Leighton G

Sold me a dangerous car – Do not recomme

Like many others , my experience of Carbase Lympsham has been far from great. After finding my desired car, paying a deposit and booking an appointment to view – Sadly the car had not even been cleaned by the time I arrived - it was filthy outside and in. Similar to some other reviews here. Not a great start! I took it for a test drive anyway, and decided to pursue buying the vehicle. After a couple of hours of dealing with the paperwork and enduring all the well- rehearsed upsells, it came to signing. One of the forms was to verify the locking wheel nut was present in the car – I raised the point that I hadn’t seen it there, and the seller confirmed first he would go and check, and then (a little later) he confirmed he had checked and that it was present. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t! I was also handed the mountain of vehicle paperwork – which I kick myself for not studying within the office. Really, I shouldn’t have to – when buying a vehicle from a company as well-known as Carbase (CB), the assumption is that the vehicle has been thoroughly checked, serviced, MOT’d and proved safe for the road. I discovered within a few weeks that it hadn’t been serviced at all – for 3 YEARS! Of course, it’s all glossed over in the office amidst the polished sales pitch. After what seemed like a record turnaround, the car was brought back and had been cleaned. Not a brilliant job , but, still caught up in the excitement of buying a new car, I let that slip. I was also assured that the vehicle had been through CB’s rigorous 8 point RAC safety check, which (falsely) gave me confidence in the state of the vehicle. A sneaky check of it’s recent MOT record online showed no advisories declared on the most recent MOT. I also went for the upsell of the ‘paint protection’ – “guaranteed to protect your car’s paint, and keep it looking ‘showroom shiny’” until I was ready to upgrade the vehicle in a few years. Also included was a kind of insurance cover should any paint damage occur. To be honest, I was doubtful from the outset as to whether this was actually applied to the vehicle – the turnaround had been so quick. That said, I’ve recently had to claim due to bird poo on the bonnet which, after only 30 mins, ate through the paint. (Not much protection going on there!) On taking it to a specialist garage, I was informed that the ‘paint protection’ was little more than car wax, and like any wax, should ideally be reapplied several times per year. I was also informed that, in their experience, bird poo is about the ONLY thing the company would pay out for – despite the message conveyed at the upsell. I got ‘lucky’ here – but do hope nothing else happens to the paintwork! Within a few days I searched for the locking wheel nut, to discover it wasn’t, in fact there. I called CB to raise the point, and sadly discovered how appalling their aftersales service is. Rather than contact the Lympsham branch to locate it and post out to me (after all – they would have needed this to carry out the ‘rigourous’ RAC 8 point check, right?); I had to book an appointment several weeks down the line to spend a whole day In Lympsham for the issue to be resolved. It turns out ALL aftersales appointments are full-day bookings, with no courtesy car issued so the customer can drop off and get back to work. For professionals like myself the prospect of taking a day of my precious annual leave to get this sorted was unrealistic. Despite this, I did have to take annual leave to get the issue resolved. And after a couple of hours it was – yet my day’s leave was used. This ridiculous issue has also been pointed out by other reviewers. Within 10 weeks of buying the car, I began to notice handbrake slippage and scraping from the back brakes. Not good. Again, I set about the task of trying to book an appointment at CB. Again – another full day appointment, no courtesy car offered etc. After several attempts at getting a suitable appointment and trying negotiate a day away from the office without using up more annual leave, I pressed the service centre agent about how ridiculous this was getting - at which point she revealed that there was an alternative - I could book in to a local RAC approved garage to do the check and repair – and CB would (potentially) foot the bill if it was included in my warranty. What a revelation! Would have saved so much stress if I’d been told this sooner. In hindsight I realise why it isn’t made clear – CB do not like paying other garages to do the work. On booking in my vehicle and taking it to a local garage (got an appointment within days), they stated they’d had many issues with CB refusing to pay for the labour involved in getting the vehicle on the ramp – let alone the repairs. With CB saying they’d only pay once they had photos showing there was an issue – and the garage saying they would not even check until CB had confirmed they were paying – I had to take the risk that I may need to foot the bill, if a stalemate situation occurred. It wasn’t the garage’s fault - sadly, they had encountered issues previously. They made it clear that, once work began, they would have to hold the vehicle until payment was made. It was the easier option for me, given there was potentially a brake issue – which you don’t want to risk. Within minutes the local garage spotted the issue – this apparently ‘MOT’d and RAC 8-point checked’ vehicle was running on ZERO break pads at the rear – literally metal on metal!! (See pictures). They were absolutely astounded that the vehicle, only weeks before, had been sold to me like this, and that, at any moment, those brakes could have failed and loss of life occurred. It was only when they told Carbase the vehicle was unsafe to drive, that CB agreed to foot the bill – as opposed to having me then drive the car to Lympsham / Weston anyway, to do the work themselves (as they’d typically done with other customers). The anger I have felt at this (having just been away for the weekend with my children in the car as well) is what has prompted me to say ‘enough is enough’ and write this review about my terrible overall experience. With 2 of the ‘8 point check’ criteria already missed (brake check and locking wheel nut), I’m convinced that, in fact, no check was done at all - especially given how quickly the car was turned around for me. (And how could they have checked the brakes with no locking wheel nut???) Honestly, I loath having to deal with CB again – and yet – I am now immensely worried about what ELSE may transpire to be wrong / unsafe with the car. Given that a full and complete service is almost £300 for this vehicle, I cannot afford to do this for another month or two. I have asked CB multiple times about why this can’t be covered off by them – and the response is always along the lines of ‘you bought the vehicle with all the information at hand’. Very underhand indeed. I am now avidly telling others about my experience, and at least two people so far in my immediate circle have been deterred from buying from Carbase. I strongly recommend you avoid them too: there are plenty of other options out there, with much better service and care for their customers.