The Car Finder Roger Green – Thinking of buying a car? Don’t end up out of pocket by using a Car Finder

If you are looking for someone to help you take the hassle out of finding a very specific car, then employing the services of a car finder sounds ideal. Especially one who appears to come highly recommended.

Bristol Based Roger Green, touts himself as a ‘personal shopper’ for cars. In profiles and business networking online, he promises to save you time and money and ‘reduce the risk and remove the hassle…of buying a vehicle with problems you are unaware of.’

As part of the service, the car will go through a check, MOT, service and valet.

Sounds too good to be true? Sadly for Car Finder customer Philip Smith, hassle, risk, a dangerous vehicle and losing his money was exactly what he experienced. This is his story.

After being the victim of a road traffic accident in October 2013, I found myself without a car. So I employed the services of Roger Green – The car finder. If the impressive write up is to be believed, Roger Green takes all the stress out of searching for and buying cars.

‘Unique and personalised used car finding service reducing risk, saving time and saving money. I am ‘The Car Finder’.
4N Area Leader & National Leader MIHM Bristol
www.thecarfinder.biz

Such an impressive profile, and evidently a figurehead to the wider business community, how I could go wrong?

As promised, he searched the UK for cars and sent back a list with one in particular he had marked as recommended. This is what happened next.

I transferred the money to a bank account that Roger keeps separately until he checks the car out.  When satisfied with the car, he pays the seller with my money.

The car he purchased he brought to a garage in Nailsea North Somerset where it was checked over.

On viewing the car for the first time, I was none to impressed. I was expecting several Afghanistan rebels to jump out thinking he must have won the car in poker game in Kabul.

Inside was no better. The carpets were soaked from front to back and the rain was running in through the dashboard. To top it all, after pulling back the carpets, I actually pushed my fingers through the floor.

“Lovely seats eh?” Roger said attempting to distract me from making a note of all the defects.

When informing him to his perplexion that I had just pushed my fingers through the floor, he asked ” are you sure?” I told him being able to see my feet through the floor was a give-away.

After asking what happened to the indicator lens and all the fittings, Roger informed me it fell off on the drive back to Nailsea.

At this point, I should have asked for my money back, but Roger promised to get all the welding done as well as the other things I had flagged up. I also realised I was in a very tricky situation and I had made a massive mistake trusting him. He had spent my money and the prospects of getting it back looked grim. I realised I had been had. He was just a cheap little car dealer in over his head.

“One small detail,” said Roger, “the brakes discs and pads will need changing in around 2000 miles.” I assured him that before taking possession of the car, I would be having it Re MOTed at the garage that was carrying out the welding, just for peace of mind. This was after all, not just a car I needed but would also be transporting my family around.

On hearing this, Roger sent a rather panicky email trying to put me off.

The results of the MOT were staggering. The car was in fact a death trap. The MOT examiner had run out of space to report all the failures. All seat belt fixing points were seriously corroded and dangerous. The brakes were so dangerous, if I had to hit the brakes in Bedminster, I wouldn’t have stopped till Timbuctoo. The Advisories ran into two full pages. All this two days after passing one of Rogers’s own car safety checks. The car was only fit for scrap.

I asked one of the journalists freelancing for this site to look into the whole matter of how a car can pass Roger Greens safety checks one day and become a death trap the next. A statement from the garage that inspected the car on Roger Green’s behalf claimed that Roger was clearly informed of the car condition and a list of faults was passed on to him.

Their statement: “We told him the car was rotten and we couldn’t do anything with it.”

Further investigation revealed that Roger took advice from a mechanic prior to buying the car – due to his lack of mechanical knowledge. The mechanic told him “Don’t buy the car leave it alone. ’’

Further investigations revealed Roger doesn’t live or work at his published business address to which he has a string of CCJs against him.

We have also filed a CCJ against him, but unfortunately we have to reapply, as he wants the CCJ to go against his business:

Greenway Motors
Fairview
Wraxall Bristol

He does not contest the amount owed he just doesn’t want to pay it.

This says it all. To register a LTD company costs £20.00 so our guess is he will close the company at the address he doesn’t even live at

Both the garages and the mechanic in Nailsea, that were involved with this car, acted in a very professional way and were very helpful when approached.

We have all the statements, and relevant information to back up this claim. Regardless of his impressive profile on the web, beware this man is a liar and a fraud.

So if you are looking at buying a car, don’t be a mug like myself. Go to a respectable dealer.

Have the car AA or RAC checked before parting with a penny
Do not rely on a new MOT – they are only as good as the examiners honesty
An MOT will not guarantee the engine gear box and all the other expensive items
Do not go on recommendations of friends. I did and they feel worse than I do about this story.

Editor’s Comment: Roger Green failed to respond to our attempt to contact him but facts and communications presented have been checked and verified.