Buyers and MOT's can be a real nightmare, it makes you wonder how some of them are allowed to be outside without a collar and lead, really surprises me.
Perhaps there are too many bent dealers floating about. Not all are even remotely honest. One even tried to sell me a car, obviously body repaired by idiots, where the f/n/s door didn't fit the hole without caching top and bottom on the opening edge. As always, buyer beware, check thoroughly and trust no-one.
Fella! yet again your patience is awesome! I just couldn't put up with the 'I want my used car to be like brand new' not that brand new cars are faultless! The tin hat thing - F! me, dealing with damaged cars day to day I hear all sorts from people that need to wake up and get real! The patient legend known as Chops!
I was selling a Volvo XC90 not so long back. On its 2022 MOT it failed on the steering rack, 3 days later it passed (also having 3 of the advisories done) leaving just one minor item. A chap comes out to buy it and about 15 minutes into the viewing he ask's if there is any proof of the work done in 2022, I said no. He then said "And your a trader, yes?", I answer honestly and say yes and it's that exact moment he say's "Based on that I'm not interested in the car. You know the work hasn't been done and your MOT is clearly dodgy". Obviously he made the quickest exit possible before I could say anything more then ok. Roll on two days later, Older gent and his wife come out, buy the car and drive it away happily. 8 months later they put it in for an MOT (something he told me he was doing so his insurance and MOT were at similar times to his wife's car). It passed first time with no issues at all. The chap came back about a month ago to buy a Nissan Micra for his wife and they turned up in the XC. They are both happy with the car's and haven't once questioned my honesty. I still don't understand why or what the first buyer had seen or thought that made them jump to the conclusion they did, all I do know is I'm glad I didn't sell him the car as the attitude would have probably continued.
We live in a culture of ignorance where experts are treated with suspicion whilst the shouty tinfoil hat types are taken seriously. It’s happening in every aspect of society 😟
It pays to be cynical of information regardless of where it comes from, often times so called 'experts' are nothing of the sort. Judge the information on the merits of it's content not on where it comes from.
Car dealers are experts in negotiating. Any other expertise that they may have, quantum physics, traffic flow in remote regions of Sark are down to other interests and previous jobs.
@@MattersOfOpinion-x4dI agree. However people are not cynical at all when it comes to those telling them that the mainstream are wrong. They totally blindly follow things that are told to them and end up just as much of a sheep as the people they say that they are trying to save.
I had a GTE, nice car. You are right, the MPG is calculated only on petrol use - so if you plug it in to top up the battery as often as you can, and do lots of short trips (on battery only it can do up to 30 miles) then the MPG calculation goes way high. The charger socket is behind the VW badge on the nose
Years ago, I had a customer facing job which taught me that the public were predominantly cretins. They seem to have got worse. I admire your patience.
Like the story of a man walking along a strange road. He asked the 1st man what the people were like in the next town. His reply was unfriendly idiots. He continued his journey and asked the next man the same question. The reply was that the townspeople were very friendly and helpful. Basically, the moral of the story is you reap what you sow.
In the days when log books showed details of previous keepers, a neighbour at the time bought a car from a dealer. He later found out the previous keeper had died and he wanted to return the car to the dealer as he was convinced it was an ‘unlucky car’ and he didn’t want to die as well! Seriously!
The Golf GTE, is the same running gear as the Passat GTE. I had mine for 5 + years - almost 100k miles. Great car for long and short distances with pure battery / hybrid / petrol. I would say about 65mpg on a long run as you will be on hybrid. It saved me a fortune on to and from work (35m each way) as I charged at home and work on cheap or free electric. Service and tax was the same as a 1.4 petrol. The Passat was still on original brakes when I sold it - it has a great regeneration mode (B mode) so a lot of my breaking was on regeneration. It also only had 2 sets of front, and one set of rear tyres in my almost 100k miles. It was a great introduction to going fully electric- we now have 2 EV’s.
With regards the MPG is obviously depends on the type of driving that is done If it is around town then obviously 90+ mpg is achievable, on long runs it is more likely to be 50-60 mpg
Different subject but my mate had the first service done on his Volvo xc60 EV through Volvo. AA man serviced it on his drive, took 10minutes, didn’t remove wheels or jack it up or anything. Changed the pollen filter that’s it. Full dealer service history won’t be like it used to be
i had this recent selling my range rover sport private , it had a advisory for brake lines on the rear which i had done and had a receipt from local land rover specialist . they rang them and asked them what qualifications he had to repair the brake system and asked me why i didnt go back to land rover !! it was a 2008 car i had owned for 7 years and never let me down and questioned me why i picked the tyres on it !!!!! i told them to do one
James, the GTE Golf is a plug in hybrid with up to 39 miles of electric only range, so if you only drove 20 miles a day and plugged it in each night it wouldn't use any petrol. 1.4 petrol engine combines with electric motor to give over 200bhp, 0-60 in under 7 secs. All this gleaned from one for sale on Autotrader, so hopefully they've got it right!
I live 2.5 miles from work and I couldn’t mange two days just on electric. You can recharge from the petrol engine but it drops the mpg to around 30. Only kept mine a year as it just didn’t add up and started having DSG issues.
I did driveway trading for almost 20 years to supplement my rubbish day job salary but ended up quitting because of the increasing levels of dumbness from the public. It just completely wore me out. Do the odd coprart car now but i keep a hobby mentality with that.
