Mine is quite simple.
The first owner bought my car in September 1999 having specified most the optional extras. She came from Nottingham she had a first for knowledge but she didn't study Sculpture at St Martin's college.
She used the car to drive from her home in Nottingham to her holiday home in Cornwall.
In 2004 she decided to get rid of it and sold to a dealer. The girlfriends dad of a Scottish electronics student studying at the university of Nottingham owned the dealer and suggested to the scottish student that he might want to buy this Corsa to replace his MOT failure Nova.
So Scottish student now bought the car for £4500 and when he graduated was offered a job at a very well known electronics company in Manchester. He moved down with the car but he found himself working more less next door to where he lives and only used the car t go to Scottland he decided it was pointless and sold it for me for £1150.
I bought the car and use mainly to carry computers and used it on a holiday in Wales. When I had bought the car the two previous owners owned the car for exactly four and a half years age, it would be a challange if I kept up that trend!
What is the story behind your car? With my dads car I really don't know that much of a story about it.
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Sounds like a good buy there, Rattle: if two people have each had the car for that long, they must have liked it. I'm only the third owner of my old Z3, but they don't have those nice old green log books any more which had names and addresses, and you could speculate on the sort of life the car might have had.
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Hi Rats, Hope all is well.
I owned a prototype Jowett some years ago that had been built in 1953.
It had the old log book.
First owner Jowett Cars Ltd, 2nd Blackburne Aviation Ltd, then Hawker Siddeley Ltd.
Then to a private owner whose wife got it as part of a divorce settlement and swapped it for a Bradford Van that I had.
Nice bit of history there
Ted.
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The Volvo's is pretty simple. Spent its first three years with Lex Autolease with one keeper / driver whose name is on all the service paperwork. Came with a printout alongside the stamped book, listing every single service, bulb change, tyre change or other attention the car had during their tenure, with dates, mileages and the establishment who did the work.
Auctioned off at three years old, having covered 77,000 miles. Bought by an indie trader who sold it to one of my best mates around Christmas 2005. He took it from 77,000 to 125,000 miles, then sold it to me in April of 2008. It did him sterling service with no trouble other than the original clutch giving up the ghost at 110,000 miles, and the alternator shortly after (causing the only breakdown he experienced). The latter was reimbursed by the Volvo dealer who'd done the 108,000 mile service because they'd fitted the wrong alternator belt and it had wrecked the alternator bearings.
When I bought the, it had a complete Volvo main dealer service history, but was 5,000 miles overdue its 120,000 mile service. He knew the car was going, and didn't want to spend the money.
The Golf's is less clear. The last owner was a technician at a local Audi garage who'd owned the car a year. They were selling it because they had another baby on the way, and it wasn't big enough. They'd just bought an A4 Avant that he'd picked up for a good price through work. There are three former keepers, and again a full VW history up to his ownership where he'd done the 80k service and fitted a new timing belt and a new alternator pulley. If I were an Audi tech, I wouldn't pay customer labour rates either. He'd kept receipts for everything and included the printouts from the VAG service computer, and the VAG history check which he'd done through work. There was also a stamped service book and a smattering of invoices. The car drove well and he seemed a genuine chap. It's not given us a moment's grief in the 6 months we've owned it, so it would seem to be ok.
Cheers
DP
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I like the "Common People" Intro :-)
My Vectra is easy, 1st registered under the mobilty scheme through a vauxhall dealer 3 years ago to the 1st and only owner, fully serviced by Vauxhall and low milage accounted for.
the only thing wrong with the car is the boot light does not work
I have it now, and will continue to get it fully serviced :-)
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The Maxi's an easy one, bought by the second owners' Dad brand new in 1979 for £3672 and used for holidays and highdays until he died in 2005, then registered in son's name and he did about 500 miles pa until he sold it to me in December last year with 52500 miles under its belt... now got just under 53k on the clock!
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01 Pug, 1 lady owner from new, a few optional extras and upgraded cloth, used to run to the station and back hence under 30,000, full main dealer SH, sold it to me (ebay) due to needing an auto due to a wrist injury :)
My second ever car also a nice story - 89 polo, 35k on the clock when I got it in 96, vw demo car, then 1 lady owner who at 81 eventually gave up driving and sold it to me. Great car, only got rid as I won a new car in a competition...
Edited by einoxon on 14/09/2009 at 10:47
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My second ever car also a nice story - 89 polo 35k on the clock when I got it in 96 vw demo car then 1 lady owner who at 81 eventually gave up driving and sold it to me. Great car only got rid as I won a new car in a competition...
>>
Lady Luck follows you around!
Got any betting tips? :-)
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those nice old green log books ...
Any Registered Keeper can apply to DVLA for 'the history of the vehicle' by giving the 'reasons for the request' and paying £5. You may not get much of a story, but I suppose you could write a few postcards or phone calls.
