I went to see a 'new' car described as 'one owner, fsh, lovely condition' recently.
OK it was 10yo, but that's still 4 yrs younger than the one I currently drive.
When I arrived, I immediately spotted a severely cracked bumper and a fair-sized gouge in the bonnet. Before starting the (suspiciously, on a dealers forecourt) warm engine, I checked the oil - just about collected a drop on the end of the dipstick!
I noticed a leak around the rocker cover and thought ... well maybe that, but when I started and revved engine to only about 3k, a lovely plume of blue smoke appeared - must have been that final drop off the dipstick!
It took me about ten minutes to walk away from that one, but I bet there's someone here who's done it quicker?
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Sometimes just seeing the house/area where the car is kept is enough to put me off. Call me a snob but rough houses/areas and rough cars go together.
....Better still ! listening to how the person responds to your questions on the phone.
You know the type, simple questions like "how long have you had the car ?" result in .."oh its not my car, its my girlfriends second cousin twiced removed, I'm just selling it for them"
Sometimes the adverts themselves can put me off.
'owner moving abroad, quick sell needed'
'recent respray'
'no offers'
I could go on and on ......
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I went to look at a 2.0 16v Calibra once. Upon lifting the bonnet I discovered 8 of the 16 valves were missing. It only had a sohc 8v engine. The person trying to sell it knew nothing about cars and had bought it 2 years previously thinking he had bought a 16v. It took several minutes to explain that the 16v badges were just that - badges. It did not mean that the engine spec matched those badges. Upon further investigation the spare wheel was wedged into the tyre well. At some point in the car's history it had a rear end shunt and the boot floor was still crumpled because of a bodged repair. Either the seller was a very good liar, or he had landed himself with a lemon that he was now going to have difficulty selling on, unless he found someone like himself to buy it off him of course. From arriving to leaving, I would say about 5 mins.
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My folks came round asking me to look at a 2.0 Sierra a local lad was selling about two years ago.
It looked a heap as soon as I saw it and starting it confirmed it was knackered. It knocked like hell from the camshaft and chugged a plume of blue smoke from the exhaust with every revolution of the engine. To top it all there was a cock and bull story about how the log book had never been changed to the correct address from 2 years prior
All this after my folks knocked me up after a nightshift!
To answer the question - I stayed too long!
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Took wife to look at a Renault 5, was going to be her first car. Also took along a mechanic 'mate' to give it the once over, I never trust myself when buying.
Pulled up outside this rather large house, nice wide drive with shiny yellow R5 parked nicely in the middle. I walked up the off side he walked up the near side we got to the front, looked at each other, swapped sides walked back down the drive got in my car and drove away. Nice respray, shame about the pimply filler in just about every panel.
Was there about thirty seconds, I reckon.
Should really have stayed longer and explained to the vendor why he wasn't going to get a grand for his motor.
Cockle
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When I was hunting for the rover.
One vehicle (trade) was long way away.
On the phone I made him describe it in detail and asked direct questions about condition.
Decided that since it was mint and at a good price I'd suffer the long drive and lost ccar hunting time.
Got there and it was a nail. Every panel damaged and bumper held on by cable ties.
I wanted to leave without knocking the door but honest mate insisted I told the guy we'd been.
I knocked said I was sorry but it wasn't what I wanted and got a mouthful of abuse.
So he lies about his car. Crags me miles wasteing valubule car search time and blames me when I don't want to look at it.
He wasn't the only one to lie in answer to *very* specific questions.
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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He wasn't the only one to lie in answer to *very* specific questions.
I don't even bother asking questions about the car over the telephone any more, as I know I will be lied to. Provided the advert gives the exact model, age and how much MOT is left on it, all I ask is (1) Is it still for sale? (2) When can I come and look at it?
I can be pretty sure that I will get accurate answers to both these questions. The rest I will find out for myself.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Post-Renault and pre-Astra time, went with my dad to look at a Fiesta. Within about 2 minutes he'd pointed out to me the fact that the 2 rear panels (hope that's correct tech-speak) had been replaced, as were obviously a different colour and loads of bodging up done around them.
For politeness' sake, we didn't feel we could just walk off. So spent a good 2/3 times the 10 minute level, listening to the seller first pretending that he had no knowledge of anything dodgy, and then finally admitting he'd done the 'repairs' himself.
Remained polite, and eventually walked away wishing him well with the sale of his car.
First time I've ever been to look at one - glad I wasn't alone!
HF
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When I bought my car, it was the first 19 I'd seen. I took to it because it was obviously well cared for, although there were some minor problems - but it had an excellent spec and looked good, and was less than I'd been expecting to pay.
However, before that, in summer 2001, I went to look at a 92K reg Pug 405 1.6 GL. It was only £600, and I'd have expected to pay double that. There was no history, the paint was faded (except for the newly resprayed bonnet, which had obviously been white in the manner of local taxis), and it ran like a dog with no legs. (Smoke out the back, occasional misfire, and a man with a pneumatic drill attempting to escape from the engine compartment I'm sure).
Yet the dealer insisted that the 34k mileage showing was genuine (unlikely to have been 1,034,000 but quite easily 300k+), the seats were all suspiciously immaculate (vinyl covers) but the pedal rubbers were the size and texture of hobnobs and the steering wheel doubled up as a vanity mirror. Despite this, I played naïve and the guy swore blind that it was never a taxi and the owner had been a private person who only used it to take to the car wash (more or less anyway).
Oh and the central locking didn't work. In fairness to it though, it didn't look like it had been crashed.
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