I'd like to chime in on my personal experience. I bought a car in August. I always look at the MOT history before i buy. It has some fails for worn tyres and one fail for a hole in the flexi part of the exhaust, which were subsequently passed (failed and passed in 2019). I bought the car and took it to an independent BMW garage to have all drive train fluids changed - gearbox, transfer case and both diffs. The technician doing the work took a picture of the flexi part of the exhaust with a MASSIVE hole in it the same part that had failed in 2019. Turns out it wasnt fixed - not with the state of it via photograph. You couldnt hear the exhaust blowing because of the heat shield and under trays stifling it. Dealer sorted it ASAP. It had passed every MOT since the initial failure in 2019. So more than one MOT tester had missed it aswell as the dealer and myself.
MOT'd our car, drove home (3 miles) garaged it and got stuck Abroad for 12 months with Covid, on return another MOT and it failed, exactly 6 miles on the clock since the previous test.
Iv been a driveway trader on and off for years. Had atleast 3 brake pipes fail the day it passed. Also same as you. Left an a3 parked up with a full mot for 9 months due to a blown turbo. Got around to fixing it. Ran it down for an mot because it only had 3 months left and it failed miserably. It happens
@andywakefield9826 My rear discs (lack of use) showed surface rust, 2 minutes wire wool and a re-test straight pass. In Northern Ireland it's illegal to speak with the testing staff.
@@andywakefield9826 We don't have independent garages just Government centre's. You exit the car and it's returned 1 hour later. An office girl gives you the paperwork.
Hello from Ireland again, James. Wow, very nice Golf GTE. And yes, James they are as fast as the GTI. I have a 2015 in Red. And they a a lovely daily driver. Great buy. 💯👌👏👏👏👏👏
There is no other car dealer i have ever been to who would be as flexible as you are, ie £1k less on the toyota, changing the red to black etc. You deserve to be far more successful than you are.
Hmmm: dubious claim to my mind. You have an MOT done and it's on the DVLA website instantly. The second garage will have access to this and so will you and everybody who has access to the internet. It's not the 1980's any more.
Ok I give you an example of a car I bought L85 GTX in 2018 look at the advisor for 2017 which apparently healed themselves through the years I owned it . Sold last year but look at mileage also it was in km by the way not miles but the testing stations got that wrong as well.
had the same thing on my 2017 a3. clean mot in the summer. i had the stronic box serviced and done two majors at 88k . buyer was worried that i had no pw from the 40k g.box service. drove lovely kept on about it
Thats what I do with my own vehicles, service and Mot at the same garage . The service is carried out first, and anything that would fail or be advised gets done prior to the mot.
I had a car that failed its MOT on discs, pads, cracked tail-light and rear shocks (pads & discs had about 500 on them, and shocks were brand new). I wasn't there to argue as my dad took it in. I took it to a Shell garage and they passed it. I kept receipts off all the parts I bought. I never did replace the brake light.
Whats worse is the people that usually get bent out of shape over someone elses lack of preventative maintainence leading to stuff being flagged on MOT's are exacly the sort who are too oblivious to do any themselfs.
There are great tools out there for people. Unfortunately there are people out there that just don’t understand how to use them or what to do with them. Knowledge isn’t always a good thing
Some dealers definitely do not get the work done needed for an MOT. Ive gone to pick up a car which was 'advisory free' but clearly the brake discs were worn and should have been flagged as a minor advisory clearly they have buddy garages that dont flag these (they dont legally have to). Hence why you should still inspect cars before you purchase. Use the MOT as a guide. If it says failed on MOT then it passes. Just look at the car and see if the discs are new, duh 😂😂
You're a good honest dealer James, you should be proud and maintain your very high standards. The fact people ask stupid (To You) questions is because, unlike you, they don't understand the procedures of preparing a car for sale, or for general use. Its a major purchase and they just need reassurance.
I had a Toyota that was MOT,d up here in the Northwest of UK and gave it to my Son and told him it had advisories at it's last MOT for Track rod end worn and play in steering rack inner joints. Anyway he had a new MOT put on it in the South nr London and its previous advisory,s had all miraculously fixed themselves even tho it was after 10,000 miles more wear and tear. Bloody Brilliant Toyota,s fix themselves for free aparently amazing. 😂😂😂
its not that mad tbh - some shady dealers get their MOT mate to slap "unseen" tickets on their cars .....but they also have to fail a percentage to appear legit to the Ministry ........so, they probably do fail and pass the same cars a few days later with an easy fault (which may or may not exist) without even seeing the car. I almost bought a car from a shady dealer a few years back who was quite clearly doing that - fortunately I had paid for an independent professional inspection on the car, so I didn't actually buy it. They still kept my holding deposit though - due to their "terms and conditions" .....absolute crooks
If that’s a plug in hybrid and you have fully charged the battery you will get 20-30 miles out the battery. The problem with them is, if you leave the battery flat and run on the petrol engine alone, the mpg plummets. In an F Pace plug in I was getting 90+ mpg on the battery however once the battery went flat after 20 miles the mpg very quickly dropped to 22!!! On the same journey I get 25 out of my 5litre V8!
Great video, I would only worry about corrosion on an M.O.T. hope storm Bert isn't too bad, not great here in West Devon. What's happening with the Jag?
I agree there’s so much data out there but some people don’t know what it means when trying to analyse the data. I suppose we all ask silly questions now and again though.
People just need to look at the history before hand, and decide whether they want to enquire about the car at that point, not after they have test drove it, put a deposit on it and have you make some cosmetic changes to the body colour.
The Golf GTE is a 150ps tsi petrol and 100ps electric The gte button only gives a combined 200ps otherwise it would be more than a GTI. They don’t do anywhere near that mpg I averaged around low to mid 40’s I gave up charging the electric as I once used a gridserve charger that cost nearly £20 for 22 mile range.
