In Lithuania, the chances of finding a good used car are almost as slim as winning the lottery. Donatas Noreka from Vilnius is very satisfied with his nine-year-old Toyota Yaris Verso, which he bought earlier this year: it has enough space for a family of four, is fuel-efficient in city traffic, and—most importantly—is extremely reliable according to experts at Autobild magazine.
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.
Donatas and Quintare’s experiences are just two examples among the thousands of Lithuanians who buy used cars with hidden defects from sellers. Indeed, the vast majority of Lithuanians are unwilling or ashamed to admit they’ve been cheated by unscrupulous sellers. Most Lithuanians typically don’t take their newly purchased cars to a repair shop for inspection; they’re satisfied as long as the seller guarantees the car is in good condition and well-maintained, perhaps because it was previously driven by a retired German or a housewife while shopping on the weekend.
So, is it possible to buy a high-quality, flawless used car at an affordable price? Why do even authorized dealers sometimes overlook hidden defects? And how can buyers identify potential deceptive tactics used by sellers?
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