“I am not sure where to start with this but I am hoping you might have an idea,” starts the mail from Cathal. “It relates to that traditionally murky world of second-hand car sales.”
Cathal’s daughter recently went to “buy a 131D car from a dealer,” he continues.
“They have a showroom and repair/body shop [and] before buying I had it checked out for her by my mechanic of many years. The message back after checking it was ‘run a mile’ as it had severe underbody rusting (some of which was painted over to disguise) and there were visible fractures in the underbody caused by the rust (we have photos).”
Cathal says that to “make matters worse, on driving the car back to the garage after our first test drive, the brakes failed!”
RM Block
He says this was all despite the fact the car had passed its National Car Test (NCT) the previous week.
“On returning the car I received some cock and bull story about the car coming in from the North and then using salt on roads up there etc etc,” he continues.
He says that “out of curiosity, I checked DoneDeal earlier and there it is ... still for sale two weeks later. My obvious concern is that someone else’s daughter or unsuspecting buyer will be cheated into buying this ‘death trap’. My other concern is how the NCT passed them (I have a well maintained and serviced car and generally takes two attempts to pass the NCT on a relatively minor issue compared to this case).
“Have you any suggestions on where we can turn? Are there any mechanisms to air concerns from a consumer perspective? They are not a member of SIMI or any other such organisations. I just don’t want to see anyone else being put at risk.”
[ NCT faces fresh accusation of passing unfit car as safeOpens in new window ]
It certainly sounds like a very dodgy situation and our reader deserves credit both for dodging a bullet on behalf of his daughter and being sufficiently civic minded to want to do more about it to protect someone else.
He did not give us the details of the dealership or the car but his first port of call has to be the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
Earlier this year motoring journalist Neil Briscoe highlighted stories of cars that were clearly not fit for the roads passing the NCT and at the time the CCPC had a strong view on the matter.
Patrick Kenny of the commission told The Irish Times that the car industry “is the single biggest driver of calls to our helpline and we prioritise cases that involve unroadworthy vehicles or multiple complaints about the same person.”
He noted that consumers who buy from a private seller have fewer statutory rights but because our reader nearly bought this car from a dealership which is still trying to sell it, it should be easier to hold it to account.
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The best advice for all readers who are buying cars is to do what Cathal did and get cars checked by a mechanic before buying and get a car history report from an online provider.
