More than a third of motorists who have bought a used-car would under no circumstances use the same dealer again.
A study into the car-buying habits of 1,500 motorists carried out by the RAC also found 40% of people said they have had a problem with a vehicle bought from a used car dealer and almost a third (29%) said the dealer did not do at all well in putting the problem right.
And, dealers that rely so heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations should be very concerned as one in three (30%) car owners say they have actively told people not to use a particular car dealer.
Despite the negative experience of some highlighted in the survey conducted for the launch of RAC BuySure, the used car market is thriving and local dealers are in a good position to benefit from the demand.
In fact, 56% of motorists say they would buy a used-car rather than a brand new vehicle because new cars depreciate more quickly. In addition, a further 44% think they feel they get better quality and a higher spec of vehicle if they buy from a used car dealer.
The prime reason for deciding to change cars was revealed as increasing repair bills (50%), followed by unreliability (41%), however nearly a third (31%) said they just fancied a change while for 29% it was the miles on the clock getting too high.
