Hi there,
When we came to Porto, we brought Diego’s father’s car to move more easily while we furnished the house. Then Diego took the car back to Valencia. In general, although most things are a bit far away, we can easily get to places on foot, by bike or with Uber. We haven’t used public transport much because it almost costs the same as Uber which is also faster.
In June when we were visiting houses, Diego said that we needed to have a car to be able to tour Porto and its surroundings more comfortably. To go to the beach, hiking, etc. In addition, we had already asked prices to rent a car at specific times and it was super expensive.
Here began the odyssey of looking for a used car in a city where illegality and racketeering are the norm.
We began to look for used cars through OLX, and we set an initial budget of a maximum of 3,000 euros.
At OLX all the cars were flying and the next day they had already been sold.
| Carros baratos usados | This was the first place we visited and both times we went it was closed and no one was answering the phone. |
Danicars | They had a car for less than 3,000 euros, that was not bad, but they told us that they did not give a guarantee because “it was a very cheap car”. Knowing how the Portuguese are, this already caused us a lot of mistrust; especially since the business is legally obliged to give a guarantee. |
| SS Automoveis | It didn’t inspire confidence in me, and they only had a Mazda that was theoretically sold if the buyer was approved for credit. |
| AV Sport | They had responded very well by email, but when we arrived, only the mechanics were there, and they knew nothing. |
| Webodromo | We found this one by chance when we were going to the previous one. The man gave me confidence and explained to us very well what the procedure was like. He did not have any car whose price was less than 5,000 euros, so we were waiting for him to notify us as soon as more cars arrived. |
| F2 Car | Until now, this was the one that gave us the most confidence due to the attention they had given us and because the car had an 18-month warranty. The car we were interested in was supposedly in another workshop. They agreed to let me know when they had the car in Campanhã and they didn’t tell me anything after a week of waiting. |
| Filipe Pinto Automoviles | This one was recommended to me by a friend and the good thing was that the car came with provisional insurance. The bad thing is that the cheapest car costs 10,000 euros. |
| Rafael Leitao Automoveis | It didn’t give us any confidence because the cars were supposedly ready to go and one of the ones we liked had the driver’s seat belt broken. Here too the issue of the guarantee was shady and illegal. |
| Rocha Automoveis Aeroporto | This one had a lot of variety, and we went on the 6th of July. Here we reserved a 5-door Smart. |
I must tell you that after the multiple bad experiences we have had in Porto and verifying that there is no body capable of ensuring our rights, buying a used car was something that caused me panic. Here the objective was not to buy a car but to do everything in my power so that I did not get scammed buying a used car.
In addition, knowing that in Portugal all negative Google reviews are deleted, it was very clear that we could not trust the evaluation that appeared on Google. Even so, Rocha Automóveis had quite a few negative reviews.
Since everyone offered you the guarantee or not as they wanted, we had to investigate to see what exactly the law in Portugal said. By law, when you buy from a business, they must give you an 18-month guarantee.
In other words, all those businesses that did not give a guarantee because the car was very cheap, that only gave a 12-month guarantee or that charged you for the guarantee separately and if you did not want to pay more, they made you sign some papers rejecting the guarantee; all those businesses were acting illegally.
At Rocha Automóveis we saw a 5-door Smart that was what we were looking for because we wanted a small car, but with the power to make relatively long trips.
We saw several cars that were very worn and with many things to fix. Instead, this Smart was fairly preserved on the inside and at least less than 20 years old.
Even so, the photos on the internet were retouched and the car had many things to repair, Heldder Rocha told us that the car still had to go through the mechanic, so all internal and external problems would be fixed. We told him to put in the reservation contract all the damages that we had seen plus what was normally done in a mechanical review before selling it.
The car cost 4,600 euros on the website with the basic 18-month warranty that covers the box and engine. There in the business the car had the price of 5999 euros. That price was with a standard warranty that was more extensive.
There the salesman began to negotiate so that we could buy the car with that coverage.
