Honest me - Part ex

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 20:19
Honest me - Part ex - Parlophone
Hi,

I recently had my car serviced and defects were found, the most severe are below:

Front brakes and pads - Red - legal to take away from garage but require replacing
Small engine leaks

This has prompted me to get another vehicle and part ex mine. I have been offered 950 for my 10 plate car. The only my inspection was a foot on the accelerator and asking about the Mot and the cosmetics. Am I legally obliged to inform the dealer about the details from the last service or is a sold as seen attitude sufficent. I would imagine the dealer has offered only the information that suits his sale but I do not want to be in a position where this will come back to haunt me.

Additionally is the dealer required to check the status of the vehicle before he sells it on?
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Sun 5 Jun 2016 20:34
Honest me - Part ex - Cyd

Blimey! You need new discs and pads so you'd rather get a new car? Wish I had money to burn like that! Lucky you.

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 20:39
Honest me - Part ex - Engineer Andy

Whilst technically they should, as a conscientious dealer, check the car (preferably before the sale), I would've thought it would be good for you to tell them about any items that may incur reasonable costs to put right, especially in the light of the price offered.

Think about it - how would you feel if the person PXing the car you're buying had done the same, and you find yourself with a big repair job, possibly just after the mandatory second-hand warranty runs out? You might end up with £250 - £500 less, but at least your conscious is clear. I did this with my PX on my previous car and took a £200 hit (£650 to £450) - I didn't mind as, I had got a blindly good deal on my new car (£1k less than anywhere else and £3k+ less than the list price).

I suspect others may disagree with my opinion, but hey-ho.

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 21:31
Honest me - Part ex - Bolt

Not everyone agreed with me on telling the dealer about the problems my PX had, they gave me a good price on mine even though it needed work.

I have never sold a car/px`d without saying what needs doing as I got caught a few times and it cost me a bomb to correct the faults, so I know what its like to get caught

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 21:34
Honest me - Part ex - Bromptonaut

What's the make/model you're trading in?

Under a grand at six years old suggests rapid depreciation.

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 21:49
Honest me - Part ex - Parlophone
I've put a little over 105k on it in 4 years and it has been very good to me, a little more so than I have to it and knowing my future mileage is not likely to get lighter I've decided to opt for another. The final factor was the service which cost me £250 alone only to highlight the above defects and a few more, originally bought for 7k.

I guess as its already been mentioned I'm not out to screw over another buyer but even if I informed the dealer would they pass the information on? I guess that's why I'm interested to know what safety checks the dealer should provide before selling it on, I'm not out to screw the dealer over either but if he doesn't should he be told? Could he come back to me at some stage and argue that he should have been?

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 23:21
Honest me - Part ex - Falkirk Bairn

If I had just spent £250 on a service & all I was offered in PX was £1000 I think I would spend £150 on discs & pads and run it for 6-12 months - it is not going to lose anything in depreciation.

You could probably get £1,000 off a newish 2nd hand car for NOT HAVING a T/I.

Put it on Ebay /Autotrader for £1500 and sell it yourself - Ideal 1st car / learner etc etc

What is the make/model?

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 23:25
Honest me - Part ex - Wackyracer

What's the make/model you're trading in?

Under a grand at six years old suggests rapid depreciation.

I was wondering this myself, seems a very low offer for a 6 year old car.

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Sun 5 Jun 2016 23:49
Honest me - Part ex - Parlophone
Hi,

It's a Fiat Bravo dynamic Eco jet, 130k on the clock, 7 months mot
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Mon 6 Jun 2016 09:13
Honest me - Part ex - Bromptonaut

Your mileage answers a significant part of the low trade in price question.

Pads/discs are unfortunately routine replacements. They'll wear out again in same mileage. All things being equal I'd hang onto it for another 50k miles. But if you think other stuff is going to pack up and/or you fancy and can afford a new one then I can understand why you'd jump that way.

As a comparator I traded a 10yo/155k Berlingo late last year. It had a power steering fault which garages wanted to solve with increasingly expensive rounds of 'part bingo'. I told both dealers who quoted be for its succesor but I don't think it affected the price. Anything at that age mileage goes straight to auction.

I found the Berlingo in auto trader with a dealer in the west midlands. It sold pretty quickly.

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Mon 6 Jun 2016 13:14
Honest me - Part ex - brum

A lot of garages like to scare customers about brakes in order to get easy profitable repair business. "Red" sounds dangerous yes? Much better than you have less than 4mm on your pads or the disk thickness is at 23mm. Why? Because it cannot be challenged or even assessed by someone with technical knowledge. I have found most cases of reported "90‰ worn" brakes are in fact 75% or less. Which means in many cases another 15,000 miles or more before work is required.

As a private seller dont even mention anything when trading in, unless specifically asked. You are not obliged to offer any warranty, its a case of "sold as seen". Quit worrying.

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Mon 6 Jun 2016 14:30
Honest me - Part ex - galileo

Further to Brum's comment about dealers claiming the need for discs/pads:

My daughter took her car in for some minor recall, dealer said she needed discs and pads, quoted £65 labour, £45 for pads and £90 for discs (and adding £40 VAT!)

30 seconds searching shows good quality pads for less thn £25, pair of discs for less than £50.

I think this is an excessive mark up, what do backroomers think?

Fortunately she is wise to such things so will take it to my trusted independent for a check and a fair price for the work if necessary.

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Mon 6 Jun 2016 16:53
Honest me - Part ex - brum

Garages will always charge full retail, and they may also fit genuine parts which are expensive. Quick fit outfits usually fit cheap and cheerful (not alwaysl parts. Garages need to guarantee their work which incurrs a cost to them which they have to cover.

All pads are covered by ECE R90 regs. so are always reasonable quality. Discs are not covered by any such regulations so thats where money is saved, with cheap discs made in china and india to significantly lower standards.

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