Case Studies
At Elite Inspections, customer satisfaction is our number 1 goal. And as such we know the importance of upholding our well earned good reputation. Feel free to share with us some of our client's stories and dilemmas. Let us show you that we really can make a difference.
Pre-purchase Car Inspection Case Studies
Mr Joy from London
booked our inspection services when he was ready to purchase a three year old Porsche Boxster from a garage. He had already paid a deposit and on completion of our inspection he had enough information to obtain his deposit back and look for another vehicle.
Mrs Farnhead from Liverpool
contacted us to arrange a pre purchase inspection on a Mitsubishi Evo in Manchester. On completion of our inspection, there was over £500 worth of work required which was carried out by the garage before Mrs Farnhead picked up the car.
Mr Reed from London
contacted us after finding his dream car on the internet. The only problem was that the car was in Edinburgh. We were able to arrange the inspection and supply sufficient digital images of the vehicle direct to Mr Reed along with the report so he could make a decision without having to leave his office.
Mr Linton from Bristol
contacted us after finding a Renault Scenic in a local garage that he wanted to buy. When we inspected the vehicle we found that it had sustained substantial accident damage and the quality of repair was significantly poor. A vehicle data check (HPI) had been carried out and showed no outstanding concerns.
Mrs McNairney from Birmingham
contacted us when she wanted a new car for her son and had found the ideal car in a private sale. The car was a Vauxhall Corsa that had some modifications carried out to it. We inspected the vehicle and found that overall the vehicle was in good condition but did require about £400 to be spent on it. Mrs McNairney was slightly unsure about the process so we negotiated on her behalf and managed to knock the seller's asking price down by £500, she bought the car.
Mr Muir from Cardiff
contacted us when he was looking to buy a camper van from a private sale on the south coast. We inspected the vehicle and found that the vehicle had substantial chassis corrosion and had sustained accident damage to the rear, many of the service records were incomplete and Mr Muir was just about to spent £2000 on a vehicle that he would have regretted.
Mr Hamilton from Manchester
contacted us when he had found his ideal Maserati in London. We inspected the vehicle and found some defects that required attention. We arranged with the seller to have the relevant issues addressed and negotiated £800 off the asking price. Mr Hamilton decided to purchase the vehicle and we arranged to have the vehicle delivered to his door.
Mrs Gibb from Norwich
contacted us when she wanted to buy her husband a new car for his birthday. She had looked in the local papers and found nothing that he wanted. She then looked on the internet (Autotrader & E-Bay) and found the ideal car, a 1972 Triumph Stag. She gave us the details and we contacted the seller, arranged the inspection and negotiated on the price. Mrs Gibb purchased the vehicle and saved over £1000 on the asking price.
Car Problem Stories
Mrs Samuels from Wolverhampton
Booked her rover 400 into a local repair centre with concerns the engine was not running properly, she said it was underpowered. The repair centre explained that it was one of the camshafts that was faulty and gave her a price of £400.00 to fix it. The go ahead was given and when she went to collect the car the price had risen to £450.00 and the car drove exactly the same. The repair centre said they could not work out what was wrong and stripped the engine down.
Mrs Samuels called us to ask if we could help. We inspected the vehicle and spoke with the repair centre and identified the fault. The repair centre agreed to rectify the problem as they had miss-diagnosed the problem and refunded Mrs Samuels with our fee and some compensation.
Miss Carlton from Southampton
had problems with her Fiat Bravo, the following sequence of events happened
- The vehicle was serviced on the 30/04/07 at 80,725 miles.
- The vehicle engine failed on the 19/08/07 at 84,372 miles.
- The vehicle was recovered to the repairer’s on the 19/08/07
The vehicle owner was informed that the engine cambelt (timing belt) had failed and an estimate of £700 to £800 was explained to the owner, the owner authorized the rectification work to be undertaken.
The relevant repairs were undertaken and an invoice collated for the sum of £1039.60.
The total invoice was settled in full and the vehicle collected on the 07/09/07.
