On 19/07/2011 14:44, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In articleJvCdnUCoLdu457jTnZ2dnUVZ7vSdnZ2d@giganews. com,
wrote:
On 19/07/2011 09:59, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article_ZKdnUBeuuDj2LjTnZ2dnUVZ8lqdnZ2d@giganews. com,
wrote:
There are quite a few about the cars in private transactions too. If I
were thinking of buying second hand, I would only go to a dealer.

In general, the motor trade is the most dishonest you are likely to
find in any dealings. Makes the double glazing industry seem like
saints. And the dedicated secondhand trade perhaps the worst of all.

I was thinking more of a manufacturer's dealership.

They're not much better. My local one had several judgments against it
from trading standards, and closed down. Part of a chain, too.

They are much less likely to disappear and you do have a legal right to
the vehicle being of satisfactory quality. Trading Standards would not
even have got involved with a private seller.

However, generally if you want a newish car you have little option but to
use a dealer. Once they get older, the choices increase.

I must admit that the only second hand car that has taken my fancy
recently was a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. It might have a lower top speed,
worse acceleration and far worse handling than my existing car, but it
did look lovely. That was being sold by the manufacturer in Stuttgart
but, unfortunately, I didn't have half a million Euro to spare.

Colin Bignell