You have just had your car serviced / repaired and you have paid your bill and left a happy customer and then bang the car breaks down and won't re-start. You contact the garage and they recover your car back to there premises and then inform you it has something to do with the laughing shaft haven fallen of the giggle pump? Makes no sense to you until they tell you it's going to cost lots of money and its not there fault although they have just serviced / repaired the car. 95% of people have no idea how cars work and they have no intention of ever finding out and quite rightly so. Statistically 80% of car problems occur after having some kind of work recently carried out on your vehicle by a garage / repair centre. Our advice is give us a call and explain simply what has happened, believe it or not but we will probably be able to finish your story once you start to tell us what the problem is.
Now we are not psychic but we are very good at problems, disputes and arbitration in the motor industry. We will listen to the problem and let me tell you sometimes it can be a very long story to tell. We then make a decision as to whether or not our services can help YOU. We are not in business to take money from people and not help them.
If we feel that you do not have a case to answer to then we will tell you whether you like it or not. This costs you nothing but the phone call. CAR DEALER TOP TEN RIP OFF'S A car salesman is a salesman not a motor mechanic, most car salesman no nothing about cars or how the work or how the break. They only want to sell, sell, sell because that is what pays there wages. Many car salesmen will tell you what you want to here.
Yeh we will service it before you buy it. Yeh we will replace the worn tyres and brakes and fix the broken door handle and paint the scratch on the bonnet. These will all be done when you come to collect the car. Then you arrive to collect your new pride and joy and various things have not been done. Excuses range from; ? The parts are on order. ? The parts are on back order and we will phone and arrange the car to be rebooked.
? I told the service department to fix that it's there fault but don't worry about we will fix it later. ? I have been on holiday. ? I have been on my days of and left it with someone else to do. ? The bodyshop have a 2 week waiting list and I know you want the car now so I will re-book it later. ? Paperwork not ready mainly the sales invoice or part exchange details not completed correctly with no figures present on what you're paying against your trade in. ? The salesman telling you it's a one owner car but when the paperwork arrives six weeks later it's had three owners or been previously owned by a hire company or rally school!!!.
? Being told the car has a warranty when it does not. ? Being told the warranty covers everything when it does not. ? Garages selling the car hoping that the problems that are present you don't pick up on until later. ? Garages selling the car hoping that when the defects present arise the warranty will cover them. WHY INSPECT BEFORE YOU BUY You cannot buy a house without it being inspected / surveyed first.
This is for the benefit of the buyer not the seller. Why are cars so different from houses, they are very expensive and can cost lots of money to maintain. Things go wrong with cars just like things going wrong with a house, a house survey is there to save you money and give you the piece of mind knowing that what your are paying for is the correct price and if there are any problems then you know about them up front. This is exactly the same for a car inspection.
Tony Smith - Eliteinspections.co.uk
