What percentage of car adverts aren't telling the full story?

NIMAN

I was searching various Irish sites for a 2012/13 VW Golf, and came across about 5 cars that I found interesting.

First one, a Dublin dealer, no answer. I can live with that, it was 5:30pm and they might have knocked off for the day.

2nd one, a Dundalk dealer, offering a 2013 that looked nice. Told him I might get a run to see it. Then tells me that it had a new front wing but the radiator was not damaged. Just wanted to let me know before I travelled to see it. At least he told me I suppose.

3rd one, a private sale, with photos that I have seen on DD for maybe 6 months or so. Its a good price and I always wonder why well priced cars are for sale for ages. I asked plenty of questions, he answered them all, then I asked if it had ever been in an accident. Again it had wing damage fixed and got a new headlight.

4th one, again a private sale and a highly spec'd Golf. Motorcheck said it was an import. But again I had seen this car advertised before with the exact same pictures. The seller seems very reluctant to answer my questions, and when asked if it had been hit I got "not that I know of". This immediately made me think. Asked how long he had it, and was told about 5 or 6 months. When I said I had seen the car for sale before he said it wasn't him selling it, despite the pics being the same as I seen advertised before. Also when asked why was he selling a high spec'd 2012 Golf less than 6 months after buying it, I got "fancy a change".

I guess they are trying to catch the unsuspecting buyer who won't run a car check or bring a mechanic with them to buy a car. Its a shame there are so many dodgy deals out there, but I guess the old car buyers adage is true:

"If its too good a deal to be true, its probably dodgy".

I guess the reason why they are still for sale is that most people have runs checks on them too and asked these questions before and ran for the hills.

I have decided not to publish links to the adverts in question. But if anyone out there is thinking about buying a Golf off DD, PM me and I'll gladly tell you which cars to avoid.

bazz26

I'm not defending them but they are not going to mention things that might discourage someone from coming to see it or buy. Also if you are looking at cars at the cheap end of the scale of similar cars then you are bound to dredge the feeders at the bottom who have lots to hide.

colm_mcm

The price also has a bearing. If you're looking at the lower end of the scale for a particular year, or only looking at good specs you'll often only come across the dregs.

dar83

I was just going to echo what the other have said, but two have beaten me to it already. You need to stop looking at the cheap cars for a 'good' deal. If you want high spec you'll have to pay for it to find a decent example.

NIMAN

Yeah I suppose thats fair enough, so its probably not uncommon when you find a model 1500 less than others of the same year thats there's probably a reason for it.