Has my car been involved in an accident?

[Eddie Nuff]

It appears very likely that you've got a write off

No he hasn't, the HPI check was clear. All dealers worth their salt will check all their cars against the register and if it comes back as clear - it's clear. What the dealer is guilty of is valeter's who haven't done their job properly. p**s poor cleaning job leaving glass under the seat and no excuse whatsoever for leaving glass in the door pockets! That either gets rid of evidence from a known accident or alerts the dealer to a possible accident he didn't know about.

OP, did you test drive the car before you drove it? You should have picked up on the pulling issue then, surely. Tyre position means nothing as they're easy to swap, as you've just found out. It's quite possible the car has been in an accident with a wall or such and the owner has chosen to pay to mend it instead of informing the insurers. But if the previous owner says it hasn't been in an accident, and it's not on the register, the dealer has as much chance of knowing when he bought it as you have.

[411514]

The fact that there was glass left in the door pocket is surely the best evidence that the dealer didn't know about the accident. If they did most likely they would have made extra effort to hide the evidence.

[Donkey]

Just in from work.

I'm keeping an eye on the time RE the 30 day rule so getting an AA inspection done this week as soon as I can. If it turns out good then fair enough. If not and accident damage is reported I'll be returning the car as not of satisfactory quality under the Consumer Rights Act. When I took the car in initially they said their techs had checked it and there was no sign of accident. If the AA report says different then there's something fishy going on and I'd have ample grounds under the Act, and possibly others too.

I disagree with it having been written off and am inclined to believe that it was repaired without the insurer's knowledge, hence no paper trail.

With reference to the alignment readings, I can't see what has actually changed and do wonder if they tried to adjust the non-adjustable rear suspension as there is quite a difference between the dealer readings and Kwikfit readings despite a different model used on each - I don't know. Hopefully the inspection can shed some light on to this. Surely the rear shouldn't be out that much after 23 months and 15k miles?

I think the key here is that the dealer checked it over once brought to their attention and gave it a clean bill of health. The report will verify or deny this.

I did take it for a test drive before buying. The dealer is in the middle of Glasgow and there aren't any fast roads. The fastest roads are the M8 and Clyde Expressway, both with 50 mph limit but getting anywhere near that is rare during the day and their condition is not the best! The rest are 20 & 30 mph city roads, again not in the best nick. Also, not being from Glasgow I have no idea where I'm going so was at the mercy of the dealer giving directions. Should have taken it further out I suppose...

[Donkey]

Is that rough finish on the same side that the window glass was replaced?

No, the 2012 glass is on the right, the rough finish is on the left

Don't forget, as you have mentioned you purchased it with finance - the finance company / lender also has a vested interest in this and can also bring their weight to bear, as technically, they own / part own the car!

The report is of the "verbal first, written within 24 hours" variety so as soon as I get the inspection done I'll call the finance company and follow up with forwarding the report, assuming it's not satisfactory of course. I have already contacted them with my concerns and their advice was to contact the dealer. They will be informed of everything.

[Gibbo2286]

Window glass in the door pockets etc. is really only evidence that a window was broken, probably by some local toerag looking for easy pickings or just plain drunken vandalism.

[Michel]

I agree with Gibbo, it's probably just the vandalism.

Reading through other Citroen forums (Berlingo especially) it wouldn't be any sort of surprise to learn your car left the factory with misaligned suspension or rattles..