Hi,
I have no idea if this is rife or i'm just an isolated case, but somehow I do not think so. Anyway! I am £1,700 down with a car stuck on my drive and oil all over ground.
This is because I purchased a car from auction.
In February this year I went to a local car auction. West Oxfordshire Motor Auctions and found myself paying almost £1,100 for a Ford C-tec Focus. The car is sold as, SOLD AS SEEN and you are given one hour to check the car out before it is finally yours. There is a hut in the car park where the keys are held and if you are lucky someone is their to hand you your set. I was not. Then you search for your car amongst the many in the car park and to help you find it, they hold it at night with no lights on. This is February after all. So OK. Half an hour later after blipping around the car park I find my car and try to do a thorough check in the dark. Half an hour is not long when you can't see what your looking at, but I take the car for a spin and other than a high clutch, everything seems OK and I take it home.
The next day I take the car out and then drive it home as quickly as possible as I find it hard to locate the gears. Great!
I have a friend who has been a mechanic for more than thirty years and he checks the car out. the bad news or at least I thought this was the bad news is I need a new clutch.
clutch changed and engine de-oiled and topped up I am informed that there is more bad news. I am told that the original oil is like treacle when the engine was drained and the new oil just keeps running out at the rear. Close inspection is...the crank shaft has a leak on the seal. Closer inspection. The crank case is a little worse from wear. Anyway. new seal later. Still leaking. Later again. Tried to sort out damaged case and new seal again. Still leaking.
So now I have a car that has leaked over my drive and is basically not fit for purpose. OK we are now into July and last month I find I have some consumer rights. not from the auction, but from the trade dealer who put the car into auction. No other than Baylis. They are a giant car dealer with dealerships all over the place. What they do is put cars into auction that they find hard to sell on their own forecourt.
Now here's the thing. The oil that came out of my car was very thick to the point it would have ceased the engine if the clutch had not given way. Where would you get nice thick juicy oil from, but from a garage. Someone had stuffed the engine so that it would be a no-show for leaky engines.
So I found that there are some consumer laws that help buyers when purchasing vehicles purchased at auctions. One of these laws is, NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. So I got in touch with Baylis of Cheltenham and asked them to fix my car. It had already cost me now £1,700 with work done. I was not after money back. Just a car I could drive. Their answer to this was NO! Followed by...It's a ten year old car. You will expect it to have problems. Thank you very much for that statement, Andy Robins.
The crunch is... i am not going to roll over and the next stage will be the courts if Trading standards or Ombudsman can't help.
Are there any others who have fallen foul of buying at auction finding that the car giants use the auctions to get rid of unsaleable cars on the forecourt and pass the problem onto the next person...You!
Thanks for reading,
Seb.
I have no idea if this is rife or i'm just an isolated case, but somehow I do not think so. Anyway! I am £1,700 down with a car stuck on my drive and oil all over ground.
This is because I purchased a car from auction.
In February this year I went to a local car auction. West Oxfordshire Motor Auctions and found myself paying almost £1,100 for a Ford C-tec Focus. The car is sold as, SOLD AS SEEN and you are given one hour to check the car out before it is finally yours. There is a hut in the car park where the keys are held and if you are lucky someone is their to hand you your set. I was not. Then you search for your car amongst the many in the car park and to help you find it, they hold it at night with no lights on. This is February after all. So OK. Half an hour later after blipping around the car park I find my car and try to do a thorough check in the dark. Half an hour is not long when you can't see what your looking at, but I take the car for a spin and other than a high clutch, everything seems OK and I take it home.
The next day I take the car out and then drive it home as quickly as possible as I find it hard to locate the gears. Great!
I have a friend who has been a mechanic for more than thirty years and he checks the car out. the bad news or at least I thought this was the bad news is I need a new clutch.
clutch changed and engine de-oiled and topped up I am informed that there is more bad news. I am told that the original oil is like treacle when the engine was drained and the new oil just keeps running out at the rear. Close inspection is...the crank shaft has a leak on the seal. Closer inspection. The crank case is a little worse from wear. Anyway. new seal later. Still leaking. Later again. Tried to sort out damaged case and new seal again. Still leaking.
So now I have a car that has leaked over my drive and is basically not fit for purpose. OK we are now into July and last month I find I have some consumer rights. not from the auction, but from the trade dealer who put the car into auction. No other than Baylis. They are a giant car dealer with dealerships all over the place. What they do is put cars into auction that they find hard to sell on their own forecourt.
Now here's the thing. The oil that came out of my car was very thick to the point it would have ceased the engine if the clutch had not given way. Where would you get nice thick juicy oil from, but from a garage. Someone had stuffed the engine so that it would be a no-show for leaky engines.
So I found that there are some consumer laws that help buyers when purchasing vehicles purchased at auctions. One of these laws is, NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. So I got in touch with Baylis of Cheltenham and asked them to fix my car. It had already cost me now £1,700 with work done. I was not after money back. Just a car I could drive. Their answer to this was NO! Followed by...It's a ten year old car. You will expect it to have problems. Thank you very much for that statement, Andy Robins.
The crunch is... i am not going to roll over and the next stage will be the courts if Trading standards or Ombudsman can't help.
Are there any others who have fallen foul of buying at auction finding that the car giants use the auctions to get rid of unsaleable cars on the forecourt and pass the problem onto the next person...You!
Thanks for reading,
Seb.
