FOR SALE Buyers be aware

[MikeyH]

Great outcome

[TOMGREEN413]

Sorry to hear your story, I'd seen that car a few months ago but never got round to a test drive. From personal experience I've always had better cars from private owners than garages, too many bad experiences with them that I trust them less than a private seller.
I hope it works out for you.

[Pondrew]

Glad you got your refund.
Buying from dealers is becoming more and more like the 'wild west' again IMO.

There needs to be much more legislation to control this industry. Car dealers don't care about selling cars. The cars are just the commodity to make them money. It could be bananas, or pork. The days of car dealers being interested in cars, or customer service are long gone.

As said earlier, I don't think trading standards will get anywhere, as they seem to only have teeth if enough people contact them.
If the dealers are shady, they will have multiple companies, swapping stock between themselves, to throw any snoopers off the scent. These people are generally not stupid. They just think that the car-buying public are. Most of the time they are right, sadly.

Just look at reviews for huge companies like Cazoo, etc.

I looked at a main dealer 'manufacturer approved' car today for £30k. It was a pile of crap. They are even sticking two fingers up at the manufacturer, who's franchise they are representing, as I don't believe they would condone the selling practices of the dealers if they knew.

[Z450]

Glad you got your money back OP.

Real shame this is sadly another example a bad dealer spoiling it for the good ones.

I appreciate people can only go by their own experiences but I do find it unfair to tarnish all car dealers as the same as it is simply not true.

From a personal point I can say I have seen good and bad from dealers and private buyers.

[TOMGREEN413]

True.....due diligence needed either way.

[Bombardino]

Thanks for all your messages, money is back in the bank today. Trading standards are looking into the situation regarding the illegal actions of the dealers where they had me sign a document that stated that I was not to contact Trading Standards or make comment referring to their business which could be damaging to their reputation.
Additionally, they are looking into the falsified service history of my part exchange amongst other things.

Was this hidden in the small print or did you knowingly sign agreeing to the terms? Either way what reputable company would have a contractual request like that.
Good to see you got your money back anyway

[mr wilks]

Its not the last MOT test that alarms me , its the previous 2-3-4-5

To be fair the MOT history isn't terrible and there isn't a 'pattern' of problems. It's not great but we are talking about a 15 year old car with 85k miles under it's belt.
It isn't beyond possibility that it was owned for the past 5 odd years by someone who rarely used it, especially as Z4s are often summer cars.
The main issue is with the gearbox and that wouldn't be checked or tested for an MOT. As long as it could move to do brake tests, which it obviously could.
I honestly think the OP could not have found the issues until he drove it.
Someone earlier criticised the OP for not having an RAC/AA inspection done. I don't think you should have to do that if buying from a dealer. Surely that is the whole point of buying from a dealer, who all claim they do '3 million point checks' on every vehicle they sell. It's all bollox and lies, none of them do them properly; if at all.

This one, as far as I can see, is purely down to a money-grabbing dealer, who couldn't give two shites about the quality of car they are selling.

Rant over (for now).

Guess its all down to how you want to read it i see a catalogue of the same minor issues over a period of years suggesting the owner clearly couldn't be bothered & that for me indicates the type of owner i wouldn't want to buy a car from .
Similarly If i enquired after a private car & the seller told me the car had peasant rubber id be looking elsewhere .
The car in question covered 700 miles in 3 years with recurring faults , its MOT dates are all over the place pointers for me to avoid & look elsewhere but maybe i'm over fussy ? or just untrusting & very wary when it comes to used cars

[gerryp]

Thanks for all your messages, money is back in the bank today. Trading standards are looking into the situation regarding the illegal actions of the dealers where they had me sign a document that stated that I was not to contact Trading Standards or make comment referring to their business which could be damaging to their reputation.
Additionally, they are looking into the falsified service history of my part exchange amongst other things.

Was this hidden in the small print or did you knowingly sign agreeing to the terms? Either way what reputable company would have a contractual request like that.
Good to see you got your money back anyway

Alarm bells.

[Pondrew]

Was this hidden in the small print or did you knowingly sign agreeing to the terms? Either way what reputable company would have a contractual request like that.

Not worth the paper it's written on TBH. Admittedly I would have walked away just from reading that (and would have had a very heated discussion about it too), but our consumer rights trump anything that these idiots try.

[TOMGREEN413]

Thanks for all your messages, money is back in the bank today. Trading standards are looking into the situation regarding the illegal actions of the dealers where they had me sign a document that stated that I was not to contact Trading Standards or make comment referring to their business which could be damaging to their reputation.

Outrageous

[TOMGREEN413]

Glad you got your money back

[paddy wright]

Alls well that ends well, glad you got sorted. Shame as the car looked well despite the naff led lights)

[Kenhom]

You should have taken your old car back. It would be worth more with full history

[Rldee007]

Glad to hear you got your money back, I am interested to see if any action is taken against them.

Did they say why it took so long?

[GreyZed]

Thanks for all your messages, money is back in the bank today. Trading standards are looking into the situation regarding the illegal actions of the dealers where they had me sign a document that stated that I was not to contact Trading Standards or make comment referring to their business which could be damaging to their reputation.

Additionally, they are looking into the falsified service history of my part exchange amongst other things.

Contract (Civil) Law cannot subvert Criminal (Statute) Law. If they've acted unlawfully then no contract to suppress your evidence to that effect can be enforceable.