Another incompetent car trader - Dow Story Motors, Chester Le Street

[dom]

Ok, so like The Doc i'm also scouting out potential MK4's when I stumbled across one on Autotrader which looked perfect, the basic specs were:

Silver 2001 1.8T AUQ (180bhp)
34k miles FSH (completely up to date)
£3795

The car was about 100 miles away from me so I rang the dealer this morning and asked him a few questions about it. He assured me the exterior/interior were mark/scuff/dent free, the car had never been smoked in, the service book was up to date (however the cambelt hadn't been changed since 2006), and it was definitely the 180bhp version.

I paid a small deposit over the phone and set off to look at it, 2 hours later I arrived and the first thing I saw was a scuff on the front bumper about 3 inches long and an inch wide...not impressed!

I opened the drivers door to be hit by the stench of stale cigarette smoke, again not impressed! The wood effect trim inside both front doors was scratched & scuffed, as were both ash trays, all 4 wheels had big chips taken out of the paint/lacquer & 2 were badly kerbed

I moved my way around to the back of the car to notice another similar scuff on the rear bumper, by this point I was getting pretty frustrated because I had been explicitly told there were no scuffs/scratches at all, however I persisted due to the engine/mileage. I got back into the car and noticed it only had a 5 speed gearbox, knowing the the AUQ should be fitted with a 6 speed alarm bells started ringing

I checked the rear discs as I believe the AUQ has vented rear discs.....this one did not! By this point I was pretty sure it was not an AUQ, so to confirm I pulled up the boot carpet and sure enough the sticker told me it was an AUM

I asked the dealer about it, he was convinced that I was wrong and it was definitely a 180. I asked to see the log book which he produced, I checked the registration on the log book and surprise, surprise the registration didn't match the car

Suddenly things started to make sense as earlier in the day I had spoken to my insurance company who couldn't find details of the car based on the registration from the photo's

So anyway, to cut a long story short I wasted 4 hours and half a tank of petrol to go and look at the car in the advert below (the advert has since been amended and the 180bhp bit removed, however the registration on the car in the pictures is still incorrect)

Avoid Dow Story Motors, Chester Le Street, County Durham, a complete waste of time!


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201119386962113/sort/priceasc/usedcars/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/engine-size-cars/1-7l_to_1-9l/price-to/4000/model/golf/make/volkswagen/postcode/ca130xs/page/2/radius/200?logcode=p

[brett]

oh dear mate ,guess you better stick to the mk3 then lol,sorry to hear bout your wasted day ,puts me off looking for another car for sure

[Ant1981]

I hope you got your deposit back.

[billy_vw]

 I feel for you mate, I have had simular incident's other the last 2 weeks, been fckd about on 2 different cars
Luckly 1 was local, but the other i did a 230 mile round trip.......

But now sorted a mk5, which was alot more than my original budget, but was pi$$ed off looking at sh!t.

Hope you find something soon 

[JC]

oh well, i am viewing 3 cars as i head north tomorrow, 

 so if you see on the news about car dealers getting torched along the m1 north you know they are all dogs 

[Mitching]

Definitely never buying a car from oop north now!

[Wayne]

  Seemed and sounded all ok but I am sure something else will come along, did you get your deposit back.



On another note, I ended up in the stationary cupboard lunchtime whilst talking to you as it is hard to take to private calls,

[F17BAD]

I thought the only MK4 with 180 bhp standard was the annie

so on that basis i would have known it was a non 180, unless you thought u was going to view a annie 

[Wayne]

I thought the only MK4 with 180 bhp standard was the annie

so on that basis i would have known it was a non 180, unless you thought u was going to view a annie 

They did a 180bhp non anni, 6spd box, vented rear discs etc, harder to find but have seen a few.

[tech1889]

there are loads of 180's about.. they are all from 2002 onwards though  the better model imo as you have 6spd box and vented rear discs etc