So have you ever bought a pup?.

[trigger]

On Saturday my dad bought a 12000 mile 2007 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Ghia from a local second hand garage near me for quite a lot of money, There wasn't no MOT in the paperwork and as the car had turned 3 years old at the start of April my dad questioned it, The garage owner promised my old chap that it 100% had one and not to worry and that the car would be ready for collection on Tuesday.Well yesterday came and my dad gets dropped off at the garage to collect it, I then get a phone call asking me to pick him up as the garage hadn't checked the mot and surprise surprise it had ran out So after my dad having a row with him about it the garage promised to get it MOTed for him and that it be ready for collection today, So i end up running him home again back to Colchester which is a 55 mile round trip.Anyway then this afternoon i ring him to find out how it went just to get him ranting and raving at me down the phone!, After he calms down it turns out after his work mate dropped him off again, he collected the car only to drive it 1/2 mile down the road and it breakdown right in the middle of the street! The garage owner comes out again very sheeplessly to help push it off the road, After a phone call to the local Ford garage it appears that the camshaft sensor had failed causing it to die. So tonight my dad's got a Renault Clio to go home in and has to go back again for a 3rd time to collect it, I'm just surprised he hasn't told the garage to poke it up his arse! Anybody else had similar problems when buying a car?.

[Station]

I'd tell them to stick their Focus up their arse, and claim my money back. Sounds like a fine establishment to me.

[trigger]

Knowing how fussy my old man is and how fiery he is I'm amazed he didn't, I'd told I would off but he said he needs a car and he's been looking for a Focus like that for the last 2 years. He did call the garage owner a cu*t and a totally Twat, I know this as i heard him call it whilst i was on the phone!

[Guest]

I bought a Renault Clio diesel from newark car auction which turned out to have a grease type mix in the cooling system to stop it overheating My mate used some type of locktite sealer on the water tank cap and I put it back in a couple of weeks later My fault though as I only bid last minute witout time to check everything.And I bought a mk1 Fiesta 1300 s to do up. I was mint on top-ran sweet as a nut. The mot tester refused to finish the mot as it was so bad underneath.

[Pete-M]

I've bought many. Too many to mention..The chap who's totally taken the biscuit for me lately when it comes to pups is a chap I met recently who owns a firm which runs exclusively late model Vauxhall CDTi diesels. Poor sod has half his fleet in the local Vauxhall dealership most of the time. Knackered particulate filters is a common one, burst radiators are another party trick. They're fine if they're used on the motorway, but for the urban work his cars do they're a liability.He's trying desperately to flog them all before they get to 60k miles or 3 years old as if they get to that he'll have to start paying for the DPFs and they're insanely expensive. The firm I work for is selling its fleet of 09 plate Zafiras for the same reason. I'm not complaining, the girl who works at the service desk in the dealership we take ours to is bullbuggeringly fit and I get to visit there at least twice a week...

[red5]

Same really - too many to mention. But then again I generally paid less than £200.09 Zafiras with DPF's? used mostly round town?

[red5]

Ah, a favourite one springs to mind - A 1982 'B' Manta Berlinetta 3dr 1.8 Auto. Everything worked. Except 2nd gear after approx 10miles. Real shame - she was a minter. Flogged it with a mk2 Camelsear 1.8 GLi Saloon bought for the engine. Actually got more for the pair in the end despite the Cav refusing to drain it's sump with the plug out.

[chester drawers]

bullbuggeringly fit

Had to look that up.

 

Large, Jack (Big Mick) Also known as Unspeakably Violent Jack, the Bull-Buggering Beast-Killer of No Fixed Abode, his fearsome reputation was somewhat undermined by his being somewhat less than five foot tall. Jack was a member of The Black Seal and died after being poisoned by Baldrick and Percy. ("The Black Seal")

[Station]

Dad bought a Fiat Ulysse. Got it home. Four months later, I'm giving him a lift to the pub, and he claims the heater doesn't blow hot at all.I borrow it six months after purchase. Heater doesn't blow hot at all after running for a while. I check the water. There's none in it. No water whatsoever. I put 'some' in, and there's white smoke out of the exhaust.My dad gets the head gasket changed and then sold it. He'd been driving it for six months with no water in it!!TL:DR= Someone sold my dad a people carrier and drained the water so buyer wouldn't suspect HGF.

