Reminder of Buyer Beware

littlemaxi

Was nearly scammed today. Went to look at a car with my Dad, went off to make decision & came back and hour later to buy as seemed like a good deal with 18months NCT still on it.

Anyway, he took the kids car seat and buggy etc from it and cleared any other personal items from it, and I filled in the change of ownership part of the cert and Dad handed over the cash and got the key... so all was fine and just before we took it away he remembered his insurance disc, so i took it out and then noticed upon closer inspection the NCT disc was a forgery!!! Once i took it out it was clearly a photocopy with the hologram sticker peeling off slightly.

He claimed to know nothing of this, but agreed immediately to give us our money back.. so we took the money and left pronto.
I then did a cartell check to find out more and it seems there has been no NCT on it for last couple of years...
Everything else seems to be legit, but thats just put me right off buying it now.

So just to warn everyone out there to be extra vigilant, im just glad i noticed then and there, and not in a few weeks time!

Nissan doctor

The idea is to do a cartell check before you hand over the money!

mondeo

littlemaxi wrote: »

Was nearly scammed today. Went to look at a car with my Dad, went off to make decision & came back and hour later to buy as seemed like a good deal with 18months NCT still on it.

Anyway, he took the kids car seat and buggy etc from it and cleared any other personal items from it, and I filled in the change of ownership part of the cert and Dad handed over the cash and got the key... so all was fine and just before we took it away he remembered his insurance disc, so i took it out and then noticed upon closer inspection the NCT disc was a forgery!!! Once i took it out it was clearly a photocopy with the hologram sticker peeling off slightly.

He claimed to know nothing of this, but agreed immediately to give us our money back.. so we took the money and left pronto.
I then did a cartell check to find out more and it seems there has been no NCT on it for last couple of years...
Everything else seems to be legit, but thats just put me right off buying it now.

So just to warn everyone out there to be extra vigilant, im just glad i noticed then and there, and not in a few weeks time!

Delighted you got your money back, could have told you to F off!

Compton

exactly, you have to do all of your checks before buying the car, this includes a motorcheck (finance, write off etc..) then get a mechanic to check over it if you're not good with cars yourself.

littlemaxi

I know I should have done the car check before.. but lesson learnt!!
My own cars engine died almost 3 weeks ago and have been without a car so was probably just too eager to get back on the road!!
Out of curiosity, whats the deal with no NCT for years ? if it was brought to get tested now what happens?

Buffman

littlemaxi wrote: »

Out of curiosity, whats the deal with no NCT for years ? if it was brought to get tested now what happens?

It would be treated the same as any other car, if it passed it would get an NCT valid for either 1 or 2 years, depending on age, from the date it was last supposed to be tested.

littlemaxi

From the Cartell Report:
NCT DUE DATE 14-Mar-2010 If the due date is in the past it may be an indication the vehicle has been off the road we would recommend you carry out further investigation before proceeding with the purchase

Its a 04 car - Does this mean if it was NCT'd now it would get 2 years & expire in March 12?

oregano

littlemaxi wrote: »

From the Cartell Report:
NCT DUE DATE 14-Mar-2010 If the due date is in the past it may be an indication the vehicle has been off the road we would recommend you carry out further investigation before proceeding with the purchase

Out of interest, do you think the guy selling it to you was scamming you, or was he scammed himself? Did he own the car a long time? I'm very surprised that a guy who forges Nct discs would give you back your money... Or did he realise he was rumbled and decided to give up?

Nissan doctor

littlemaxi wrote: »

From the Cartell Report:
NCT DUE DATE 14-Mar-2010 If the due date is in the past it may be an indication the vehicle has been off the road we would recommend you carry out further investigation before proceeding with the purchase

Its a 04 car - Does this mean if it was NCT'd now it would get 2 years & expire in March 12?

Yes it would only be valid to march 12 if NCT'd now. If you had taken it you'd have been as well wait until march and get 2 years from then.

firefly08

I'm very surprised that a guy who forges Nct discs would give you back your money

Can't see any alternative for him really! If you were caught for forging an NCT cert would you rather (a) give the money back or (b) talk to the police?

CiniO

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Yes it would only be valid to march 12 if NCT'd now. If you had taken it you'd have been as well wait until march and get 2 years from then.

You are right about it being valid until 14th March 2012 if done now.
However if the test would be done on 14th December (like just in 3 weeks) then NCT would be valid until 14th March 2014.

Mad_Mike

CiniO wrote: »

You are right about it being valid until 14th March 2012 if done now.
However if the test would be done on 14th December (like just in 3 weeks) then NCT would be valid until 14th March 2014.

