They Bought A Used Car, But The Moment They Drove Off The Lot, They Realized There Was A Big Problem
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Car shopping can be a really frustrating experience, and going used car shopping can be even worse.
What would you do if you bought a used car, but as soon as you drove it home, you noticed that it wasn’t running well?
In this story, one couple was in this exact situation. They had taken the car for a test drive. It was fine then. But as soon as they drove home, it clearly wasn’t driving well anymore.
They decide to get it checked out by a mechanic they trust, and they decide to get their money back.
But it won’t be easy!
Keep reading for all the details.
No money back? We’ll see about that
A few years ago when my kids were 3 and 7, we were looking for a new car for my wife. After scouring auto trader (we are in the UK), we saw a Mazda Xedos 6, decent mileage, couple of owners, in a small traders down south.
It was about an hour away so we hopped in my car and went to look at it.
We arrived at the site, which had some decent looking cars and it was a nice and tidy place so didn’t ring any alarm bells.
We were greeted by one of two Romanian brothers who seemed knowledgable, and pretty free of the hard sell.
Everything seemed fine.
I had a look round the car, very little rust, oil looked clean, tidy inside with not too much wear, the only two things I found was the head unit panel was not in place correctly, and one of the brackets by the engine had a bit of a dent in it, but it was a non-functional bracket and it didn’t appear to have a prang so OK.
Took it for a test drive and it was OK, my wife liked it so we paid part cash, part card.
A few days later after sorting the insurance, we went and collected it.
But then there was a problem.
By the time we got home my wife got out and immediately said “There’s something wrong with this car”.
I took it for a drive and yes it had low power, sounded terrible and didn’t feel safe.
I immediately rang them and they were pleasant enough, and said bring it back and they would have their garage look at it (the same garage that had MOT’d it barely two weeks earlier).
I said I didn’t want to bring it back and would pay out of my pocket to get it assessed by my garage.
They didn’t like this but I didn’t give them a choice.
Let’s see what the local garage finds.
After a couple of days of being at my local garage who we have used for years and trust, even though they are a bit pricey, we got the report. It ran to two pages which I will summarise using the comment the mechanic gave us when we picked it up.
“Mechanically this is the worst car I have ever seen, how it passed an MOT is beyond me, you wouldnt have seen it on a visual inspection, but this is a nail.”
oh dear.
So I rang the dealer and sent them the report.
But it wasn’t that easy.
Again pleasant enough, said bring it back and we can discuss it, and sort out the refund. Cue the MC.
So the following Saturday, now 1.5 weeks since we bought it, we all trooped back down there, and walked into their little portocabin office.
The two brothers were sat their with faces like slapped butts.
“I will tell you now Sir, you will not be getting a refund today, not until our garage has checked it.”
This sounds so frustrating.
My wife and I looked at each other and our hearts sank.
What followed was an hour of back and forth, with me explaining that we were within our rights to a full refund within 30 days of purchase (now this is true for goods in the UK, but I had no idea if this applied to vehicles).
After an hour my wife and I stepped outside, the kids were getting bored and fractious.
“What are we going to do?” Says my wife
They made a decision.
“Well I’m not leaving without a refund.” I said.
“Agreed”
And that was it.
We went back into that office, we argued back and forth, revisited the same point over and over while the kids moaned, cried, begged to leave. but we sat there, and we argued, very calmly, very matter of factly, without getting angry or raising our voices.
They didn’t leave.
At a couple of points, one brother left to serve people who had walked into the yard, and at one point he came in with another couple who were interested in a car, they heard us talking, I slyly shook my head at the couple, and they backtracked and left.
One of the brothers was raging behind his eyes.
They threatened to call the police.
I begged them to do it so we could clear this up and leave.
They didn’t.
He reached an agreement with his wife.
After, and I am not exaggerating, 5 hours of this, my wife and I stepped out and were stood just outside the office door.
“Look we can’t stay here my longer, the kids are hungry and tired and mental.” My wife says.
I saw the door open barely an inch.
“Ok, take my car and go and feed them. I’m not leaving. I think I’ll just call the police and get this sorted, but if I have to stay here until tomorrow morning we are getting our money back.” I said
Wait. Not so fast.
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I noticed the door close again.
“Really?” She said.
“Just give it a minute, lets go back in a sec”
“OK” she says looking irritated.
We go back in and one brother is counting out cash on the table. At this point its early evening.
Finally! A resolution.
“Sir the deal we will do is, we will give you a full refund, if you don’t mention this car on any review site. It was X in cash and X on a card yes?”
Less than five minutes later we were back in our car leaving the nail behind, cash in hand and card refunded. We had found a pub that does food and were heading there rapidly. The kids were OK now they knew food was near.
With everything sorted my wife and i looked at each other for a second and cheered, wooped, hollered, banged the steering wheel (making the little lad cry bless him).
It was worth celebrating.
We could not believe that after 5 hours of back and forth, crying kids, beligerent salesmen, we had WON.
We had flipping well won!
This sort of thing never happened to us, and yet there we were.
We felt like the kings of the world and no-one would ever mess with us.
After five hours, it actually ended pretty abruptly. I’m surprised it wasn’t harder to get the car dealership to back down.
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person knows it was the hardest for the kids.
Another person shares their favorite part of the story.
This person thinks they did the right thing.
Another person shares what they do before buying a car.
I’m glad they were able to get their money back. It’s important for a car to be safe.
The kids definitely deserve a reward for dealing with a five hour wait at a car dealership. Going out to dinner was well deserved by all!
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