Trading in a car with faults.......

[Barny9339]

So our car is with a main dealer getting diagnostics at the moment, and we have heard from them it needs a new clutch (suspected) and most shocking a new engine - this was unexpected and very much out of our price range to fix!

I am just wondering if we were to trade in with W B A C or even a main dealer on a new car , do they called said main dealer and check if theres any work advised for that car? Is that such a thing?

Obviously I am wondering if theres any comeback for us trading it in , potentially knowing it needed the work doing

As I said the clutch was expected from driving the car, the engine is not. The car drives absolutely fine so am against shelling out and getting a new engine anyway.

Absolutely get another garage to have a look before you write off loads of money!

Have you had the clutch replaced yet and did it solve the issue? You said that it got stuck in 1st/2nd gear, what actually happened there - you depress the clutch and can’t move from gear to neutral or you struggle to get it into gear?

Go to wbac. They didn't even sit in the car I've just sold to them let alone turn the engine on!

Take your car to another garage just to be sure

I took my car into a very trustworthy garage today they did keep finding more and more issues relating to the brakes they were working on

I thought it was going to be the clutch or something far more expensive tbh

😂

Car dealerships always charge more than a local garage

Take it to a local garage to get checked over

Only use a local garage if you trust them and have prior experience that they know what they're doing and have experience in your car's make and model!

I once fell into the trap of using a local garage after years of using a main dealership and thinking they were too expensive. The local garage bodged a few repairs by not properly identifying the problem and I ended up spending far more on one repair after another until they finally found the fault and rectified it. Of course no offers of refunds for all the things they did which didn't work. To cap it all, they fouled up again the following year causing the head cylinder to blow which rendered the car a write off. False economy! I wish I'd carried on using the main dealership who'd always previously been spot on with diagnostics and identifying/repairing faults etc.

Ever since, I've only ever used main dealerships again.

Much better off with a marque specialist than a main dealer. Main dealer techs are massively incentivised to save time and will cut whatever corners they can get away with. I use main dealers for parts and generally have positive experiences with a number of marques’ parts depts but I wouldn’t let them work on any of my cars.

We traded ours in with trade centre uk. It had an engine issue and needed a new clutch.

You know a private buyer will end up purchasing your car? and garages are notorious at doing SFA to fix issues, leaving people out of pocket, no transport, stress and worry....

Its pretty sad that so many people would just sell it on ... instead of getting a 2nd opinion and a potential far cheaper fix.

I have previously traded in a car with faults (electric wing mirror not working and a knocking noise when reversing). They barely glanced at the car before giving me a price, as it was a premium dealership who would be sending the car straight to auction as they don't sell that brand so it really didn't matter to them!

If you are trading in a car that the dealership is likely to sell on themselves then they will factor repairs into the price they give you and be a lot more fussy on the condition.

Most garages will take your car as part ex with no intention of selling it on. It's good business for them to get you to buy an expensive.car from them

Well, they DO sell them on, either through the trade to other garages/auctions or sell it on through their own showroom/forecourt. Depends on the garage. Dealerships tend not to have anything more than say 5 years old on their forecourt so will sell on everything older through the trade (and probably younger cars of other makes they don't sell). Smaller/independent garages usually take on anything and try to sell it themselves as they usually also have their own workshop and can spend time on fixing up/repairs at much lower cost than main dealerships.

@taxguru that's what I'm hoping will happen, a smaller independant garage take it.

Obviously i have morals everyone, i feel awful - but the main dealer quoted me over £7k for the work to be done! im certain a smaller garage can fit a clutch and engine for WELL LESS than that.

oh and of course still bricking it about any come back.

I can say with all honesty, other than one occasion, no garage has ever done anything more than look around the car I’ve been trading in, even the one they did drive they took it about half a mile on a flat road so don’t know what they were looking for

i think im just going to have to trade in and forget about it.

it was mot'd and serviced a month ago - my independent garage confirmed yes new clutch but no mention of engine whatsoever. the car otherwise drives fine aside from the occasion gear difficulty but whos to say when the new engine will be needed (if ever!)

@Barny9339 Main dealers are rubbish, with a shoot-from-the-hip, replace-with-new mentality. That may be OK when the car still has a manufacturer's warranty, but not on your dime!

5 year old car needing new engine? VW? We've been bitten by their engineering prowess in the past...

Is it driving normally? Are there loud sounds or vibrations? Check engine lights on?

If you intend to keep the car, go to an independent garage and have them do the work. It may be fixable with a rebuild and not need a new engine.

Otherwise, sell the car as is to W B A C or similar as you are intending, and cut your losses - the outstanding loan amount is painful but better than the alternative!

They’re having a laugh. Thank them for their quote and time and ask an independent garage to have a proper look at it. What is the car?

Seriously, please please actually get a second opinion before losing a load of money!!

Sometimes, though, you end up chasing good money after bad. As I mentioned upthread, we paid between £1k and £2k on a new heater blower and other heating system components. We were assured that was all that was wrong.

The work was done, but the car was never right again. The "direction" of the heater blower had been put back wrong, it still leaked in water (the cause of the problem in the first place), the dashboard constantly rattled and shuddered (they'd broken some of the tabs holding it in place), along with other things.

We wish we'd just part exchanged it with a faulty heater. The garage would never have known. As it was, we spent that money, and still ended up selling it to a "cars bought for cash" place for similar money, so trying to keep it cost us over £1k.

It ALL depends on how well you trust the garage and how good they are. Far too many bad garages out there, both dealerships AND independents, so unless you've lots of past experience with a garage and know/trust the mechanics, it's all just a lottery.

Have you had a new clutch or did the second garage just confirm new clutch required? Did they measure the end float as well? The reason I ask is that excessive end float can cause gear selection problems.

Vauxhalls were famed for excessive end crank float, which in some extreme cases could lead to clutch issues but despite being out of spec, most engines would go on for 10s of 1000s of miles without work.

A clutch is a few 100, assuming it doesn't need a DM flywheel.

Yes trade in and buy another car and then get a different set of issues, clutches can last 150k or go after 10k, all depends on how they are driven.

Motorpoint just drive the car round the block and have a look at the body condition. Their trade ins just go into an auction anyway where buyers are aware that there may be issues with the car.

I did trade in a car at a main dealer that had an annoying intermittent issue where the driver's window would get stuck open and you had to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it to work again. I was getting quoted a fortune to get it repaired and was ready to change car anyway. The dealer didn't seem remotely concerned about it.