All I want is a decent second-hand car

I swear it shouldn’t be this hard. I need to find a reliable car and I need it soon. We have radiotherapy appointments looming over us and our current transport just won’t make it. So I headed online as that’s the easiest, cheapest and most convenient for where we live.

The main website I’m using is Gumtree. I sold a car on there once and that was a total nightmare. I’ve also experienced weirdos when selling clothing and shoes. Things like maternity underwear brought 2 young men who would call me on a daily basis and harass me and a simple thing like a pair of shoes, brought a message asking if I ‘could wear them longer’ before the person bought them.

This time however, I’m the buyer. Scrub that, I’m the attempted buyer. I’ve attempted several times. I found one car that I liked the look of but it had a bit of a dent on the bumper. Like anyone, I asked what caused the bump and when it had happened. No reply then BOOM the advert goes away. Next, I find a car I really do like the look of. I still like it and it’s still advertised but it’s a little out of my price range. I asked about it anyway and the person told me it is still in daily usage. Well, I looked up online to see if I could find out how much it would cost for road tax and found out it isn’t currently taxed. If it’s not taxed, it is NOT being used daily. I’m supposed to buy a car from someone who lies about a simple thing like that?

I’ve looked at dozens of cars by now:

1 owner from new

Needs nothing done.

Genuine miles on the clock.

Yeah, all advisories on the MOT have been done.

I’ve already lowered the price and can’t go any lower.

It’s my car (so were the other 32 they’ve previously sold on the same site)

It goes on and on and on. Don’t they realise their profile shows what category they sell in? And there are reviews of course. So you’ve sold 50 cars and you are honest and trustworthy so you should have lots and lots of positive reviews right? Not with names like ‘R’ or ‘J’ or names I couldn’t pronounce no matter how much wine you gave me.

I’m not looking for gold bars here, just a car. But with that hunt, I’d appreciate some honesty, some humanity and just a dash of decency.

Am I asking too much?