Yesterday, when I proudly showed my new ( second hand, 2 years old) car to my friend visiting me in Switzerland, he straight away told me that this car was definitely involved in accident as two doors on the left hand side were repainted. The car service book has absolutely no information about it. I bought this car from a second hand cars garage dealer not far from Bern 4 months ago. The finance (lease ) was provided and organised by the owner of the garage with Cashgate, the company he is working with on a 'daily basis ' as he explained to me.
I am very upset and still can not believe that I was scammed and taken advantage in this way here, in Switzerland. The car is very expensive and now, when I know that it was repaired, I don't feel that I can safely drive this car. I even think that the mileage was also 'amended' before the sell.
Please advise what shall I do, I want to stop this scammer, but how can I prove that it was him?
I thought that if a car is new ( under 5 years warranty) even in case of any minor scratches/dents/etc, it needs to be fixed in a proper garage and then information logged into the service book?
My guess is that the car had picked up a few parking scratches - and the panels were resprayed. Nothing that would warrant a remark in the service book!!
Certain colours can be trickier to spray than others.
If you put the car under a decent fluro light, you can usually tell if a car has been resprayed. The original colour work for the manufacture has an 'Orange Peel' Effect.
Mr Films is right, it doen't necessarily have to have been in an accident. My brother in law works for a Major Transport firm. For the vehicle transports they have their own complete Bodyworks. You know for those 'unexpected unloading mistakes'
Orange peel can be created on any spray job - depends on how good (I mean bad) the sprayer is.
Many moons ago I worked at a company whose neighbours were the repair shop for the Audi dealership - pretty much every car had to have some work done on it after it was delivered.
Bit late now i know but next time you buy a motor take your friend along or another. Although its quite common for used cars to have minor respray repairs to doors, wings etc, it can be a useful tool when negotiating the price when buying. Knowing what to look for takes an experience eye for detail and even the best respray jobs can be detected quite easily and quickly.
Hope its a good runner given your recent disappointment.
Interestingly when I sold my BMW 330ix on the forum, the Polish dealer who bought the car had a tool that could measure the paint thickness. He thought the front of the car had been resprayed twice, however they had never been any significant damage, just stone chips etc.
I had kind of a Freudian slip while reading the thread title. I read, "Scam car smell ."
Back in the 1970s, my best friend bought a Porsche from Austria, very low mileage, excellent condition, amazingly cheap.
He was very happy, proudly driving around with open windows, "singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long." In winter, however, he realized that there was a smell inside the car, somewhat sweetish but very nauseating, almost unbearable.
After some research he learned that the original owner had lost control of the car on a road in Bregenzerwald, Austria; the car rolled down a steep wooded slope into a big bush. The driver broke his neck. The car and the corpse were found months later.
The whole interior had to be replaced.
Yes I know, similar stories can be found in urban legend collections, but I saw the car and smelled it too.