To find car sales people absolute shysters

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

I have been plunged in to the world of car buying unexpectedly thanks to my car dying a death (RIP car 😭).
I have enquired on 50+ cars so far. Very few have a full service history that meets the manufacturers warranty conditions (in this instance, Hyundai - 10,000 miles or 12 months with a 1000 mile/30 day tolerance). It's a 5 year warranty, and I am looking at cars around 18 months old (25 plates) so it is important to not have a car that has invalidated it.
I can not believe how difficult this has been. Many of the ads state full dealership history - then when I enquire and ask for the date and mileage of each service, they say "Oh yes, it has a full dealership history and comes with the balance of the manufacturers warranty, last service on X date". I ask again for the dates and mileage, to which they reluctantly get - only to find out it hasn't been serviced to schedule at all. Usually by the dates being out by weeks, and even months. Sometimes being the mileage, and sometimes both!
I travelled 120 miles to view a car this week. It appeared to be serviced to schedule, and it was the closest car that met my requirements. Did a 2.5hr trip, paying out to extend my hire car further; only to find out that the car actually had no documentation of the service - which was not done at a main dealer so should have come with the paperwork to show parts used in order to meet the manufacturers warranty conditions (and the car had 3 low pressure tyres and no washer fluid at all - having supposedly been serviced 30 miles prior!). All it had was the stamp in the book, which would be fine it it was main dealer. But it wasn't, so it needs the extra paperwork.
The dealer is still, 2 days later, trying to pull the wool over and tell me that the warranty is fine! Latest email; "The vehicle has only had one interim service, and Hyundai's requirement for this service is primarily that the correct grade and specification of oil is used. Based on the service history available, I would not expect there to be any issues with the vehicle's Hyundai warranty. Additionally, if the next scheduled service is completed by a Hyundai retailer and maintained in line with the manufacturer's schedule, the warranty should remain unaffected."
My DH is incredulous. He has never bought a newer car and had no idea about this kind of thing. But having listened to me on the phone every day to different dealers, it has really opened his eyes as to how unscrupulous they are. They don't give a shit if you buy a car with the manufacturer's warranty invalidated, so long as they make a sale. Listening to them lying, blustering their way through and trying to obfuscate at every stage has just been a bloody nightmare.
It is buyer beware, and I am very bewared! But I can see how so many would make a potentially very expensive mistake.

I know this may be a bit niche, as many will take the salespersons word for it and may not understand the importance of having the warranty - but I have had a Ford ecoboost engine, and when it went kaboom at 4 years old my service record was the only thing that saved me 4k in repairs as it was then covered for a new engine. But AIBU to have found every single one from these 50+ garages to be total bullshitters?! Surely I can't just be that unlucky?

Buying a newish car from a main dealer is generally a grubby experience. It's a bit like buying double glazing back in the day.

You have my sympathy...

they're not any better if you try to buy a brand new car. I confirmed I wanted to pay cash and did not want any of of the million random upgrades but half an hour later was still sitting through the spiel, until the point he got out some random magic seat fabric and started spilling water on it to show how it didn't stain or some such crap, at which point I threatened to walk out.

Are there any deals on new ones? Second hand are so expensive now it might not be as much of a difference and at least then you'll know the full history yourself. Either that or go the other way and get one that's out of warranty but with a low mileage.

Same as estate agents, they'll happily talk absolute bollocks to get a sale.

I can see why you are wary, I have a Ford ecoboost and it has to be serviced at the right times with the right oil in case the wet belt goes under 10 years or so many miles as I guess yours must have done.

All they are interested in is selling you the car and as many extras they can add on.

I'm in a tricky spot in that I can't stretch to brand new. But I do need something pretty new and with warranty. I'm a community midwife, my car is my office! I need reliable (my old car was, never broke down until it did - at 9 years old - which is why I didn't replace it, it had been so reliable!) and lots of space as it is the family car we do all long journeys in as family spread around the UK. I have 3 kids to fit in it, 2 still in high back boosters so space is an absolute must. My old car was a citroen c4 grand picasso. I loved that car! But they no longer make them 😔. Finding a new car has been nothing but painful! Trying to avoid wet belts also....!!!
If I don't find one I'm happy to buy, I'll do an NHS lease. I don't have time on my side though and you have to wait weeks even for the special deals to be delivered. My word, cars are such a nightmare!

They are almost all shysters. We’ve just done this. It was not fun. The worst was a franchise where I visited two separate branches. One vehicle had been through a 150 point check and yet if you depressed the clutch it stayed down. One was covered in dried vomit. “I’m afraid this car doesn’t meet our usual presentational standards.” No shit, or am I going to find some of that smeared round it too? This after I’d booked to test drive it so it was hardly a surprise I wanted to see it.

Except they didn’t really want me to do that either as “most people don’t test drive a car until they’ve decided they’re buying it”. It’s as if they think you were born yesterday.

We have ended up buying a Skoda from the local franchise because we liked it, it’s down the road, and I have a name if there’s a problem. But bloody hell. I feel your pain. Why they think you would pay extra for a car within warranty where the conditions of the warranty haven’t been met is beyond me.

At the Peugeot garage one with my boyfriend (now husband) I was 24 and a teacher , I paid for everything myself and was independent. The man selling it to me started giving me the add ons like air con ect and tuned and winked to my boyfriend and said - if you allow her to have them and then turned to me and said if he loves you enough. I didn’t realise I was a feminist until then 😂 it made me feel so icky and he’d chosen the wrong person so say that to!

My last 2 cars( covering 25 years) were bought used from the Honda main dealer, an easy pleasant experience, no bullshit, no treating me as lesser because I'm a woman buying a car, something which I've experienced in the past. My children have both bought from Cinch in the last couple of years, no problems at all with cars or documentation.

I think it depends where you buy from. We bought a 3 year old Mini recently and had a great experience but this particular salesperson has 5 star Google reviews going back 10 years. There were a couple of hair gel merchants in tight trousers and lots of cologne that we avoided!

Oh, I forgot to add my favourite one in my OP. Initially, I was looking at 3 year old cars as these were the most readily available. Almost every single one I enquired about gave the exact same answer. "Oh, it was a motorbility car, these are all serviced to schedule as they have to be for motorbility."
Well, colour me blind, when I insisted on having the dates and mileage, they absolutely were not serviced to schedule at all! I found two! Just two!!! Most of them fell down on the 3rd service which would have been due around the time the car was handed back, but many were late for the 1st or 2nd also, or worse, all 3! One had missed a service completely!
Oh, and one of the cars that was ex-motability had a scrape the full length of the side, including plastic trims and alloys as well as paint work. I'm quite sure that the returner was charged for that damage! Yet when I asked the dealership if they would be repairing it, the answer was no! The price did not reflect the damage either (or the boot full of dog hair!). I've attached a picture of that one to show some of the damage - but it is along that whole side! Unbelievable!