False service history
Went to view a Kia that was advertised with a full service history and 1 owner only to find that the service history raised some pretty serious questions.
The service book was stamped every year under “ADMF Services, Warley Street, Great Warley, CM13 3L8”. Being there every year raised a few concerns but didn’t question it too much as it only had 1 previous owner but then I checked it myself and couldn’t find a garage operating under that name at that address. There are also obvious spelling/address errors on the stamp and no invoices or paperwork to back up the servicing.
I raised this with the dealer and was basically told the car was 100% genuine, that he’d been selling cars for 47 years and had never had a situation like this. He then asked me if I was suggesting the service history had been falsified.
The most ridiculous part? When I questioned him further, he admitted he hadn’t actually checked it himself and said he would now go and check with “his people”.
So I’m sorry, but if you’ve been selling cars for 47 years and claim to have a good reputation and your cars are properly checked, how have you managed to advertise a car with a service history containing a garage that appears impossible to verify, an incorrect-looking address/postcode and spelling mistakes, without checking it?
Either you didn’t check it despite claiming your experience, or you’re not being completely honest about how thoroughly these cars are checked.
Needless to say, I walked away. If I’m spending that sort of money on a car, I want a service history I can actually verify, not “trust me, I’ve been doing this for 47 years”.
Very disappointing and definitely not a dealer I’d be comfortable buying from especially in this day and age when anyone can buy a stamp and stamp it yourself
Reply from Usedcarnetwork
We are genuinely shocked and deeply disappointed by this review and feel that it gives a very misleading impression of what actually took place.
You did not simply “walk away” from the vehicle because of concerns over its history.
You attended with your stepfather, thoroughly inspected the vehicle inside and out, complimented its excellent condition and were taken on a test drive, with which you appeared very pleased. You explained that the car was slightly above your budget and that you wanted to think about it and speak to your boyfriend/brother, who you said was a Kia mechanic. You then thanked us for our time and left on perfectly amicable terms.
Indeed, later that same day you messaged us: “thanks for today, I really do like the car”. It was only subsequently that you raised concerns about being unable to independently verify details appearing on a historic service stamp.
We took your concerns seriously. However, we strongly object to the subsequent implication that we have acted dishonestly or knowingly offered a vehicle with fabricated history.
This vehicle was subjected to our normal provenance checks, including HPI, together with checks of its recorded mileage and MOT history. Nothing arising from those checks gave us any reason to suspect a problem. The vehicle had one former keeper, approximately 69,000 miles and a new 12-month MOT with no advisories, and was acquired through a trusted trade source with whom we have dealt for approximately 25 years.
It is simply not realistic to suggest that a used-car dealer should independently contact and authenticate every garage responsible for every historic stamp or document accumulated over the lifetime of every vehicle, particularly when the normal provenance and mileage checks reveal nothing to cause concern.
Most importantly, being unable to independently verify the details on a historic service stamp is not evidence that we fabricated it, altered the service history or knowingly misrepresented the vehicle. We categorically reject any such suggestion.
After 47 years in the motor trade, our reputation and integrity mean an enormous amount to us. We therefore find the comment that “anyone can buy a stamp and stamp it yourself”, made in a review questioning our honesty, particularly upsetting and wholly unjustified as an implication against this business.
You were completely entitled to investigate the history further and equally entitled not to proceed with the purchase. However, there is a considerable difference between deciding not to purchase because you could not independently satisfy yourself about a historic stamp and suggesting publicly that you “walked away” from the vehicle because of matters which called our honesty into question.
We have retained our correspondence, which records the sequence of events, and we stand completely behind the manner in which you were treated.