I recently bought a new car – Honda Civic from a UK Car Retailer and the experience I had was quite eventful. We found this great looking car online and reserved it to take a further look in real life. I know all about how amazing items look online only to find they look nothing like that when you see them in real life. So a couple of days later, we went over to Manchester to check out the car. It looked as good as it looked online. We took it out for test drive and it drove quite well. There were a few concerns which we pointed out to the Sales Rep, and he was quick to sort them all out.

So we bought the car

We shook hands on the deal and picked up the car a couple of days later, only to realise the Air Conditioner was not working. It was a hot summer day, so it was a very uncomfortable ride home. We immediately called the car retailer to advise them of the issue and then the drama started. The Sales Rep or rather the Store Manager didn’t want us to bring the car back in. He instead suggested we take it to another store closer to us, which we reluctantly agreed to. I wasn’t happy about this arrangement because it meant I won’t have been able to drive the car for some weeks as there was no availability in our local store anytime soon.

The drama started on the first day

The day finally came for us to take the car to our local car retailer store. We dropped it off only to get a call the next day informing us that the Manchester store where we bought the Honda Civic Car has refused to fund the Air Conditioner. I was so upset. This was after we waited weeks with no Air Conditioner, the same Manchester store advised us on what to do and they have now changed their minds for reasons best known to them. Thankfully I had a warranty for 90 days and the Air Conditioner is covered on the warranty, so it only a call and email to their head office complaint team to get the car repaired and ready for collection within days.

The importance of having a car warranty

The moral of the story is to always make sure to have a warranty at least for some weeks when you buy a car. You never know when the car warranty would come in handy. If I didn’t have mine, I would have had to cough out a few hundreds to get the repairs done, even though it was damaged prior to ours buying it. Look out for car retailers that offer warranties before you commit to a car. M has an Audi, and it has had a few mechanical and electrical faults since he got it. But thankfully, he bought with an Audi Warranty, so he’s covered.

Test drive it properly

Also, when you do for a test drive, ensure you really test the car. We focused on other parts of the car but didn’t pay attention to the air conditioner. It was a chilly day so we didn’t notice it was not cooling. My advice is to check all the features and ensure they are working as they should.

Does your car have a warranty?

*Collaborative post.