right not too sure where to post this so please feel free to move it into the correct place!!!

my dad bought a diesel octavia vrs early last year. about 2 months ago he decided to swap this car for a fabia 3. all went smoothly.... well apart from the giant gouge out of the boot at delivery!! last night we recieved a call from the new owner asking why there was a warning light on the dashboard!! my dad told him that it was just the dpf. afterwards we got to thinking, why on earth would a customer ring the previous owner not the dealership? car was bought from dm keith leeds which may explain some of it haha. their after sales is rather shabby. can someone tell me if this is normal though for the new owner to call? how would they get our number etc??

much appreciated

dave

I have cotacted previous owners on many occasions and have also been contacted myself.

Why not?? It's a great source of info.

Easy to get a number if they are in the phone book.

but surely data protection or something would stop the dealer giving the number out? dont get me wrong we dont mind, but if the dealer is saying 'any problems, give this guy a call'. i think the main thing we dont understand is surely as soon as we gave the vrs back to the dealer, it stopped being our car?

I suppose it just depends upon how paranoid you are. Personally, I have no objection to previous owners of any of the cars I have px'ed or sold getting in contact, as some have in the past........I have nothing to hide!

Have you been told that he got your number from the dealer?

The V5 carries previous keeper details and it's fairly simple to get the telephone number if it's in the phone book.

It could be that the person who now owns the car is having problems, and not getting anywhere with the supplying dealer. I might be tempted to phone the previous owner, just to establish if they had seen the same issues with the car.

Having details of the history could well be a useful bargaining tool when they get back to the dealer.

In any event, it's fairly easy for them to find you, as your details are on the V5, and things like 192.com can make it possible to find telephone numbers etc., even if you are now ex-directory.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Bagpuss.

cool thanks for all your help:d

Name and address of previous owner in on the V5 - maybe those who always buy new cars didn't realise that.

If your name is in the phone book then it is pretty easy to get the phone number from 192.com.

Your name and address are in the public domain. Just go to the library and look in the electoral register. You can choose not to have it published (eg on 192.com) but it is available to view at the public library.

I have had several calls from new owners of my old cars - mostly wanting the radio pin code or to confirm the mileage hadn't been fiddled. I have no problem with that but I would be somewhat annoyed to get a call asking me what the light on the dash was! RTFM!

Re comments on DM Keith - I have had excellent service from them. When I bought my car from them I asked a mate who has driven Octavia company cars for the last 6 years what they were like for servicing - he too gave them a glowing reference.

sales for dm keith leeds are superb. my family has bought 5 cars from them in the past few years!! but the after sales realy does them them down. would go to osset over leeds now.