Edited by Andrew-T on 14/09/2009 at 12:08
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I once bought an 18 month old Maxi in excellent condition. One previous owner - Glaxo (the drug company at Ware). Before fully committing myself I spoke to a retired colleague who'd got a job there. Transpired their security people had used it for gentle spins around the perimeter and surrounding roads and odd shopping trips. Good buy, I got 8 years use out of that with very few problems and a reasonable trade in when I replaced it with a new Peugeot. Not all company cars get hammered!
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The story behind my car?
It was built in spain to my spec, shipped to a port in the uk, transported to a dealership in High Wycombe, and driven to me.
Now it has loads of stories. Its been to england, wales, scotland, france, italy, switzerland, germany, belgium, holland.
never been back to spain.
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Friday afternoon January 2001 and a lazy Frenchman puts the finishing touches to a Peugeot 406 HDi GLX Estate knowing its going to be shipped to 'zose stoopid Eeenglish'.
Car was then bought new by my grandparentsinlaw from a dealer in Cornwall in Hayle or Helston or somewhere beginning with H for about £17k. Its then given to me and the wife and used everyday and everyday I rejoice when it starts and goes without giving me some warning message or other.
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Friday afternoon January 2001 and a lazy Frenchman puts the finishing touches to a Peugeot 406 HDi GLX Estate knowing its going to be shipped to 'zose stoopid Eeenglish'.
From what I hear of French car factories, it's more likely an immigrant worker who gets treated like dirt and returns the compliment.
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No but a couple of guesses.
It was originally a company car as it has the holes in the side of the centre console where the hands free phone was installed. It is a 2.0 Auto Mondeo Ghia X Saloon which cannot be a common private purchase. ( a boot for security of goods? )
I suspect the previous owner got rid of it as it was unreliable.
I found it electrically 99 percent dead on the drive without any warning on a couple days.
No side lights or dash lights and of course it would not even hint at starting.
I studied the Haynes circuit diagrams and eventually traced it to a big fuse that had blown and " reconnected" itself so it worked 99 percent of the time.
In my ownership, of significance, a coil pack failed but left it driveable - just.
Another coil failed - this time a front spring - not driveable.
IF it goes to another owner the odd thing might be "Why was it serviced 50 miles from its address ?"
Answer " Cos its cheaper by the seaside" :-)
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My father had a talent for picking them. He had a Morris 10 that had been registered to the Bishop of Hull (all gas and gaiters, that one) and a MkVII Jag that had been Eddie Calvert's (Oh Mein Papa).
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I do.
My Focus was originally ordered by NFU Mutual. The lady user (name is on the order form) ordered a green Focus 1.6 LX, but got my red 1.8 Ghia. It was delivered to her by Quicks (Old Trafford) and she kept it for 3 years ish. After that it became a 'monument' at Carcraft, who had to become registered keepers because they kept it so long - it was in stock for at least 7 months. Eventually it was 'bought' and a sold sign put on it, but that buyer didnt turn up so I nipped in and bought it. 4.5 years and 30k miles later I have no intention of changing, at the moment.
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My dads car was sat in a field (probably in Hampshire) for 13 months until a (swearword) bloke from Candom went to Quicks of Old Trafford took some e'z and whizz while partying in the Hacienda and thought I know:-
"Lets buy a top of the range car with a push rod engine in it" as a result its a car with an electric drivers seat, quick clear windscreen (basicaly everything you would find on a BMW 5 series of the day) with an engine which fell of the back of a rusted 1959 Ford Anglia.
OK that is enough of the pulp references but it did take 18 months to sell from the day it was made to the date it was registered.
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My Mazda6 must have left the factory a while before I got it. It sat with the dealer for more than 2 months before I was allowed to get it - company car. Had they not got this one out of UK stock then I'd have had to choose something else.
I could have had it just before I went on holiday in October 2007 but got it delivered the week after I got back. I've twice before got brand new cars before going on holiday for two weeks - not my planning. A Golf GTi turned up a few months early.
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I'd probably know the Jag as Eddie Calvert used to live quite near to me...:-)
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I know the history of our cars, some for better and some worse!
Start with the easy one - Wifes 2008 Grande Punto - was bought in Nov 08 but registered in July 08. It was sat for 4 months before being allowed to be sold on as pre-reg.
My Audi A4 was originally ordered by my Dad in 2002 as his company car. He took delivery in October 2002 and 1 week later someone keyed it on both rear quarter panels. It was resprayed and then serviced on the dot. I bought it in October 2006 and kept it serviced and maintained. Between us we have driven it 160 odd thousand miles without the slightest issue
My MG TF160 is a different story! It was originally PDI'd at Reg Vardy Stockton and used as a showroom car until April 2004 when it was eventually registered and sold to the first (second on the log book) owner. She kept it for 10 months before pranging it and it needing a new front wing and door. Sold on by Reg Vardy in May 2005 to a guy who bought it for his wife. She did 800 miles in it between May 2005 and October 2007 when we bought it from a local dealer with 4,000 miles on it. Since then we have been to Italy twice and all over the UK on holiday as its used as our third and fun weekend car. Currently its sat in a bodyshop having a new rear quarter panel, sill and door thanks to some old bloke in a Volvo!!! Its only done 16,000 miles but had the hardest life of all!