[Father Ted]

..late model Vauxhall CDTi diesels. Poor sod has half his fleet in the local Vauxhall dealership most of the time. Knackered particulate filters is a common one, burst radiators are another party trick. They're fine if they're used on the motorway, but for the urban work his cars do they're a liability.

Yes I have one of them which has in the last 12 months had1x complete exhaust inc DPF2x EGR valves1x Alternator1x ECUand is now out of warranty - I bit the bullet and purchased a Warranty Direct cover plan for it as I cant afford to swap it I also bought a £500 AX off ebay that had been written off twice in its life and the front end was so badly twisted it went through driveshafts at the rate of one every 4000 miles.

[whiskeyonesix]

Bought a 300TDi 1996 Discovery in 2008. In the dark From a workmate. 2275quid with 4 months T+T. Temp gauge didnt move much, but I put that down to the usual Land-Rover gremlins. I should have run to the hills there and then. 500 happy miles later, it overheats on the M40/M42 slip road and the head gaskets goes, thermostat seized shut according to AA bloke, and had been like that for some time. 425quid later I'm back on the road. 2 months later it fails the MoT, rotten bulkhead, Sills, Inner arches..... I flog it for 1000quid spares or repairs and cut my losses. I love Landrovers, but they bankrupt me

[garethj]

I think watanabe is going to win this with his Citroen My first car was a right dog, I thought that “all the welding’s been done†meant that it was solid. What it really meant was “you’ll have a shedload more welding to do for the next MoT, and the one after that, and….â€ÂThe only other one that really disappointed me was a 1972 MG Midget. If you can’t get a Frogeye the late Midgets with round wheelarches are the one to have but it needed so much welding that it just wore me down. It looked nice when it was finished, but what a painful experience to own.After years of buying old snotters I’m now of the opinion that some cars want to live and some want to curl up and die. Get one that wants to live and it’s basically bulletproof, it’ll take huge amounts of neglect and you can thrash it without mercy for years. Get a car that wants to die and it’ll take all your money, all your time and still be unreliable.There's a Phd there for someone, as long as they don't mind being ridiculed by the scientific community at the end

[Mr Lobster]

Sounds sadly familiar to when I bought my Alfa 145.Spent ages trying to find a good one. Found one at a Vauxhall main dealers, two owners, full history including a printout of everything the first company owner had ever spent on it.Had a test drive, found a noisy ball joint which the dealer would fix. Agreed a price and collection three days later. Three days later came so Fatha_Lobsta drove me down to Wrexham to pick it up. Only it's not ready. Wrong brake discs came from Mangoletsi y'see. Not to worry. Come back tomorrow they said.So we goes back tomorrow. And it's ready. Salesman goes to fetch it from round the back. Oh, whats that dripping from underneath? Oh no, it's power steering fluid. Back into the workshop. Hmmm, seems it needs a new rack. Very apologetic salesman offers to fill up Fatha_Lobs car with fuel and says to come back in two days and it will be ready.Go back in two days and it's ready. At last. Had a nice drive back to Pennine Lancashire and everything is perfect. GR10. Spent a couple of hours admiring it then decided to go to Manchester to pick up Mrs_L. Get into Manchester City Centre and whats this? The gearchange has gone all wobbly and I've only got 3rd and 4th gear. GR2 Friendly RAC man came out and did a temporary repair to the linkage and then we are good to go.In all fairness, after that I had at least 18 months of reliable travel out of it before it reverted back to being an utter money pit. A fast, shiny red, attractive money pit though.

[ashmicro]

Trig - I'd advise your Dad to sack that Fuckass off and look elsewhere.If money has already changed hands, mention Trading Standards.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I must admit, if I was a car dealer and had a customer calling me a tw@t and a c##t down the phone i'd just give him his money back and tell him to f##k off and leave me alone, its a funny situation when you're giving the guy a load of abuse yet still want to buy the car off him.