Mmmm….. I’m a big fan James but I think you’re forgetting how major a car purchase is for a lot of people. Hence people want to be 100% sure they are getting what they expect. Personally I think the question about the MOT & discs was totally valid & he should ask you (nicely) to give them a quick check. Just my two penneth…
Something tells me if this guy sold you his car, it would come with 0 history, and he would block your number before leaving the forecourt. It's always those who expect the most that do the least themselves.
My car failed on brakes on the morning my mechanic renewed all the discs and pads took it back on the afternoon and it passed. The failure was rectified which is why it passed.
Also should have had first MOT by 30th November 2023, but not done until 8th October 2024, but could have been SORNed between these dates I suppose. All very strange! Not Jame’s video though, top notch as usual 😊.
The Golf Gte has a 1.4 litre petrol engine.... It has the GT trim, hence the Golf Gti seats, but clearly doesn't have Gti performance.... It will return those mpg figures *only* if you keep that battery charged up at every opportunity......
Customers are babies, and I can't say I'm sad to get out of the car business . Retired out of the car business now living in a safe, warm , sunny country for the last 25 years. Happy life 😅
First MOT as probably in trade or someone holiday so off the road for a while - I really don't know what people are thinking with MOTs -, it should the most obvious thing if its failed then passed a retest.
the internet and mot history online has created a nightmare for sellers as the people who havent got a scooby doo about motors think they are experts while sitting on their backsides looking for problems that dont exist! best give them types a wide berth as not worth the aggravation in my opinion
Translated, it is harder for some dealers to hide major defects. For instance, an S type advertised as being in superb condition with a long MOT. Reality? Corrosion front suspension mountings both sides, corroded rear arms and mountings, corroded sills on both sides and a couple of corroded brake pipes all advisories on the previous MOT, 10 months previously. There is no way that it would have been repairable at the selling price.
If the GTE is a plug-in you'll easily get that. We get way more out of our Kia Sportage and Niro, tremendous cars. Won't suit everyone I suppose but for us perfect 👍 I'd prefer not to go full EV but would never go back to full ICE either.
Covid would be the reason for the MOT discrepancy, they extended them. Many dealers would've wriggled out of the deal and gone with the £1k AT price increase! I would've. I remember when I was trading a customer bought a low mile faultless Green Ford Focus 2.0 Ghia from me...3 weeks later she asked to return the car for a refund, why? Because it was green and she felt it was an "unlucky" colour. Personally I thought Green was supposed 2b lucky but regardless, I refused 😅
I have the Skoda Superb iv , same set up as the Golf GTE , if charged fully at home every night I get around 25 miles on battery power alone , as my ave journey's are under 50 miles my ave is 92MPG , so as you say no brainer brilliant and deceptively quick car
Back in the day it was a written full ticket, no advisories, no mot history, 1 key, usually no service history, people didn't bother, too much information now, people aren't any happier knowing their car failed in 2017,has it been done, hasn't it been done, oh dear.
I bought and sold lots of total loss cars in the 70's and no one knew until I explained to them what I had done. My mate joined two halves of an HC Viva together at the factory spotwelds and had people queueing to buy.
They say " a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing " That chap is a sure candidate for that phrase. Its as if he wants the car but its as if he is trying to trip you up on a bunch of nothing. Doesn't make for a pleasant selling experience. But on a side note that golf hybrid is renowned for being frugal. Someone I know has one as a company car and he does some mileage in it and he is averaging 85 mpg all the time.
So, if the purchaser buys directly from the previous owner the answers he gets to his questions will all be honest and trustworthy? Very, very unlikely, and the nicer the seller seems to be the more likely it is that he's lying to you (from my experience).
MOTs mean nothing. I looked at a car in Birmingham with a new clear MOT. It had 2 bald illegal tyres, one of which had a significant cut in the sidewall, and corrosion in a rear suspension mounting point. That was just the worst of at least half a dozen cars being sold with major defects..
It's almost like these second hand car buyers are expecting a brand new car :) I don't understand why they don't just buy brand new if they expect the car to be perfect.
First MOT was nearly a year late. Given the mileage you would just guess the car was SORNed or has been on someone else's forecourt at a ridiculous price for a long time. Didn't Mr Suspicious want to cross reference with the SH? I cant imagine it was serviced at 3 years old without being MOT'd.
You buy from a person. Ask the dealer a question you know the answer to and if they lie walk away . Plenty of other cars out there. If they are honest then the probability is that the car will be as described and any issues will be resolved. That's why you're doing ok James.
This is the danger of folk having access to way too much information about cars. I'm all for the ability to check histories etc. to help in making reasonable and informed purchasing choices - but unfortunately it creates an endless stream of self-proclaimed armchair experts who end up being more bother than they're worth...
Chops. I get the same. I just smile shake head. I smile further explaining these earlier MOT fails had the necessary work and the car is on the road x years later happily. They don’t agree. Look me up and down like a liar. And say no individual invoice work not done. Everyone knows MOTs are bent. They say unable to even listen to the traders reply. So only option is to smile once they go deaf ears to response. Must have this attitude once monthly min. Last was on a low mileage sensible Astra H former owner of 10 plus years young girl just back travelling 2 years. She was like a mini MOT Hitler and knew nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing about cars. But did know everything about bent MOTs from years back. Yup. Great . Lovely. Brilliant.
I am a Hybrid convert i must admit..why have a diesel , My Hyundai does mid forties round town and high fifties low 60's on a run but it is only a 1.0 Litre turbo
It’s a plug in hybrid the Golf. The fact it’s doing 92 MPG means someone been charging it a lot and running mainly EV. As petrol only you’d be looking about 45mpg due to the weight of the car with the battery Also can’t quite be compared to a normal GTI as with all the weight it won’t handle as well and need it charged up to get the maximum performance at all times once there flat there just a 1.4 petrol 150ps golf 😂
I'm afraid the wacky baccy people are growing in numbers. Not saying this person you mention, does it, but it reminds me a lot of some people I've known....unfortunately! I was talking to someone I worked with for a few months, that I'd not known before and said where I previously worked over the years. They flat refused to believe what I told them lol! I just said, thanks for deleting the last 20 years of my life! It was bizarre! That person was a heavy user of weed and I've come across a number of people who use it and act in that way!
