Unwittingly bought an ex-rental car and the law on this?

[Cooperman]

So what is wrong with it? Is it burning oil, or has it failed in some way?

[spats]

I dont see you have a case really OP.

Lots of cars are ex rental, ex managment, ex this ex that!

I would rather have a ex rental (where if its come back to the dealer to sell should mean it has to be serviced properly) than one owned by a numpty who drove the arse off it and never changed the oil.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Blimey if thats all you got to worry about OP, think yourself lucky! Suck it up, go to specsavers and crack on with life

Seriously if it bothers you next time always scrutinize the paperwork

Always makes me laugh all the nearly new "ex managment" cars I have seen on the forecourt at dealers, somtimes friends often boast about getting great deals on. When more often than not they will be ex rental, otherwise there must be a few millions Ford and Vaux "managers" driving new cars about!

Every hire car I have ever had I always drove Better and looked after better than my own, I didn't fancy the exorbitant excess charges for any damage so took it easy and parked them away from everything else. Although having said that when I was 18 I put a hire focus into reverse @ 50 mph instead of 5th!! It was fine though after a bit of a grumble!

[baccalad]

There are no service stamps in the book. All I have is a piece of paper saying that it had an "oil and filter" change at Kwik-Fit at 21,000 miles in June 2013. I did phone Kwik-Fit and they confirmed this. It was serviced at 38,000 miles by the dealership I bought it from just before I picked it up in February. And most recently I had it serviced last month at 60,000 miles by a garage. Any other history of the car before I bought it, if there is any, I have no knowledge of.

The gearbox has just been replaced by Vauxhall under warranty as it was well and truly knackered. There are no other apparent problems.

[davamer23]

So you've put 22k on it in 8months and you have a new gearbox which cost you nothing?

[aw51 121565]

It's the questions nobody asks which give the most revealing answers...

[baccalad]

davamer23 said:

So you've put 22k on it in 8months and you have a new gearbox which cost you nothing?

Yeah but the gearbox shouldn't have failed in the first place and on top of that I've had an absolute bloody nightmare with it trying to get Vauxhall to pull their fingers out of their arses. See my other thread.

[davepoth]

You'll have trouble making a claim. 22,000 miles is quite enough for any damage on the car to be caused by your own hand. Unless there was something defective with the car that can be proven to be there at the time of sale I don't see how you have a cause for action.

[HTP99]

baccalad said:

davamer23 said:

So you've put 22k on it in 8months and you have a new gearbox which cost you nothing?

Yeah but the gearbox shouldn't have failed in the first place and on top of that I've had an absolute bloody nightmare with it trying to get Vauxhall to pull their fingers out of their arses. See my other thread.

Hardly the fault of being an ex rental though.

I think OP, well I pretty much know, you will just have to suck it up, however in future you will struggle to find anything out there that isn't ex rental, ex demo, ex press, ex management car etc, particularly when it comes to a Vauxhall.

I don't really see the problem with purchasing an ex rental; I've done it and had no issues and I've sold hundreds and not had any issues, what difference is it if it was previously privately owned, you haven't a clue how it would have been treated then either?

[ch108]

nick s said:

Absolutely baffled as to why anyone would buy a Vauxhall. Maybe it's just me...

Currently running a 2006 Astra bought with my own money 4years ago and its ran without any problem with the exception of consumables. Don't see how its any worse than any other 1.6 car of a similar size for a daily runaround.

On the subject of buying a hire car surely the onus is on the buyer to check the documents before buying? A few years back I bought a year old Clio which was previously owned by Europcar with 11000miles. But I went on the condition of the car rather than who previously owned it. It turned out to be quite a reliable car!

Surely used cars values are based on the model and condition, not who previously owned it!

[Megaflow]

baccalad said:

There are no service stamps in the book. All I have is a piece of paper saying that it had an "oil and filter" change at Kwik-Fit at 21,000 miles in June 2013. I did phone Kwik-Fit and they confirmed this. It was serviced at 38,000 miles by the dealership I bought it from just before I picked it up in February. And most recently I had it serviced last month at 60,000 miles by a garage. Any other history of the car before I bought it, if there is any, I have no knowledge of.

The gearbox has just been replaced by Vauxhall under warranty as it was well and truly knackered. There are no other apparent problems.

