Trading Standards are the place to report it.

Ever thought the car is/was actually perfectly OK and he stitched you up on the price by claiming it had "faults" that weren't actually there?

Thanks guys.

I do think the faults were genuine, i saw the error codes on the diagnostics and also once it was brought to my attention, I did notice what he was talking about with the turbo fault, i guess I had just got used to it and not realised it was wrong. I believe the faults were genuine, so I'm ok that part and with the deal itself. It's his shady conduct that is worrying me.

I just phoned, posing as a buyer, and he said its all working fine and mileage is genuine. So I told him who I really was and he got pretty defensive.

One minute he was saying BMW main dealer confirmed key data was incorrect due to a flat battery and the mileage WAS genuine after all. Next minute after I had told him I was thinking of putting a call in to trading standards he then said he was still dubious about the mileage, pointing the finger at me still. Now he has text me saying mileage IS genuine, matter closed.

Told him all it would have taken was a text to say sorry i made a mistake, which he should have done the MINUTE the dealer confirmed the truth. I do believe he has fixed the faults (sent me pictures of the car with those bits being changed) so that bit seems ok.

Basically something about this guy just doesn't sit right with me. He's advertised it as a private seller. When I phoned up he said he was a trader. Advert makes no mention of a warranty yet he said he gives all cars 3 months warranty. Just makes me feel uneasy. I said if he's got nothing to hide he's got nothing to fear from trading standards.

I checked the name of the company I signed the car over to, it was SLIGHTLY different from the name of the company that is registered to him at his home address. But seemingly that company was dissolved in Jan. Should he still be trading under a dissolved company? I can find NO record of this other company name.

Yeh I know its the easiest solution just to let it go. But as an honest person my concern is that some poor schmuck will get duped by him somehow, if not on this car, then on another.

Found his ebay feedback just now and there's a couple of people of there who are pretty unhappy with the deals he's done with them.

I just cant stand the thought of crooks getting away with something at the expense of some poor punters hard-earned ££ :-(

Edited by ScamBusta on 18/12/2018 at 21:39

Just a word on people with dealer level diagnostics:

When I buy a car I take my dealer level diagnostic equipment with me, because I always buy Peugeots, and want to check the car out thoroughly. There's lots of us with that equipment, so don't assume that they're all in the trade.

I went to look at one car which had an airbag light on. The owner said it had come on when he was hoovering the car a few days before sale - he must have caught the connector under the seat, he claimed.

But my equipment showed that the fault light first came on several thousand miles ago. It turned out he was a trader working from home and bought it like that.

Secondly - its possible that many of the fault codes were old codes for issues which had been repaired. Whenever I do a diagnostic for someone I check the mileage the fault occurred.

Quite often the repair is carried out but the faults are not cleared.

I then clear the faults and run a second scan.

So if anyone does show up to buy your car like this, make sure they clear all fault codes after showing you and then run another diagnostic scan.

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 19/12/2018 at 13:02

Whilst this bod has one over on you, and we understand why it's annoyed you, apparently he's fixed the car so the next buyer should have no trouble.

He's going to make a profit on the car, well that's what traders do, it appears you are in full agreement the car was faulty and he's fixed it at some cost, i don't see the problem.

He might be a liar and a sneaky unpleasant blighter, but then the people at the top of our govts share such traits, and no one is going to do anything about them except vote for them by the million (and once more expect a different result), forget him and enjoy Christmas and hopefully your new car.

KJP123 you couldn't be more wrong. I have NO problem with the deal done money-wise.

My only concern was that at the time, it appeared this guy was either trying to con me regarding the supposedly clocked car, or was trying to sell it on now knowing that it was clocked. Also my concern was him selling on an un-fixed car knowing it had issues,

He's confirmed its been fixed, confirmed the mileage IS correct as I said, so I'm satisfied with that now. Still think his behaviour was shady, and I do believe he was trying it on with me to get some £££ back.

I have no problem with a trader buying a car, fixing it up and selling at a profit, thats business! Believe it or not, there are people out there who just don't want to see someone else get ripped off, it was not about the money whatsoever.