Citizens Advice reports that complaints about second-hand cars bought from independent dealers are the most common complaint on its Advice helpline.

The service, which started in April, received 150,000 calls in its first three months on all subjects, of which 12,000 calls were about used cars from dealers. Approximately 75 per cent of all car-sales complaints were about independent dealers, rather than official franchised dealers or private sellers (although we can’t see what Citizens Advice could do about a private seller, unless it was a trader pretending to be a private seller).