My Story

Let me tell you a bit of background to my story. I’m a single mum & had been saving up for some time. Buying cars wasn’t familiar to me so I wasn’t really sure where to start. Searching through local garages & online car supermarkets, I was looking for approved dealers near me where I thought I could buy a car with confidence.

Finding an approved dealer

On the internet I could search for approved dealers near me. I selected one locally to me and was directed to their website. I browsed loads of cars advertised in their stock list and finally came across one I liked the look of that was within my budget range.

Looking over the car specification given (making sure it was 5 doors and not 3 for the kids etc.), everything seemed good to me so I phoned the garage. I was able to pop down to view the car that afternoon so I did. After viewing the car and taking it for a short test drive, I was really happy and wanted to buy it! I had cash as I had been saving up my tips from work so a few quick forms to fill out and then the car was mine! I drove away smiling and super excited to pick up the kids from school.

Two months later

I began to have a few niggles with my car and something just didn’t seem right.

It was then brought to my attention by someone that my car was an ex-taxi. I was a bit naive to begin with as I didn’t really understand what this meant and why it would matter. Disturbingly I then realised that by being an ex-taxi actually reduces the value of the car to up to 20%.

I was gobsmacked to be honest. Thoughts ran through my mind such:

  • I’ve paid more than I should have.
  • It’s so unfair as it took me ages to save up!
  • Why didn’t the man at the garage tell me?
  • But I made sure it was an RAC Approved dealer – how could this be possible?

With all this in mind, this is what led me to creating the Vehicle Avoidance List. This is where I can help others like myself to be able to search for free, before buying a car and facing the same issues that I did.