Car advice

[Ron Aldo]

I bought a car from Peter Vardy a few years ago and the sales guys were exactly as described above. I went in looking for a specific car within a specific budget and they spent their entire time trying to sell me a car miles out of budget. Their line was how the car they were trying to sell me was "brand new and this deal could be taken off the table at any time". I politely told them that made no difference to me as I was never interested in their "deal" in the first place what with it being OVER MY FUCKING BUDGET.

Their aftercare wasn't much better. Car went in for a service and came out with the engine making a weird squealing noise. I assume they also changed the spark plugs as they didn't properly reattach the engine cover which was left bouncing about the engine bay.

Arnold Clark get a bad rep on here but I've always found them really good to deal with. I've bought a car from them, used them for servicing & MOTs and recently sold them a car as well. They've always been spot on in my experience but I suppose with these big dealers it can just depend on the branch and who you deal with on a particular day.

[welshbairn]

58 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Welcome to the shit, unnecessary, petty war between folk who design cars and folk who fix them.

I was wondering if it was a deliberate thing to get more work and money for authorised garages.

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, welshbairn said:

I was wondering if it was a deliberate thing to get more work and money for authorised garages.

They have other methods for that.

Land Rover for instance, have a "fault" that means the service light can't be reset in Evoques 2017 onwards, and needs to go LR for a service and "software update" to sort it. Its sheer coincidence it doesn't become an issue until a non-LR garage tries to reset it though. 

They also have plenty of "protected software", which means only their computer can remove fault codes etc., and you need a specific log in to use it. And they charge £180 to put the computer on your car if you don't get the job done there.

[Andy Dufresne]

Car failed it's MOT on a broken rear spring.

[harry94]

Just bought a car and it's come with no space saving tyre but the space is there for one.

What's the sort of cost I should be looking at for one? Put in the exact model no and found them for +£100 which seems to be taking the piss for me.

If I got one that was from a similar model but slightly smaller, would that likely do the job?

[Sergeant Wilson]

4 minutes ago, harry94 said:

Just bought a car and it's come with no space saving tyre but the space is there for one.

What's the sort of cost I should be looking at for one? Put in the exact model no and found them for +£100 which seems to be taking the piss for me.

If I got one that was from a similar model but slightly smaller, would that likely do the job?

Take it back!

[welshbairn]

9 minutes ago, harry94 said:

Just bought a car and it's come with no space saving tyre but the space is there for one.

What's the sort of cost I should be looking at for one? Put in the exact model no and found them for +£100 which seems to be taking the piss for me.

If I got one that was from a similar model but slightly smaller, would that likely do the job?

Scrappies must have loads of them, phone around, can't be much. The internet isn't always the cheapest way to find stuff.

Edited December 6, 2020 by welshbairn

[101]

59 minutes ago, harry94 said:

Just bought a car and it's come with no space saving tyre but the space is there for one.

What's the sort of cost I should be looking at for one? Put in the exact model no and found them for +£100 which seems to be taking the piss for me.

If I got one that was from a similar model but slightly smaller, would that likely do the job?

My dad got one for £30 on eBay, but when he was speaking to a tyer fitter he said eBay is a nightmare for finding exactly the right type so I guess he got lucky.

[thistledo]

On 04/12/2020 at 23:57, Tony Ferrino said:

I bought a Zafira a couple of months ago and now the passenger side headlight seems to have gone. A quick  check on youtube makes me think I have to go under the wheel arch to change the bulb. 

This can't be right?

Headlight bulb changing always involves a lot of swearing for me. What year is the Zafira? Usually the passenger side you can still get to unless you have shovels for hands, IIRC you can move the fuse box cabling aside to make it easier, it's still fiddly as f**k. These videos on YouTube of people taking off bumpers to replace bulbs are idiots usually. 

I had to change the bulbs on the missus' shitty wee Corsa, tiny wee engine and loads of space... Except near the headlight bulbs, ended up needing to disconnect the airbox pipe to fit my hand in. 

It's always fucking winter that it happens as well, never a nice warm summers night. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by thistledo

[ICTJohnboy]

21 hours ago, harry94 said:

Just bought a car and it's come with no space saving tyre but the space is there for one.

What's the sort of cost I should be looking at for one? Put in the exact model no and found them for +£100 which seems to be taking the piss for me.

If I got one that was from a similar model but slightly smaller, would that likely do the job?

 

I've got one from an old Mondeo I scrapped a couple of years ago.  It's never been used and is T125 85R16

It's free to a good home, if you're ever down Accrington way.

[RH33]

Anyone fought the finance company and won?

[Scosha]

On 04/12/2020 at 17:48, harry94 said:

Went for a test drive there at one of our national dealerships. Turned up and it was a model £1k more expensive than the one I'd booked but went along with it for the drive nonetheless. Drove fine but was filthy after the guy bragged about its cleanliness in the showroom minutes before (not that it really bothered me but just found it funny).

After it, I explained that the only way I can act on it would be if it was in the range of the model I'd originally looked at but thanked him and said he could be helpful on organising something on that front a bit closer and was open to that make and model. The guy went through all his financial talk giving it the whole nonsense spiel about "We sell 3 out of 10 cars at a lost" and some horrific attempts at demonstrating interest rate calculations for about ten minutes then kept 'going away to get something for me' and coming back to just try and reset the conversation. I was told that this is the only car in the world at this price of that quality and next month, there would be no cars in existence in my budget. Almost killed me with the no of figures and circular logic he kept throwing in.

