How to buy a reliable car – enginegeek.online

In Lithuania, the probability of buying a good used car is the same as winning a million in the lottery. Donatas Noreika, a resident of Vilnius, is satisfied with the nine-year-old Toyota Yaris Verso purchased earlier this year: it is spacious enough for a family of four, but at the same time economical when driving in the city, and most importantly, according to the research of experts from “Autobild” magazine, it rarely breaks down.

True, as soon as he bought the car, the man was very angry about the new purchase

because only a week later a serious malfunction “surfaced”: the engine was leaking. But the most curious thing about this story is that, before buying the desired “Toyota Yaris Verso” seen at the Gariūnai car market, the Vilnius man took the future family car to have it checked at a repair shop representing car manufacturers. It cost him 200 Lt. “The masters found no major defects, except: the battery needed to be changed, the noisy engine circuit and a barely visible leak in the cooling system,” recalls D. Noreika. “When I asked if it was serious, they said it could be a sign of an engine fault, but assured me it wouldn’t appear anytime soon.” So the man took the risk of buying.

“But when I started driving, I noticed that the car heater was not warming the cabin. So I spent the whole week visiting different service centers until I discovered that the fault was much more serious,” Donatas said. Then D. Noreika again went to the “Toyota” assistance and asked to check the engine free of charge and to confirm or deny the engine failure found in other car service centers. “And they confirmed”, the young man spreads his hands. But the bus service staff did not want to admit their stupidity and compensate the expenses incurred by the man from Vilnius, so the man had to thin out his wallet by about two and a half thousand lita himself.

And here Gintarė from Vilnius still does not want to remember the story of his dream of buying a Suzuki SX4. “I hesitated for a long time whether to buy a new or used car from this manufacturer, but I wanted a model only with an automatic transmission and necessarily with all four-wheel drive. Unfortunately, there is no model available on the European market that meets my needs. So I had to look for used cars from the USA,” Gintarė said.

He looked at the “Suzuki” brought from the United States, but operated in Lithuania for a year and a half. The woman agreed with the sellers to check it at a car service representing the official manufacturer. “I think this was the big mistake: I didn’t have to inform the seller in advance in which service center I would check the car. But I realized this only a few hours later, when I already had the ownership documents and went to Vilnius – when I pressed the accelerator, the light came on: a fault in the engine system,” the woman said. the car and not noticing any suspicion of a possible malfunction, he already finished work and returned home.” Then the image appeared before the woman’s eyes, as the director of the car service said goodbye and communicated amicably with the seller…

But she, unlike Donatas, decided not to give up.

“Already on Monday I contacted the director of the manufacturer’s automotive center, due to their unqualified provision of services, I made the wrong decision and asked for compensation for the losses incurred,” Gintarė explained. Having very quickly clarified the situation, the head of the automotive center promised the woman compensation for part of the repair costs or the costs of paid inspection.

But the stories of Donatas and Gintarė are just two of the thousands of Lithuanians who bought used cars with a well-disguised defect from the seller. It is true that the absolute majority of Lithuanians do not want or are ashamed to admit that they have been deceived by cunning sellers. And most compatriots generally do not check the purchased car in any workshop, it is enough for the seller to tell them that the car is not damaged, well-maintained, because it was driven by a German pensioner or a housewife to the shopping center on weekends.

So, is it possible to buy a high-quality and intact used car at an affordable price, and how come even car repair shops representing the official manufacturer do not notice hidden defects, and how can the buyer see possible deceptions of sellers?