Buying a car off the internet

i purchased a Golf R without seeing it in person.

Had a video from the VW garage and it came with warranty etc. was low mileage, one owner, so was fairly confident in the purchase. They delivered it to me as well, so first time i saw it was when it arrived on my drive. It cost me just under 26k, so not a small amount of money to spend off the back of a few pics and a video!

The car you are looking at, is it from a main dealer? Or independent? Any warranty? Do they have an option to reject if its not right? Most honest dealers are happy to send videos, pics, get it up on a ramp for you etc.

There is also an option of sending the AA in for a once over.

Where is it based? one of us might be local enough to go kick the tyres!

So what’s the worst that can happen?

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Seriously...
• Check MOT history to see if it all adds up, or if there are continuing issues that haven't been dealt with.
• Ask for photos of invoices, not just stamps in books.
• One I always do is check the company info on Companies House. See if the directors have a history of multiple dealerships with very similar names!
• Look on Google streetview at historic images to see if the dealer name changes multiple times.
• As for the car. Unless you are prepared to go and view it with a mechanic most of us really just take a punt and hope all is well anyway! 🙂

What age car / what value?

I now nothing about car mechanics so I’m not sure how much I’ll learn from a test drive, I already own the same model of car so know what expect regarding comfort, driving position etc

You may not know much about cars but you'll obviously know how you expect this particular model to drive and how it should feel, what noises it might or might not make etc so having a drive before purchase would still be a good idea.
It'll come down to how much of a ball ache that is if the car's 200 miles away for example. As said above, your ability to reject the car after delivery is your next best safeguard.

Do distance selling regs still apply?

A. You'll have 14 days to reject for no reason.
B. You'll have 30 days to reject if it has a fault.
C. You'll have 6 months automatic warranty under the sale of goods act 2015.

So no problem buying it, my advice would be to buy it & get it booked in with a mechanic you can trust to give it a full check over once you get delivery of it.

Do distance selling regs still apply?

Pretty much, I think. Cars have to be "fit for purpose" i.e. not obviously a lemon.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/buying-a-used-car/

https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/your-guide-buying-used-car-online/

Just in case I’m not being stupid any questions I should ask?

Do they offer, note offer, without being forced, a short period of 'no quibble return'? That's basically your test drive(s) right there. Some places might offer insurance to cover this period, so you don't have to mess about until you're sure you're keeping it.

Bought my Mustang online from a Toyota dealership after browsing Autotrader whilst sat in Edinburgh departures lounge waiting for a flight to work. It being a new-ish car at the time plus the dealer reviews and included warranty I had no concerns. I think as long as it's from an established dealership and not some too good to be true "deal" on Facebook marketplace you should be fine.

just be aware that usually its return at your cost and the delivery charge is non refundable also.

I bought a car online from oxford delivered to aberdeen about 18 months ago.

it was 3 years old/15k miles

It was low value (for a car)

it was from a main dealer in the brand.

They stuck it on the ramp and walked round with a live feed camera looking at bits i asked him to.

It was delivered 2 weeks later - looked like the video and has been grand since. -

It's a 13k petrol Skoda Octavia 4yrs old, it's from a indy dealer that's been in business since 2012 with the same directors that haven't owned any companies since 2012.

My current car is also an Octavia that I owned for 13 yrs old with 180k on the clock and been faultless until this year when the heating developed gremlins and the boot started to leak, I suspect the faults are just going to keep coming. I really want an electric car but for my current situation the tech isn't there, I make several long journeys a year to France, so I want something that isn't going to break the bank for a few years until I can go electric.

I bought a 2015 Polo from Cazoo. As a non-car-person I also thought that driving it and inspecting it myself would not be much help. As it turned out I was very happy with the car. Extremely good condition and I couldn’t see any of the marks that were mentioned in the description. I was less happy with Cazoo later, and the handling of a repair issue (not a pre-existing fault btw) so I’d not necessarily recommend them.

I did that a few months ago, it was absolutely fine. One year old, low mileage EV from a distant branch of a reputable dealer (close enough for free delivery, but far enough I didn't want to drive over). I had test-driven the model locally, was willing to take their word that it was basically as new. I was aware of distance selling regulations also, it's not in their interests to try to pass off a lemon. Possibly better buying unseen than test driving and losing the distance selling protection.

I'd happily do it again but don't anticipate changing the car within a decade, maybe much more. It's great!

whats the worst that could happen?

take a look at this vid. car at a main dealer, but with significant damage /repair and poor quality paintwork. Even if you don't know anything about mechanicals you should still try and see the car in person to assess the cosmetic condition.

That said, I bought one recently and didn't notice until a very sunny day some weeks after that some scratches had been "aggressively" polished out

My head says it's no risk, my heart says no way.

