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Warning for buyers to avoid used car tricks

  Monday, 4 April 2011

With April Fool’s Day just past us, UK car buyers are being warned to avoid used car tricksters on the forecourts and in private listings.

HPI is warning drivers that one-in-three second hand vehicles have a hidden history, which can potentially stop new owners taking out car insurance or even driving the car if it has fundamental faults.

The organisation has helped to highlight a number of the most common tricks played on used car buyers. The top tricks include trying to sell stolen vehicles to vulnerable, unaware customers, cars with outstanding finance agreements and vehicles written-off due to end-of-life or accidents.

Nicola Johnson, consumer services manager for HPI, said: “Whilst this (April Fool’s Day) is traditionally a day for light-hearted fun, the dangers of buying a used car are no laughing matter.”

Another prevalent trick used by some garages and used car owners is clocking, which involves changing the mileage of the vehicle adding significant value to the car and tricking buyers into paying over the odds.

Indeed last month HPI revealed an increasing number of used car buyers are taking the environmental credentials of a vehicle into consideration before parting with cash.

Owners of written-off vehicles should be doing the decent thing and scrapping their car rather than fobbing it off to unsuspecting buyers.

ASM Auto Recycling offers a full and environmentally-friendly car scrappage service. We have installed a number of state-of-the-art de-pollution rigs to ensure the processing of abandoned and end-of-life vehicles is completed in accordance with the European ELV Directive.

Vehicle dismantling is big business in the UK with 2 million end-of-life vehicles processed to remove and store potential toxins such as fuel, oils and brake fluids that can cause damage to the environment if left inside salvage vehicles. However, vehicle dismantling is not just a case of stripping the vehicle shell for scrapping. At ASM Auto Recycling we carefully recycle used car parts and restore them to working condition for purchase.

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