Dodgy Carsales

[Dragonheart]

Right first off a bit of background to the story;

My younger sister bought a car off a car saleman, he runs it as his primary business, in Kilgarvan in Kerry, about 2 years ago now. A silver Toyota Yaris, 03, and looked in good nick. She paid about 6K for the car, and it was her first car, and the car she passed the test in, first time round. But she was always saying that it felt like it was going a bit strange when cornering, as it was her first car, and she'd never driven any other one, she presumed it was just a car thing. One day she had a bit of a scrape going out of her driveway in Limerick where she was staying for college, and brought it to the local mechanic to see if there was anything to fix it, obviously a respray. When looking at it he noticed that the front bumper, front wing, and bonnet were a very slightly different shade to the rest of the car. She rang the fella she bought it off, who told her that the previous owner, who lo and behold was an old lady who only ever used it for going to mass, had a slight tip of a pillar and got it resprayed. He knows a guy who is a great sprayer and she could give the car to him and he'd get it sorted for cheap, which she did, and it came out great. That was maybe a year and a half ago.
Car went in for NCT last year, only thing it failed on was a sun strip which I put on cause her eyes had a problem and the sun was blinding her so that took the glare away, in my eyes that made the car safer but thats another story.
About 3 months ago, she brought it the garage she does a bit of part time work in just to get something underneath checked, he callled her up and asked about previous damage. No she replied, just a minor tip from the previous owner. How minor she was asked, as the chassis was bent! The car was a write off, and shouldn't even have been on the road! She got a second opinion, and yes indeed the same reply came back. Now, I have serious issues about this, for a number of reasons, one of which I will explain a bit more later.
Firstly, the car failed the NCT cause of something which made it safer for her to drive. They never picked up a bent chassis, which is extremely hazardous and could be the cause of a major accident.
Secondly, shes a young driver, and if god forbid, there ever was an accident, who wouldn't think it was because she was driving fast or being careless? No one would think of a car with a bent chassis which was sold to her that way.
She rang the salesman and he denied knowing anything about it and after a lot of tooing and froing, and a lot of phone calls here and there, she finally got another car off him for free. (I'm not happy about that cause I don't trust him one bit anymore). Now maybe he didn't know about it, he claims he got it off the guy who does the spraying for him, but you'll see now why he is a lying cheating individual who gives a bad name to salesmen and humanity;
When she went to pick up the car, guess what was sitting in his yard all spruced up and in a line with a load of cars ready for viewing, yes, her '03 Yaris with the bent chassis. Maybe he was getting it ready for assessment? She got one of her mates to ring and find out a bit more about the car, was it ever crashed? No, never been damaged in any way, a great tidy little car and perfect condition. Who was the previous owner? An old lady who only ever drove it to mass.
I feel this type of guy should be named and shamed, and reported to any type of authority out there, he is putting peoples lives into risk by selling a car which he knows full well is a write off and a danger to be driven. Its people like him who deserve the highest punishment possible. Think of it like this, if it was your young sister or any family member going buying that car, would you like them to be driving a car that hazardous?
(Sorry for the long post, but that scum deserves his 'business' to be shot down, him and his partner in crime, (who by the way is based just out the Rathmore Road from Killarney).

[Sebastian]

F'ing cowboys . If I was your siste I would have reported this to the guards . I'm sure there are plenty of car salesmen out there just chancing their arms with the cars

[TopCat]

That is a sickening story. Reading all the way to the end you could have a little doubt in your mind if he really knew about the problem, but then you see what a real scumbag he is with putting the car up for sale again. Really frustrating stuff to read, is it any wonder "second hand car salesman" is used in such terms?!
Given that he is now attempting to sell that car again, you could definitely report him to the gardai.
I'm finding it hard to find a reason why you can't name and shame this guy (other than the possibility that it will start a list that will get very long... )

[Kace]

These guys are out there in their droves. I heard a similar story yesterday except a little worse. Friend of mine bought a 2010 Mazda 6 in the UK from a small independent car salesman for just over £10k - didn't get AA or RAC to check it out before collecting.

Found out when he got home that all airbags had been deployed and some chassis damage also. Phoned up the guy informing him of all of this and demanding his money back. The guy offered him just over £8k back as long as he didn't go to the police.

So he had to weigh up time + hassle + court case + court costs vs. losing a couple of grand. It's looking like he's opting for the latter.

Be careful out there !!

[colm_mcm]

If he's got it on donedeal, use his pics and advertise it to warn people away from the car. Saw the same thing done on a mini cabrio with pictures of the damage.

[colm_mcm]

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1827569

If the replacement car doesn't work out, here's a lovely 03 yaris, seller says its in immaculate condition and has a full nct so no worries there.

[Dragonheart]

Its infuriating to say the least, that fellas can get away with stuff like this. In my eyes its a serious crime, its putting someones live at risk, indirectly if nothing else, by not warning them that the car is unstable and is dangerous to drive. If I drove recklessly, or did something that endangered someone and the cops found out I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be getting off lightly. It won't be left go lets put it that way, but we have to bide our time before doing anything like reporting him for some reason that the mother came up with, he picked the wrong person to tangle with there I can tell you!
Colm I was sure for a second that you actually put up a link to the very car! But the dealer is the wrong name and the one she had doesn't have alloys, but the price is the same as he's asking now. Amazing that a written off Yaris is worth more than a perfect GPX isn't it?

