Ask for your money back and tell them you'll look at it after the problems are resolved!

We're in the process of buying our first second-hand car and could really use some advice. We've put down a refundable deposit......

We visited the dealer to inspect the car and found a few issues:

- There are some chips and paintwork problems, plus a bit of rust on the metal step to get into the car.

- Scratches on the rear window tint that apparently can’t be removed.

- Rips in the leather rear seats and doors (the dealer says they'll fix this before we collect).

- The front left tyre is in bad shape with ripped treads and two thick sidewall rips.

- The boot cover is missing, but the dealer promised to replace it.

.....Instead of repainting the rear bumper, they're going to polish and fix the defects.

The car comes with 2 keys, 6 months dealer warranty, 1 year AA breakdown cover, and they'll be doing the MOT and service before we collect. We haven't test-driven it yet, but will be doing that when we go back.

Any advice on what we should check for when we return to inspect the repairs? Is there anything we've missed or should be extra careful about before we finalise the deal? Appreciate any thoughts or tips! Thanks

I wouldn't put down any deposit on a second hand car until I had seen it and test driven it. I'd ask for your deposit back. If you hadn't put a deposit down, would you still be considering this car?

However, your problem now is that they've started prepping the car to deal with some of the issues you've raised. They can now say they won't refund the deposit as it's been spent on the preparation.

Between the damage to the rear bumper, ripped seats, ripped door cards, scratched rear windows and the missing boot cover. It seems that this car's last owner had a dog, and an out of control one at that. There will probably be more interior damage than you've mentioned (or spotted yet).

Do you really think the repair to the leather seats and door cards is going to be done to an acceptable standard?

The last owner obviously didn't care about the car. If they caused that much damage to the front tyre, they certainly weren't a careful driver. The other thing is, these are the faults you have spotted. What faults have you missed. Yes, Toyota have a good reputation, but I wouldn't buy a shabby neglected and abused example.

Is this a Toyota dealer Approved Used car?

You seem to have made the classic mistake of falling in love with a car, by looking at some well taken pictures in an advert. I'd run away and learn not to pay any deposit until you've seen and test driven the car AND been happy with the condition of the car, as presented.

A New Dacia Duster (with full manufacturers warranty) that another poster mentioned, will be a safer bet.

If this is the 2.5 Hybrid VVTi AWD rather than the 2.0 petrol only VVTi AWD, check you can insure it without needing to rob a bank for the premium.

These Gen 4.5 Hybrid models have a widely known theft problem with CAN bus injection and some insurers are walking away in a similer way to Range Rovers and Honda Jazz. .

Toyota are supplying a "protection plate" to reduce chances of theives being able to plug in their hacking device, while they investigate if they can reprogram the ECU to ignore this type of attack. Well I say supplying, in fact the part is free but the customer has to pay 1 hour labour to have it fitted. It's well known in the dealer network now as well.

It also sounds like a really poor example with the damage you indicate and although I appeciate the petrol ones are not common, you might want to walk away and keep looking. Rear seat damage sounds like dogs so if its been into fields to let dogs run, I'd check underneath for anything obviously bent. Rear load cover is available on Ebay normally for less than £100. Rips in the leather can be fixed but needs someone who knows what they are doing which isn't cheap. If they just do a quick patch and glue, chances are it will be splitting apart again within a year. The rear screen has a tint and would need a replacement screen to sort it which is not cheap.

We are also looking at RAV4 gen 4 but we are preferring the 2.0 petrol only and doing my research is what popped up this CAN injection problem. There's a huge 65 page thread about it on the Toyota forum.

If you still fancy it and go for the test drive, make sure that tyre has been done as no matter what the dealer claims about driving on trade plates, that tyre sounds illegal and if you have an accident while on test drive, its you who will have to declare it on your insurance for the next five years and pay the higher premiums.

Based on what you have said, I'd be looking somewhere else. Also it sounds a bit expensive on a 2017. A quick look on Autorader brings up a 2017 2.5VVTi at a Slough garage for £13k with 68K miles in business trim. And they've already reduced it from £13.5K

Edited by VengaPete on 24/08/2024 at 20:41