I'm now actively shopping for a berlingo. Ebay has a few at reasonable prices, but when it comes to checking the car there are various reports available.
HPI
MyCarCheck
AutoCheck
are the ones I've come across. Can anyone give me a quick run down on the key differences - which is best? I'm only looking at spending 3-4 K but even so some sort of guarantee would be handy.
Also - what about short term insurance? There used to be someone offering it free when you buy a car on ebay - is that still the same?
thanks
Mark
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AC,
Can't help but think a lot of cars are put on ebay for a reason.
Worth trying hard to source a car locally first.
An owner who lives a few miles away is more likely to give straight answers to your questions and that is worth a lot more than any check - and cheaper, too.
Good luck with your search.
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I can understand your view ifithelps, but on the other side of the coin i put my lovely 124 merc diesel on fleabay, and it was a genuine and perfect car.
Despite fielding banal questions from fools, it sold to what sounded suspiciously like an itinerant, who failed to appear, after i'd put another 12 months mot on it, and i lost all the will to bother relisting, and sold eventually to my indy (who paid more than i expected for the car anyway).
And i really can't abide answering the phone to idiots either, but swmbo is brilliant at sifting and shifting them, if they ask silly price questions they soon wish they hadn't.
AC, i'd deffo do the HPI route if i were you, as i'm very wary these days of buying privately unless i know the seller, current thread running on my merc forum where chap has bought a sprinter that turned out to be cloned....what a awful situation to find yourself in. Just check evry carefully that reg docs and all paperwork ties up.
Apparently there are 30 odd thousand of blank reg documents floating around, part of a stolen batch, isn't that good news.
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But no decent ones within an hours drive :-(
I think ebay has taken over from autotrader to a large extent. I'm comparing asking prices to glasses guide (from the vauxhall link) Too many people asking silly money (more than 50% of new price for a 4/5 year old car with 70-100K ?!)
There seem to be a number of smaller traders operating through ebay - The car I have my eye on is for sale by a guy who seems to sell a car every couple of weeks, has 100% feedback, 1 owner, full main dealer service history, good spec.
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Just treat ebay as you would any used car selling medium. Be careful but no need to be any more careful than with a classified ad. As long as you view, I can't see any more problems. If the car is brilliant it's always worth an offer there and then. I've done this a few times rather than wait for the auction to end and risk losing it.
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>>for sale by a guy who seems to sell a car every couple of weeks
I wonder where he gets them from? Would that make him a dealer, and by implication provide a buyer with some sort of warranty?
I used HPI for my last purchase, although they do make you 'jump through hoops'. Make sure you know all the details they need. IIRC I got free insurance for a short period as well.
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I wondered the same Tom, given that several are near identical (any one of them I'd happily have bought) I wonder if he works for a main dealer and is trading on the side with the PXs.
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