Leaderboard

In my time here at Lawgistics Ltd it has become evident to me that, in the vast majority of cases, consumers expect cars that are many years old, having done many, many thousands of miles and for which they paid very little for, to drive as it was still hot off the manufacturers’ production line. The buyer has a gross over-expectation of their purchase. However, If I had bought a washing machine for £20 that was 12 years old from a family with 6 children would I expect it to last in the same way as if was £300, new and from a High Street retailer? No. Would I think that if that £20 washing machine needed a part replaced 5 months later that I had been sold a “dodgy†appliance? No. As one of our clients stated about consumers, “They expect champagne cars for lemonade moneyâ€. The CAB state http://goo.gl/VB1zFu that the most complained about consumer issues is around dodgy second-hand cars, with 6000 used car complaints reported a month. Faults are one of the most common problems. Firstly, I take exception to them stating that their complaints are about "dodgy" cars - how can they say that when, for the most part, they only spend a few minutes speaking to one party and are often not mechanically or legally qualified? Secondly, how do they know that those cars were defective? I say the most common problem is “wear and tear†– something that buyers seem to conveniently forget the moment they’ve used the mileage and previous use to negotiate a hefty discount.

BCA dont even comply with their own rules. Here's my gripe, 5 years ago I purchased a Renault Megane (I know your going to say that its my fault, but hear me out) It stated warranted mileage of 62k. I sold the car and 3 months later after a few issues which I had sorted out for the customer, it turned out he was like a dog with a bone he started to question the miles and managed to find out that the history was forged and the mileage was incorrect, it had actually done just over 135k, They had done a great job of hiding it. This didn't go down well with any of us as you can imagine and when I approached BCA explaining the mileage was warranted, they told me that whatever the vendor states, is their liability. Well, they weren't very helpful at all, after several phone calls, they explained that the vendor is a regular seller and they had never had issues with them before, but conveniently the vendor went bankrupt and BCA didn't want to know anymore, they completely washed their hands of it, leaving me with an empty wallet, a very sour taste in my mouth and a very upset customer. If warranted miles doesn't mean that the mileage is warranted. WTF does anything they say mean? I haven't bought a car from BCA since, and my reputation is back in tact.

No, 4x4's don't go off road !! Silly Andy

Not sure if this counts, an S reg Almera GTI MK2 was on the pitch at our dealership, I was only 15 at the time and would walk past and look at it every day on the way home from school, hoping , my Dad would keep it for a further 2 years for when I was 17. Guess what, it was sold never to be seen again. Now I understand 90 days and it goes!!! Never seen one on the road since!! It was a gorgeous crystal blue colour

This is fascinating. We were adamant that if were to hand out awards then we needed to be 100 percent confident they were doing the job correctly. The team worked hard on enquiries and we started them all via email - with 90 per cent of buyers now researching their next car purchase online before anything else why would we chose anything other method? Next year we may call and email. Or perhaps tweet instead. We needed to be confident that these dealers were doing exactly what they said and it's surprising that some who said they were brilliant in their nominations didn't even bother to reply. Morale or the story? Always answer a lead professionally. Yes some may be time wasters but some mag genuinely want to buy a car. And some May be the Car Dealer team calling to see if you're worthy of winning one of our awards...

The also did a pitiful version called the 'Monaco' fitted with a detuned 88bhp version of the 1.6 litre engine, but it was cheap. I have the tonneau cover from a Gleneagles edition in my shed, must get it on eBay!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24777273 This article on the BBC website gives the example of the girl who buys a Micra for £1000 only for the clutch to fail within a few weeks and then to find out later that's been an insurance write off!! However she was given a replacement car but the brakes failed on that when her mum was driving it home! Now I'm not condoning the actions of this dealer (if in fact it was a licensed dealer, which I doubt) but I'm sorry it's maybe just me, but what quality of car can you actually buy on the market for £1000? Customers must realise this! What do they expect to get for £1000? Some services &MOT's cost more than a £1000 so how do you expect to buy a reliable car for this type of money? If you have only afford to spend £1000 on a car my advice would be, keep your money and don't buy a car or if you have to have one, expect it to let you down, expect it to cost you money to run, expect it break down when you are least expecting, that is the life of the £1000 car!