An MOT is not a reliable document- i bought a damaged repairable scooter with a fresh MOT and both brake levers were broken, which is an instant MOT failure.
People who are ignorant of trader process, hearing rumours about 'Arthur Daly' type car sales men are always going to be suspicious. Today we have numerous ways of hacking car history that unless you know what it means could be misconstrued. When you have a gap of say 3 months between a 3 year old car and new mot it the could delay between a lease agreement, going to auction and coming to sale. Maybe traders need to consider the buyer's ignorance before taking the piss!
It may surprise you, but there are plenty of dodgy dealers and repairers. Like Kwikfit who quoted my sister-in law £680 for repairs that rendered the car too dangerous to drive. Funny how they backtracked when she told them that her mechanic brother-in law would fix it. Mind you, they were right. An orange indicator bulb had lost a lot of its colour. Strangely enough, the car passed the MOT the following month with no advisories. A brilliant invention these self fixing little Peugeots.
Your getting a lot of trouble with discs and pads mate, maybe take the time to have a good look, check pad thickness and note it down, discs and pads are so cheap now, try it at speed to check for judder is another test. Brakes are a problem because as soon as they go anywhere else it's a dead easy job they can lump the customer up for (you) I've had people take cars to quick fit type places "for a check over" they always come back with a quote for exactly what that place sells, discs and pads all round usually.
Good old VW, still fitting the same interior they did in 1980! Out of interest, why would a German car company decide Scottish tartan was a good fit for them and why, do the people that buy them think it’s good? The plug in hybrid Golf probably has only run on electric locally hence the high mpg. My Renault Austral 200 hp, self charging hybrid always dies 60 plus mpg and never needs plugging in anywhere!
My car only 1 mot fail in 12 mot's. Headlight aim? They readjusted them straight away then passed the car. So why didn't they just pass it and adjust lights? Perhaps they think it could be a test check car.
mine failed on frozen washer jets this week and then passed later that day 😂 it's been freezing all week I guess they couldn't throw a kettle of water over them
Must have been covered by a SORN presumably, as it was over 10 months late for it’s first MOT. The Covid 6 months MOT extension only applied to vehicles due for MOT between 30th March to 31st July 2020, & the Aygo was even first registered until 30th November 2020!
Remember that very brief time when MOT history online used to show you the name and address of the garage where the car was MOT'd at?! That was a great time for us armchair sleuths.
@@ChopsGarage It only lasted a year I believe 2017-18. Handy for stalking all your old cars. I think someone in government decided it was a bit stalkery so they removed it unless you had the V5.
Buyers and MOT's can be a real nightmare, it makes you wonder how some of them are allowed to be outside without a collar and lead, really surprises me.
Perhaps there are too many bent dealers floating about. Not all are even remotely honest. One even tried to sell me a car, obviously body repaired by idiots, where the f/n/s door didn't fit the hole without caching top and bottom on the opening edge. As always, buyer beware, check thoroughly and trust no-one.
Fella! yet again your patience is awesome! I just couldn't put up with the 'I want my used car to be like brand new' not that brand new cars are faultless! The tin hat thing - F! me, dealing with damaged cars day to day I hear all sorts from people that need to wake up and get real! The patient legend known as Chops!
Lol cheers
I was selling a Volvo XC90 not so long back. On its 2022 MOT it failed on the steering rack, 3 days later it passed (also having 3 of the advisories done) leaving just one minor item. A chap comes out to buy it and about 15 minutes into the viewing he ask's if there is any proof of the work done in 2022, I said no. He then said "And your a trader, yes?", I answer honestly and say yes and it's that exact moment he say's "Based on that I'm not interested in the car. You know the work hasn't been done and your MOT is clearly dodgy".
Obviously he made the quickest exit possible before I could say anything more then ok.
Roll on two days later, Older gent and his wife come out, buy the car and drive it away happily. 8 months later they put it in for an MOT (something he told me he was doing so his insurance and MOT were at similar times to his wife's car). It passed first time with no issues at all. The chap came back about a month ago to buy a Nissan Micra for his wife and they turned up in the XC.
They are both happy with the car's and haven't once questioned my honesty.
I still don't understand why or what the first buyer had seen or thought that made them jump to the conclusion they did, all I do know is I'm glad I didn't sell him the car as the attitude would have probably continued.
You're honestly better off not entertaining selling cars to the moany melts anyway, they'll be nothing but trouble.
We live in a culture of ignorance where experts are treated with suspicion whilst the shouty tinfoil hat types are taken seriously. It’s happening in every aspect of society 😟
Well said
It pays to be cynical of information regardless of where it comes from, often times so called 'experts' are nothing of the sort. Judge the information on the merits of it's content not on where it comes from.
Car dealers are experts in negotiating. Any other expertise that they may have, quantum physics, traffic flow in remote regions of Sark are down to other interests and previous jobs.
@@MattersOfOpinion-x4dI agree. However people are not cynical at all when it comes to those telling them that the mainstream are wrong. They totally blindly follow things that are told to them and end up just as much of a sheep as the people they say that they are trying to save.
Go get your van ad booster ugh
I had a GTE, nice car. You are right, the MPG is calculated only on petrol use - so if you plug it in to top up the battery as often as you can, and do lots of short trips (on battery only it can do up to 30 miles) then the MPG calculation goes way high. The charger socket is behind the VW badge on the nose
Years ago, I had a customer facing job which taught me that the public were predominantly cretins. They seem to have got worse. I admire your patience.
