Hi everyone, new member here. I've been browsing for weeks but now finally registered!
Unfortunately I am seriously worried about my new car and I only picked it up last night! I'm hoping for some sound advice from you guys. Please bare with me, it's a fairly long post.
I viewed a few cars over the last few weeks and despite being very weary in the buying process and pulling out of one sale which i kinda regret, I think ended up with a suspect car.
55 plate Tornado red gti
100,000 miles
Up for sale at £3,989.
Went to view last week, at a dearler about an hour away from where I live. Good condition and seemed fine to drive. Infact its seriously rapid! I'm shocked at the power this thing has and I have driven a few quick cars in my time.
Guys seemed decent enough, then i asked to see documents, they sat me down in the office with a coffee and went and this is where it became a bit disappointing. No service book....
I expressed my concerns and said id be a fool to buy this car as I can't be sure it's had the cam belt and waterpump service. Mileage was just under 100k.
He had already called vw and found out that it was serviced the first 3 times there but that's the only record they have as probably went elsewhere afterwards.
He said he'd service it, new cam belt, wp, oil etc etc and also valet the front seats as they're slightly stained. This was all factored into the final cost of £4,110. I went for it and paid in full by debit card.....
My thoughts were that the car drove great, was in good condition so probably had serviced through its life, but (as this guy told me) the service book had been lost by previous owner. A good service should put it back on track and i'd find out the overall state of the engine.. So silly of me.
Now, when I picked it up the first thing i wasnt happy with was the receipt for the service and cam belt work. It looks dodgy, some shoddy vw stamp on it even though it wasn't done be a vw garage...
Then I noticed the central locking didn't work on the driver door! Called him over and he said to get it looked at and let him know.
When I got home i checked the oil- doesn't look like it's been changed! Looks low even!
I seriously doubt they have changed the cam belt, I don't think they have done anything! The seats are not clean either.
The car comes with 3 months warranty.
I have a vw specialist close to my who are very good. I plan to take the car there and get it checked. What rights do I have? I'm paranoid now and drove along with the stereo off listening for noises and anything untoward! Any little sound makes me feel worried, but then I dont really know what im listening for. I've not had a turbo car before.
This is a huge deal to me, £4k is a lot to me.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not sure about my consumer rights etc etc. I love the car but am so nervous about the engine.
I look forward to hearing from you...