Bad experience. The guys are out-right liars!
To be honest, I feel a little bit stupid for not spotting this myself, but anyone who has no mechanical knowledge would have had even less of a chance of spotting it.
My girlfriend wanted a C1 after passing her test (my Fiat persuasion skills were clearly not up to scratch!) so we'd looked around (and they are stupidly priced for what they are!... but anyway...) we found one at a reasonable price and mileage and went to see it at Crowley Motor Company. The young guy was nice to talk to, a little 'pushy', but I've had far worse from salesmen before. We took it for a test drive - I drove. I gave it the beans and it was obvious the clutch was slipping - revs climbing up well before the speed was when planting it. We got back, I said to the guy that basically no we're not interested- It would have been a reasonable price if it was fully functional, but the clutch was slipping. He said if it had a new clutch, would I be interested? I said yes (since that seemed to be the only fault with the car.) He said if he replaced the clutch he couldn't negotiate on price. A little bit of a bummer since I'd hoped to push him down, but I was OK with it. It would still be a pretty reasonable price for a C1 even without discount. We came back the following week to look at it again, and true to his word, he said he had replaced the clutch. I gave it a little 'pull-away' test in the car park and the clutch bit very well. We paid the asking price. Stupid decision in retrospect - should have been a full test drive again, but TBH, I still wouldn't have spotted the problem I'm about to tell you....
So here we are now, 3 months later. My girlfriends complaining the clutch bite is way too high now. I gave it a drive and it is literally at the top of the pedal travel. My first assumption is that it has something to do with bedding in of the clutch. I take it into my garage and take a look... its a cable-operated clutch. Fair enough, it just needs adjustment. Nope - its already at full stretch! The clutch had NOT been changed despite him stating out-right that it was a new clutch! The guy had literally just pushed the cable offset to its absolute limit to make it 'appear' bitey again!
A complete con-man and not to be trusted!
I should also mention he said it had a full years MOT... did it balls! I only noticed after the purchase but it was only 7 months. Again - kicking myself for that!!:bang:
To be honest, I feel a little bit stupid for not spotting this myself, but anyone who has no mechanical knowledge would have had even less of a chance of spotting it.
My girlfriend wanted a C1 after passing her test (my Fiat persuasion skills were clearly not up to scratch!) so we'd looked around (and they are stupidly priced for what they are!... but anyway...) we found one at a reasonable price and mileage and went to see it at Crowley Motor Company. The young guy was nice to talk to, a little 'pushy', but I've had far worse from salesmen before. We took it for a test drive - I drove. I gave it the beans and it was obvious the clutch was slipping - revs climbing up well before the speed was when planting it. We got back, I said to the guy that basically no we're not interested- It would have been a reasonable price if it was fully functional, but the clutch was slipping. He said if it had a new clutch, would I be interested? I said yes (since that seemed to be the only fault with the car.) He said if he replaced the clutch he couldn't negotiate on price. A little bit of a bummer since I'd hoped to push him down, but I was OK with it. It would still be a pretty reasonable price for a C1 even without discount. We came back the following week to look at it again, and true to his word, he said he had replaced the clutch. I gave it a little 'pull-away' test in the car park and the clutch bit very well. We paid the asking price. Stupid decision in retrospect - should have been a full test drive again, but TBH, I still wouldn't have spotted the problem I'm about to tell you....
So here we are now, 3 months later. My girlfriends complaining the clutch bite is way too high now. I gave it a drive and it is literally at the top of the pedal travel. My first assumption is that it has something to do with bedding in of the clutch. I take it into my garage and take a look... its a cable-operated clutch. Fair enough, it just needs adjustment. Nope - its already at full stretch! The clutch had NOT been changed despite him stating out-right that it was a new clutch! The guy had literally just pushed the cable offset to its absolute limit to make it 'appear' bitey again!
A complete con-man and not to be trusted!
I should also mention he said it had a full years MOT... did it balls! I only noticed after the purchase but it was only 7 months. Again - kicking myself for that!!:bang:
