Gut Wrenching disappointment experience!!!!

On the 24th of October 2025, I engaged in an online Auction with WE BUY CARS auctioning off a Mercedes Benz C220D Bluetec with stock no ***. I subsequently won the bid that closed off at R129000 for the vehicle having made a deposit of R4000 which was factored in in the total calculation at the end.

Same day, I received a call from a Sales Executive by the name of Iviwe Ntsie under his lazy manager here Durban as protocol for such happenings from the online space. We had an agreed time to come into the SPRINGFIELD Durban branch to view the vehicle and action on things then. Upon arrival after a cosmetic and exterior assessment, we took the car for a test drive with the Sales Executive being the driver. During the test drive with the car having been stationery for quite some time coming from the Silver Lakes branch in Johannesburg the car moved as expected for a DIESEL engine car. Upon return a re inspection occurred wherein I identified from within the coolant reservoir that oil and water were evident that even on my fingers. Which should never be as this infringes on the overall health and performance of vehicle. I brought that to the attention of the Sales Executive who then actioned on getting it checked out, first by an in-house technician/mechanic in which he confirmed the following day the 25th of October 2025, a Saturday that indeed the car is mixing - There are WhatsApp texts to exhibit this.

The car naturally had to be taken by a WE BUY CARS service provider who deals with repairs and maintenance of their vehicles. Which then delayed the process of purchasing and signing over the vehicle to us. The following week came and the car was collected by CAR TECH in Durban North on ChrisHani Road where they had to strip and quote on the potential work that would need to be done to rectify this occurrence. This took forever too, I had to go in physically to get that moving from all sides. The quote came back no more that R7000 some change.

CAR TECH, Devon the owner confirmed that they are attending to the car and that the car had previously come in for an Engine overhaul. And now shockingly coming back for a mixture of oil and water problem which could have been prevented and tested from inception having dealt with the engine in its entirety.

The report by Inspectify, an in-house “Dekra” tool that use the AUTEL to diagnose vehicles had no faults whatsoever on the results. In particular to the coolant reservoir and any oil leaks. But when car was inspected on first day after winning the bid, oil and water were one in the reservior. What image does that depict? Either laziness or complete negligence from the inspection team over this vehicle. The report number of the Inspection is INS-223L31037X1X233, which they later use to decline/disapprove fixing the NOW problem.

Fast forward to acceptance of quotation from CAR TECH to WE BUY CARS to fix the matter at hand, the car was attended to and brought back to the dealer on Thursday the 30th of October 2025 by 12pm as promised by Owner of CAR TECH.

Nkosinathi a new sales man assigned to this car had to wrap this up with paper work and vehicle handover, which he did successfully. No issues.

The vehicle itself is a great purchase from a cosmetic, performance and general brand loving perspective.

So on the inspection - condition report which I acknowledged with that problem having been “fixed” with my signature which states on section 4 of 20 that “The buyer will prior to sale, check and determine whether there are any defects in the vehicle and..” Etc which we did, hence the sending back vehicle to CAR TECH to repair this serious damage on both the engine and coolant reservior.

No more than a week later, after the car has been on the road, which brings about the real test of all work done which was under warranty according to the OPS MANAGER (Reinhard) at the Durban Branch in which they spent allegedly over R100K on the vehicle. Quite questionable.

The car mixed oil and water again, there are images to exhibit such. This put pressure on the engine as oil is the only fluid that should be present for the lubrication of all things metal within there. The car amid driving lost power and simply cut as one who would snip an electrical connection and oil was apparent oozing from under the under carriage covers. Later on the 6th of November 2025 the car was towed to our house by our Insurance allowing us to then gather ourselves to submit a concern to WEBUYCARS.

This concern with reference number 115212 expressed was not to point fingers or come across as disgruntled but to give WE BUY CARS an opportunity to explore of how best to tackle this while working with me all through to even bearing the total bill in split form regarding the vehicle repairing . A heavy knock came from the engine which would speak to a severe impact on the bearing and potentially the crankshaft.

An agent by the name of Angelina Masanao was assigned to this case by Poppy Mabena at WE BUY CARS. Naturally she gathered all the paper work she needed after advising that the car ought to be taken to an RMI recognised service centre which we subsequently did and the service centre in question is CAR TIME in Morningside Durban.

All they could do upon receipt of vehicle is charge up the battery in order to start the car to hear all the sounds that it is making over and above what I have related to them prior to bring it over. Immediately upon start attempt, car terribly sounding knocked heavily from within engine. They advised that the whole engine needs to stripped in order to quote on work that will be done. The stripping and quoting is said to cost R5500 which a quote and fault report as requested by Angelina was prepared and sent for some APPROVAL from the powers that be.

A WhatsApp came in on the 11th of November 2025 that the concern is being escalated and the outcome of approval will be shared with you shortly. I anticipated an amicable discussion between WE BUY CARS and myself on the best solution from a finance point of view considering that it was an Auction vehicle and it is back to the square one because of the same matter that was supposedly attended to on the 29/30th October 2025 by CAR TECH.

To my deep and gut wrenching disappointment WE BUY CARS according to Angelina Masango who consulted with some technician on her side who was supposed to get in touch with the service centres technician did not do so yet came back with a “In light of the fact that you purchased the vehicle on auction, WE BUY CARS unfortunately cannot assist with your complaint” shortly thereafter the “inaccurate” Inspectify report conducted on the 15th of October 2025 was quoted in relation to coolant, engine idle and oil levels. The very predicament it went in for the second time and now I am sitting with again.

Which image does this paint about WE BUY CARS? I have seen plenty of reviews pertaining to such intricate circumstances under which clients/customers find themselves. Some are in court for it. Some are still fighting with their resource and strength that they have. I have all options and all resources to teach WE BUY CARS a lesson they will reflect on for the longest of time from branch to branch that even through their training sessions such a scenario will be used to carve out a way to resolve such.

Another great pity is the escalation and lines of reporting that we, as customer/clients cannot have access to even by email to express our grievances with the likes of ANGELINE MASANGO, the technician she spoke about during the phone call yesterday and the team at large.

The brothers FAAN and DIRK Van Der Walt need to seriously and urgently revisit the handling on all cases and be both on their side and the customers side before things gets messy in various ways.

In summary, this purchase is bittersweet and images are there to prove that and I won’t stop here to the end will WE BUY CARS feel a thorn from my dissatisfaction.