Bassoctopus

No names, but some of you guys know who I'm talking about.

Took my S back today for a refund. (EU car sold as UK by a main dealer, no proper paper work etc)

Saw the sales manager, asked him to explain - which he couldn't.

I told him that I wanted another S and could he have a look on the Honda dealer network to find me one. I was told to come back on Monday!!!

I offered him the chance to sell me another car - which he didn't deserve - and was told to come back on Monday.

They can sod off!!!

Neil - no car, needs to get to work on Monday somehow!!!

cheshire_carper

Sh1t thats bad Neil. I saw your other thread about alarms and were they standard.

naughty naughty dealer

Could be a tip for us all there. If you have no V5, whether its dealer sourced or not, do a HPI check. It has a field called `import flag`. This check will tell you about the cars origin.

W6DAN

Neil, can you knock him down on the EU car ?
If its a full UK spec then its identical to a UK car anyway (though they should price it slightly lower and then knock a bit more off for having tried to deceive you).
What paperwork is it missing, out of interest ?

Bassoctopus

I initially mentioned a discount, but was only offered a CAT1 alarm for my trouble. I rang the Sales Manager at 1.30pm yesterday to tell him, and had to ring him back three times to get an answer on what they were going to do.

Basically the car had no spare keys, no V5, no certificate of conformity, no PDI check or dealer stamp in the warranty booklet. In fact the only paper work it had was a couple of invoices and a service history (first service unstamped). For all I know it could have been stolen with a changed VIN plate. And it had 2 owners rather than 1 if the service invoices were to be believed.

When I took the car back to the dealer I was expecting major apologies, followed by a list of cars they could replace it with and a courtesy car while we waited for the replacement.

Basically the sales manager couldn't give a sh1t and even asked me: "Did I directly ask the salesman if it was a UK car". Followed by "We don't, legally, have to declare if the car's been imported"

I'm debating whether to get Honda UK involved, but I don't know if I can be arsed.



The moral of the story is to always get the V5 when collecting the car - I know you're always told this, but we misguidedly trust main dealers. If this had been an independant dealer, I have no doubt that I wouldn't have got any refund and would have been stuck with the car.

oh and by the way, it was Springfield in Newcastle.

cheshire_carper

thats terrible.....don`t forget the tip above - do a HPI when a V5 isn`t available. You`ll see if its imported or not then.

I think you have done the right thing by outing the dealer. We need to know.

Bassoctopus

Yep,

Beware the Silver X Plate at a Honda Dealer in Newcastle!!

eSeM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by neil_s2k
[B]I'm debating whether to get Honda UK involved, but I don't know if I can be arsed.

Chris Type R

Norton Way sold me a EU car, and the salesman didn't know it was an import. He phoned me the next day, and I cancelled the sale then. I made a point of asking on the test drive though. The car is still on their forecourt some 6 months later.

This is this same car that has some very bizzare auto-trader specs. mentioned in another thread.

Moral - when looking at second-hand Hondas, ask if it is a UK car before test driving.

Bassoctopus

To be fair to Honda UK, when I spoke to customer care to check the VIN, they were really helpful and told me to let them know if the dealer didn't offer me a refund/exchange.

eSeM

Are you sure about this?

There is nothing on my V5 document that is obvious that says that my car is an import.

Like Neil's the givaway is that the car does not have an alarm and that one of my service books does not have the dealer stamp. (I have one in Belgian with a dealer stamp and a UK one without.)