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'tis easy - one owner from new (company), driven by a hooligan employed by the company (me) so now a 9 month old 25k Vectra feels like a 200k Vectra with rattles all over the place.
Thats all there is to say really.
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Father in law brought the Jag Xtype for a rep for £19k back in 2005. Sold it to me 4 years later for £3200. The rep managed to fill it with petrol and cause £2500 worth of damage!
Car runs sweet now and I shall hopefully not loose much money on it when i come to sell it in a couple of years time.
On a funny note, the rep had a new Jag Xtype in December to replace the one that i had. After filling it with the wrong fuel you would of thought he would have learnt his mistake....Last week he did the same trick again and has caused £££ of damage.
Think his next company vehicle will be a push bike.
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Mine was bought by a rather well off Jewish gentleman (judging by the name in the log book) from Stanmore in N. London for his wife. They apparently alternated between London and their holiday home in Florida and evidently she didn't use it much, because when I bought it from the main dealer at 2.75 years old, it only had 12,400 miles on the clock...but had been serviced properly and was kept garaged....(dealer used to collect it for servicing etc, along with his car which was an XJ).
She must have been exceptionally short as when i first looked at it, she'd not long delivered it to the garage and it was parked out the back, not even having been washed or anything, salesman must have been confident of the car. He'd given me the keys, i hopped in it, put the key in the ignition slot...and the electric seat moved from its' furthest back position to the last drivers postion, which was virtually all the way forwards, gradually crushing me against the steering wheel...much to the amusement of my mate.
The other thing is her perfume was dreadful. She'd spilt some on the thick carpet and it took me weeks to eradicate the smell.
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father in law brought the Jag Xtype for a rep for £19k back in 2005. Sold it to me 4 years >> later for £3200
AudiA6Tdi,
You're not married until November 2010 so have no father in law ;-) If you do, don't tell the fiancee!
Edited by rtj70 on 17/09/2009 at 01:10
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You have a serious amount of time on your hands!
Edited by rtj70 on 17/09/2009 at 02:10
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As a moderator, I read threads and happen to have a good memory. Not as good as jbif but not bad.
Not so much time but a recall of threads read, posted, additional accounts created and posted with, etc.
Edited by rtj70 on 17/09/2009 at 01:31
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Does this mean the invite in the other thread is invalid. Paul will be disappointed :-(
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@ audiA6tdi ... about the rep who misfuelled his car again.
Looks to me like his management wasn't on the ball -- they should have insisted that the vehicle had some device to prevent misfuelling. The poor rep went through all that stress arising from a momentary mistake when affordable and readily available technology exists to make that mistake impossible.
You could earn yourself a few brownie points with your father-in-law by giving him one of thise gadgets to put in the rep's car. There's plenty of them listed in this thread: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=78151b
Edited by NowWheels on 17/09/2009 at 01:52
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2003 2.0 Focus Ghia first owned by Ford Motor Co., and driven by one of their employees as a management perk. It was sold at auction by Ford to the dealer I bought it from. It was 16 months old when I bought it for £1000 under book price for its age, and had done 4000 miles. I would have no hesitation in buying another car from this source.
Edited by L'escargot on 17/09/2009 at 08:17
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First Owner was lease company/Ericsson (It's a Volvo V70) who ran it for 3 years, servicing it every couple of months due to the mileage it covered, then private buyer after it passed onto the local main dealer, who when the PB PX'd it passed it onto their tame indie to sell on, which is where I bought it.
It's got 221,500 miles on it (I got it with 172,000 in Jan 07) and has only been serviced at 3 dealers (The original supplying dealer did 3 services I think, the local main dealer to where I used to live, and the main dealer up here -PV Dobsons in Kendal)
I'm in the process of trying to get hold of a friends Golf Estate that he got as a lease car then bought out at the end... if anyone else knows of Golf mk4 Estate, 130TD Sport for sale let me know! It'll save my neck!
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On the 1st February 1994 a Mercedes E320 Coupe was sold to a business man in Ansbach in Southern Germany. He had ordered leather trim, sunroof and a five speed automatic gearbox as well as a telephone built into the central armrest, one of those new fangled GSM things, which cost an astonishing 4000 DM at the time. It was the "third car" in the household fleet which included an S-Class and an SL and was mainly driven by his wife.
In November 2007, after having covered 67,000km, having had the car serviced every year by the supplying dealer and never having smoked in it, he sold it to a dealer who sold it to me. By the way, the phone still works.
Edited by Bagpuss on 18/09/2009 at 19:00
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i kicked the owner
he succumbed to my charms
i drove the deal
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Nice find Bagpuss.....
96 MB E320 coupe bought new by/for MD of large local company from MB dealer in Solihull, one of the last 124 coupe's.
Seviced every year by supplying dealer, full history all mot's etc, we bought it from a dealer of unusual cars in Bham when it was 6 years, i'd have to look up the mileage when we got it, but it's now done about 77K.
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