Politely resisted each of his attempts and was looked at like I'd just taken a giant shite in the middle of the showroom. I appreciate it may not make sense for them to drop any lower on it if they fancy their chances elsewhere but fucking hell, the whole think was excruciating. Just being talked down to intensely by someone who has little grasp of numbers.

I recently bought myself an approved used 1 series but actually had quite a decent experience with the salesman. I was paying in cash which probably helped but 3/4 phone calls and I shaved £1800 off the price and they threw in extra warranty. Quite chuffed with that compared to some of the usual arseholes you need to speak to. 

[Scosha]

14 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Anyone fought the finance company and won?

No, they have you pretty much fucked no matter what you try.

[harry94]

20 hours ago, 101 said:

My dad got one for £30 on eBay, but when he was speaking to a tyer fitter he said eBay is a nightmare for finding exactly the right type so I guess he got lucky.

Checked this morning and it was all a bit of a mismatch with the only one that I was sure would reliably fit being +£100. Ended up finding one similarishly priced to your dads deal when I checked in the afternoon, that had just went up, and included the manufacturers type jack so just went for that.

Bought it with the knowledge of what I was getting and didn't realise it could be as awkward to source myself, lesson for next time to make sure they get it in there before I do a deal.

Edited December 7, 2020 by harry94

[101]

2 hours ago, harry94 said:

Checked this morning and it was all a bit of a mismatch with the only one that I was sure would reliably fit being +£100. Ended up finding one similarishly priced to your dads deal when I checked in the afternoon, that had just went up, and included the manufacturers type jack so just went for that.

Bought it with the knowledge of what I was getting and didn't realise it could be as awkward to source myself, lesson for next time to make sure they get it in there before I do a deal.

Yeh he had real trouble finding the right wheel and the tire fitter didn't want to get involved, I assumed they would have I giant online retailer of old wheels.

[Andy Dufresne]

2 hours ago, RH33 said:

Anyone fought the finance company and won?

In what way?

 

[mac.i]

I bought a Zafira a couple of months ago and now the passenger side headlight seems to have gone. A quick  check on youtube makes me think I have to go under the wheel arch to change the bulb. 
This can't be right?
 

We had a Zafira B ( that's the more angular spontaneously combusting one) for a while....changing the passenger side lamps wasn't too bad but drivers side left me with bruises and scratches up to my elbow!

[strichener]

On 07/12/2020 at 16:18, RH33 said:

Anyone fought the finance company and won?

Yes, I provided advice to a family friend regarding returning a car and getting the finance company to not only terminate the agreement but pay costs.  This was for a fiery Zafira.

Have you written to both the seller and the finance company rejecting the vehicle?

[RH33]

11 minutes ago, strichener said:

Yes, I provided advice to a family friend regarding returning a car and getting the finance company to not only terminate the agreement but pay costs.  This was for a fiery Zafira.

Have you written to both the seller and the finance company rejecting the vehicle?

My mums acting on my behalf as I ended up having a few days in psych hospital. They’ve gone quiet after initial flurry of emails trying get out of it but I think they were making sure that I made my payment today!

[strichener]

20 minutes ago, RH33 said:

My mums acting on my behalf as I ended up having a few days in psych hospital. They’ve gone quiet after initial flurry of emails trying get out of it but I think they were making sure that I made my payment today!

Have your mum write a letter to the finance company and dealer stating that the vehicle is being formally rejected as the vehicle as purchased was not fit for purpose nor of satisfactory quality.  As you are now in dispute with the finance company over the supply of faulty goods, your payments should be frozen and interest should not be accumulating until agreement between the parties is reached.  The actual legal owner of the vehicle is the finance company and therefore you need to make the issue their problem.

Have you have an independant report carried out on the vehicle?  If not then add that you are willing to have this carried out at their expense (assuming that you have kept a diary of the problems - when they occurred, what the outcome was and how long the vehicle was off the road).  I think from reading your posts, you have indicated that the vehicle is currently off the road and if this is the case, then do not authorise any further work to be carried out and insist that you no longer consider the vehicle to be yours.  It is important that you do not use the vehicle at all after you have formally rejected it.

The more written details you have regarding the issues and correspondence with the garage the greater the chances of success.  Normally you would have six months from when you received the car to reject it but this is not a formal deadline and dependant on the number of faults etc. and the time taken to resolve these you may be able to show that it was unreasonable for you to reject it within this period.  However, generally if it is after six months then the onus is on you to prove the car was faulty at the point of purchase.

The most important thing above all else is that you don't become emotionally involved in the dispute.  It is very easy to say and, as someone that has had to take companies to court, I know how difficult this can be but ultimately you are dealing with employees of companies that are not caring about you, your car or your problem.  They are only interested in the best outcome for the company.  I say this with the best of intentions as I know you have posted about mental health issues in the past and these can be trying times if you don't think you are able to be remain apathetic.

Hope this helps and feel free to message me if you need any other info.  Good luck.

Edited December 10, 2020 by strichener