REPAIR COST EXCEEDED CAR'S PRICE

Buying a used car is no simple task and be frustrating for buyers who hope to not have to spend a single cent on repairs – it is important to clearly distinguish used from new cars. When you buy a used car, expect to spend a certain percentage of the car's value on repairs, for example: if you purchase a car for AED 25,000, expect to spend AED 2,000-3,000 on it (of course, this is not always the case).

The car was so bad we couldn’t even recommend a price.

This was the case for Scout My Car’s customer Nelson. Nelson was looking to purchase a Hummer H2 and was happy to find a great deal on Dubizzle. The car was advertised for AED 25,000 and the listing mentioned that the car was accident-free and ready for purchase. Nelson took the decision to get the car checked as he suspected that there should be something to fix given the overall condition and road test he’s done the night before the inspection. He expected to spend a maximum of AED 4,000 on the car – he loved Hummer!

The car was catastrophic. The issues were so numerous that they couldn’t fit in the Scout My Car inspection template form – we had to shrink the size of the font and add additional pages. The car failed EACH test performed on it – from bodywork to road test, including computer check.

All doors were scratched, dented and damaged; the rear window was sealed with foil tape, the right-side mirror was broken, the front bumper was out of alignment and the paint was peeling. From the looks of it, the car was not taken care of – it looked like it went through war!

The interior was not better: the driver’s seat was badly torn, all seats had tear and wear, the dashboard trim coating was wearing off and the headliner was stained.

It is no surprise that the underbody and road test didn’t deliver proper results – if a car owner didn’t bother to maintain the cosmetic aspect of the car, you can imagine how the mechanical part was taken care of (or not). The engine oil pan gasket was leaking, the gearbox mount was separated, the power steering was leaking, and the front stabilizer links were broken. During the road test the steering was not centered, there was excessive noise coming from the front, many warning lights were on (check engine, ABS and SRS Airbag) and the car was vibrating.

An airbag warning light? That’s a huge red alert! Mechanics plugged in the diagnostics tool to discover airbag fault codes – car was involved in a serious collision. Other fault codes were related to engine misfire, transmission and ABS.

On top of this, no service history was available (expected) and the seller couldn't answer even basic questions about the car.

Nelson was extremely grateful about the inspection and wrote to us “You guys are the best” and “I knew there is something fishy with that kind of throw away price”.

Car's price? AED 25,000. Cost of fixing repairs? AED 30,000 to AED 45,000.

The car was so bad the repair cost exceeded the selling price!

#hummer #H2 #maintenance #service #usedcar