On the 11/09/07 the vehicle engine failed after having covered approximately 366 miles.
The vehicle repairer was notified and the vehicle duly recovered to the repairer’s premises.
The owner was notified that the new timing belt tensioner spring retainer had failed causing the release of the engine cambelt (timing belt) causing catastrophic damage to the internal engine components.
On the 13/09/07 the repair centre notified their supplier of a warranty claim on the failed component.
On the 17/09/07 the repair centre faxed a detailed warranty claim form to the supplier of the failed component.
On the 01/10/07 the repair centre were informed that the faulty component and consequential damaged components were to be inspected.
All the relevant components were inspected by the supplier on the 07/10/07.
On the 15/10/07 the vehicle repair centre received a fax confirming the component suppliers were accepting liability.
On the 15/10/07 the repair centre reluctantly accepted the compensation offer in line with the I.C.M.E repair manual times.
On the 29/10/07 the repair centre contacted their supplier on the delay of a required timing belt kit.
On the 05/11/07 the repair centre faxed their supplier enquiring about the delay in the relevant timing belt kit.
On the 07/04/08 the vehicle was parked in an adjacent street of the owner’s home address and the keys posted through the letter box, no contact with the owner or documented evidence was located in the vehicle indicating what condition the vehicle was in.
We arrived and inspected the vehicle which would not start and was very underpowered. All the paperwork was supplied and the repair centre contacted The repair centre was unwilling to discuss the problem with ourselves and we supplied Miss Carlton with our report and assisted her solicitor to peruse the case on the grounds of faulty workmanship.
Due to our report the case was settled out of court with substantial compensation given to Miss Carlton.
Mr Croft from Liverpool
contacted us with a problem with his Mazda RX7 that he had only purchased about three months previous, the engine had blown and the vehicle was recovered to a local Mazda dealer. Mr Croft had contacted the selling dealer but they were unhelpful although sympathetic with Mr Croft over the cost of repair.
We were asked to get involved and found the failed component within the engine assembly, through our experience we were able to prove that the failed component would have been faulty at the time of sale and that the vehicle was therefore not fit for purpose.
Due to our completed report the vehicle was exchanged by the selling agent and our fee was covered by the selling agent and not Mr Croft.
Mr Strang from Crawley
had been driving his Mitsubishi Carisma when a passing car smashed his O/S mirror assembly of the car and then drove off. Mr Strang drove the car home and contacted his insurance company to have his vehicle repaired. The following morning while reversing out of his driveway smoke appeared from the dashboard and O/S door trim The vehicle was recovered and Mr Strang was told by his insurance company that there had been an electrical fire and that it was not related to the O/S mirror being smashed. Mr Strang was left with a £1500 repair bill.
Mr Strang contacted us and we inspected the vehicle, provided factual evidence that the fire was related and the insurance company paid for the repair.
Mr Stuart from London
had his Renault serviced by a main agent dealer and had the timing belt (cambelt replaced). After four weeks the vehicle broke down and was recovered back to the garage with timing belt failure. The garage refused to accept liability and stated that it was not their fault the belt had failed.
We inspected the vehicle and with our expertise and report brought to light the exact cause of failure, Mr Stuart’s vehicle was repaired and he was compensated accordingly.
Mrs Gibson from Southampton
had her BMW break down and the garage in question explained that the camshaft had worn and failed due to a lack of oil. They replaced the camshaft at a cost of £500 and after two months the engine failed again with the same problem.
We inspected the vehicle and found the problem. After discussing the findings with the garage, the garage refunded Mrs Gibson the full £500 and the correct repair process was undertaken.
Mr Gardner from Exeter
had an accident with his Mercedes and the vehicle was repaired by his insurance company. Mr Gardner was not happy with the quality of repair and contacted ourselves for advice. We inspected the vehicle and found significant defects / flaws in the repair and supplied the report for Mr Gardner to have his vehicle returned to the repair and rectified, his insurance company compensated Mr Gardner for our fees.
