Soldato
Hello, my girlfriend passed her test on Friday and i wanted to surprise her with a car. She wanted a Mini so i had a look on auto trader and found a garage that had a 2003 model for sale for £2000 with 1 owner from new, 12 Months MOT ( MOT'd the day before i paid for it) , Service history and 78,000 miles on the clock. I went and had a look at the car on Friday and cosmetically the interior and exterior looked in good condition for the age. I asked if there were any problems with it and they said no. So i agreed to purchase the car and paid with my card and arranged to have them deliver it today.
So the car arrives and from the beginning it was a disaster. The delivery driver thought i had a drop kerb as we have just had block paving put down and drove into the kerb virtually head on. It made a bang and a scraping sound. I had a quick look and i couldn't see any scarpes to the paint work, the guy then quickly apologized, gave me the key and left. After having a bit more time and when it had stopped raining i had another look and noticed that it looks like its pulled the bumper out of alignment. On the left hand side there is virtually no gap in the panel and on the side were he hit the kerb first you can fit your finger between the panel. Now i cant be certain that this panel gap was there before or not but i know this event certainly didn't help.
Once the guy has left i get in the car and start it up and the exhaust sounds loud. I leave the car running for maybe 2 minutes and switch the engine off and the engine fan comes on. It sounded very loud. Id say it was comparable to being next to a hair dryer loud. So loud i could hear it from in the house. now obviously concerned i go back out to the car and open the bonnet to check the fluid levels, as soon as the bonnet pops open the alarm goes off. So i press the button on the keyfob.... nothing, i run inside and grab the spare key... nothing. The central locking / alarm doesn't work from either. The only way to stop the alarm is to close the bonnet. I use the physical key to lock the car and it locks the central locking. I then use the key to open it again and unless you instantly put the key in the ignition the alarm goes off. So the car is basically unusable as you cant have the alarm going off everytime you open the car , pop the bonnet or boot.
I phoned my mechanic to come and have a look to see if he can sort the alarm. So he comes out and tells me the following.
He can hear the central locking trying to lock when he presses the fob so it could be the receiver in the car which is faulty.
The exhaust looks like it has basically snapped and the backbox is being held on with a shed load of exhaust putty and he isnt sure how it would have passed the emissions test. Its blowing and has virtually no back pressure ( or something like that) I will require a full new exhaust.
There was no water whatsoever in the engine and the oil was on the minimum line. ( they drove the car 2 hours to deliver the it )
There is a leak which looks to be the power steering.
The battery is either on its way out or there is an electrical fault as when you turn the car on the clock resets its self, central locking doesn't lock every time and the interior light doesn't go off every time.
Aircon doesn't work.
He lifted the boot carpet up and all the tools which come with the car are all very rusty so it could have or might still have some sort of leak through its panoramic sunroof.
The rear window wiper doesn't go back down when you turn them off it just stays in the middle of the window. (Not sure if this is normal)
The front brakes have gone down to the metal and would not have passed the MOT. Here is an example of one of them , baring in mind it passed on Thursday with no advisory for the brakes.
https://imgur.com/YORSIj9
So yeh i am a massive idiot and there were plenty of opportunity i could have done something different but i didn't as i was to excited for my girlfriend and seeing her face when i picked her up from work in it.
BUT do i have any comeback? I asked the dealer if there were any problems and they said no and it didnt mention any in the ad. But 2 of those problems, the central locking and the exhaust easily disprove that as one they attempted to cover the exhaust problem and the other its impossible for them not to know that the central locking doesn't work. The car could also potentially have a fudged MOT due to the brakes and the exhaust? not to mention all of the other things. After having the car 1 hour i phoned up the garage and said im not happy with the car. The guy on the phone said he would get the boss to ring me later. He never did but it has only been 5 hours.
TLDR - I'm an idiot
So the car arrives and from the beginning it was a disaster. The delivery driver thought i had a drop kerb as we have just had block paving put down and drove into the kerb virtually head on. It made a bang and a scraping sound. I had a quick look and i couldn't see any scarpes to the paint work, the guy then quickly apologized, gave me the key and left. After having a bit more time and when it had stopped raining i had another look and noticed that it looks like its pulled the bumper out of alignment. On the left hand side there is virtually no gap in the panel and on the side were he hit the kerb first you can fit your finger between the panel. Now i cant be certain that this panel gap was there before or not but i know this event certainly didn't help.
Once the guy has left i get in the car and start it up and the exhaust sounds loud. I leave the car running for maybe 2 minutes and switch the engine off and the engine fan comes on. It sounded very loud. Id say it was comparable to being next to a hair dryer loud. So loud i could hear it from in the house. now obviously concerned i go back out to the car and open the bonnet to check the fluid levels, as soon as the bonnet pops open the alarm goes off. So i press the button on the keyfob.... nothing, i run inside and grab the spare key... nothing. The central locking / alarm doesn't work from either. The only way to stop the alarm is to close the bonnet. I use the physical key to lock the car and it locks the central locking. I then use the key to open it again and unless you instantly put the key in the ignition the alarm goes off. So the car is basically unusable as you cant have the alarm going off everytime you open the car , pop the bonnet or boot.
I phoned my mechanic to come and have a look to see if he can sort the alarm. So he comes out and tells me the following.
He can hear the central locking trying to lock when he presses the fob so it could be the receiver in the car which is faulty.
The exhaust looks like it has basically snapped and the backbox is being held on with a shed load of exhaust putty and he isnt sure how it would have passed the emissions test. Its blowing and has virtually no back pressure ( or something like that) I will require a full new exhaust.
There was no water whatsoever in the engine and the oil was on the minimum line. ( they drove the car 2 hours to deliver the it )
There is a leak which looks to be the power steering.
The battery is either on its way out or there is an electrical fault as when you turn the car on the clock resets its self, central locking doesn't lock every time and the interior light doesn't go off every time.
Aircon doesn't work.
He lifted the boot carpet up and all the tools which come with the car are all very rusty so it could have or might still have some sort of leak through its panoramic sunroof.
The rear window wiper doesn't go back down when you turn them off it just stays in the middle of the window. (Not sure if this is normal)
The front brakes have gone down to the metal and would not have passed the MOT. Here is an example of one of them , baring in mind it passed on Thursday with no advisory for the brakes.
https://imgur.com/YORSIj9
So yeh i am a massive idiot and there were plenty of opportunity i could have done something different but i didn't as i was to excited for my girlfriend and seeing her face when i picked her up from work in it.
BUT do i have any comeback? I asked the dealer if there were any problems and they said no and it didnt mention any in the ad. But 2 of those problems, the central locking and the exhaust easily disprove that as one they attempted to cover the exhaust problem and the other its impossible for them not to know that the central locking doesn't work. The car could also potentially have a fudged MOT due to the brakes and the exhaust? not to mention all of the other things. After having the car 1 hour i phoned up the garage and said im not happy with the car. The guy on the phone said he would get the boss to ring me later. He never did but it has only been 5 hours.
TLDR - I'm an idiot
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