Used Car Dealers. The tricks part-ex punters pull and have you ever bought/sold a Duffer.

[Deleted member 6183]

Some of the stuff that you learn on forums is invaluable, some less so.

 

[st13phil]

Back in the early 1990's my then wife had an 850 Mini - the original type - which somehow or another she managed to drive into the wrecker belonging to a local independent garage in the snow. I rather suspect that the guy driving the wrecker was at least partly to blame, a suspicion reinforced by the fact that the owner of said garage willingly replaced the bent steering rack for just the cost of the parts. I located another rim at the breaker's to replace the bent one on the OSF (it was the wheel that had taken much of the impact, hence the bent steering rack) and put it back on the road after also giving the OSF wing some judicial hammer work to get it back to something approximating its original shape.

While it drove in a straight line with hands off the wheel, the castor self-centring action on left turns was almost non-existent, while on right turns it felt normal(ish). Clearly something was bent, so I took it to a local tyre place who did full geometry checks and we found the front suspension geometry all over the place, with the offside KPI and Castor angles both well out of spec.

So I advertised it in the local rag as an accident-damaged car at what I thought was an attractive price. Same day the advert went live a guy phones up and wants to view it.

Although he posed as a private punter, it was pretty obvious from his knowledge and approach that he was a trader. His inspection of the car instantly focused on all the points that Minis of that vintage were dodgy on. "Is there any more damage than is visible?", he asked, looking at the OSF wing. Rather than give a straightforward yes or no answer I responded that "There's a tyre place five minutes down the road that will check the geometry, and I'm happy to drive it down there if you're willing to pay for the check".

"Thanks for offering," he said, "but I'll take it as it is. Will you take an offer?"

"No," said I, whereupon he dug a large roll of notes out of his pocket and paid me the asking price, and drove it away. Happy days!

 

[E55BOF]

There's another trick not overly scrupulous dealers pull. They give you warranty paperwork, fully completed, but if you never claim on the warranty you'll never know that they never made the payment to activate it.

I love this one out of the linked thread:

"Had some Gyppo's come in 15 or so years back in a 3 litre omega , wanted to chop it in cause they was doing beer runs to France and been tugged in it coming back through customs and couldn't use it no more cause its card was marked so to speak ....dealt with em, can't even remember what I sold em , few days later another lot came in looking for a big motor , you guessed it to do beer runs to France , I've got just the car lads , don't know how I kept a straight face selling it to em".

 

[ringway]

I love this one out of the linked thread:

"Had some Gyppo's come in 15 or so years back in a 3 litre omega , wanted to chop it in cause they was doing beer runs to France and been tugged in it coming back through customs and couldn't use it no more cause its card was marked so to speak ....dealt with em, can't even remember what I sold em , few days later another lot came in looking for a big motor , you guessed it to do beer runs to France , I've got just the car lads , don't know how I kept a straight face selling it to em".

Bejesus, it was the same two fellas.

 

[E55BOF]

Some of the stuff that you learn on forums is invaluable, some less so.

ER, yes. One thing I've learnt on this thread is that some of respected contributors weren't above the odd sneaky trick in the past...

 

[Doodle]

Bought a cheap Shogun sight unseen off eBay. When it was delivered the seller had neglected to mention the cooling system patched together with copper plumbing attachments (which as it turned out bypassed the heater matrix), the knackered tyres and the fuel tank that was like swiss cheese on the top half and leaked fuel everywhere.

Advertised it as spares or repair locally while arguing over a refund for misrepresentation, it was gone within a week for £200 profit.

 

[SW18]

ER, yes. One thing I've learnt on this thread is that some of respected contributors weren't above the odd sneaky trick in the past...

Yes - and if the genteel and erudite folk of this forum have been known to do the occasional trick, what can be expected of the broader public...?

 

[grober]

Thought this was going to be the one where you are selling a car and a buyer rolls up mob handed. You take them for a test drive and they express to be delighted with the car. The buyer then requests "can they look under the bonnet" and then distracts you by asking to look at the cars documentation. While your attention is elsewhere one of his mates sabotages something under the bonnet- or a little something in the exhaust, oil or the header tank /loosened electrical connection to make warning lights to come on etc pointing towards an expensive fault. Price negotiation then goes along the lines - love the car mate but the cylinder head gasket''s going I'm surprised you haven't noticed it ,I do like the car mind so I'm still prepared to take it off your hands if you knock a couple of grand off the price!
Apocryphal story - possibly but maybe another possible scam to be aware of
Car sellers warned of scam that could cost them thousands

 

[John]

ER, yes. One thing I've learnt on this thread is that some of respected contributors weren't above the odd sneaky trick in the past...

I'm guilty of that to some extent.

I seem to have gone too far the other way now - I point out things the seller wouldn't spot now.

Although it's seemingly yet to derail potential buyers although I think they appreciate the honesty.