no car Dealers would go anywhere near it!

I nearly had a full on Argument on his forecourt that having the work carried out @ a VAT registered garage thats uses genuine or equivalent quality parts would not void the warranty, He gave me the old "I do this for a living you know, I do know what I'm talking about!" I wish I had looked abit deeper Into the service manual on the forecourt because 5mins after I got home I found the page in the book which it stated that this was the case and i was 100% right, I was half tempted to go back down there and shove that page in his face!

In the End I went to another independent dealer about 3miles away, who took the car straight away and offered above the guide price, he had the car for 2 days and made about £1k on it.

 

[Olli3]

8th - Z4 coupe - from BMW main dealer and superb service during the sales process, best i have experienced. Aftersales and service from that dealer crap so i now go to another dealer

Interesting. I had the same experience when buying a brand new 320d coupe a few years back. Pre sales was great, After sales was shocking!

1. Fiesta 1.1 - Auction - Written off about a year later
2. Escort 1.6 - Auction - Bullet proof
2. Focus TDi - Ford Dealer - Bullet proof
3. Merc A-Class 1.6 (for wife) - Indie Dealer - Bullet proof
4. BMW 320d Coupe - BMW Main Dealer - Car fine, Sales good, After sales very poor!
5. Citroen C4 GP 2.0 D (for wife) - AvailableCar.com - Been good, Just gone in for it first job after 3 years (£700).
6. Clio 182 - Private - lad was fine and genuine
7. BMW 645ci - Indie Dealer - Was unsure about the dealer at first, but in the end he seemed genuine. Only had the car 2 days so will update if required.

 

[Rob]

I've only ever bought cars off of members on here. First car was from my dad ,then:

The 172 I bought of Daniel, what a f**king dog that was, stitched me right up.

I'm kidding of course, awesome person to buy a car from TBH, totally honest and even helped out with an issue that arose after the sale, even though it was a private purchase.

The 3 series I got off of someone from here, really honest seller and it was a lovely car

The z4 I bought off of Laura on a whim, but she was honest about the car before I picked it up and I was generally happy all around.

 

[Short Norman]

I bought a 306 Gti a few years ago from some wideboy in Nottingham. Didn't realise until a few days later it no Tax on it....my fault for not checking.

It wasn't up to my usual high standards really (although never broke down), I knew I'd made a bit of a mistake when I pulled in to put some petrol in just after I bought it and two bits of interior trim fell off.

I bought it because I'd just blown my 205 Gti engine on a trackday when really I should have looked elsewhere.

Personally I'm of the opinion that you HAVE to look after yourself when buying, be it from a dealer or private.

 

[Daniel]

I've only ever bought cars off of members on here. First car was from my dad ,then:

The 172 I bought of Daniel, what a f**king dog that was, stitched me right up.

I'm kidding of course, awesome person to buy a car from TBH, totally honest and even helped out with an issue that arose after the sale, even though it was a private purchase.

The 3 series I got off of someone from here, really honest seller and it was a lovely car

The z4 I bought off of Laura on a whim, but she was honest about the car before I picked it up and I was generally happy all around.

I wish I never sold that car to you. Every time I spoke to you, you were replacing something.

Sorry.

 

[Short Norman]

I hate selling my cars to someone I know - I always feel guilty if something breaks.

Sold a Punto to a friend once and the power steering broke....I felt bad until she reminded me that they'd had it for 3 years without any problems.

 

[pbufton]

Bought and sold a few cars since I passed my test, some private and some off ebay. Most of the ebay purchases had problems which I wasn't told about, and found out after.

Bought my 182 off a member off here through ebay a couple of months ago, had just gone through a full service. The guy was very honest about the car, and it went through MOT last week with no advisories. Very pleased. Brings me to the point that this is the only vehicle i've ever bought through ebay thats been EXACTLY as described!

 

[Mr bean]

i have bought a car on here (still waiting on it being picked up) all i have seen is pictures/virbal description of the vehicle with its known faults an also have wired the funds via bank accounts not even seen the bloke selling the car but i trust him (maybe a foilsh mistake will soon see when it gets picked up)

 

[EllD90]

Bought a Clio from Renault Orpington, good service tbh...no complaints.

