Something screwy here. >>
I prefer "very fishy", caught by a big hook dangled in perpetuity, if you get my drift. ;-)
Edited by jbif on 25/03/2009 at 10:38
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I do get your drift. I have thought similarly. I think you are probably quite right.
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Travelled from SW England to NW Wales to pick up a new car the other week, and as an earlier poster remarked, it gave me a chance to have a great conversation with my Dad which I don't get to do ordinarily. I traded in that '97 Polo I mentioned a few weeks ago in connection with another of the OP's posts - lovely car, never let me down once, but too small now that I have a family. New car in N. Wales was cheaper than local dealers and the bloke gave me a very good px on the VW. Might be worth thinking about travelling you can afford the time - the risk is that someone else gets there first, of course.
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tinyurl.com/cqm9c5
tinyurl.com/cdpucq
tinyurl.com/djlsx5
tinyurl.com/df2g26
tinyurl.com/cnppej
tinyurl.com/ce3kv6
tinyurl.com/d3q7ra
All within 25 miles of the Trafford Centre (except the last one). Rattle, one of these is bound to be worth something like its asking price. There are hundreds more. I got bored.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 25/03/2009 at 11:13
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Rattle has supervision and will find rust spots on all of them.
He's just too good for cars in the real world.
Edited by Lud on 25/03/2009 at 11:18
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I found quite a few doing a quick search on Autotrader too. Plenty for around £1k. So could buy and keep money to fix what needs fixing. No car at this age will be perfect.
If you want to avoid all problems then buy new or nearly new. And still you will have issues. I've had brand new cars needing fixing - e.g. a Golf GTi 1.8T needing a new gearbox, a Passat 1.8T needing a new turbo charger and both needing some new door locks.
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Rattle,
I sympathise with your plight and I too like to think I weigh up each purchase carefully before jumping in.
However, I don't. Just yesterday I went into Comet with the intention of buying a coffee machine I'd seen for 20 quid. I walked out with one costing twice that that froths the milk for you! It froths it itself! The fact I only drink coffee black just didn't come up - it has a milk frother! The last three cars I've bought have all been the first cars I've seen. Some have had problems...actually....ALL have had problems (apart from what I've got now - fingers crossed) but I think it's just something you have to accept. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you go wading in and buy the first thing you see...but even with a budget two or three times the size of yours, I think you have to accept the car will have some kind of issue with it however small.
I wish you the best of luck but as others have said, maybe look a little further afield if you can. I work 6 days a week for a very strict and unsympathetic company which has meant I've had to book holidays to go out and look at cars. Maybe it would be an idea to make a list of potential cars to go and see and book a day off next week to go and have a look. You mention travelling to Leigh - Wigan is just 2 minutes further and has countless dealerships!
Good luck!
Adam
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Just to add, the problems that befell my cars were very serious but even with the most comprehensive inspections would not (did not even) warn any potential buyers. (Knackered autobox on one and quite a thirst for oil on another). There is no "perfect car" out there....just one that makes you happy once it's yours.
Adam
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There is no "perfect car" out there....just one that makes you happy once it's yours.
I agree. I often have this discussion with my brother-in-law, who is an absolute perfectionist.
To give you an example, he stood by our recently acquired Golf for 20 full minutes, trying to work out if it had had the front wings replaced / resprayed. I don't think it has (or if it has, it's a pukka job), and it's HPI clear, so that was enough for me. He on the other hand would have walked away because in his mind, there is a niggling doubt. He concluded that he "wasn't sure". Nobody else who has seen the car, including mechanics and experienced car buyers has a clue what he's talking about.
When I buy a car, I weigh up the overall picture. Obviously, odd coloured panels / wonky shutlines, missing paperwork, mismatching addresses etc = walk away. Otherwise, it's a combination of the seller's attitude, the overall condition of the car, signs of any high bills in the immediate future, and of course the price relative to others on the market. You don't reject cars at £4k for the odd mark or interior squeak, and you certainly wouldn't knock a £1k car back for a spot of surface rust. I wouldn't, anyway.
Our Golf is by no means perfect, but it's straight, presentable, legal, drives well, and I liked the seller.
Cheers
DP
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Rattle has supervision .. >> He's just too good for cars in the real world. >>
supervision! real world!
You cannot be serious. ;-)
Edited by jbif on 25/03/2009 at 12:09
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I'd guess that for some reason none of these will do, or they'll be impossible to get to due to circumstances. ICBW.
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It seems that the whole of the Honestjohn forum is looking for a car for Rattle. I have started looking in the evening paper for cheap cars, there are dozens out there. Plenty of private sales and some decent looking cars at dealers.