[colm_mcm]

I expect the car was never actually written off though.
With regards the replacement car she got, I'd be examining it very closely.

Run a cartell or motorcheck report for both cars and see what it throws up.

[CJ]

I assume the guy isn't an SIMI member? If so, you could take this route in terms of reporting. Alternatively, there must be something in the Sale of Goods Act that would apply to this situation. I'd encourage your sister to follow up on this, I'd hate to see a prospective buyer ending up in a ditch.

CJ

[Mitsubishi-Mental]

what a scum bag, i'd report it to the Gards and talk to your solicitor, way too many like this out there ya cant trust anybody, worst thing is he knew that your sister wouldn't spot the problem.

I always look for slight differences in paint etc, been stung myself before

[colm_mcm]

I wouldn't put any faith in the simi cj, they're just a voice of the motor industry rather than a regulatory body, the can provide arbitration where there is a dispute over a car but wouldn't step in or act over something like this.

[steelroe]

First thing I would do is report it to the guards, he "MAY" not have known it was badly damaged originally, but he is now trying to sell it on to somes unsuspecting person, knowing full well the damage the vehicle has sustained.
And make sure you follow it up wiuth the cops.

[Johnk]

First thing I would do is report it to the guards, he "MAY" not have known it was badly damaged originally, but he is now trying to sell it on to somes unsuspecting person, knowing full well the damage the vehicle has sustained.
And make sure you follow it up wiuth the cops.

I agree 100%. This is just not rite.

[optical illusion]

Report it to the guards. Show them the written reports of the condition of the car. No harm telling SIMI either, but they won't do anything about it.

Keep the name and shaming off the forum, you're opening up a whole can of worms there.

[Dilogoat86]

I would directly take action on this. Naming and shaming will only warn us away from the guy, going and reporting him to the ombudsman (given he has tried to resell it) will either scare him into decency or better remove his livelyhood. I'm not one for unnecessary action but this guy has directly taken a chance on someone elses life to make some money. White collar crime looks harmless on the surface but I'm sure if your sister had an accident in the car she would have no recourse and he would have that 6k in the bank. Scum!

[Dragonheart]

Well I found the car on CBG.ie, maybe I shouldn't be putting it up but I think its best just in case anyone knows anyone that is going looking at a Toyota Yaris that they saw online, then this is the one;

http://www.cbg.ie/car_detail.aspx?ID=4277016

The guards have been informed, they said they will keep an eye on it and see when its next taxed and that they'll let the new owner know about it, which in my opinion is too late and it should be actioned now. No point when the car is sold as they won't get their full money back and anything could happen when driving it.

Anyone looking for a car in the Kerry area, stay WELL away from this one. Number plate is 02-KY-1455.
I'm sad to say that this is a dealer that my family used an awful lot, I bought a car off him a few years ago, my mother bought 2, my father 1, and each of my sisters bought their first ones off him. We recommended him to a ton of people, being from a small rural community a name spreads, and I hope that the name spreads again this time and that he gets whats coming to him.
Apparently when my sister and mother went to confront him last week about getting a free car in return for the Yaris he tried to pull a sympathy thing with them, the guy has Parkinsons and kept telling them that, my sister asked him does that affect his honesty and his ability to tell the truth. He wasn't long shutting up about it then.

On another note, if anyone feels that they want to copy and paste the info I've written into any sites they're on, (making sure theres no personal information on it and also not referring it back to FTO-Ireland), then feel free. I don't mind the number plate being shown though.

[optical illusion]

Bad link.

I really think this stuff should be kept off the forum, cases of slander etc are not unheard of and I'm sure fto ireland wouldn't want to be brought into disrepute. You'd be surprised what's brought up in court.

[Dragonheart]

Link works when I click it, and I see what you're saying Laura but if someone had told us about it when my sister was buying it first we would have been grateful to them.
I'm not mentioning his name, nor putting up a link to his business, all I'm doing is putting up a link to the car itself, if he wants to put his name and business on the cbg page thats his problem not mine. If he wanted to deal honestly he shouldn't have patched up a crashed car, lied about it, sold it, and then when he got caught out, washed it and put it up for sale again. If someone on this forum bought that car and had an accident in it due to it not being road worthy, and the worst happened, I'd feel pretty damn guilty cause I could have put a link up to it and prevented the sale. The guy is full of lies, he told us it had one lady owner before my sister, we checked the log book and it had 2 owners before her. The guy she got to ring recently was also told one lady owner, yet by now there has been 3 previous owners. I have no sympathy for him at all, its not slander or anything like that, its giving advice on what not to buy. Sure I'm giving out about him but deservedly so, if he can't be honest and is greed orientated then he deserves whats coming to him. Its people like him that got this country into the mess its in, quick way to make a cheap buck and quality and customer care and safety suffers.

[CJ]

I really think this stuff should be kept off the forum, cases of slander etc are not unheard of and I'm sure fto ireland wouldn't want to be brought into disrepute. You'd be surprised what's brought up in court.

Litigation as a result of online libelous defamation does happen but its a can of worms.

We're currently reviewing the forum disclaimer to indemnity the site in the event of such a situation.

CJ

[threediamonds]

That would be a bit rich! The car is badly damaged and should not be driven, people should be named and shamed- this is bullshit and we should not stand for it- lives are at risk here! On another note €4k or an 02 yaris??? Is that right???