Bought a (New) Car- Things Missing/ Wrong on Advert description.

Longtime Earth Walker

Hi All,

I'm new here and I'm looking for some advise as what to do.

I bought a new car (to me) 2016 from a Dealership.

I have now identified a few issues and don't know what to do.

-It was advertised as 1 Previous owner, and the Owner log book says there is 3 previous owners.

-It was advertised as having ambient lighting but now there are saying my car doesn't have it.

-The second key was not working, they have ordered a new one and I have to collect it from the main dealership in Ireland.

I bought the car in August. I don't want to be on the phone to them all the time, but I call them, they say they will call me back, I wait a week and no one calls me.

How would you feel about the above and what would you expect to happen if it was you in this situation?

Stallingrad

Not much you can do unfortunately. If they are not calling you back can you go directly back to them?

Spec errors happen all the time, cut and pasting adverts. In the secondhand market it is really down to the buyer to try and ensure that everything is as described.

Sounds like you are not dealing with a main dealer where you may have had some comeback with regard to some goodwill for the misinformation.

You could try to negotiate something like free servicing or a partial refund?

phelimb

As @Stallingrad says, try and negotiate with the dealer on this. Similar happened to my Mrs a while back when she bought a car that wasn't quite as advertised but after some friendly discussion with the dealer she got an extra 6 months warranty...the car was perfect and ran/drove fine but just not what was advertised but we were happy to keep it with the extended warranty for piece of mind.

BronsonTB

-It was advertised as 1 Previous owner, and the Owner log book says there is 3 previous owners. - Probably a typo & nothing you can do on this one. (Use Cartell next time to verify no of prev owners)

-It was advertised as having ambient lighting but now there are saying my car doesn't have it. - Poor from the dealer but spec mistakes do happen (Always double check features are present when test driving)

-The second key was not working, they have ordered a new one and I have to collect it from the main dealership in Ireland. Dealer should sort this out.

Should be no need to be on the phone to them all the time - They only have to sort the second key out. Call back into them if it's not getting sorted. Phone calls are easy ignore!

Good luck with the new purchase & happy motoring.

bazz26

Some of the above issues could have been avoided by checking before handing over the money. Never take a dealer's word or their advert as gospel.

grogi

Somehow the mistakes never happen in the other direction, a car advertised as three previous owners turns out to have one. They are not mistakes, they are systematic attempts to bend the reality... Same thing happens with mileage - 100kkm becomes 62kkm (oh, we typed in miles, but forget to change the unit), never the other way around.

It is well in dealer's capacity to ensure the advert is correct, not the buyer. It is not a private sale.

OP, if a discussion with the dealer brings you nowhere, file a small court claim. Pick a reasonable amount of money, muliply it by 2 (make sure it is below 2 grand) and bring the case forward. Costs €20. The dealer will be more than willing to settle the case than go to court.

Odelay

Agreed. Funny how the mistakes always go in the direction that doesn’t favour the buyer.

car is not as described and there is nothing they can do to fix it such as reduce the number of previous owners. I’d be telling them to give me my money back. Maybe then they will pay more attention to what is out in the ads. Might focus their minds.