There is an ex Ford dealer in Ashbourne with a good stock of cars, but of course Rattle is too nervous to drive to Ashbourne and says he could not find his way back.
Come on Rattle have a go, there are signposts and Manchester is easy to find. Just think of all those people discovering America and climbing up Everest. If you don't try you will never do it.
Come on and please please get a car, there has been plenty of advice on this and other posts. There are hundreds of cars sitting out there waiting for you.
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It seems that the whole of the Honestjohn forum is looking for a car for Rattle.
I'm not. He would only turn it down for some unreasonable reason.
Of course I want him to have a car and learn to drive properly. But only in the abstract. I have a feeling he doesn't like cars actually and is too nervous and pernickety ever to enjoy driving in today's Britain. And if he drives anything like he chooses cars he would be in the way all the time.
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OK I have been doing a lot of phoning round today and a lot of seeking. Both private sale car (DP posted one above) and this Corsa no answer but will try again later.
I went to see a Focus today but walked away when they kept insisting it was a 2000 T and not a mistake and the chasis number appeared to be missing on the floor but I did not see the V5 so it may well be a 1999 T and it has some welding done on the chasis but it could also be something more worrying either way I don't think I was being fussy walking away,
That Focus above with a 7 month MOT [DPs link] I will arrange to have a look at it but £1k of my money is coming from my credit card (I can easily pay the repayments) so finding £1500 cash will be a little tricky but not impossible. Its been on Autotrader for at least a week or more now though. There is another Focus in Bury I want to see but it will probably be sold by the time I get time to see it as I am very busy now.
The wanted add is a very good idea and I will try that.
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`Rattle` twinned with `Stu`? ;-) (for enduring `saga`interest)
Just joking of course.. If i lived in Manchester Rattle, I would offer you help in checking them out..
All the best ;-)
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If you're managing this long without a car, and don't actually like driving... do you need a car?
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PG, it takes a woman's brain to cut through a load of rubbish and identify the heart of Rattle's problem.
His love affair with the car has ended at a young age, he should embrace the bicycle and public transport.
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>PG, it takes a woman's brain to cut through a load of rubbish and identify the heart of Rattle's problem.
Yeah but I still can't do the maths on the braking distance thread! ;-)
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i wont comment on this thread because im sure me and rattle would disagree :-)
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Can it really be you bb?
Do us all a favour and rush round there and sell him a 1.25 litre Fiesta with an offer he can't refuse.
And please stay above the parapet.
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>>`Rattle` twinned with `Stu`? ;-) (for enduring `saga`interest)<<
No fear, I can find a car with far less than trouble than the Rattler - and I wont expect it to pass a concours event before I buy either :-)
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There is a Vauxhall Omega that has been "parked" in the car park at my work for over a year now, Its in tiptop condition (AFAIK) but its free to a good home! - the DVLA are not bothered that its there and not taxed - if you can get some keys, and get it started im sure who evers it is wont mind as its been left there for year and they have not claimed it.
Its in silver and looks great
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Maybe the current owner should leave the keys and V5 in it with a 'Free to a good home' notice on the windscreen.......... ;-)
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I would have it, if it was...... i think it just would need some new tyres as its been stood for a long time
i think it was one of the last ones to be made its on a 51 plate, i think!?
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>>>i think it just would need some new tyres as its been stood for a long time
Oh no, I can just imagine- What tyres should I get for my new Omega, do you think second hand Chinese would be OK...........................................?
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>>`Rattle` twinned with `Stu`? ;-) (for enduring `saga`interest
'Rattle` twinned with `Stu`? ;-) (for enduring `saga' more like.
bellboy, you're the man. But if you've got an ounce of intelligence you won't sell a car to Rattle.
As for welding... whoever heard of a 2000 car that's been welded? And if you have, then have you ever heard of two... or in fact 100% of all cars of that vintage. Get real.
Curses. I've just been caught again. Memo to self not to respond to anything else on this thread.
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if you've got an ounce of intelligence you won't sell a car to Rattle.
I seem to remember that bb has a short way with tiresome punters. But you are right Mm, even his psychic stability might be threatened after a few weeks of peering at microscopic rust spots and listening for imaginary suspension knocks and tappetty noises in some little just-above-bangernomical gem from old Henry's industrial diaspora...
'History is bunk, my boy.'
'Yeah but bb, this is SERVICE history we're talking about, not some old tat about Henry V... surely those spots on the C pillar should have been touched up at the third service... etc.'
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