Car garage won't allow extended test drive or independent inspection

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As I said, not really bought many cars so I was just trying to do what I thought was sensible, only to be scoffed at by the seller for potentially living in a dream world (my heavily paraphrased interpretation, rather than what was said politely by the seller).

You're at an impasse.

The dealer has limited incentive to accommodate you. And the reality of an inspection is that on an 11 year old 5K MB there is too high a likelihood of issues and the dealer doesn't want to know about them. You knowing about them and haggling gains him nothing - you knowing about them and walking away means that information may be given away to others - or even mentioned on a MB internet forum.

And what you are doing - in principle - should be sensible. Some dealers would go for it - but probably only to a very local independent they knew - in which case chances are they even use that indy to deal with their cars.

@merc85 said:

Any garage that doesn't inspect there stock for faults and rectifying prior to Selling them shouldn't be trading imho looks like they have little faith in the stock there selling.

One Trader i know simply buys there stock from the Auction gets it back to there site and sells it regardl

I doubt that MB dealers getting AU cars from auction do much of an inspection.

However a MB dealer has a service department and can put things right. Or as mentioned some independents can do this too - the likes of Mercland.

But the reality is most traders are just lots with some sort of office, portable chargers keeping the batteries topped up, and some basic washing/valeting facilities. They buy cars on an 'as seen' basis and really just want to sell on that same basis.
 
If I really want to be able to have a mechanic look over it, I’d either look a lot nearer to home and try and get it over to him or pay said mechanic to come with me to view.

Thank you. I want the mechanic to look at the underside of the car as explained earlier; taking a mechanic with me will not help with this, so you're one recommendation is I should look closer to home? Yes?

I don't see how that makes much difference if I can find local Merc Specialists very close to the cars I'm looking at. Why do you recommend I should limit the choice so geographically when there are currently only 3 cars for sale in the UK that fit the bill? At any price. The natural progression from this is therefore I simply need to look for a very plentiful car. Dare I say it. BMW530.


I'll go and give myself a stern talking to in the mirror! :oops:
 
You're at an impasse.

But the reality is most traders....
buy cars on an 'as seen' basis and really just want to sell on that same basis.

Yes , I'm at an impasse with this particular car, but the advice sought was about the process moving forward.

Traders are I'm sure, hoping to sell cars as seen, but at the same time, if they won't let people, er, see them, then isn't that worse? I thought sold as seen was 'it's up to you to check; don't come back 'ere if summink goes wrong'. Fine. Just let me check.
 
At risk of deviation off topic; quite liking the look of this:
Used Mercedes-benz E Class Estate 3.0 E350 Cdi Sport Auto 5dr in Eastleigh, Hampshire | The Small Car Company


I think in summary and to draw together the points from all the people kind enough to contribute to this topic, there seem to be two general points of view.
1. Walk away and find a more accommodating garage who will allow an inspection (or you can trust to have actually done a decent one like Mercland), or
2. Understand that some (probably most at this end of the market) traders are not going to be bothered for a variety of reasons, some of which are absolutely valid, and understand that you either need to buy on their high-risk terms, or refer back to point No.1 but be prepared for a very long wait. After all, it's their business and they are entitled to do this.
 
At risk of deviation off topic; quite liking the look of this:
Used Mercedes-benz E Class Estate 3.0 E350 Cdi Sport Auto 5dr in Eastleigh, Hampshire | The Small Car Company


I think in summary and to draw together the points from all the people kind enough to contribute to this topic, there seem to be two general points of view.
1. Walk away and find a more accommodating garage who will allow an inspection (or you can trust to have actually done a decent one like Mercland), or
2. Understand that some (probably most at this end of the market) traders are not going to be bothered for a variety of reasons, some of which are absolutely valid, and understand that you either need to buy on their high-risk terms, or refer back to point No.1 but be prepared for a very long wait. After all, it's their business and they are entitled to do this.
Nice summary! Reading it all, it just strikes me that it’s a shame most used car buyers do the deal with their eyes closed - if more people were savvy buyers it would become more the norm that dealers would have to accommodate that.
 
