Zara
On the 25th March 2016 I went to view a 2015 15 REG MAZDA 3 2.0 SKYACTIVE-G SPORT 5DR (NAV) DAMAGED SALVAGE REPAIRED at Royal Car Palace in Halifax. On viewing the advert and numerous text messages and calls with the dealership I was sure everything was okay with the car. I travelled over 400 miles to get to Halifax and arrived on Friday evening. I viewed the car and other than the odd scratch everything seemed okay. I was aware the car was a CAT D repaired therefore did not expect it to be in a brand new condition for a 15 plate car. Anyway I drove the car and noticed a couple of warning lights on the car - so I asked the gentleman who was working for RCP and who accompanied me on the drive, he assured me the engine management light was on due to the car not being driven for a few months. Really I thought? I'm not a mechanic but I have been driving CAT D damaged repaired cards for over a decade now so I like to think I know a thing or two. I didn't question this further and then asked why the TPMS light was on and he advised it was down to the tyre pressure being low. I drove the car for no more than two miles and was happy with the way the car drove, therefore I agreed to drive back to the dealership. I further inspected the car to find the front light wasn't working but I was going to lose any sleep over a bulb. I then checked the front and back sensors to find neither were working, I questioned this with the dealer and he got frustrated and said its a CAT D car its not suppose to be perfect. Fair point I thought? I then looked into the warning log of the car further to find the air bags had been deployed, the engine management light was on and the TPMS light was also on - all asking me to contact the dealership to resolve immediately. Again when I questioned this further, the man appeared with a machine and switched off the engine management light. Okay I thought but something was still niggling at me so I made my excuses and confirmed I would be back the following morning to purchase the car. Being a lady and loving my cars, I was always out to pick up a bargain but something didn't feel right about this dealership. I suppose the first time I saw warning lights were when I asked the gentleman what's the lowest price he'd accept on the car and without a thought, he dropped the price by £1000 without me even negotiating. So after booking myself into the local Travelodge I decided to see if I could find some reviews on the dealership and to my amazement I came across this website. I had many hours of tossing and turning, convincing myself it was a good buy and that I should just take the risk. I then decided to see if I could convince an independent vehicle inspection mechanic to inspect the car before I purchased it. The mechanic met me at the dealership and took no more than ten minutes to convince me the car was a death trap. He opened the bonnet and showed me the water and air-condition wiring had not been correctly fitted and were just left hanging within the bonnet. He then pointed out various wires that had been taped in.. The ECU and various modules within the car were missing. After he connected the car to its diagnostics machine - it came up with over 20 faults and his advice was, should I buy the car it would breakdown within a couple of weeks and I would have to spend thousands trying to repair to a drivable standard. He stated he believed they had done a cowboys job to make the car look driveable and they had tampered with the electronics and wiring of the car. Furthermore the clips on the front bonnet were broken and they had been nailed in to make the bonnet stick to the car - the mechanic advised if I drove too fast over a bump, no doubt some if not all of the bonnet would come away. I think I'd heard too much and decided to pay the mechanic £60.00 and hand back the keys to the dealership. The guys I dealt with at Royal Car Palace was Harry, Adil and Ali. I hope this review will assist other people in buying a car from RCP and if you really value your life - I would suggest getting an independent mechanic to check the car before handing over any cash and I certainly wouldn't recommend giving a deposit to these guys. Please note, this car is now advised on eBay (username for these cowboys is nextmotor) and on autotrader under the name RCP (Royal Car Palace)