::Barloworld ::Pre-owned car sales is an art
There is perhaps an unfortunate stereotype that a used car salesperson cannot be trusted. Of course, the methods employed by some of them to practise their pre-owned car sales are doubtful at best, but many hard-working dealers do honest business to put bread on the table.
However, the focus always falls on the corrupt minority, as the horror stories of their trickery tend to stick in the mind. In these bleak times, unscrupulous dealers intensify their efforts and it pays to be aware of the potential cover-ups, when buying a pre-owned car.
Especially in the case of cash transactions on older cars, one has to be especially wary of the dreaded Code 3. This signifies that the car has been built up after having been written off. Sometimes Code 3 cars can be the front-end of one car, welded onto the back-end of another! While these are legal, one has to be aware of what one is buying when embarking on a pre-owned car sales expidition. A competently repaired Code 3 can be a sound buy, but the buyer has to know what he is getting into, and the price must be correspondingly low. Keep in mind that insurance could be impossible to secure. There is a reason these cars sell for so little.
It is worth the effort to take an expert along to view and evaluate a prospective pre-owned car – they can spot telltale signs of repair work and cover-ups and know what to look for. Newer cars’ background can usually be checked at the manufacturer, especially when they have a full service history. Pre-owned car sales should provide the car with police clearance, a roadworthy certificate and a full service history, preferably at the agents.
Stories about bananas and sawdust in the gearbox to silence a terminal noise and kilograms of body filler judiciously applied to hide accident repairs are rife and they should serve as a warning: do homework and be prepared, else the classic pre-owned car sales tricks will be applied to you sooner, rather than later. Do not become a statistic.
