What do we do about being mis-sold an ex-hire vehicle?

We've just bought a used Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life from a Volkswagen garage. We were told the vehicle had one previous owner only. When the car registration documents came through, it turns out the car was owned by a car hire company. We called this company and ascertained that the vehicle had been hired out 47 separate times. The garage manager eventually agreed to give us our money back but I still feel we were deliberately mis-sold this vehicle and wonder what redress if any should be offered?

Asked on 18 January 2017 by Dave Logsdon

Answered by Honest John

Sorry, this is a "so what" complaint based on prejudice. The car has one previous owner that was a rental company and the fact is that a succession of different drivers driving the same vehicle is good for it, not bad for it. Hirers do not carelessly damage rental vehicles these days because of the Draconian penalties for doing so. To prove this point we bought an ex-rental Mondeo in 1999 and ran it for 9 years with no trouble at all apart from a union coming off the PAS reservoir (cheaply fixed).

Tags: legal and consumer advice buying a used car buying and selling mis-sold ex-hire

Dear Honest John,

Please help me choose my next car. I would like it to have:

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