[trigger]

Trouble is my dad hasn't got the greatest people skills, especially with car salesmen who he seems to totally hate.He has paid his money now, full cash and with no part ex, all £8800 of it which for someone whos tighter than a camels arse in a sandstorm is a lot of money.The garage have offered to deliver it to him today and he seems happy with that, although if it goes wrong again i see there being blood spilled!

[Justin Case]

I once bought Mrs A an A-series Metro 1.3 through someone at work. It was his aunt's, who had just died, so one elderly lady owner, 8,000 miles in three years and regularly serviced by the garage who supplied it. It should have been a peach but it was a lemon and to be fair he was as surprised as me. For the first few weeks it wouldn't do more than 60 mph or 35 mpg, the water pump, clutch and starter went within 20,000 miles and it was a relief when it was eventually written off by an Errant Escort Give me a former repmobile any time.

[joethornton1986]

to be honest ive usually found more expensive cars from garages have brought me more trouble then cars ive been given or bought for £50 out of the local paper! also if you dont lay out much cash you dont care as much if it dies soon after (especially when you can still weigh it in for more than u paid for it!)

[Rocket88]

The only new car I've ever bought [1981!] was an MG Metro. Biggest pile of turd I've ever had the misfortune to ow. The following replaced under warranrty, 3 gearboxes [the first two had NO oil in them when investigated] 2 exhausts [both fell off] numerous gearbox oil seals, 2 rear wheel bearings . It was a blessed relief when my them Mrs wrote it off............

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The only new car I've ever bought [1981!] was an MG Metro. Biggest pile of turd I've ever had the misfortune to ow. The following replaced under warranrty, 3 gearboxes [the first two had NO oil in them when investigated] 2 exhausts [both fell off] numerous gearbox oil seals, 2 rear wheel bearings . It was a blessed relief when my them Mrs wrote it off............

MG Metros came out in 1982, and if the gearbox had no oil, neither did the engine and it would have seized solid in under 3 miles after rattling its bollocks off with a fucking great oil pressure warning light glowing at you..

[Rocket88]

The only new car I've ever bought [1981!] was an MG Metro. Biggest pile of turd I've ever had the misfortune to ow. The following replaced under warranrty, 3 gearboxes [the first two had NO oil in them when investigated] 2 exhausts [both fell off] numerous gearbox oil seals, 2 rear wheel bearings . It was a blessed relief when my them Mrs wrote it off............

MG Metros came out in 1982, and if the gearbox had no oil, neither did the engine and it would have seized solid in under 3 miles after rattling its bollocks off with a fucking great oil pressure warning light glowing at you..

You're right,t'was an 82.[Y reg] Gearbox oil seal failed [on numerous occasions] whilst on the move, engine survived, but they had to replace 2 gearboxes as they couldn't get the oil seals to stay put [this is the seal where the linkage goes into the box .damaged castings apparently.] My Mrs also decided to T cut and polish the thing, and went straight through to the primer on the two ridges on the bonnet. She wrote it off when she brimmed it, fuel went over the rear wheel, and she spun it straight into a wall on a hairpin.

[Guest]

[MG Metros came out in 1982,

Which is why when I was doing my youth training scheme placement at Mann Egerton in 1985 they were all failing their 1st mot's on steering racks and petrol tanks . Thats not just the mg's but thats crap for a newish car.

[Milford Cubicle]

The lack of an MOT is a bit iffy, maybe just an oversight, but it's not like they could predict a sensor failure. Your dad sounds like a proper nightmare!Not long after I bought my Rover 825D the clutch slave cylinder failed, I just drove it home with no clutch.

[trigger]

Your right Milf, he is a nightmare, but he is ginger so that would explain some of it! The car won't be back until after the weekend now, It turns out that it wasn't a sensor after all but a hole in a fuel pipe that's letting air into the fuel system causing it to stall. The garage is paying to get it sorted and are also going to extend the warranty from 3 months until 12 months now, My dad's seems alright about it now.