Lol cheers
Like the story of a man walking along a strange road. He asked the 1st man what the people were like in the next town. His reply was unfriendly idiots. He continued his journey and asked the next man the same question. The reply was that the townspeople were very friendly and helpful. Basically, the moral of the story is you reap what you sow.
In the days when log books showed details of previous keepers, a neighbour at the time bought a car from a dealer. He later found out the previous keeper had died and he wanted to return the car to the dealer as he was convinced it was an ‘unlucky car’ and he didn’t want to die as well! Seriously!
The Golf GTE, is the same running gear as the Passat GTE. I had mine for 5 + years - almost 100k miles. Great car for long and short distances with pure battery / hybrid / petrol. I would say about 65mpg on a long run as you will be on hybrid. It saved me a fortune on to and from work (35m each way) as I charged at home and work on cheap or free electric. Service and tax was the same as a 1.4 petrol. The Passat was still on original brakes when I sold it - it has a great regeneration mode (B mode) so a lot of my breaking was on regeneration. It also only had 2 sets of front, and one set of rear tyres in my almost 100k miles.
It was a great introduction to going fully electric- we now have 2 EV’s.
With regards the MPG is obviously depends on the type of driving that is done
If it is around town then obviously 90+ mpg is achievable, on long runs it is more likely to be 50-60 mpg
Different subject but my mate had the first service done on his Volvo xc60 EV through Volvo.
AA man serviced it on his drive, took 10minutes, didn’t remove wheels or jack it up or anything. Changed the pollen filter that’s it.
Full dealer service history won’t be like it used to be
i had this recent selling my range rover sport private , it had a advisory for brake lines on the rear which i had done and had a receipt from local land rover specialist . they rang them and asked them what qualifications he had to repair the brake system and asked me why i didnt go back to land rover !! it was a 2008 car i had owned for 7 years and never let me down and questioned me why i picked the tyres on it !!!!! i told them to do one
Omg that's crazy
I feel for you James - the general public can be totally infuriating !!!
We are all some-ones general public and other people's customer!
James, the GTE Golf is a plug in hybrid with up to 39 miles of electric only range, so if you only drove 20 miles a day and plugged it in each night it wouldn't use any petrol. 1.4 petrol engine combines with electric motor to give over 200bhp, 0-60 in under 7 secs. All this gleaned from one for sale on Autotrader, so hopefully they've got it right!
Sounds about right
The mk 7.5 only do around 22 miles on electric not sure if the mk8 does more but nowhere near 40 miles.
Yes, 39 was bound to be optimistic which was why I quoted 20 miles a day in my example!
I live 2.5 miles from work and I couldn’t mange two days just on electric. You can recharge from the petrol engine but it drops the mpg to around 30. Only kept mine a year as it just didn’t add up and started having DSG issues.
I did driveway trading for almost 20 years to supplement my rubbish day job salary but ended up quitting because of the increasing levels of dumbness from the public. It just completely wore me out. Do the odd coprart car now but i keep a hobby mentality with that.
Didn't they extend the mot by 6 months during covid!?
Yup
I traded my tin hat for a foil one then I painted it blue to protect me from space borne lazer beams. 🙄
I'd like to chime in on my personal experience. I bought a car in August. I always look at the MOT history before i buy. It has some fails for worn tyres and one fail for a hole in the flexi part of the exhaust, which were subsequently passed (failed and passed in 2019). I bought the car and took it to an independent BMW garage to have all drive train fluids changed - gearbox, transfer case and both diffs. The technician doing the work took a picture of the flexi part of the exhaust with a MASSIVE hole in it the same part that had failed in 2019. Turns out it wasnt fixed - not with the state of it via photograph. You couldnt hear the exhaust blowing because of the heat shield and under trays stifling it. Dealer sorted it ASAP. It had passed every MOT since the initial failure in 2019. So more than one MOT tester had missed it aswell as the dealer and myself.
I would be weary of a car with lots of MOT issues every year because it shows the car hasn't been proactively maintained
MOT'd our car, drove home (3 miles) garaged it and got stuck Abroad for 12 months with Covid, on return another MOT and it failed, exactly 6 miles on the clock since the previous test.
Iv been a driveway trader on and off for years. Had atleast 3 brake pipes fail the day it passed. Also same as you. Left an a3 parked up with a full mot for 9 months due to a blown turbo. Got around to fixing it. Ran it down for an mot because it only had 3 months left and it failed miserably. It happens
@andywakefield9826 My rear discs (lack of use) showed surface rust, 2 minutes wire wool and a re-test straight pass. In Northern Ireland it's illegal to speak with the testing staff.
@robblack7560 if that was the case here id never get a pass 🤣
@@andywakefield9826 We don't have independent garages just Government centre's. You exit the car and it's returned 1 hour later. An office girl gives you the paperwork.
UK Northern Ireland, it's coming to GB soon.
Hello from Ireland again, James. Wow, very nice Golf GTE. And yes, James they are as fast as the GTI. I have a 2015 in Red. And they a a lovely daily driver. Great buy. 💯👌👏👏👏👏👏
As someone else has said, I think the GTE is a plug in hybrid, so they have probably been doing a lot of short journeys just on battery.
There is no other car dealer i have ever been to who would be as flexible as you are, ie £1k less on the toyota, changing the red to black etc. You deserve to be far more successful than you are.
I don’t trust MOT stations you can go to one then another and will get different results.
Here in Northern Ireland you can only go to a Government Testing Station, there are no independents. They'd fail a brand new car if they could.
