Osman Malik forked out £20k on seven cars in just nine months (Image: SWNS)
Britain's unluckiest car buyer has issued a warning about using Facebook Marketplace after spending almost £20,000 on seven motors in nine months.
Osman Malik, 45, has been forced to buy a new car nearly every month this year after being scammed twice and ending up with a string of dodgy vehicles. The pharmacist says he inadvertedly bought a Mini with its plates cloned, while one Honda broke down on the motorway within hours and another only lasted a week.
He has so far forked out £16,750 in just nine months following a run of bad luck which resulted in him purchasing a string of shoddy motors with various faults.
The dad-of-two is now urging second hand car buyers to avoid Facebook Marketplace which he describes as being "like the Wild West".
Osman, of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, said: "I don't think most people own eight cars in their lifetime, let alone a few months.
"It's partly down to me being scammed online and partly me being stupid - but I've certainly had some rotten luck along the way."
READ MORE: 'I'm a car expert - never make this mistake when selling your used motor'
The dad says buying cars on Facebook is 'like the Wild West' (Image: SWNS)
Osman's run of misfortune began when his trusty Honda Accord was written off in a car accident in December last year. He began trawling Facebook Marketplace and Autotrader for a reliable replacement before settling on a VW Golf for £2,000.
But he later found out the roof lining was sagging dramatically and needed urgent repair so he swapped it online for a Land Rover Freelander in January. However, that packed in just two weeks later and a mechanic found sand in the oil sump, meaning it needed to be scrapped.
Osman then paid £1,300 for a VW Passat in February but soon discovered it had a cracked windscreen, side panel damage and warning lights all over the dash. A buyer bought the car with its known faults allowing Osman to purchase a Mini One for £1,000 in April.
But three weeks later he was shocked to be hit with a bus lane fine from Manchester - despite being at home in bed at the time.
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The plates had been cloned and put onto a similar mini but Osman was able to successfully appeal when he pointed out his had a different colour roof. Osman then sold his Mini over fears similar trouble would continue and bought a BMW 1 series for £1,000.
He then found out it needed bodywork repairing and a £500 key replacement so sold that and bought another Honda Accord for £850 in August. But he was then forced to also scrap that also after it broke down on the motorway just hours after buying it.
Osman has now settled for a Citroen DS4, which he paid £9,000 on finance for after finally listening to his wife Maria and going direct to a car dealership.
He added: "My original Honda Accord I had for two years but one day I was driving to work and someone hit me and drove off.
“Because it was such an old car the insurance company wrote it off and so I began searching Auto Trader and places like that.
"I bought a VW Golf from what I thought was a dealer but which turned out to be a a garage on Marketplace. I was driving it back and the headliner started hanging down.
“I then discovered a car swapping on a Facebook group and swapped it for a Land Rover Freelander. I had it for two weeks and it lost all power and it had to be towed home. I took it to the garage and he said he didn’t know what they’d done to it. They put sand in the oil tank and cut wires.
“I paid £900 for that and then £600 in repairs. I’d been scammed. I got it scrapped and went back on Facebook marketplace. I saw a Mini One. I offered him £900 and thought I was getting a good deal. It only had six miles of petrol.
“So I drove it around the corner to the same garage and he said it had so many problems with it. He said I'd need to spend £700 to get it fixed.
“Three weeks later I got a parking notice saying I was driving in Manchester at 1am in a bus lane, but I was in bed at home. The Mini had a white roof but my mini had a black roof. They had cloned the number plate and put it on a similar car.
“I appealed it, at first they didn’t accept the appeal but they eventually did. I then got a VW Passat off Marketplace. It wasn’t too bad. It had a crack in the window screen but then some lights started flashing on it.
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“After I sold that I got the BMW 1 series. But when it was delivered the seats were ripped and the plastic panel outside was handing off.
“It needed the whole key replacing too, which would cost £500 so I got another Honda Accord on Facebook marketplace.It seemed quite nice, I went to Manchester for it. The guy seemed genuine.
“I was driving home on the M62 and then it suddenly lost power. It said low oil pressure. So that was scrapped too.My wife basically said I couldn’t buy off Facebook anymore so I went to a dealership.
“I'll never use Markeplace for cars again because there's no rules or regulations on there really.Advertisers don't have to pay to upload so they can put anything up there, with no checks in place.
“These are the cars I just bought. I saw loads more that I didn't even bother test driving.They were in such bad condition when I got there, but advertised as in excellent condition.Basically, don’t use marketplace for buying cars, it’s like the Wild West.”
Osman's eight cars in nine months:
Honda Accord - written off last December after buying for £2,000 in 2022.
VW Golf - bought for £2,000 in December last year.
Land Rover - swapped for VW Golf on Facebook in January.
VW Passat - bought in February for £1,300.
Mini One - bought in April for £1,000.
BMW 1 Series - bought in June for £1,000.
Honda Accord - bought in August for £850.
Citroen DS4 - bought in August for £9,000.
Work/repairs - £1,600.
Total spend - £16,750.
