Dealing With Dodgy - Part One - The nightmare begins!

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:12]No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:00:16]Oh, [ __ ] Here we go again.

[00:00:22]Back in the day, replacing a car meant dropping a couple of hundred quid on a project. The problem? My mechanical knowledge can be summed up in one word.

[00:00:30]Useless. Look, I wiped backside for a living.

[00:00:35]It's honest work, but it's never going to make me rich. However, this time was different. I had a real budget. 1,500 quid.

[00:00:43]For that kind of money, I shouldn't need a tool kit. I should be able to tax it, insure it, and just get in AND GO. LET'S GO.

[00:00:52]After 2 weeks of scrounging lifts and borrowing cars like a broke teenager, I'd seen it all. I could have bought a dozen fixer-uppers by now, but with my mechanical knowledge, I wasn't looking for a project. Oh, hell no.

[00:01:08]Then, on November the 20th, it happened.

[00:01:11]A Facebook Marketplace ad appeared like a digital oasis. It checked every box, a full year's MOT, and the advert said no issues at all. It seemed perfect. Oh, happy day.

[00:01:24]Oh, happy day.

[00:01:29]I messaged the dealer instantly. He hit me back within seconds. The game was on.

[00:01:35]Plan: pick my boy up from school, head straight there, and drive home in glory.

[00:01:48]By the time we reached the very experienced dealers, their words, not mine, the sun was down, and the snow was starting to stick. It felt less like a car sale, and more like a scene from that Stephen King film, Misery. I'm your number one fan.

[00:02:06]The dealer was texting me updates during the drive, but the second we pulled up to his place, radio silence. The man was a ghost. His only legacy, a daughter left in charge of his business.

[00:02:18]Daddy, you're a crook.

[00:02:23]We gave it the once over, aside from one tire looking nearly as bald as me. Mhm, bald joke. Everything else seemed fine.

[00:02:31]We took it for a spin, no mystery knocks, no terrifying bangs. I think it seemed good enough for me. Yeah. Yeah, baby.

[00:02:43]Back from the test drive, I put on my best poker face.

[00:02:47]"Look, that tire is living on a prayer."

[00:02:49]I told him. I lowballed an offer of 1,050 pounds. Deal >> Pay up. or no deal.

[00:02:59]The deal was struck. I handed over the cash, sorted the tax and insurance right there on the pavement, and dumped 50 pounds of diesel into the tank.

[00:03:08]I was heading home feeling fantastic.

[00:03:11]Everything seemed A-OK.

[00:03:14]And he lived happily ever after.

[00:03:19]Oh, come on, my old buddy. Why are you fibbing to the viewers? You of all people know better than that. You know this is not how the story ends. I'll get back to you soon.

[00:03:32]Early the next morning, there I was on the school run in the new car I bought off a very experienced dealer, a car that's said to have no issues at all.

[00:03:48]But then, it happened on these very bends that I'm approaching right now. There was still a bit of snow laid about.

[00:04:00]As we turned into the bend, the steering suddenly become all stiff, really juddery. I thought we were going to go off the road.

[00:04:08]Freaked me out a little.

[00:04:10]Oh, that one [ __ ] up my butt hole. It scared me, son.

[00:04:13]Ooh, get me the out of this car.

[00:04:19]So, we're creeping towards the school gates doing our best snail on a mission impression, while I'm basically wrestling a bear just to turn the steering wheel. Big whoop. Want to fight about it?

[00:04:33]I've owned some absolute bangers in my time, but this this was the first time a car made me start contemplating my life choices.

[00:04:42]Why? Why?

[00:04:43]Why?

[00:04:44]Why?

[00:04:48]Now, because my mechanical knowledge is how do I put this?

[00:04:53]You have no skills and you're a loser.

[00:04:58]Yeah, fair point. I had to call in the big guns, a legend, a literal hero, my old man, FIX-IT FRED.

[00:05:14]I EXPLAINED THE SITUATION, and Fred's expert diagnosis was simple.

[00:05:19]Buy some steering fluid, limp it home, and he'll take a look at this car that supposedly had zero issues when I bought it. Allegedly.

[00:05:30]So, I go to the shop.

[00:05:32]20 quid for a single liter of fluid?

[00:05:35]That's expensive. At that price, I expected it to be vintage wine, not car juice.

[00:05:43]What followed was the most physically demanding workout of my life. Forget the gym, just drive a car with the problems this one had.

[00:05:51]By the time I staggered onto the driveway, Fix-It Fred was already there, tools in his hands, and judgment in his eyes.

[00:05:58]Let's just take a look.

[00:06:07]Oh, god's sake.

