Used Car Condition Reports
Discussion
Something I mull over every now and again....
When buying a car, I have no more confidence in buying from a dealer than I would through a private sale, as its pretty easy to trade in a pile of poop and many dealers have no interest in fixing them before punting them out the door.
Seeing as the likes of BCA provide a condition grading system, has anyone ever considered highlighting the (hopefully pristine) condition of the car they're selling through Autotrader etc?
Rather than the "good/great" price guide which tells no one anything constructive, I'd be far more interested in learning the car had a grade of '1' when it came through auction.
When buying a car, I have no more confidence in buying from a dealer than I would through a private sale, as its pretty easy to trade in a pile of poop and many dealers have no interest in fixing them before punting them out the door.
Seeing as the likes of BCA provide a condition grading system, has anyone ever considered highlighting the (hopefully pristine) condition of the car they're selling through Autotrader etc?
Rather than the "good/great" price guide which tells no one anything constructive, I'd be far more interested in learning the car had a grade of '1' when it came through auction.
Buying private is sold as seen, so long as there's no blatent lying involved.
Buying from a dealer might not guarantee better condition but it certainly gives you more protection in the short term and given how optimistic a lot of privately listed cars seem to be, I'd buy from a dealer almost every time in the current climate.
As for gradings, there's nothing to say that the condition from initial auction to hitting their forecourt is the same, it could've faced low budget repairs, had a scrape during loading/unloading or a world of other things. I'll stick to being reliant on what I can see with my own eyes and assuming every car is hiding something, at least that way you're looking for issues and not just believing what you're being told.
Buying from a dealer might not guarantee better condition but it certainly gives you more protection in the short term and given how optimistic a lot of privately listed cars seem to be, I'd buy from a dealer almost every time in the current climate.
As for gradings, there's nothing to say that the condition from initial auction to hitting their forecourt is the same, it could've faced low budget repairs, had a scrape during loading/unloading or a world of other things. I'll stick to being reliant on what I can see with my own eyes and assuming every car is hiding something, at least that way you're looking for issues and not just believing what you're being told.
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