How would it alter to 2014 if he left it until December?
You've lost me a bit here
Is it related to the fact that you can book your car in up to 3 months early?

Seth Brundle

You can get the test done three months before the current disc expires.

Did you look at the VLC to see how long he owned the car? If there was 18 months NCT left on the forged disc if he's owned the car for 9 months he most certainly knew about it.

Mad_Mike

kbannon wrote: »

You can get the test done three months before the current disc expires.

Well I recently bought a cheap car for herself, and the NCT expired in March 2010
I have it parked up outside as want to sort a few bits on it, then Tax & NCT. I had been putting it off as I assumed if I went in any time before the expiry date in March, I'd get a disc up to xx-03-2012, but from my reading of this, if I book it in now for a test, I will in fact get a disc with expiry of xx-03-2013?

oregano

Mad_Mike wrote: »

Well I recently bought a cheap car for herself, and the NCT expired in March 2010
I have it parked up outside as want to sort a few bits on it, then Tax & NCT. I had been putting it off as I assumed if I went in any time before the expiry date in March, I'd get a disc up to xx-03-2012, but from my reading of this, if I book it in now for a test, I will in fact get a disc with expiry of xx-03-2013?

Yep, and if you can't get a date within a certain period of time (as per NCT manual) they'll do it for free!

Mad_Mike

Cool. I must sort it and book it in so
Yeah, I actually got a free test before
Booked it no problem, but closer to that day, they contacted me to say they couldn't take the car in that day as 1 or 2 lads would be out attending a funeral iirc. The soonest date they could offer me fell outside of the specified period and they in fact reminded ME that this would now be free!

Victor

Are you happy that the next person might buy this vehicle unknowing of this problem?

Timmaay

Out of interest, if you do NCT a car that is over 2yrs out of nct (or more then 1 year for a 10yr+ car), do you then have to book it in immediately for a retest even if it passed?

Del2005

Timmaay wrote: »

Out of interest, if you do NCT a car that is over 2yrs out of nct (or more then 1 year for a 10yr+ car), do you then have to book it in immediately for a retest even if it passed?

You get the NCT till it's supposed to expire. If you bring it in 4 months before it's due you get 4 months, if you wait till it's due in 3 months you can get 15 or 27 months depending on age.

Owen

+1 on being cautious. I was asked to go assess a car today with a friend who was interested in buying it. A good 40 minute drive to get there, car had been described as flawless, needing nothing, price non-negotiable due to the great condition it was in (Despite it being 1k over market value).

Got there and it was nothing like the ad read. Both sides destroyed with trolley dents, a bad rust spot on the drivers door, oil leaking from the rocket cover (A gasket only, but still). Then I noticed 3/4 of the car had been resprayed very poorly, and panels weren't fitted back on properly so the gaps varied between doors and wings, wings and bonnets. Mentioned all this to the seller, and got a 'meh - someone'll buy it if you're not going to'.

If you don't know anything about cars, bring someone who does. Always. Not just someone who says they do, my friend already had this model of car and had originally planned to go view it himself. His wife convinced him to bring me along - and he pretty much said today he'd have bought it as is because he wasn't aware of how to check for issues like this - despite thinking he knew all the ins and outs of the model. I'd bring someone with me too - 2 heads are always better than one.

Timmaay

Del2005 wrote: »

You get the NCT till it's supposed to expire. If you bring it in 4 months before it's due you get 4 months, if you wait till it's due in 3 months you can get 15 or 27 months depending on age.

Yep I know that, but what I'm saying is if the NCT test is overdue, and the old cert is well over 2years out of date (lets say your car was due for an nct in jan 09 for 2yrs until jan11 but ya didn't bother nct'ing it either time!), and you only bother to get it to pass the NCT now (in jan 2012, 3yrs out), do you know have to go pass the NCT again straight away to have a valid nct?

Del2005

Timmaay wrote: »

Yep I know that, but what I'm saying is if the NCT test is overdue, and the old cert is well over 2years out of date (lets say your car was due for an nct in jan 09 for 2yrs until jan11 but ya didn't bother nct'ing it either time!), and you only bother to get it to pass the NCT now (in jan 2012, 3yrs out), do you know have to go pass the NCT again straight away to have a valid nct?

It doesn't matter when you get it done it's valid till it due again, there's no back NCT.

But there should be some penalty for missing the test. Perhaps charge double for every year its been missed by the current owner, so if you're mad enough to buy a car without an NCT your not penalised.