Bought the MCS from Sytner. There have been issues with it but service manager has been great, customer service is second to none.

 

[Rob]

I wish I never sold that car to you. Every time I spoke to you, you were replacing something.

Sorry.

I f**king loved that car, seriously, like a child.

You couldn't have sold me a better motor, and TBH if I hadn't ever met you, camping as CSS wouldn't be half as fun! All in all, a worth while purchase.

 

[pendulumx]

I am happy with my seller. He wrote a long, detailed description regarding the car and all known faults, and 8 months on, I've had no issues. I knew he was a genuine seller because his huge description (10 paragraphs) allowed me to peer in to his soul and form a judgement on his character, as well as the vehicle he was selling. He was a genuine bloke, and not the type to knowingly sell a car with a major fault.

 

[t-one234]

i cant complain at the person i bought my 172 from, they were a paramedic and it has been looked after well

honest, service history etc

and he even text me later the same day asking how the car was and how the drive home went etc which was a nice touch

as for me, selling a car is worse, and once ive sold one, i rarely keep in contact with the buyer, simply because my time with that car is finished

i will always only ever buy a car private now, i bought my last 3 from private and theyve all been pretty good, garages are boring to deal with

i like haggling and negociating, its part of buying a car, and you can always see more until your happy, i saw 4 clio 172 before i bought mine

 

[skiddusmarkus]

So did the seller tell you that he was going to swap the exhaust and wheels over or reduce the price to reflect this?If not then he has your wheels and exhaust and should do the decent thing and give them back.

 

[alex-avfc]

FLOL this dude is a full on Douche, a right c**ky B*****D

I took my Mrs Panda 100HP to see if he would be interested it taking it off our hands, TBH he loved the car and then started telling me that it was worth well below the glasses guide price because it never had full Dealer history and due to the fact id had it serviced at Freds that the Warrenty with Fiat was now void and he wouldn't be able to sell the car and that no car Dealers would go anywhere near it!

I nearly had a full on Argument on his forecourt that having the work carried out @ a VAT registered garage thats uses genuine or equivalent quality parts would not void the warranty, He gave me the old "I do this for a living you know, I do know what I'm talking about!" I wish I had looked abit deeper Into the service manual on the forecourt because 5mins after I got home I found the page in the book which it stated that this was the case and i was 100% right, I was half tempted to go back down there and shove that page in his face!

In the End I went to another independent dealer about 3miles away, who took the car straight away and offered above the guide price, he had the car for 2 days and made about £1k on it.

Ha, what an idiot! Glad to hear it wasn't just me, thought he had just made a judgement about me because of my age (21).

I got that same "I've been doing this years, I know what I'm doing" spiel too. Only bought the car because it was cheap in the end, was tempted to tell him to do one!

 

[z8jay]

No but it was my own fault for not giving the car a proper check over.

 

[Chili Red]

Think I was a stitched up with a couple of cars when I was younger and naive, but now I always buy cars with warranty so any problems I've had have always been sorted.

My 182 and R26 were mint cars so I doubt the buyers had anything to complain about. I was really sorry to see them both go.

I'm not sure the aircon is working properly on my 500, but at some point I'll get a dealer to look at it.

 

[Struggler]

First car i got off my mum, so no complaints there!!

Second clio, (mk1 F7R valver) was a complete heap tbh.

Was told it had koni shocks - didnt
was told it had a paddle clutch - didnt
was told it had yokos all round - didnt

water leak had been fixed by glueing some rubber over a big hole - dropped fluid on first night
was told belts had been done with proof - couldnt find any proof in the heap of reciepts
didnt find out that it leaked majourly until it rained
runroof didnt work,
on of the ball joints wasnt even bolted on properly
clutch was knackered and proceeded to snap a few days after purchase

In the sellers defence i dont think he knew a lot about the car when he was selling it, he had only had it for a month or so.
he did also knock some money off for the things i pointed out. still not quite as the ad described. Its my own fault really, i fell in love with the car as it was local and a 2.0 converted for good money.