Same make and model might sway that a little, but since we tend to keep our cars a decade at least, we've never wanted a straight swap.

It's probably not the mechanical bits that you need to worry about as they will be covered by a warranty ( although you should ask for info on the state of wear and tear items like clutches,brakes, and tyres as the warranty won't cover these).

It's the cosmetic aspects you need to worry about, cars in general are not looked after,they are used and abused, interiors get trashed, nothing damages a car like cigarette smoke (unless you're a smoker,in which case it's fine), and dealers go to great lengths to hide cigarette smoke. They can hide it for a few days,but it always comes back. Paintwork gets scratched and dinged and repaired to various levels of satisfaction. None of that will be covered by warranty. A camera can't pick up cigarette smell or a lot of paint damage/repairs

I'd buy a car off the internet without inspecting it in person if it was a few months old with a max of a few thousand miles on it, and then only from a main dealer for the brand.

No way would I buy an older car from a generic dealer, far too much risk.

I speak from experience of buying from cazoo where they sold me a car that had been heavily smoked in, they managed to hide it for long enough that I couldn't reject it - despite their blurb saying that they don't sell cars that have been smoked in,bunch of shysters, I should have gone with my head rather than taking the lazy option.

I'm super anal about buying cars and do it as infrequently as possible.

Things like brand of tyres and filters, what the radio is tuned to will sway a car for me but I'm at the bangernomics end of the buying spectrum and have always sniffed out a good car even though it can take some time to find.
In this instance I think I'd be a bit wary only due to it being an independent dealer and how good/effective the come back would be if something wasn't as described or there was an issue.

Will update later this week - picking up a cazoo car on Wednesday.

hadn’t thought about smokers, where would I best have a good inhale to try to determine if it’s been smoked in. Half leather half fabric seats.

Check the cigarette lighter.

Guy on Pistonheads bought a car online. Pulled heavily to one side. Got it all sorted after numerous contacts alignment checks etc. A test drive by any experienced driver would have picked that up. I have previously rejected a car that pulled to one side on a test drive.

Suppose it depends how good the price is.

Bought my Mustang online from a Toyota dealership after browsing Autotrader whilst sat in Edinburgh departures lounge waiting for a flight to work.

That sentence contours up visions of pearls being clutched tightly. Only way you could have taken that up a level would have been if it was a SUV 😉

Will update later this week – picking up a cazoo car on Wednesday.

I'd be interested to hear how it all goes, there seem to be a few similar outfits now (cazoo, cinch, etc) that don't seem to carry anything much more than 4 years old and operate exclusively online, I've never enjoyed visiting dealerships or haggling on some blokes driveway so there's some appeal to me there...

Looks like a lot of Cazoo cars only come with one key (same with other car supermarket places). If that's the case with the car you are buying, and it bothers you, be aware that extra keys for modern cars are often ~£300.

Looks like a lot of Cazoo cars only come with one key (same with other car supermarket places). If that’s the case with the car you are buying, and it bothers you, be aware that extra keys for modern cars are often ~£300

Dont think I've got the need for a second key, but just checked the ad and you are correct. Any idea on the reason? They can't just be buying up the national stock of one-key cars as a business model.

What are they going to do, come steal it back from my drive?

(And edit), previous car was from car giant and had two keys.

Dont think I’ve got the need for a second key, but just checked the ad and you are correct. Any idea on the reason? They can’t just be buying up the national stock of one-key cars as a business model.

Cazoo just buy the cars at auction/off dealers (when the dealer themselves doesnt want to sell it)/end of lease etc etc , so a lot of the time the cars they sell are not as good quality as the cars a main dealer for that brand would sell. Hence the missing key , and probably more likely to have other things less than perfect (cosmetic,mechanical,missing a key, not full service hist/not main dealer service history, cheapo tyres etc).

Cazoo update:

Picked up my car yesterday. Very nice service.

I was worried that as it was pouring with rain I would not have the ability to suitably inspect it - no, it was inside the building, in the dry. I could go round and check the defects listed (they send you the advert so you can check even though the ad has vanished from the website) and they were very minor and acceptable.

They let you look at it on your own, and then come and explain any features etc as required. I was coming form the same brand, 7 years older, so most things were familiar.

It came with two keys. They said they often list them as 1 key, then later discover a second key in the glove box or something like that.

As I'd paid online, and already indicated that I had no wish to pay extra for all the random bonus things like seat protection or a pointless warranty, they didn't even mention it or try to upsell me. Nor did they try to convert me to taking out their finance package. So all of that is a massive improvment over my previous experience buying in person at CarGiant.

Downside is I got rear ended on the way home, so lets see how helpful the 3 day complimentary insurance is.

Overly dramatic statement out the way - the two cars behind me had a massive shunt, and rolled forwards in to me. No mark on my car, cracked number plate on the one behind me.