£85m Repair Bill For Used Cars

• News
• Published: 18 Mar 2010 in Motoring and Car Insurance

One fifth of people who buy a vehicle from a used car dealer encounter problems with the car, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said in a report.

The problem was not rectified by the dealer in 30% of cases. Seven out of 10 problems occurred in the first month of owning the car, the report said.

The total bill for repairs that were the dealer's obligation to fix came in at £85 million a year, which averaged out at £425 per disgruntled customer, the OFT said.

The report said consumers could be overpaying to the tune of around £580 million a year as a result of illegal "clocking" - adjusting the car to show a false mileage.

Of consumers surveyed for the report, 27% found used car dealers very unhelpful and 11% rated them fairly unhelpful.

If a car is older and has problems which affect how smoothly it can run, there is more chance of an accident or collision occurring and therefore a greater probability the owner will need to make a make an insurance claim. It is illegal to drive a car in the UK without car insurance.