I can too, but I'd happily leave my car, a large (say, £3k security) and my passport if it makes them happy. This in my mind demonstrates I'm serious and not messing them around.

I'll move on to the long (waiting) game. I keep swaying between the saloon and estate.
Interestingly, there are only 3 sport estates on Autotrader at the moment with near 100k mileage, varying from £5.5k, to £6k and then £6.7k.
This is very strong money in my book as the one I wanted was on and went for £5k earlier in January. I was just dithering on the fence and now massively regret it.

Yeah can't say you're not as reasonable as you can be mate.

Good luck with the hunt mate. The way I look at it, is that you'll find the one you want when it's right. I'm off to look at an S Class tomorrow hopefully but if it's not what I'm hoping for, I'll have to keep looking. :)
 
Thank you. I want the mechanic to look at the underside of the car as explained earlier; taking a mechanic with me will not help with this, so you're one recommendation is I should look closer to home? Yes?

I don't see how that makes much difference if I can find local Merc Specialists very close to the cars I'm looking at. Why do you recommend I should limit the choice so geographically when there are currently only 3 cars for sale in the UK that fit the bill?
I don’t disagree with you getting the car checked over - the opposite in fact - it’s just that you’re more likely to find a trader that will accommodate you if their car is going to be gone for say an hour or two as opposed to all day.

As I’m sure you’ve worked out, traders at this end of the market tend to try and move cars on quickly without too much fuss as there tends not to be as much margin in (obviously) as say the £10k plus.
 

That's a blast from the past. In '71, I worked there for a Summer job, painting the small engineering factory on that site. (The office still stands on the right).

Wonder if thy'll remember me and my Lambretta Cento ? Maybe even give a discount ?

lamcento.jpg
 
OP , Mr Feelgood hinted at what I am about to say. For what they are going to make on a 12 year old car on the forecourt for five and a half grand they just don't see the point in selling you the car. Walk away.

A friend I once had in the used car trade told me he had developed a knack of spotting what he called 'Pain in the Ar$e' customers and he would quite happily loose a sale rather than sell to them as they were the type who thought they were buying brand new and expected "miracles" from a used car - his words - A few of his observations made sense to me at the time, one was 'if a customer lived close by he could pop in daily to moan about some perceived fault with the car , even worse was if the PITA customer was retired as the old bugger had nothing else better to do other than pop in and moan about some perceived fault with the car !

I am not for one moment saying that you are such a customer, just that the salesman might be like my mate !
 
...you’re more likely to find a trader that will accommodate you if their car is going to be gone for say an hour or two as opposed to all day.

Absolutely SPX. That's why I found somewhere only 14 miles away from the seller's premises to do the inspection, so it could be done in an hour or two. Sounds like we're on the same page.
 
The dealer has limited incentive to accommodate you. And the reality of an inspection is that on an 11 year old 5K MB there is too high a likelihood of issues and the dealer doesn't want to know about them. You knowing about them and haggling gains him nothing - you knowing about them and walking away means that information may be given away to others - or even mentioned on a MB internet forum.

I was thinking the same thing, and the car could be 12 yrs old. The government was paying people to scrap 8yr od cars a few years ago.

You and your indie might be entirely reasonable at judging what's acceptable, but there's the potential to find some expensive things wrong with a 12yr old Mercedes.
 
As a seller he must expect inspections. Price isn't of importance as a bad buy of any value can be expensive re repairs and lost dosh.

If a seller was reluctant to allow me to inspect I would go no further. Allowing a 'mechanic' sounds ok, but how does the seller know the qualification of said mechanic, especially if he intend to be intrusive.
Driving away to be 'looked over' elsewhere must be a no no for any seller. Deposit or not it's just too complicated come any later disagreement regarding accidents, breakages or whatever. As a minimum he needs be sure the car is yours and have the log book signed over, or he has nowt, imho.

For me when buying I expect a test drive of 5 mile+. Even if they must drive there are still things to be learnt.
I ask to plug in my iCarsoft, but I can appreciate that some machines plugged into the OBD might screw the vehicle.
I take a mat and torch and crawl under.

