Dodgy Car?

VonLuck

I went to look at a car last week and liked it enough to put a deposit on it with the plan to buy it this weekend. Everything seemed fine until I tried to ring up for insurance. I tried to do it with nononsense.ie online but for some reason it would not allow me to.

I asked the guy on the phone why and he told me that there was an exclusion on the car. He said that it was "beyond economic repair"! Certainly didnt look that way when I took it for a drive.

I contacted the dealer and he said he had no knowledge of it and said he would try to get to the root of it. The weird thing is that I went to cartell.ie and did a check and it passed, and tried other insurers and they had no exclusions.

Could it be an error on the insurers system or is it possibly a dodgy car that I should avoid?

Thanks.

Henry Ford III

Ask your insurer for full details. They may be incorrect?

VonLuck

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Ask your insurer for full details. They may be incorrect?

Firstly, I'm not insured on it yet. Secondly, they would not tell me any more than it's "beyond economic repair".

I dont see how cartell could miss something like this though...

Anan1

VonLuck wrote: »

I dont see how cartell could miss something like this though...

Trust me, they can. I had a car of mine written off and paid for by insurance a few years back - almost a year later it was still coming up clear on a car check. If you really want the car then have it professionally examined, but personally i'd walk away.

VonLuck

Anan1 wrote: »

Trust me, they can. I had a car of mine written off and paid for by insurance a few years back - almost a year later it was still coming up clear on a car check. If you really want the car then have it professionally examined, but personally i'd walk away.

Thats surprising to hear. Afterall, you pay for a car check and assume that it provides full history. If they dont, whats the point in getting it?

And by professionally examined, how do you mean? Its from a dealer so I assume he's given it a full check over and service. Do you mean get someone like the AA to do a check on it?

si_guru

Of course that insurance company might know before anyone else as they were the guys who paid out!

VonLuck

si_guru wrote: »

Of course that insurance company might know before anyone else as they were the guys who paid out!

Well apparantly the previous owner had no accidents in the car and I think she had it for a number of years.

Anan1

VonLuck wrote: »

Thats surprising to hear. Afterall, you pay for a car check and assume that it provides full history. If they dont, whats the point in getting it?

I was surprised myself, but I suppose any check is only as good as the information in the system. I'd still always run a check, but i'd judge the results in the overall context of what I know about the car, rather than taking them as gospel.

VonLuck wrote: »

And by professionally examined, how do you mean? Its from a dealer so I assume he's given it a full check over and service. Do you mean get someone like the AA to do a check on it?

Again, i've little enough faith in dealers. I'd find a good mechanic to examine the car - the AA check is very expensive. Remember also that, even if the car wasn't crashed and this is simply an error, it may still cause you problems come resale. I think it'd be safer just to find another car.

VonLuck

Anan1 wrote: »

Remember also that, even if the car wasn't crashed and this is simply an error, it may still cause you problems come resale. I think it'd be safer just to find another car.

Well if the car wasn't crashed can they not correct their systems?

Anan1

VonLuck wrote: »

Well if the car wasn't crashed can they not correct their systems?

In theory yes, but do you really want to depend on it?