Two-fifths of consumers would consider buying a car with mismatched paintwork although nearly half would walk away from a purchase if they knew the car had been in an accident.
The findings come from a survey by the AA Used Car Data Check service which also highlighted the high level of trust on the forecourt among second-hand car buyers is such that one in eight consumers would take the seller’s word on the condition of a second-hand vehicle.
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The AA used the results as a prompt to consumers to take out a vehicle history check to protect them from buying a write-off.
The warning comes as quarterly sales of used cars have hit a seven-year low with concomitant falls in finance products, according to Experian, despite dealers, at the start of the year, preparing for used sales to take up the bulk of their efforts.
Both the Office of Fair Trading and vehicle history checking service HPI have pointed out the perils of buying a used car before, whether over finance, fraud or vehicle condition.
Similarly, the car finance industry has been urging consumers to investigate the worth of used vehicle checks for several years.
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By GlobalDatarichard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com
