Customer experience with Carvago: Marco, Italy

The first Mercedes I went to see looked really good in the ad. Black, automatic, AMG Line. It was just outside Padua, where we live, so I thought I might have found my car quite quickly.

In person, though, it was a different story. Scuffed wheels, scratches on the rear bumper and a pretty worn interior. None of that was visible in the photos. The seller said that with a used car I had to expect some wear. I did, but for almost thirty thousand euros I'd imagined something better kept.

I wanted to replace my old Lancia Y. I was fond of it, but I fancied something newer and more comfortable. The new Ypsilon didn't really appeal to me, so I started looking at other brands too. I'm forty-nine, I work in purchasing for a food company and I mainly use the car to get to work. My daughter has her own car now, so I usually drive alone or with my partner. We didn't need a big car.

I liked the Mercedes A-Class, and I also looked at the Audi A3. I wanted an automatic and the sport package. A powerful engine didn't matter that much; an A 180 would have been plenty. Looks did, though. Since I'd decided to spend that much on a car, I wanted to enjoy it.

After that first Mercedes I saw two more cars. One Audi was quite nice, but it had a manual gearbox. I thought about it for a while, but in the end I let it go. I sit in slow traffic every day and I really wanted my next car to be an automatic.

I came across Carvago while searching online. There were lots of offers, but the cars that caught my eye were abroad. That put me off at first. After those viewings, I couldn't imagine buying a car without seeing it beforehand.

I called them and asked how the purchase works. Mainly I wanted to know whether I'd get more photos and whether someone would tell me what condition the car was really in. That's how I learned about CarAudit. First I pay for the inspection, get the report and then decide whether to go ahead.

I chose one Mercedes and ordered the inspection. When the result came, the first thing I opened was the photos. They showed a scratch near the boot and a scuffed spot on one wheel. I kept zooming in and going back to them. My partner was already laughing that I'd know every scratch on that car before it even arrived.

In the end those little things didn't bother me. There were only a few and the rest of the car looked well kept. I just wanted to know about them in advance.

They explained the technical part of the report over the phone. The car was recommended to me and I decided to buy it. I also checked who my contract would be with. I was buying from Carvago in Italy and we dealt with everything in Italian. I never spoke to the foreign dealer at all.

Then I signed the documents, paid and sent in the paperwork for registration. Carvago took care of the import and registration. All I had to do was wait for the handover. Now and then I opened the photos again, because I was still a little nervous about what the car would be like in real life.

At the handover I first walked around it. I looked at the wheels and bumpers, then inside. It matched what I'd seen in the report. I found the two small scuffs too, but up close they looked exactly as they had in the photos. Nothing else surprised me.

Now I drive it every day. I'm glad I kept looking and didn't take that Audi with the manual gearbox. The engine is enough for my driving and I still like the car. I just park more carefully near kerbs than I used to.