@@robblack7560I prefer the system we have in NI apart from trying to get a date🤣
Hmmm: dubious claim to my mind.
You have an MOT done and it's on the DVLA website instantly. The second garage will have access to this and so will you and everybody who has access to the internet.
It's not the 1980's any more.
That's because the rules are understood by different testers subjectively.
Ok I give you an example of a car I bought L85 GTX in 2018 look at the advisor for 2017 which apparently healed themselves through the years I owned it .
Sold last year but look at mileage also it was in km by the way not miles but the testing stations got that wrong as well.
had the same thing on my 2017 a3.
clean mot in the summer.
i had the stronic box serviced and done two majors at 88k . buyer was worried that i had no pw from the 40k g.box service. drove lovely
kept on about it
We used to have the serviced and anything that would fail was noted and fixed for the M.O.T
Thats what I do with my own vehicles, service and Mot at the same garage . The service is carried out first, and anything that would fail or be advised gets done prior to the mot.
I had a car that failed its MOT on discs, pads, cracked tail-light and rear shocks (pads & discs had about 500 on them, and shocks were brand new). I wasn't there to argue as my dad took it in. I took it to a Shell garage and they passed it. I kept receipts off all the parts I bought. I never did replace the brake light.
Whats worse is the people that usually get bent out of shape over someone elses lack of preventative maintainence leading to stuff being flagged on MOT's are exacly the sort who are too oblivious to do any themselfs.
Hybrids around town are superb, I was getting 99.9 mpg in gridlocked Reading. Best place for them.
Some people are thick. Simples.
There are great tools out there for people. Unfortunately there are people out there that just don’t understand how to use them or what to do with them. Knowledge isn’t always a good thing
Saturday Night Chops! 🍿🍿🍿
Yep!
Some dealers definitely do not get the work done needed for an MOT. Ive gone to pick up a car which was 'advisory free' but clearly the brake discs were worn and should have been flagged as a minor advisory clearly they have buddy garages that dont flag these (they dont legally have to).
Hence why you should still inspect cars before you purchase. Use the MOT as a guide. If it says failed on MOT then it passes. Just look at the car and see if the discs are new, duh 😂😂
You're a good honest dealer James, you should be proud and maintain your very high standards.
The fact people ask stupid (To You) questions is because, unlike you, they don't understand the procedures of preparing a car for sale, or for general use.
Its a major purchase and they just need reassurance.
That's a nice Aygo James 😊. I liked it with the red bits on I think they come red from factory
I would be happier buying a car that failed on breaks then knowing you won't need changing them any time soon
You would of thought so eh
I had a Toyota that was MOT,d up here in the Northwest of UK and gave it to my Son and told him it had advisories at it's last MOT for Track rod end worn and play in steering rack inner joints. Anyway he had a new MOT put on it in the South nr London and its previous advisory,s had all miraculously fixed themselves even tho it was after 10,000 miles more wear and tear. Bloody Brilliant Toyota,s fix themselves for free aparently amazing. 😂😂😂
its not that mad tbh - some shady dealers get their MOT mate to slap "unseen" tickets on their cars .....but they also have to fail a percentage to appear legit to the Ministry ........so, they probably do fail and pass the same cars a few days later with an easy fault (which may or may not exist) without even seeing the car. I almost bought a car from a shady dealer a few years back who was quite clearly doing that - fortunately I had paid for an independent professional inspection on the car, so I didn't actually buy it. They still kept my holding deposit though - due to their "terms and conditions" .....absolute crooks
If that’s a plug in hybrid and you have fully charged the battery you will get 20-30 miles out the battery. The problem with them is, if you leave the battery flat and run on the petrol engine alone, the mpg plummets. In an F Pace plug in I was getting 90+ mpg on the battery however once the battery went flat after 20 miles the mpg very quickly dropped to 22!!! On the same journey I get 25 out of my 5litre V8!
Great video, I would only worry about corrosion on an M.O.T. hope storm Bert isn't too bad, not great here in West Devon. What's happening with the Jag?
I agree there’s so much data out there but some people don’t know what it means when trying to analyse the data. I suppose we all ask silly questions now and again though.
I do love your videos it cheers me up. Keep them up chops
Thanks, will do!
People just need to look at the history before hand, and decide whether they want to enquire about the car at that point, not after they have test drove it, put a deposit on it and have you make some cosmetic changes to the body colour.
The Golf GTE is a 150ps tsi petrol and 100ps electric The gte button only gives a combined 200ps otherwise it would be more than a GTI. They don’t do anywhere near that mpg I averaged around low to mid 40’s I gave up charging the electric as I once used a gridserve charger that cost nearly £20 for 22 mile range.
Interesting, how does the combined 200ps work? Does it drop the petrol engine down to 100ps?
No it backs off the electric motor. There is a fudge available to give you full power but VW didn’t want it being quicker than the GTI.
Your sense of humor is so unique. Keep doing you.
Yeah, he shouldn't change. Let's start a petition
Mmmm….. I’m a big fan James but I think you’re forgetting how major a car purchase is for a lot of people. Hence people want to be 100% sure they are getting what they expect.
Personally I think the question about the MOT & discs was totally valid & he should ask you (nicely) to give them a quick check.
Just my two penneth…
Something tells me if this guy sold you his car, it would come with 0 history, and he would block your number before leaving the forecourt. It's always those who expect the most that do the least themselves.
Possibly
The Golf GTE hybrid MPG doesn’t surprise me. My wife’s Yaris Hybrid gets 62 MPG, even when driven enthusiastically. The hybrids are very economical.
Very impressive
My car failed on brakes on the morning my mechanic renewed all the discs and pads took it back on the afternoon and it passed. The failure was rectified which is why it passed.
