Not sure if anyone will be able to help here but 7 weeks ago we bought a car which was advertised on Coches.net, we went to the garage (Campello Motors) in El Campello and liked the look of the car, the ad stated it had only done 71,000 km and at 2500 euros we thought we were getting a bargain. So we bought it and a week later the mileage on the display suddenyl changed to 171,000km and the car started playing up. We took it to 2 mechanics who both wrote a report saying it was dangerous and we shouldnt drive it. There was alot of things wrong with it, including the tyres, brakes and it had been in some sort of crash. We went back to the garage and asked for help in some way, well they didnt want to know, the chap we originally spoke to said he sold it privately and not through Campello Motors and there was no warranty so he couldnt help. I remember the original ad definately said Campello Motors but i have been unable to get a copy from Coche.net as they just keep ignoring me. So we were advised to get a denuncia against the garage, I decided to give them another chance, to either repair the car or give us some sort of refund and let us return the car. While I was speaking to the original man we bought it from, the owner of the garage came out and started aggressively waving his finger in my face and shouting that if i did the denuncia he would kill me!!! At this point I felt it best to leave, the problem is that my spanish is not good enough to negotiate properly with them, our spanish friend called them for us but he got no where either. Is there any point in us doing a denuncia, will this help us at all, its just that we now have a car we cannot drive and have lost 2500 euros, what can we do, and if I cant get the original advert how can I go ahead with this. Has anyone else had this type and problem and how did you overcome it??

Hi I’m no expert but, by law in Spain, they have to give you a warranty of a year, they can get around this by specifying on the receipt that it hasn’t got one.

There is a chance that page that you looked at on Coches.net is still in the history of your web browser, what program are you using, Internet Explorer with Windows XP?

If you have asked for a denuncia and they have refused to give you one then, they are breaking the law, I think.

Normally when things get to the point of a denuncia they back down, due the procedures that a denuncia greats, did they believe you were actually going to do the denuncia? Not sure how far you want to go, I guess your next step, is to go and talk to local police and see what they say.

Let us know how you get on?

I think they realised i was pretty serious about the denuncia. We asked about a warranty but they said they wouldnt give one as the car was so cheap. I left them my e-mail and phone number in the hope they would get back to me with some kind of offer but i have heard nothing. Of course he will deny saying he would kill me and there were 8 of them and only 2 of us!!! I dont think I will take that too seriously as I think they were all talk, but I did try to resolve the matter, if they had offered us even 2000 euro refund I would have taken it, I dont mind losing 500 euros but just cant afford to lose 2500! I have looked back in my history and it is there but when I click on it it says that the advert has expired. I am using Internet Exploere and windows xp. I have e-mailed coches.net again and still got no reply. I will let you know what I decide to do next. Thank you for your reply.

May be someone with more IE and XP experience could help with the history?

I’d give Coches.net a call, they are owned by Anuntis Segundamano Espa?a S.L

I have googled, and found the no. 934109831 (http://www.teloos.es/company/anuntis_segundamano_espa?a_s.l./680221439658.htm)

I guess the next step is go the local police and see if you can find a help policeman? (they do not speak English) Good luck, you also could go along to town hall and see what they have to say.

Brilliant, thank you Ive been trying ti find thier phone number for ages. I will call them and ask for a copy of the original ad. Many thanks.

Sorry to hear of your troubles Beverly. But I don’t think (sadly) that it is uncommon.

I feel I was ripped off by my ‘Trusted’ mechanic (he had done all the work on my previous cars with good results/cost for 6yrs)...
Although he gave me a 6 month warrantee with a second hand older car (but which still costs me over Euros 4,000)- I had to use it almost immediately as the head gasket suddenly went within weeks of aquiring the vehcile - it didn’t cover all the costs. As time went on I have since discovered it was a crash rebuid, the airbag had been tampered with and it didn’t pass its last ITV etc, etc.
All in all I am furious with him (as you can guess I don’t give him any more business/tell everyone to avoid him).  I did try to negotiate for him to pay for labour and myself the necessary parts as things went wrong week after week, but the first time I tried he more or less told me to get stuffed.
I ‘could’ perhaps have gone back to him and demanded the libro de reclamaciones, but I feel he would have got his lawyer to say he had given me a property warantee. 

Sadly it seems there are as many crooks down here as there are people.

If you get any luck with a reclamacion (the libro I mentioned), you have the right to call the police if he refuses to present it.
What usually happens is they will try to sort the matter out with you if you threaten this.
Once you have gone past this you can report him to the local consumer office and they will arbitrate. If he still refuses to give at all - then you usually have to hire a lawyer etc.
If he had any sense he would cough up and at least give you a partial refund.

Any police station (I usually go to the Guardia), should do you a denuncia for a ‘crime’ (ie the vehcile is/was unsafe at time of sale). Many of the police stations have interpretuers - or take your own.  I have always found them helpful (in the denuncia part at least- not the follow up = as I think they just expect us to go get lawyers). 

It makes me so mad when this sort of blatant fraud/robbery happens! 

ps - There is a department of the local motor vehicle dept that inspects garages.  I am sure he wouldn’t want them on his doorstep!