So, just to clarify, you bought a car that has no service history, you didn't look at the previous owner's details, you went 22000 miles before getting it service again, and your bothered it might have been a hire car?

Good one...

[baccalad]

Megaflow said:

So, just to clarify, you bought a car that has no service history, you didn't look at the previous owner's details, you went 22000 miles before getting it service again, and your bothered it might have been a hire car?

Good one...

What are you talking about the car has 20,000 mile service intervals? Please explain to me, based on what I have written, how the car has no service history.

[paintman]

baccalad said:

There are no service stamps in the book. All I have is a piece of paper saying that it had an "oil and filter" change at Kwik-Fit at 21,000 miles in June 2013. I did phone Kwik-Fit and they confirmed this. It was serviced at 38,000 miles by the dealership I bought it from just before I picked it up in February. And most recently I had it serviced last month at 60,000 miles by a garage. Any other history of the car before I bought it, if there is any, I have no knowledge of.

Best re-read your own post.
Next time either check it all out properly or buy a brand new one.

[baccalad]

paintman said:

Best re-read your own post.
Next time either check it all out properly or buy a brand new one.

Which post? The book has no stamps in it? If that's what you go by when checking the service history of a car then good luck. I have several invoices and if the service history wasn't at least somewhat "satisfactory" I'm pretty sure Vauxhall wouldn't have replaced the gearbox under warranty.

[HTP99]

paintman said:

baccalad said:

There are no service stamps in the book. All I have is a piece of paper saying that it had an "oil and filter" change at Kwik-Fit at 21,000 miles in June 2013. I did phone Kwik-Fit and they confirmed this. It was serviced at 38,000 miles by the dealership I bought it from just before I picked it up in February. And most recently I had it serviced last month at 60,000 miles by a garage. Any other history of the car before I bought it, if there is any, I have no knowledge of.

Best re-read your own post.
Next time either check it all out properly or buy a brand new one.

Don't understand; the car was serviced at 21k, there isn't a stamp in the service book however there is paperwork to support this, it was serviced again at 38k by the selling dealer and then was serviced again recently at 60k, sounds like a a service history to me?

[paintman]

The only apparent service history is what you have told us in the post I quoted.
I don't think you're going to get much sympathy on this one.

ETA. I check cars I buy. No surprises so far. That includes the 2 1/2 year old 100k miler - one of my better buys

Edited by paintman on Tuesday 7th October 19:46

[ging84]

I think it's a complicated issue, the article linked to really highlights why. The oft guidance was that dealer should automatically be disclosing ex business use which might have resulted in multiple users.
There isn't any particular requirement that they check the history, so this is likely to get them out of most issues, and make enforcement almost impossible.

The other issue, particularly with approved used cars sold through the manufacturer's dealer network, is that some manufacturers dispute the requirement to automatically disclose these details. The oft gives guidance only, and it is based on a presumption that there could be a difference in the product.
If the manufacturer has the stance that it's products are robust enough and their approved used checks are thorough enough and their warranties are comprehensive enough that it makes absolutely no difference if it had 1 careful owner or 100+ teenage tear aways, then it is very hard to argue that the dealer omitted a material fact.

[baccalad]

I'm not looking for sympathy what I am looking for is for the law to be clarified on this. Service history, the fact that I've covered 22,000 miles in it since I bought it (was I not allowed to?), any faults that may or may not exist (there aren't any, other than the gearbox which has been sorted) are all irrelevant. It's been just over 7 months not years pleas give it a rest. I don't quite understand why you're all trying to get into some sort of argument with me over the service history. As for as I'm concerned the dealer has been quite happy to not tell me that it was an ex hire car, if they had nothing to hide why not? According to the law the ONUS IS ON THE DEALER. Trading Standards have said confirmed this. Please could I have some constructive advice.

Edited by baccalad on Tuesday 7th October 19:51

[paintman]

Go and see a solicitor.

[anonymous-user]

baccalad said:

...Please could I have some constructive advice.

You mean some advice that you want to hear? Sorry, but tough luck. Even if, which is debatable, the dealer did anything wrong, you suffered no or negligible loss as a result. The car works. The gearboxhas been fixed for nothing. What's your beef?