Car dealers make press
September 14th, 2009 by Richard Aucock
DAILY Telegraph readers received a front-page warning today: ‘your ‘one’ owner car may be ex-rental’.
The paper has carried out an investigation, and alleges that ‘tens of thousands of used car buyers have unwittingly bought former rental vehicles from official dealerships’.
This, continues the paper, has led to some paying ‘thousands of pounds over the odds’. They thought they were buying one-owner cars, but the models have in fact been used by ‘dozens of drivers’.
It has been made possible two of Britain’s biggest car hire companies using a ‘front’ firm, says The Daily Telegraph. This used an abbreviated name to register vehicles, so car buyers wouldn’t know it was a rental company from the documents.
A move, reckons the paper, that could lead to the OFT investigating car dealers further. It is already looking at the £35 billion used car market…
… And apparently is preparing to publish fresh evidence on ‘when companies should be prosecuted for misleading buyers.’
The paper reports how some Volkswagen customers, for example, have been mislead. One owner bought an ‘ex-VW’ Passat, which was previously registered to ERAC UK Ltd.
This turned out to be Enterprise Rent-A-Car. ‘Shady trading,’ said Norman Baker, Lib Dem transport spokesman, ‘in an attempt to get higher prices for vehicles’.
A Volkswagen spokesman said, if asked, that all VW dealers must reveal a car’s past – but that VW ‘can’t be held responsible for how rental companies register their cars’.
Peugeot was also criticised in the front-page report, which has been opened up to The Daily Telegraph online forums.
Has YOUR car dealership been affected by the report? Have any issues been raised by your customers? What’s your take on proceedings? Any thoughts, do drop us a line…
Tags: daily telegraph, peugeot, rental, Volkswagen
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