My 172 was exaclty as described!! a complete clapped out shed!! but i paid pennies for it as a project so im really happy with it!!

 

[2Damnsly Andy]

Bought my PH1 in November, apart from the fact he had clearly got a blagged MOT as the brakes were shot I've had no issues with the car.

 

[iLott]

When I went and saw my first clio 182 it was a state... Someone had tried to clean the bonnet with a scouring pad and the scratches were hurrendous, exhaust bracket snapped, scuff on the bumper tyres and brakes needed changing etc etc. but the salesman went to the on site workshop and got a list of stuff that they were doing to it before it was to be sold. Came back a week later and it's was nice and shiny and I was generally pleased with it for now. Driving home on the motorway and the rear n/s brake calliper fell off... Puncturing my tyre and taking a chunk out of my wheel, not to mention having hardly any brakes on the motorway too. Phoned tthem up and got a courtesy car for a week or so which ran out pod tax as I was still driving it... Received my car back 2 days after they said it would be delivered, brakes were awfully spongy and not working how they should have been but again I have them the benefit of the doubt at that time because I wanted my clip so bad. On inspection of the n/s rear corner they had only changed the n/s corner pads disc lines etc... Which I'm sure I don't need to tell you guys is incredibly bad practice. On top of that the brakes didn't get any better so me and a friend bled them, not to my surprise they looked like they hadn't been bled with bubbles of air coming out of all 4 bleed nipples. Only changed the brakes last week for brembo HC's, before that they were made of cheese and really unevenly worn and were also binding.

Well this poor show happened from Imperial Car Supermarket of Portsmouth, in my experience avoid at all costs. I certainly will be whenever I or family and friends ever buy cars.

iLott

 

[Aydon182]

Recently bought a 172 Turbo from Jack @ MWM from up at Stone, got to meet James, Jack and Chip-mk1 who were all involved in the build of the car.

Was a superb experience, very respectable guy to buy from, let me know exactly what I was buying and risks involved (even though I was already aware) Jack personally has been a great help with aftercare questions etc , responded well to my probing about the car , didn't try to hide anything. And Chip-mk1 has been a complete Ace helping with any questions I have, providing endless advice and is going to do some further mapping free of charge.

I can vouch for anyone of these guys very respectful and would happily buy again from any of them; James Stone/ Jack@MWM & Chip-mk1

P.s Clio is still running strong 5,500mls after the conversion

 

[jesus]

The guy who sold me the Trophy didn't know much about it really!

'Comes with a stainless steel exhaust' - OH HAI YOZZA!

'I'll include the private plate as I don't think it's worth that much' - sold for £350 big ones. x

 

[Jay_G]

1st car - Corsa B, bought from dealer, had dodgy MOT, wrote off after a year
2nd car - Fiesta mk4, big ends went after 4 months (I didn't pay any attention to the knocking, inexperienced!)
3rd car - silver fiesta mk5, had it 2 months, sold for double what was paid
4th car - Polo 6N2 White, paid £350 for
It. Best car I have ever bought, was specced to f**k and didn't have one problem.
5th car (current): Clio 172 black: bought off a member on here for £820 quid. Bought it in the dark (was my fault tbh) and did get a few more surprises than I bargained for. Had an aircon pipe cut which wasn't mentioned before I saw it (to be fair to him, he did knock money off for it), has a fucked wheel bearing
(didn't hear it on the test drive, again partly my fault. Didn't hear it till I got on the motorway), he told me about the fucked CV joint. Hazard light switch weren't connected, horn doesn't work, rear damper leaking, random holes in the interior trim, slats missing on vents and the clock is a bit fucked. But I did get the car cheap, and I was buying it knowing it was a bit of a dog. didn't have any pics in the ad of the s**t stuff, but it was cheap so was priced well. Wasn't really his fault, nice enough guy, I should of looked at it in the day.