I would also question why it had needed new front discs at less that 7k..... Is the mileage right ?
Also should have had first MOT by 30th November 2023, but not done until 8th October 2024, but could have been SORNed between these dates I suppose. All very strange! Not Jame’s video though, top notch as usual 😊.
Yep
Fitted wrong. Hub faces not clean and discs were warping from day 1
Cheap Chinese discs
@@billy7301 No, they are ver good quality.... It's done less than 7k...
The Golf Gte has a 1.4 litre petrol engine.... It has the GT trim, hence the Golf Gti seats, but clearly doesn't have Gti performance.... It will return those mpg figures *only* if you keep that battery charged up at every opportunity......
Are they plug in hybrids ?
Good sale, mate it's called keeping your finger on the button.
Defo
my car is 23 years old and it just passed its MOT and all it cost me was a headlight bulb. I was shocked!
My 20 year old Rover 75 diesel passed 1st time with just a couple of advisories
it is only a 12v system so you should not be shocked,
Customers are babies, and I can't say I'm sad to get out of the car business . Retired out of the car business now living in a safe, warm , sunny country for the last 25 years. Happy life 😅
@@bigal2417 James has cornered the market with nutters.
It fails an MOT, it gets those repairs done,gos back for the MOT and passes, 🤷♂️ what’s the problem
I know
The buyer
First MOT as probably in trade or someone holiday so off the road for a while - I really don't know what people are thinking with MOTs -, it should the most obvious thing if its failed then passed a retest.
the internet and mot history online has created a nightmare for sellers as the people who havent got a scooby doo about motors think they are experts while sitting on their backsides looking for problems that dont exist! best give them types a wide berth as not worth the aggravation in my opinion
Translated, it is harder for some dealers to hide major defects. For instance, an S type advertised as being in superb condition with a long MOT. Reality? Corrosion front suspension mountings both sides, corroded rear arms and mountings, corroded sills on both sides and a couple of corroded brake pipes all advisories on the previous MOT, 10 months previously. There is no way that it would have been repairable at the selling price.
@@stevesales4263 thats why you get aa checks or such like it not? not by being a keyboard warrior .
People forget Mot dates and loyal to specific dealers who are busy. That’s life. If done following year exactly nothing to worry about.
The DVSA has a free page to log you MOT date. You get reminders. 3 I think before it expires.
If the GTE is a plug-in you'll easily get that. We get way more out of our Kia Sportage and Niro, tremendous cars. Won't suit everyone I suppose but for us perfect 👍 I'd prefer not to go full EV but would never go back to full ICE either.
Covid would be the reason for the MOT discrepancy, they extended them. Many dealers would've wriggled out of the deal and gone with the £1k AT price increase! I would've. I remember when I was trading a customer bought a low mile faultless Green Ford Focus 2.0 Ghia from me...3 weeks later she asked to return the car for a refund, why? Because it was green and she felt it was an "unlucky" colour. Personally I thought Green was supposed 2b lucky but regardless, I refused 😅
I have the Skoda Superb iv , same set up as the Golf GTE , if charged fully at home every night I get around 25 miles on battery power alone , as my ave journey's are under 50 miles my ave is 92MPG , so as you say no brainer brilliant and deceptively quick car
Cheers defo have this in a superb
Back in the day it was a written full ticket, no advisories, no mot history, 1 key, usually no service history, people didn't bother, too much information now, people aren't any happier knowing their car failed in 2017,has it been done, hasn't it been done, oh dear.
I bought and sold lots of total loss cars in the 70's and no one knew until I explained to them what I had done. My mate joined two halves of an HC Viva together at the factory spotwelds and had people queueing to buy.
Yeah the GTE goes like stink a really good car but quite unknown
Costs more but if you’re really precious about mot history then pre mot it when it’s serviced then mot it at the same garage. Old school but works
They say " a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing "
That chap is a sure candidate for that phrase.
Its as if he wants the car but its as if he is trying to trip you up on a bunch of nothing.
Doesn't make for a pleasant selling experience.
But on a side note that golf hybrid is renowned for being frugal.
Someone I know has one as a company car and he does some mileage in it and he is averaging 85 mpg all the time.
So, if the purchaser buys directly from the previous owner the answers he gets to his questions will all be honest and trustworthy? Very, very unlikely, and the nicer the seller seems to be the more likely it is that he's lying to you (from my experience).
I'd agree here
Jeez you get some right Charlie's James. Love that golf GTE
MOTs mean nothing. I looked at a car in Birmingham with a new clear MOT. It had 2 bald illegal tyres, one of which had a significant cut in the sidewall, and corrosion in a rear suspension mounting point. That was just the worst of at least half a dozen cars being sold with major defects..
My XC90 T8 is currently on long term average of 97mpg and that has 400bhp!
Mileage correction cough cough is the biggest worry on newish used cars.
It's almost like these second hand car buyers are expecting a brand new car :) I don't understand why they don't just buy brand new if they expect the car to be perfect.
Roadworthy is what most of us want.
An addictive channel brilliant keep up the good work
My car is rattling from the front- can you tell what has happened to it please? You're a dealer so you should know! Lol!
It needs scrapping or a New fuel Cap 😂😂😂
First MOT was nearly a year late. Given the mileage you would just guess the car was SORNed or has been on someone else's forecourt at a ridiculous price for a long time. Didn't Mr Suspicious want to cross reference with the SH? I cant imagine it was serviced at 3 years old without being MOT'd.
Hmm?? I feel that that buyer will be a pain 🤕
You buy from a person. Ask the dealer a question you know the answer to and if they lie walk away . Plenty of other cars out there. If they are honest then the probability is that the car will be as described and any issues will be resolved. That's why you're doing ok James.
