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Second hand car complaints soar 18%

The Office of Fair trading is urging consumers to ensure they know their rights and carry out a simple list of checks before they buy.

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by Victoria Bischoff on Sep 15, 2010 at 09:00

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Complaints about second hand cars bought from dealers have soared 18% compared to last year, the Office of Fair Trading revealed today.

The OFT advice service, Consumer Direct, said it received over 38,000 complaints about second hand cars in the first six months of 2010. This is more calls than it deals with about anything else, above mobile phones and TVs.

Many dealers are refusing to fix faults discovered by the owner in the first three months, which they are obligated to do. This means many owners end up fixing unresolved faults themselves, which cost an estimated average of £425 each, according to the OFT.

Meanwhile, one in 11 car dealers rely on illegal disclaimers about the car’s history and condition and one in four dealers fail to supply sufficient information about the vehicle.

Michele Shambrook, operations manager for Consumer Direct, said: ‘Dealers have a responsibility to sell cars that are of ‘satisfactory quality’. This will vary depending on issues including the vehicle’s age and mileage, but as the vast majority of all second hand car faults come to light in the first three months, they will often be the dealer’s responsibility to fix’.

‘Cars are an expensive purchase, so before parting with any money people need to know exactly what they are getting and what they can do if things go wrong,’ Shambrook added.

Around 3.6 million second hand cars are bought each year, with consumer spending totalling £24 billion.

Know your rights

The OFT has launched a campaign urging people to know their rights before buying a used car. Consumers are advised to:

Ask the dealer the right questions. What mechanical history and mileage checks have they done on the car you want to buy? How many former owners has the car had and is the full service history available? Has the car been modified from its original specification?Is the car ex-hire or similar?
Ask for important information. It is worth requesting the answers to your questions to be put in writing before you buy so you have proof of claims – don’t just rely on verbal claims or promises by the seller.
Find out about customer complaint procedures. Ask if the dealer is signed up to a code of practice so that if a problem does arise after the sale you know who to contact. Remember that if you buy a car from a private seller or an auction, you may pay less but you will have fewer legal rights than when buying from a dealer.

For further information about consumer rights when buying a second-hand car visit the Consumer Direct website. Advisers from Consumer Direct will be available with the team from What Car? for a live online Q&A session on 21 September 2010 from 1 - 2pm.

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6 comments so far. Why not have your say?

I dont understand why government (OFT) does not require all second hand cars to be provided with a new MoT, as a pre sale condition. While this would not provide full protection against sales of faulty cars, the accompanying list of advisories would help define overall condition and should reduce the number of complaints.

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This is treating people like little children. Anybody with a braincell knows that its riskier but a lot cheaper buying privately or at an auction. Also not that many vehicles have a clear unimpeded history that a dealer can pass on to a customer, even if they wanted to. The rise in complaints is not due to an increase in dodgy dealing, just the nanny state telling everybody their rights, and giving them too many.

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I know this is not a popular view but, honestly, what do people expect when they buy second hand? Certainly not new car quality if they have any sense - you only get what you pay for.

I don't know of any other consumer product where people would do this and much prefer to buy a good quality car new and then keep it for a longer period of time, 5 to 10 years as a minimum. That way I now exactly what I am buying, have only myself to blame if anything goes wrong and the depreciation evens out over the extra years.

If you want to protest about something then why not complain about the cartel of dealers and manufacturers that keeps new car prices artificially high?

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@ colin grant

"also not many vehicles have a clear unimpeded history that a dealer could pass on to a customer, even if they wanted to"

Surely that line has dodgy dealing fingerprints all over it.....even if upsteam from the most recent seller.

Why should second hand cars perpetually have "lost" ownership and service records?

@ Ivor Nestegg

Agree very much with your comments on new car prices. Lowering them to improve sales would very much enhance reliability and safety throughout the "food chain".

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To Steven: I agree that in an ideal world every vehicle should have a clear and accurate history file. However if you ask HPI or similar a startling number of vehicles have dodgy histories,( mainly cars on undisclosed HP). Obviously the older a car the more dodgy a history its likely to have. However this wont affect the quality of a car, just because its been seized for legal reasons etc. I think you just need to exercise common sense, ask a few searching questions, dont accept vague answers, and use your eyes and ears when viewing a car. I have bought cars that were too clean and tidy to be "real", and yet have given no problems. Its a buyers market in most cases.

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steven fieldfare

Sep 15, 2010 at 18:18

@ Colin Grant

Interesting debate.

I agree with much of what you say about exercising commonsense in the process of buying secondhand. It's just that mandatory checks beforehand would, I believe, bring the dodgier part of the market under better control and give greater confidence to inexperienced purchasers. In that sense, it may even oil the market by making it more likely that buyers would meet asking prices. While the cost of MoT and remedial work would clearly be passed on in asking prices, the buyer gets something back in knowledge of essential renewal work and a full year's MoT.

Further, as time passes and the message gets around, there is likely to be much more care taken by owners over maintaining documentation and history, in knowledge that cars will become increasingly difficult to move on without them. It would also bear down on cases where owners move cars on, knowing that they have a developing/intermittent fault or leave them unmaintained knowing that they are going to part with them. A common personal bugbear is in trying to establish when cambelts were last changed.

Neither do I see such a process as "way out" or over regulatory. There were similar arguments of personal responsibility and self reliance among farmers before cow passports were introduced, but the system has certainly restricted transfers of dodgy cows.

Car purchases are probably the biggest single personal outlay after house purchases, and much the same debate has taken place on houses; over ownership record and proper survey of condition. I see little difference with cars.

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