Before travelling to see I want the VIN to understand the motor, oem equipment, confirm engine, confirm no DPF.
No VIN and the seller isn't likely to be very accomodating when I want to remove engine covers to look for anything adverse.
 
Prior to viewing my car, I asked if I could run a diagnostic, he said no problem. On viewing, they gave me the keys to do my checks. I spend about half an hour going round it and checking with my diag kit. They then took me for a drive around their industrial estate and said if I want a longer test drive no problem. Initial signs were good so I said yes and they put the trade plates on and took me to the nearest petrol station and put about £10 of fuel in. Nice long test drive and when we got back didn't pressure me for the sell.

3 days after buying the car my power steering pipe had a pinhole leak (common fault). The headlamp bulb which I said I'd replace also turned out to be a ballast. They agreed to replace them and on showing them a copy of the estimate, the money was in my bank within an hour.
 
Prior to viewing my car, I asked if I could run a diagnostic, he said no problem. On viewing, they gave me the keys to do my checks. I spend about half an hour going round it and checking with my diag kit. They then took me for a drive around their industrial estate and said if I want a longer test drive no problem. Initial signs were good so I said yes and they put the trade plates on and took me to the nearest petrol station and put about £10 of fuel in. Nice long test drive and when we got back didn't pressure me for the sell.

3 days after buying the car my power steering pipe had a pinhole leak (common fault). The headlamp bulb which I said I'd replace also turned out to be a ballast. They agreed to replace them and on showing them a copy of the estimate, the money was in my bank within an hour.

Which garage was this? They sound fantastic!
 
I then asked if they wouldn't mind driving the car to the place I intended to look after it in future for an inspection.

They happily agreed, they took it there, we agreed on what they would and wouldn't fix and even gave me £500 off and allowed me to view all the history so I could verify it.

That's why I found somewhere only 14 miles away from the seller's premises to do the inspection, so it could be done in an hour or two. Sounds like we're on the same page.

I should probably clarify the journey for them from their site to my inde was 16 miles each way and the car was £17.5k.

Also, if I was buying a much cheaper car, I would perhaps not go to as much trouble but the choice to get the car inspected comes down to your own ability to identify problems with a car and the risk you are prepared to take.

It's not like every business selling cars will point out potential issues and you can't see everything easily.
 
Second hand cars are a mine field, new cars too to some extent but not allowing them to be inspected is a bit odd.

Either they're just not bothered about it shifting or they know something is at fault and don't want to deal with the hassle of it because you're more switched on.

When I purchased mine I checked it over as best as I could, it has full MB history and to the eye the car was mint. I always allow for joints and bushes but to be honest I tend to replace those kind of things slowly from the off after purchasing a car to firm things up and for my own peace of mind.

However with my current car the to cut a long story short a the conductor plate went a weekish into owning the car and then the battle begun. They kept taking the car to a "transmission specialist" ( their mate dave ) saying it had this and that done transmission oil filter blah blah blah but the fault swiftly returned so back to Dave and back with the fault. I lost patience in the end and a member of here recommended a specialist so I called them up and took it in to be informed the conductor plate had gone which they advised over the phone to be fair as it's a common. They carried out the work there and then only to find the transmission oil was filthy as was the filter and the only conclusion we could come to was they just kept clearing the codes and giving it back not doing a thing to it.

Few months of fighting later I manage to get the expense of the repair back but there isn't a doubt in my mind they didn't know about it having that fault prior to selling it.

They really tried to push that AA warranty which really would have taken care of the problem for them if I had gone for it. They should have thrown it in like I had asked instead by the end of it they were out of pocket about £700.

What they'll do is wait for someone to come along drive it up and down the road, take a knock on the price, shift the warranty then everyone is a winner if a fault pops up as it'll be repaired under the extended warranty the customer purchased.

What they don't want is for the car to be inspected faults found and pressed for repair prior to purchase.
 
Sorry that was a bit long I had been writing it on and off while killing time during a site water inspection :).
 
Some very good points raised pal.

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