This is the danger of folk having access to way too much information about cars. I'm all for the ability to check histories etc. to help in making reasonable and informed purchasing choices - but unfortunately it creates an endless stream of self-proclaimed armchair experts who end up being more bother than they're worth...
Shame you’re not selling that golf, I kept checking the website for the listing after seeing it in the background of your last video
Is part of the problem the fact many cars todays have just a book, whereas repair receipts used to be with cars?
Chops. I get the same. I just smile shake head. I smile further explaining these earlier MOT fails had the necessary work and the car is on the road x years later happily. They don’t agree. Look me up and down like a liar. And say no individual invoice work not done. Everyone knows MOTs are bent. They say unable to even listen to the traders reply. So only option is to smile once they go deaf ears to response. Must have this attitude once monthly min. Last was on a low mileage sensible Astra H former owner of 10 plus years young girl just back travelling 2 years. She was like a mini MOT Hitler and knew nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing about cars. But did know everything about bent MOTs from years back. Yup. Great . Lovely. Brilliant.
Didnt realise a Golf hybid now costs 40k nee 😮
I am a Hybrid convert i must admit..why have a diesel , My Hyundai does mid forties round town and high fifties low 60's on a run but it is only a 1.0 Litre turbo
Keep up the good work 💯
It’s a plug in hybrid the Golf. The fact it’s doing 92 MPG means someone been charging it a lot and running mainly EV. As petrol only you’d be looking about 45mpg due to the weight of the car with the battery
Also can’t quite be compared to a normal GTI as with all the weight it won’t handle as well and need it charged up to get the maximum performance at all times once there flat there just a 1.4 petrol 150ps golf 😂
Cheers for info
I'm afraid the wacky baccy people are growing in numbers.
Not saying this person you mention, does it, but it reminds me a lot of some people I've known....unfortunately!
I was talking to someone I worked with for a few months, that I'd not known before and said where I previously worked over the years.
They flat refused to believe what I told them lol!
I just said, thanks for deleting the last 20 years of my life! It was bizarre!
That person was a heavy user of weed and I've come across a number of people who use it and act in that way!
An MOT is not a reliable document- i bought a damaged repairable scooter with a fresh MOT and both brake levers were broken, which is an instant MOT failure.
People who are ignorant of trader process, hearing rumours about 'Arthur Daly' type car sales men are always going to be suspicious.
Today we have numerous ways of hacking car history that unless you know what it means could be misconstrued.
When you have a gap of say 3 months between a 3 year old car and new mot it the could delay between a lease agreement, going to auction and coming to sale. Maybe traders need to consider the buyer's ignorance before taking the piss!
It may surprise you, but there are plenty of dodgy dealers and repairers. Like Kwikfit who quoted my sister-in law £680 for repairs that rendered the car too dangerous to drive. Funny how they backtracked when she told them that her mechanic brother-in law would fix it. Mind you, they were right. An orange indicator bulb had lost a lot of its colour. Strangely enough, the car passed the MOT the following month with no advisories. A brilliant invention these self fixing little Peugeots.
Wonder what these people think when they hear a story and it’s them you’re talking about
You were in a funny position mate, deposit, done non std work to the car, then the questions start....
Your getting a lot of trouble with discs and pads mate, maybe take the time to have a good look, check pad thickness and note it down, discs and pads are so cheap now, try it at speed to check for judder is another test. Brakes are a problem because as soon as they go anywhere else it's a dead easy job they can lump the customer up for (you) I've had people take cars to quick fit type places "for a check over" they always come back with a quote for exactly what that place sells, discs and pads all round usually.
You got a 6 month extension on mot during lockdown
Good old VW, still fitting the same interior they did in 1980!
Out of interest, why would a German car company decide Scottish tartan was a good fit for them and why, do the people that buy them think it’s good?
The plug in hybrid Golf probably has only run on electric locally hence the high mpg.
My Renault Austral 200 hp, self charging hybrid always dies 60 plus mpg and never needs plugging in anywhere!
Its bloody awful fabric too. I remember being in a new GTD in 2017 with that cloth and it was so thin and cheap I was shocked.
My car only 1 mot fail in 12 mot's. Headlight aim? They readjusted them straight away then passed the car. So why didn't they just pass it and adjust lights? Perhaps they think it could be a test check car.
They have to test it as it stands. Simple as that. Plus they have to maintain a certain fail rate.
£12k? You mean you aren't offering it at WBAC price?
I thought he said the lady paid 10k
😂😂😂
Covid allowed MOT's to be delayed around 2020/2021
but a 70 plate car registered between 1 sept 2020 and end feb 2021 would not need an MOT in the covid firebreak
We buy any car are for people who are desperate to get rid of cars.
mine failed on frozen washer jets this week and then passed later that day 😂 it's been freezing all week I guess they couldn't throw a kettle of water over them
Are you thinking of putting a cabin in the car park as your sales office?
👌👌
Run away from those automatics its a nighmare
During covid you were given 6 months grace period for mots on new cars
I thought so
Must have been covered by a SORN presumably, as it was over 10 months late for it’s first MOT. The Covid 6 months MOT extension only applied to vehicles due for MOT between 30th March to 31st July 2020, & the Aygo was even first registered until 30th November 2020!
It was a 6 months grace on any age of car not just new ones
My cars were mot'd Jan 2020 just before Covid and were done again June 2022.....both had been issued with 3 six month exemptions.
Remember that very brief time when MOT history online used to show you the name and address of the garage where the car was MOT'd at?! That was a great time for us armchair sleuths.
Lol
@@ChopsGarage It only lasted a year I believe 2017-18. Handy for stalking all your old cars. I think someone in government decided it was a bit stalkery so they removed it unless you had the V5.