Eleanor M
Bad experience here
I visited this dealership last Wednesday (10/11/21) It's not my first rodeo buying a car but my first time visiting a dealership. I was specifically interested in the Corsa B that was for sale here, especially as the proud owner of a more worse-for-wear Corsa B that I am very attached to. While I plan to keep my current car for as long as possible, I desired another in better condition that I could give due tlc to in the hope of a long term investment. Both the advert and the asking price indicated a Corsa B in exceptional condition and a dealership should afford me more buyer protection than many private sellers. I did not expect the vehicle to be in immaculate showroom condition given its age and went prepared that there would be topics of conversation, not just about past or present issues but also about any anticipated future issues to take into account. When I arrived at my appointment time, the salesman was not present in front of house. Another gentleman, who was attending to other jobs, was polite and helpful; he introduced me to the car, opened it all up and checked back with me a few times while he looked for his colleague. During the time I was left unattended I inspected the car, including accessible parts of the underside. Aside from a myriad of paintwork scratches and historic dirt on the outside (neither of which bothered me overmuch) I had three things I wanted to enquire about. 1) The rear towing eye cover wasn't attached properly (a minor thing perhaps, but it pointed to having been removed at some point) 2) The clamps for the entire exhaust system were heavily gunked up and rusted, indicating early on that the leaking exhaust advisory for its last MOT had not been addressed but I also wanted to know if those clamps might need replacing at some point soon. 3) A patch of corrosion by the driver's front wheel (surface perhaps, but a deteriorating condition after all. The paint had gone. This is not obvious in the advert photos). This is the one that made me pause, because while I am a big fan of the Corsa B I am not a mechanic and would want to assess how serious or not the damage was or could end up being, especially in that location on the car's framework. When put to him, the salesman answered the queries with an assurance that the rust damage was surface and could be fixed for a quoted £150. At no point did he volunteer any information about the car. Any information not covered by the original advert was declared as a result of me asking questions. The conversation included: - Agreeing that the paintwork scratches were to be expected, as the car was 25 years old. Since he and I were both aware that the car was built in 2000 I wrote this off as a unintentional slip. - Upon asking how long the car had been stationary for, I was told it had never been off the road. Since I had already checked online information I knew the tax ran out in August, so that suggested to me that between the tax and the last MOT it may not have been driven anywhere between 3-7 months. I pointed this out, to his complete lack of interest. - Given the promised individual MOT and 100 point check, I asked when its last MOT was in order to confirm, and this was the one done in April 2021. I asked about the in house MOT- this is apparently done AFTER sale. The 100 point check? Also done after the sale. With some bewilderment I asked if any checks were done beforehand. It seems that aside from a quick glance over they do not have time for any detailed inspection of the vehicles sold and the condition is verified after the fact. I don't know if the latter point is common practice but it struck me as a rather interesting way of doing things, which I commented openly. I didn't want to come off as belligerent and don't believe I did, however he threw up his hand and returned to his office without another word. Having travelled a distance to see this car specifically and with some vague hope the situation could be rescued, I eventually followed into his office to ask more questions. I don't think this really helped in hindsight- his body language looked like he'd written me off as a prospect and I'm sure my own tone and body language reflected likewise. Nevertheless I learned further- - The dealership did not have any paperwork for the car beyond the logbook/V5C. The new owner would need to buy a new Vauxhall car pass for one thing. - Confirmation that the April MOT advisories were outstanding and that any MOT failures on the independent test would be repaired by the dealership (with any new advisories responsibility of new owner). That's fair enough I suppose, but especially with the MOT having been seven months previously I would have liked to know the ins and outs of the car before paying £2k so I'm in full possession of the facts and can price up everything that needs to be arranged. An MOT failure can be anything as simple as replacing a blown bulb to welding a metal patch. Certain issues would be easily fixed, others would devalue a car I've already bought. Some things would not flag up on an MOT but would be topics of conversation if they could be foreseen to become future advisories. - The majority of items in the 100 point checklist are already covered in the MOT, the rest being quality checks on such things as in-car technology, much of which wouldn't apply to the Corsa B. - The salesman was not happy for me to get my own mechanic to verify the condition of the vehicle, since me indicating that I might reject the vehicle post-sale was a sign that I was wasting his time. - The desired owner for that particular Corsa B would be someone who would appreciate it as a modern classic, store it and drive it rarely. It was felt that since I intended to use it as a road vehicle it would not be a good fit for me. Since that was the conclusion, I was denied sale and subsequently left in my dear little carthorse without any further communication.