Mr Holland from Glasgow
was not happy with the service he had received from his Audi franchised dealer over a problem that he had with his car cutting out. His vehicle had been into the garage on four occasions with the same answer that they could find nothing wrong with his car.
We inspected the vehicle and found exactly what was wrong.
Mr McLean from Aberdeen
was concerned when he had his vehicle serviced and he was informed that substantial work was required at a cost of £350. We advised Mr McLean to have his vehicle inspected and found that the majority of the work that had been advised was not required. We provided the report with factual evidence that Mr McLean took back to his garage and he was given a full apology and the cost of his service returned to him along with the required work undertaken free of charge.
Mrs Campbell from Northampton
had her Mitsubishi Shogun break down after having just been serviced by a local garage only two weeks previous. The garage had explained that the engine had seized and that they were not liable.
We inspected the vehicle and supplied the report for legal proceedings to start. The case went to court and we stood as expert witnesses in the case on behalf of Mrs Campbell. Due to our report, the repair centre was found to be at fault and forced to pay costs to Mrs Campbell.
Testimonials
John Surrey from London
I would just like to take the time to right this letter and thank you for your time and helping me resolve the problem with my Volkswagen Golf. After the garage received a copy of your report they were very helpful in getting my car back on the road without me having to pay any further costs. I will certainly be recommending your services.
Colin Munro from Birmingham
Many thanks once again for all the time and patience that you had to put up with me when I first came to you with the problem with my wife’s Audi. I have to say I was somewhat concerned with the processes and procedures of having to deal with the garage but you were very professional and helpful and always seemed to be in control of what was going to happen and what the garage would say. It was reassuring that we could call you at any time for an update or if we were worried could actually get you at the other end of the phone. Many thanks for all your time and effort and defiantly money well spent.
Sean and Jane Somerfield from Surrey
Hi Dougie and the team, just a quick note to say cheers for all the help and advice that you gave me and Jane on getting our car fixed. Without you and the guys help there would have been no way of getting my car fixed or my money back. To be honest I didn’t even know there was a company like yours out there it was only when we contacted our insurance company that they recommended you guys to see if you could help. One of the things that made us go through with the process was the amount of time that you spent just listening and taking all the information in before deciding whether or not you could actually help us. This put Jane and I at considerable ease when deciding to go ahead with the inspection. I hope we never end up in that position again but if we do I will be straight on the phone to you.
James Wright from Kent
Thank you for your polite and professional manner when we first contacted you. The thought of actually speaking to a person rather than a messaging service was somewhat of a relief. Understandably we were unsure of where to start and what to do but you took the time to listen and explain exactly what would happen and what the best course of action would be. I have to say we were also impressed when you said one of your engineers would call us within 15 minutes and this actually happened. When Douglas called he was already briefed and made us feel at ease when we were both concerned over what had happened to our Mercedes. The whole process was flawless and having the engineer’s direct number who we could call on at anytime was also reassuring.
Many thanks
Mrs D Falconi from Edinburgh
A big thank you to you and the team on helping me resolve my problem with our Renault garage. Without your report and help we would never have found out exactly what went wrong and more so why it went wrong in the first place. I think the garage was even impressed with the professionalism and consistency of your company especially when they decided to resolve the problem without any further interruptions or excuses. Don’t take this the wrong way but I hope we don’t need your services again but we will defiantly use your company when we decide to buy another vehicle. I have to say I was very impressed when you were able to explain exactly what the garage would say when we contacted them and that how you knew pretty much word for word what there reply would be. This gave us the confidence to use your company as up until then you hadn’t even charged us a penny and had spent considerable time on the phone with us.
Miss Susan Holding from Essex
I would like to start by saying a big thank you to Chris for putting up with my constant calling and whining over my case, god only knows how he never lost the place with me or even hung up. I know I probably called him at least once every day and he was always polite, honest, reassuring and always put my mind at rest when I started to get worried and worked up about the car. Secondly I would like to say a big thank you to the rest of the team for there hard work and effort which I know without that I would never have got anywhere with the repair centre.