There he said that supposedly changing the name of the vehicle cost an additional 200 euros. We are sure that this was a lie and that he simply wanted to pretend to lower those 200 euros. I should have heeded this red flag and not have gone ahead with the car reservation.
In the end, it settled at 5,600 euros with standard coverage. Diego said that he felt more secure having the car almost fully covered for 18 months.
We paid 1000 euros to reserve the car and they said that the expected delivery date was July 13.
Regarding insurance, it could be contracted in the business before taking out the car or we could contract it on our own. The business had agreed to send us quotes and they never did.
The 13th of July arrived, and no one bothered to call us. It was Diego who had to write to Heldder Rocha (the commercial) via WhatsApp to tell us when the car would be ready. He said we could go on July 14 at 6:00 p.m.
We arrived and coincidentally Heldder Rocha was not in this business. We were attended by a teenager who had no idea what he was supposed to do.
Just looking at the outside of the car, we realized that they had not fixed the things that were placed in the contract. A piece of glass that was broken they had simply put glue on it, they had spray painted things, even staining the paint of the car, in another part they had placed a kind of black silicone. For what they did, it was better to leave the car unrepaired. The second car key was also missing, and the excuse is that the locksmith was on vacation.
If they had already left it like that on the outside, imagine how that car would be internally.
We told the teenager to call Heldder because that way we weren’t going to take the car.
They told us that Heldder would be here in 10 minutes, which was a lie. We went to the administration area to get our reservation money back and the salesperson Alexandre Ferreira told us that if we didn’t want to take the car, nothing would be returned.
The excuse was that it was a car from 2004 and what could we expect.
I called the Republican Guard. When they arrived, Alexandre Ferreira casually started talking on the phone and another guy appeared and the first thing he said was “This is a 2004 car.”
The other excuse they gave is that we had requested a “custom” car as if we had asked to have our car painted pink with hearts.
When we saw the car, we asked Heldder Rocha if it was being sold like that or if it still had to go through the mechanic. It was Heldder who confirmed that the car was about to be repaired. If he had told us it was being sold like that, we would not have reserved it.
They gave us a document in which they put back all the things that had to be repaired and that they would do it in a week. Just making that document was confirmation by the company that it was they who had violated the contract.
These scammers refused to return the reservation money even with the police in front of them and the next day, Heldder Rocha told us again to go pick up the car “as agreed”. Who had told him that we would look for the car the next day?
That weekend I filed a complaint with all the competent bodies and the following Monday I filed a complaint with the police.
We received an email from Arthur Rocha, who, not being satisfied with refusing to return the money, threatened to demand more money from us through his lawyers for “vehicle repairs” (repairs that are included in the price of the vehicle). Therefore, this criminal intended to charge us and future buyers for these supposed repairs, since the car was put up for sale again the next day.
It occurred to me to look for the company in Portal Queixa and they have an evaluation of 34 out of 100, which is quite bad. Most of the claims were from cases like mine; In addition, there were more unfortunate cases in which people had agreed to take the car with the promise that they would repair it in the future and it was never repaired and they lived a nightmare with a car that every day had a new problem.
In addition, it is seen that everyone was convinced to pay the “standard” warranty and then they did not even answer the calls when people began to find the infinity of failures of a car that did not even go through the mechanical revision.
In a Trustpilot review, a man recounted a similar situation and stressed that the company lied about everything: the kilometers, the supposed repairs, etc.
Here is a sample of the reality of this company of scammers:
I denounced the company to Finanças, ASAE, CICAP, Centro de Arbitragem do Sector Automóbel, the police, to the Republican Guard because they were not registered in Livro de Reclamações, in Portal Queixa and even to the Labor Inspectorate. With the level of illegality and fraud in Porto, I knew that they were going to fall somewhere.
Months later we saw that the stand of Rocha Automóveis aeroporto was permanently closed on Google Maps and then we saw that it had been removed. Maybe it is because of the complaints I made.
Even so, we must wait for the court to process the complaint to go to trial and get the thousand euros back.
Here I leave important information in case you are going to buy a used car in Portugal: