i was taking a glance at the many threads on ebay here and i was just wondering if anybody fancied writing if they ever bought a gem or a pile of ........ I have purchased 2 cars of ebay, both for personnel use. First being a K reg bmw 316i. it was a great car and to be honest i wish i never sold it. i paid £1500 for it and sold it for £1700 6 months later.i never went to see it and bid "blind". i get to see it at least once a week as the guy who bought it lives round the corner, if he ever puts it up, i will probably buy it.
The second was a hyundai coupe, same as before, i bought it blind. i had many emails with the seller and he seemed genuine ( they probably all are behind a keyboard). paid 1400for it. after driving it home i realised discs and pads needed changing all round, which i got done at a cost of £250. since i have had it i have had bits done incuding bushes,1 ball joint and a service, which i deem to be satisfatory on a 10 year old motor.
i was pretty peeeeeeed of with having to change the brakes straight after i had bought it, but i take it as a lesson learned, and i still have the car now. its got leather, aircon and cruise control and i love driving it, so i dont moan.
does anyone want to share there first hand buying experiences?
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I bought a 405TD estate for £620, budgeting £200 to sort it out, as at that price it was clear the seller had left things that needed doing. Re-did the front suspension for £170, and I've since done 17k in it in 15 months. It does 43 mpg on average, and it takes dogs, hay, tip trips etc. very well. It's had a new starter for £20 from the scrappy.
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Well, I've sold quite a number of cars through Ebay and they have all be good motors. Had good feedback and not a single complaint. At the end of the day it is no different to buying any other way. When you go to pick up the car you look around it and if you don't like it then walk away. The worst you'll get is a bad feedback. Look for a good, well written and comprehensive description and photos.
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My parents bought a 2003 StreetKa from Ebay about a year ago. It was a grand cheaper than the dealers were asking at the time, and apart from a non-functioning passenger door handle, and barely legal front tyres (both mentioned in the listing), it was as good as any they'd looked at in dealers.
Came back clear on an HPI check, so they went ahead. A year on, all it's needed is a service and a headlight bulb. Mum loves it!
Cheers
DP
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. When you go to pick up the car you look around it and if you don't like it then walk away. The worst you'll get is a bad feedback.
Surely you should view the car BEFORE you bid on it, not once you have won the auction. This is half the problem with ebay, people think they are bidding to view the car, whereas if they win the auction they have actually agreed to buy it.
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Surely you should view the car BEFORE you bid on it, not once you have won the auction. This is half the problem with ebay, people think they are bidding to view the car, whereas if they win the auction they have actually agreed to buy it.
Not easy if the car you really like is a couple of hundred miles away! If you do 'win' an auction, there is nothing the buyer can do but leave bad feedback (which would be done right back!!) if the buyer doesnt like the car and decides not to buy!
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Sorry, that should read there is nothing the seller can do!
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Strictly the non-buyer should refund the sellers advertising fee.
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I haven'd bought a bad 'un (or any) but I have viewed a couple of real stinkers. If I can dig up an old e-mail I composed, I will post it, minus identifying information, of course.
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I bought my Fiat Marea Weekend 2.4 turbo diesel unseen from ebay. I did check out the seller had not sold any other cars as he had a rating in the teens, hence not a dealer. He had a phone number in the listing, so I called and had a long chat with him. He told me what work he had done to the car during the time he had owned the car and all seemed well. One of the major things was a cam belt change. He said if the description did not match on the day of collection then I could walk away.
The car changed hands for £2150 (1998 R with 75,000 2 years ago) from a start price of £2000. Why did I bid? This is the largest diesel engine and is very scarce compared to the petrol or lower powered diesels. Originally sold new for about £18,000, so a good powerful car for a bargain price - especially compared to a large engined Focus, which were making £4,000.
Just after I bought it I needed a new battery (£60), probably because it had not been used much for the previous 6 weeks. After a service and MOT (3 new tyres £150) everything seemed OK. A couple of months later I felt the clutch starting to slip, I drove carefully for another couple of months and then had it replaced (£800 - ouch). Since then I have had to replace the disks and pads (£200), new glow plugs (£60 but fitted myself), injectors serviced (£360) and fitted a second hand rear wiper motor (£25). Overall it has cost less than most people loose in depreciation on new cars over the same period.
Am I pleased with the car? A definite yes and plan to keep it for several years more (mileage now only 93,000). Would I use ebay again, more than likely.
The main thing is to decide on which car is right for you and then watch ebay for some weeks to see what cars are offered and how much they make. In 3 months of watching this was the first 2.4 turbo listed out of over 30 Fiat Marea Weekends, but 2 more were listed in the next 2 months.
You will soon learn which cars to avoid due to the way the listing is written and how the photos are taken. I hate seeing spelling and grammatical errors and automatically think the seller is not interested in the vehicle as he cannot be bothered the run the text through a spell checker.
--
Roger
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
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I was taking the Forester in for a service last Feb, and there was a distresssed looking couple at the service counter.
They'd bought an Isuzu Trooper for a couple of grand off Ebay a couple of days previously - new MOT and all that.
It had broken down and it had been towed to this dealer - the thing was a right-off and too dangerous to drive away (even if it would start)
I guess the same rules apply as to any private sale, where you have no rights once you hand over the money, that's it!
From a sellers point of view, Ebay was a pain in the neck - the person who had "won" suddenly had to leave the country for a holiday that day, never to be heard of again.
The second highest bidder came round, then only wanted to pay half what he had offered in his last bid.
Finally sold it to a decent sort of guy, who only reduced his bid by £100 once he'd seen the car.
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I've never bought on Ebay, but I sold a fairly new car on Ebay for over £12k and I can say had on heart that the guy bought a spot-on car for a very good price, and I never heard any complaint at all.
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