Gaari Means Car. Car Reviews & Car News

Buying used cars can be a nightmare. They look fine until they get home and the engine blows up. Why? Because, unless a person gets his or her used car from a dealer, they are not protected in any way from any mechanical deficiency. The message should be clear, but the number of disappointed motorists every year suggests it isn’t. So, here it is again, loud and one hopes very clear: when buying a used Peugeot, please, for the love of god, buy it from a proper dealer.

When a person buys a used car from a dealer, they are automatically protected by the Trade Descriptions Act, which in a fairly woolly way says that registered dealers of anything (cars, toys, garden furniture, whatever) cannot sell something that proves to be unfit for purpose. That’s a heavy phrase, that “unfit for purpose” – it’s the legal equivalent of a battle axe, smashing through any objections a dealer may have about returned items. And it applies to second hand cars.

But what does it mean? Well, if a person is buying a used Peugeot from a registered dealer, he or she has the legal right to expect the car to perform like a car for a reasonable number of miles, taken from day and mileage at purchase, according to price. So if a second hand Peugeot was sold by a dealer for £2,000, the buyer could reasonably expect it to work without failure for a couple of years. Whereas, if a buyer got a second hand Peugeot from a dealer for £200, they’d only reasonably be able to expect that the thing would last for a couple of months.

So what? So, if a person buys a used Peugeot from a dealer for £2,000 and it blows up after a week, they are legally entitled either to a full refund or to a no-charge complete repair. If that same car is bought for the same price by the same person, but from a private individual – they have no rights and no recompense. £2,000, straight down the drain (or down the scrap yard, or up in oily smoke), with nothing to show for it except a very unhappy looking bank statement. The message, surely, is clearer than clear. Under no circumstances should anyone buy a used Peugeot from anyone other than a recognised dealer. What would be the point? Unless that person enjoys throwing money away for sport, there is absolutely no reason to give cash to private individuals for cars that probably don’t work.

There are numerous other benefits to getting one’s second hand Peugeot from a dealer. A full service history, full MOT history and a year’s tax, for one (well, three). A guarantee. Accredited part replacement. Trade in on old vehicles. The list could go on. Getting a used Peugeot from a dealer is the same, really, as getting a new one – just a lot cheaper and with the added bonus that the engine has already been run in. In today’s shaky economy, that’s hard to beat.