Dealer 1st or Trading standards???

[Gulfstream11]

Hey all..Since I bought the TDi pictured below its always niggled me that the nearside rear passenger wing seems a different shade of silver.The final straw came when I ferried my bro in law to see his new A4.I parked it next to another reflex silver golf and the difference was obvious to see.This was yesterday and on closer inspection I find. Overspray on the rear nearside window rubber...poorly fitted rear nearside window...nearside passenger door not flush with body...rear hatch gap wider nearside than offside...nearside light cluster has hardly any gap offside has..poor finish on paintwork all this from my untrained eye.Its leading me to believe this car has been repaired,BADLY!....I bought this car from the dealer,registered to them and with 6k on the clock.I am the first public owner.My point is should they have informed me of the repair as I dont think I would have paid the price i did knowing about any damage.Is it legal for any dealer to withold this information from a customer.So do I try to work things out with the dealer or go the trading standards route/RAC inspection etc etc??. The car went home every night to the salesman's house.If he had an accident would a HPI check reveal this information or would he go thru his work and fix it.The dealer has all the resources on site.

[free]

it only comes up on hpi, if it was doin  on the insurence, but as you say they could of fixed it off there own backs,
ill go to the stearler, stright to the top boss and kick off mate,
and see what they say

[jv]

Hi, I think your only real hope would be to negotiate with the dealer. If you have owned it for a long while they may not be very interested though. A HPI inspection wouldn't reveal a simple accident even if it did go through an insurance claim. The dealer does not have to inform you of the repair - they are not selling it to you as new after all. If you asked and they lied about the repair you would perhaps have more to go on. I doubt Trading Standards will help much so I think you may be best keeping it fairly happy with the dealer and hope you can speak to the original salesman that you dealt with ?

[Gulfstream11]

Cheers Free and JV...Sound advice.Will go and talk to the dealer tmrw.Anyway not happy with the paint job so the warranty should cover that!...Will post results,Laters.

[BOGGLE]

I had the same problem with a fiesta  :embarassed: that i bought my mrs.  I bought it privatly and found out that it was a cat D write off.  I got legal advice and the solicitor said that because it was a private sale and the seller had not been the first owner i could not do much as she claimed she knew nothing about it. 
I would say that if the dealers were the first and only owners prior to you then they would have known about the repair and therefore can't withold that information.
I would speak with them first and failing that then contact trading standards.
F***ING con artists.

[richy]

I'd be inclined to go straight to VW head office, and cut out the dealer altogether.  When VW crashed my car, I wrote a kick-ass letter to VW and got some compensation off em.   

[Gulfstream11]

Cheers guys..Going to dealers now,softly softly approach.If no joy then I'm gonna have to go the legal route,RAC inspection n stuff.I can't believe I missed this when I picked the car up

[piggy]

Sorry to say but I don'tm think you have a leg to stand on.

They weren't selling you the car new so the warranty part doesn't really apply. They might do it for you as a goodwill gesture but there's no obligation as if it has previously been repaired than any paint/bodywork warranty is nul and void!

Trading standards won't be interested as the car is roadworthy and therefore it's not illegal for them to sell the car.

Hopefully as you paid a reasonable amount for the car, the dealer will want to keep you as a future customer and sort it but that maybe difficult if you've had the car for sometime. They may argue that it is you that's had the car sprayed!

My mate works is a paintless dent removal bloke and some of the horror stories he tells me of brand new cars at dealerships that have had bumps and scratches, tried to hide them, done a sh1te job and sold it to the customer hoping they don't notice when they take delivery.

BUYER BEWARE !!

[Gulfstream11]

OK,Just back and yes Piggy you're right.They did say sold as seen and why did,nt I mention it when picking the car up.As for 6 mnths down the line I told em That I noticed it but reckoned that an established dealer like themselves would,nt sell me a car knowingly faulty.Anyway I asked for the car history,they rang the salesman who drove it about,turns out it was "keyed" and window smashed outside his house.The paint job was done by them.They also admitted it was the wrong colour.Then I had to pay for it seeing as it aint covered..I refused,they fetched the boss,he went outside to see it,said it was ok,no difference,"If you look from this angle(boss on his knees looking up panel toward sky) you can't tell"!!!!.I told him to look at the other silver golf,then mine,the difference was so obvious he had no choice but to admit it.It was,nt until I offered to take this further that they caved and its booked in to rectify all faults..I drove to the body shop and the guy did,nt even get close to see which panel it was.Anyway.Sorted and thnx to all forum members for their advice..PHEW! ....PS,Body shop said chips away did the job!   

[Gulfstream11]

Forgot.I got a pic if anyone is interested.