OFT takes action against used car supermarket over sales practices

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has taken enforcement action against Carcraft, which has 11 car supermarkets across England and Wales, including one in Rochdale, over concerns about its business practices when selling cars, finance and after-sale guarantees.

Following its investigation, the OFT believed that Carcraft: 

• was not always properly carrying out the comprehensive pre-sale vehicle inspections it advertised, with customers complaining about vehicles suffering significant problems shortly after purchase
• did not always meet its legal obligations to repair or replace cars when cars sold were not of satisfactory quality
• did not make clear to some customers the terms of motor finance, such as the level of repayments or that they were signing more than one finance agreement
• gave some customers a misleading impression about the scope of the after-sale vehicle guarantee, or that the guarantee was free when in fact it was being charged for
• allowed some customers to drive vehicles off its premises without valid road tax. 

Carcraft fully co-operated with the OFT's investigation. Whilst the company said it believed that its business practices complied with the law, it has made changes to its practices and given undertakings about its future conduct, which address the OFT's concerns.

Cavendish Elithorn, Senior Director of the OFT's Goods and Consumer Group, said: “Car buyers often choose to purchase from a large dealer in expectation of peace of mind.

“Carcraft promised customers that it aimed to help them 'find the perfect car with confidence', but we don't think its practices ensured that it always lived up to expectations or met its legal obligations.

“We welcome Carcraft's undertakings which should ensure customers are treated fairly.

“The industry should take note of our action against Carcraft as it shows that dealers will face enforcement action where their practices cause serious problems for consumers.”

A Carcraft spokesperson said: “Carcraft firmly believes in putting customers at the forefront of everything we do. We take customer service and satisfaction extremely seriously and we are genuinely sorry that in the past some customers didn’t receive the levels of service we currently offer. We handle every issue individually and in recent years we have made changes to many of our products and services to ensure we better meet customers’ expectations, a fact the OFT now acknowledges.

“This comes on top of our recently launched and industry leading ‘Drive Happy’ package, designed to offer customers valuable assurances when buying a used car, with a free one year guarantee, servicing, MOT and RAC Roadside Assist.”