Shafted....really?

[hagis]

Yeah, that's right... play it innocent

[jonbaker]

An interesting thread! I read the lot!

It's so hard trying to find a mechanic or dealer you can truly trust. I must admit i use the word '*******' but refer this to Audi not independent dealers/mechanics. The amount Audi charge just to look at a problem is £120. So if you took your car to Audi it's £120 straight away regardless, this to me is extortionate so i choose to go to an independant mechanic. I understand that Audi is a premium make but still.

As for buying cars i always carry out a full rac check on it (£200), if i definately want the car. I will then get a proffesional opinion on the car/peace of mind and can negotiate the price if work needs doing to it. This has proved fruitful to me on 4 occasions, 3 were private sales and all were fine and one was from an independant dealer which wasn't. I said to the dealer, "look, i like the car and want it, i wont buy it unless i can carry out a rac check on it to gaurantee it's ok, so if there's anything you know thats wrong lets save us both time and my money(i.e the £200 check)" he said "nothing wrong with it, i have no problem with the check". This filled me with confidence that it was ok. The check was done and i was informed that the car had been in a very serious accident and the repair welding was shoddy and in the rac mechanics opinion 'dangerous'. Told the dealer about it and he said he knew it had been in accident but wasn't aware the repair was shoddy. Wasting both our time and my £200 but in effect i didn't really waste £200 i saved myself £6000. Why couldn't he have said, "well it has been in a knock so i will tell you that much"?

[Martin Burnard]

Jonbaker....... Good call!

[Desertfish]

I go for the somewhat cheaper option and use www.mycarcheck.com. For £3.95 you can do a full online check on a car (as long as you have the reg) and it should tell you if the car has ever been involved in an accident. Insurers have to report these details anyway and all the info is going trough some database where mycarcheck is tapping into (would need to get the details again on this one for anyone who's interested but it's actually explained on the homepage).

Apart from the above info, it also tells you if there has ever been a colour change on the car, how many previous owners it had, what the last registerd mileage was, etc...

For £12.95, you can also do a full vin check in order to find out if anyone tampered with the serial numbers, and for £24.95, you get a cirtificate with all the info, you get a free 15 point safety inspection at a place of your choosing and if you get involved in an accident, you get free legal advise. If someone hit your car and they ran of, they will also assist you in retrieving the details of the owner as long as you can provide them with the reg of the car that hit you.

Don't find that a bad deal for 25 billies...

[Pauloz]

An interesting thread! I read the lot!

It's so hard trying to find a mechanic or dealer you can truly trust. I must admit i use the word '*******' but refer this to Audi not independent dealers/mechanics. The amount Audi charge just to look at a problem is £120. So if you took your car to Audi it's £120 straight away regardless, this to me is extortionate so i choose to go to an independant mechanic. I understand that Audi is a premium make but still.

As for buying cars i always carry out a full rac check on it (£200), if i definately want the car. I will then get a proffesional opinion on the car/peace of mind and can negotiate the price if work needs doing to it. This has proved fruitful to me on 4 occasions, 3 were private sales and all were fine and one was from an independant dealer which wasn't. I said to the dealer, "look, i like the car and want it, i wont buy it unless i can carry out a rac check on it to gaurantee it's ok, so if there's anything you know thats wrong lets save us both time and my money(i.e the £200 check)" he said "nothing wrong with it, i have no problem with the check". This filled me with confidence that it was ok. The check was done and i was informed that the car had been in a very serious accident and the repair welding was shoddy and in the rac mechanics opinion 'dangerous'. Told the dealer about it and he said he knew it had been in accident but wasn't aware the repair was shoddy. Wasting both our time and my £200 but in effect i didn't really waste £200 i saved myself £6000. Why couldn't he have said, "well it has been in a knock so i will tell you that much"?

Heard a horror story the other week i couldnt believe, with BMW! Basically a 335 that had been rear ended when 2 weeks old, repaired, but was never the same. Didnt handle right after, and after several attempts, dealers couldnt get it right. The owner eventually managed to persuade the BMW dealership to part ex for an M3 at cost. The only stipulation the dealer made was that he didnt part ex against one of his cars, so he wasnt stuck with the bust 335! Car was part ex'd and now some other dealer is stuck with a dodgy car they know nothing about! Allegedly.