[00:06:12]Come on, man.

[00:06:16]Uh, that's no good.

[00:06:21]That is one big pile of [ __ ] So, Fix-It Fred crawls out from under my new car. You remember the one? The one the very experienced dealer swore had zero issues in the ad.

[00:06:33]Yeah, that one. Oh, I remember.

[00:06:38]Fred looks at me, and let's just say he's not exactly glowing.

[00:06:43]"Major issues," he says. "Actually, scratch that. Major safety issues." He tells me the steering rack is well, I will let you guess the word he used.

[00:06:57]Then came the crucial lesson. And by crucial, I mean expensive. Apparently, this car has a thirst for steering fluid that will put a desert traveler to shame.

[00:07:07]Half a liter later, I'm 10 quid down, and I haven't even owned the thing for 24 hours.

[00:07:19]While Fred's playing bartender to my steering reservoir, he dropped some knowledge on the Consumer Rights Act.

[00:07:24]Turns out there's a law against dealers selling perfect cars that disintegrate by breakfast the next day.

[00:07:31]So, phone in hand, I started drafting a very polite text to our experienced friend.

[00:07:37]Woohoo.

[00:07:40]Hey, buddy.

[00:07:45]I sat down and laid it all out for the very experienced dealer. I told him everything.

[00:07:50]The morning from hell and the full soggy extent of the leak.

[00:07:57]I didn't mince words. I told him straight, "Advertising a car with no issues at all when it's actively bailing fluid isn't just a mistake. It's a total misrepresentation.

[00:08:08]The car is quite literally not fit for purpose."

[00:08:12]That ain't right.

[00:08:13]Shame on you.

[00:08:17]I played it cool. I asked the very experienced dealer if he'd be willing to rectify the situation.

[00:08:23]Then I sat back to wait for his response.

[00:08:31]Now, I'm not going to lie. I was expecting a customer service 101 reply.

[00:08:36]Something like, "So sorry about that.

[00:08:38]Bring it back and we'll get it sorted immediately."

[00:08:44]Really?

[00:08:47]But no. Instead, I got the dealer special. His reply, "There were no leaks at all when it left here."

[00:08:56]A [ __ ] A [ __ ] A [ __ ] He followed that up with, "Not sure what happened. Maybe just a split pipe." I missed the part where that's my problem.

[00:09:10]My brain hit a wall. A split pipe? No.

[00:09:14]We already went over this.

[00:09:16]It was like he was reading a completely different script.

[00:09:20]There was zero mention of fulfilling his actual legal obligations under the Consumer Rights Act. Nothing. Zero.

[00:09:28]Zilch.

[00:09:31]I still wanted this sorted out, but because I'm a sane I gave the very experienced dealer the benefit of the doubt.

[00:09:38]I replied using the wisdom of Fix It Fred, breaking the technical jargon down into layman's terms.

[00:09:45]I was basically giving myself and Mr. Experience a crash course in steering racks.

[00:09:51]Then, I waited.

[00:10:00]Unlike our previous chats, the instant in instant messaging had apparently died.

[00:10:06]I was left on read, and in today's world, we all know that's a choice.

[00:10:13]Maybe the very experienced dealer was busy out in the wild hunting for more of that legendary no issues at all stock.

[00:10:36]Two hours. That's how long it had been since my last text.

[00:10:41]Two hours of silence from a man who is suddenly too experienced to find his REPLY BUTTON.

[00:10:47]WHAT AM I DOING?

[00:10:51]IT WAS CLEAR. HIS last message wasn't a goodbye. It was a legal exorcism.

[00:10:56]He was washing his hands of this car and me faster than a hit-and-run driver wipes his bumper.

[00:11:03]Oh dear, outside of never mind.

[00:11:08]By this point, I wasn't just annoyed, I was vibrating. I sat there aggressively flipping through the paperwork for this absolute misrepresentation of a vehicle, looking for a loophole, a sign, ANYTHING.

[00:11:23]WE AIN'T FOUND [ __ ] AND THEN, I SAW IT.

[00:11:33]A name on the registration under previous owners.

[00:11:37]A name I knew.

[00:11:39]I hadn't seen him in years, but we used to go to school together.

[00:11:43]Small world.

[00:11:45]Big mistake. Who is it?

[00:11:47]I'm honestly shaking.

[00:11:49]What I found changes everything.

[00:11:51]This mystery schoolmate is the key.

[00:11:54]But I'm not saying who it is just yet.

[00:11:58]Drop your theories in the comments. Full reveal coming in the next video.

[00:12:02]Subscribe so you don't miss it.

[00:12:04]Thanks for watching.