We Buy Cars - Car Purchase

I bought a car from We Buy Cars, in Richmond Park in October 2023, a 2016 VW Cross Polo 1.4 TDI that I got to drive for only six months due to engine-related problems I experienced early in February and March. The warranty I bought along with it advised that I take it to an RMI-approved car repair shop, which I did. Car Service City in Tygervalley did a diagnosis of the vehicle and later advised that the injectors and high-pressure fuel pump were beyond their service life and brought up a quote of R114,000.00. Their release fee for the strip and quote was R14,000.00. This was an excessive quote to fix a secondhand vehicle which I bought for not much more than this amount. I brought this to their attention; to be assisted with the repairs and they promised to fix the car with their mechanic who would cost a fraction of this amount. I had to pay for the release of the vehicle to get it to We Buy Cars, Richmond Park as they said they would not be liable for the cost as they did not advise me to take it there.

A few days after having the car they told me their mechanic quoted the repairs in the amount of R37, 000.00, the initial impression I got from the sales manager was that a portion of this amount would come from my warranty claim which was willing to cover R10, 000.00 and they were to cover the balance and/ or notify me of any extra costs. However, they needed proof of when the problems started from another registered mechanic. I tried to provide what I could from the month the car was with various mechanics up to the point where they told me it was over six months, that I overdrove the vehicular average kilometers which is 25 000km a year, and that the components I was claiming assistance for repairs for was not engine related components as their 2-year breakdown guarantee covered engine failure, therefore, they were not going to assist with the repairs of the vehicle. They were wrong on both accounts, firstly in the six months I had the car I only drove 13 000km, meaning they use the very same excuse for every other case that comes back to their doorstep for the defective vehicles they are selling to consumers, secondly, the injectors and high-pressure fuel pump are the heart of the engine.

The car has been with them since June 2024, I decided I would wait until I had enough money to take up the cost of the repairs, only when I went to them on Monday, 18 November 2024 to get my vehicle back. The car was undrivable, stripped of the battery with a dead battery, the two front wheels were replaced with older wheels, and the interior of the vehicle was dirty as though someone had been using it for storage and the door panel on the driver’s side had knobs that were broken off. My vehicle was vandalized in their possession.

When I inquired about these components, I was asked to prove this because “clients like you come here all the time to make claims about their cars”. I did not understand why I would lie about minuscule things such as knobs, batteries, and tyres when I am faced with the monumental expense of fixing the engine. They are blatantly sold to me as defective as it was. They further blamed their mechanics that perhaps their mechanic did this, they would find out what happened, and they said I was wasting their time and should wait until they replaced these components. The sales manager whom I had been in contact with imp**** that I was lying about all this and required proof that this was indeed the case. I provided photographic proof of this, and he and his branch manager nodded to each other and claimed I seemed to be right. To take you back a bit, before I took delivery of the vehicle, only after I had signed and agreed to the sale of the vehicle, did they take the vehicle for roadworthy testing to the testing station of their choice, which to my surprise the stickers put up on these vehicles on their showroom floor are only “visual inspection” reports. It came back, as I was told (and not given the report) with a knock in the steering rack, an alignment problem on one of the rear tyres, and nothing major on the engine, these are all defects found on the vehicle that they do not bring to your attention before you committed to the purchase of the car and they said will be fixed on their account. Which is not true. When I expressed my dismay at this and concern about these red flags, I never got a response.

The day I took delivery of the vehicle they told me these were repaired, and I had a year warranty on those repairs. Which, as it stands, all this was nullified by the 6-month warranty on the purchase order. I still maintain that the very problems I have encountered now, are the problems that they supposedly fixed when the salesperson provided me with an invoice generically stating a steering wrack of a VW Polo had been repaired and had up to a year if I am not satisfied with the repairs.

I have had the worst experience with We Buy Cars, Richmond Park and its personnel have the most arrogant, insensitive, and clumsy people for sales managers and the branch manager. It has been poor service towards the consideration of the financial impact this has on me after buying the vehicle from them a mere six months back, negligence of their clients' properties under their care, and deceptive practices by We Buy Cars in Richmond Park.

These people continuously undermined me and kept on reminding me that whether the vehicle was fixed they could not be bothered because We Buy Cars got the money from the bank, and they had nothing to offer me and that I should seek help elsewhere as though I was asking for a handout.