I had a call to look at a car in a garage. The buyer was from out of town and did not want to waste his time travelling if the car was no good. This car was advertised at a price half its value so his suspicions and mine were aroused. I checked the car and it was 99% perfect with only a small cheap defect. It was a really nice car and well kept. The seller, a garage, asked me to check four other cars that he was selling – as in pre-sale inspections.

I returned a couple of days later to do these inspections and randomly took the first car for inspection. It was a low mileage car, but the turbo was not working and it was down on power and exhaust fumes were coming in through the heater. I explained this to the seller and he said he new about the issues and expected me not to mention the faults. I said I could not do that and why not correct the faults as it was a low mileage car. He said somebody would come in and buy the car as it is that would not notice the problems. He cancelled the other three inspections.

It disturbs me to say this is typical of the attitude of car dealers. Some of them set themselves up as reputable businesses and fool people into trusting them. This particular incident really disturbs me because there are exhaust fumes leaking into the cabin and the fumes could potentially kill the driver if he became overwhelmed by them.

This particular car is a death trap and the seller is right – somebody will come in and buy it. The buyer who is led to believe he is buying a good safe car with an NCT is in fact just as irresponsible as the seller. He is the one who will put his passengers and other road users in danger. It really is up to him to make sure he is getting what he is paying for.

On the same day I inspected a car in another garage and found the car was driving from one side of the road to the other- a potentially dangerous condition. I pointed this out to the seller and he said he would repair it before it went out. Not all car dealers are irresponsible, however he would have sold it as is had the buyer not been smart and careful enough to have the car inspected.

Don’t dump responsibility for the safety of you and your family on to the seller or the NCT. Get the car checked.