Hiya...
Any thoughts/advice appreciated.
GF and I are looking at buying a Mercedes A-Class, we've seen a nice one at a (Lexus) main dealer, 7995. The car is a T reg with 43k miles on it, it's in pretty good condition for the mileage. It's being sold below the parkers' trade-in price for the model, this according to the dealer is because it is their year end and they want to get their stock levels down. (they have reduced a number of other cars on their pitch)
The main question mark we have over it is where it has been for the past 10 months...!
Let me explain...
GF phoned previous owner as listed on V5 to check car was ok, previous owner said he had traded it in a year ago (end of October 2001), with 41k on the clock. The car arrived at the Lexus dealer in August 2002 with 43k on it, and has been for sale since. They say they bought it in from "group stock" (they're part of the Lancaster Group). They don't know anything else about where it came from, although they're going to try and find out.
Can anyone think of reasons why a car would disappear into the motor trade for 10 months? GF thinks it was written off and rebuilt, or is a cut-and-shut or ringer or has some other nasty history, but are there any less unpalatable possibilities?
I think it is unlikely that a main dealer would be knowingly selling a dodgy motor, but also I can't explain where the vehicle has been for the 10 months between when the last owner traded it in, and when the current dealer picked it up.
GF is going to phone the likely garage it was traded in to, to try and hunt down what happened to it, but I would like anyone else's thoughts on what's happened to it...
mike
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you need to track it down.
I can only think of three possibilities...
1) its been unused and sat somewhere - this brings a whole set of issues
2) its been used and then clocked back - loads of issue
3) trader took it home for wife/girlfriend/partner, but they used it so rarely he's now selling it on.
An accident wouldn't explain anything, since it wouldn't take 10 months to repair.
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Poor stock rotation probably,that is why its been punted around within the group,sales manager too slow to bite the bullet and let it go,may well have cost more on the original trade in than being offered for now.If you buy it just make sure that it is properly prepared for you as its been hanging around a while.
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If it has aircon, the seals have probably dried out through lack of use. Avoid . they may fail anytime in next 2 years - outside warranty by s**s law
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Hmmm, we can't find the garage it was traded into - previous owner is being unhelpful "I'm not confirming the mileage, I'm not sure what I'm letting myself in for... You can see the car can't you, you decide..."
I have got Lancaster group customer services involved (as the Lexus dealer is insisting they can't tell where it came from other than "group stock"), they are going to prod their group purchasing department to try and find out.
We have got a 3 year warantee that covers almost everything except "wear and tear" thrown in with it so hopefully if the A/C seals die it will be fixed under warranty.
mike
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Is the car *that* good a deal to take the risk ? I think I'd walk away.
Also, its under book price, they're being *very* helpful, why do they want to get shot of it so much ? It seems an unlikely car that they would buy to sell on unless they got it very cheaply, and again I'd want to know why.
Have you done one of the checks on the vehicle. HPI or whatever ?
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My bet is that it has done the rounds at dealerships and they have simply not let it go at the right price.
I bought a car from Audi last year that had 'gone missing' for 2 1/2 years after the finance deal ended! It had done 2000 miles in this time and it is easy to imagine that it was punted around showrooms and just not selling.
So they sent it to auction, I bought it third time through. Even then it took some serious haggling with them through the provisionals office to let it go at my price.
Though the car had clearly spent quite a while standing it was absolutely fine, apart from some damp inside that took a few weeks to dry out.
PB.
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Yup we've HPIed it ourselves, and the dealer has done the same using Experian, and it comes up completely clean. We've talked to the previous owner - his wife was nice and helpful but the owner himself was a grumpy old s**.
It IS a nice car, we've been over it with a fine toothcomb and can't find anything to suggest it's been crashed and bodged, it IS a good deal, and the reason the dealer is giving for the good deal is believable (given other cars on the pitch are recently reduced, and I have seen this car advertised by them over the past 2 months for +1k and +2k more than we are buying it for, which backs up that they have had the car for 2 months and are now wanting to get rid of it)
GF is just paranoid about where it's been for the 10 months between when it was traded in and when it appeared at the Lexus dealer.
I keep on telling her that you can never know the exact history of a 2nd hand car and if she wants a cast-iron guarantee she will need to buy a new car (and even then it could have been crashed on the transporter from the factory).
mike
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You and your GF have clearly set your hearts on this car and so nothing anyone says here is likely to dissuade you from buying it. Just for complete peace of mind, try asking the Dealer to add some wording to the guarantee to the effect that it covers any problems that arise which might be linked to improper storage during the 10 months. Or maybe haggle the price down further to pay for any such eventuality.
For example, the car might have been started up occassionally with the engine virtually dry - all oil having drained in to the sump. Tyres might have damage from standing in same position over long periods. Other fluids may need draining/replacing. Damp could have started rust in places you cannot easily see. In other words, the car may not have been stored using correct "laying-up" procedures that HJ recommends in the DTel.
Having said all that, only you can decide whether to take the risk, if there is one, in buying from a reputable Lexus dealer.
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I wouldn't worry too much about a 10 month misisng time, even our brand new Fiesta was manufactured in Sept 01, we didn't get to pick it up until late March 02. These things can take time, plus, you say that you have seen it advertised for 2 months, so really, the car has only been missing 8 months :)
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This is not uncommon. I had a brief time in the trade and saw cars disappear and reappear many, many times.
Police turned up one day, saying "we've just arrested a lad in one of your cars." No-one knew it was missing. The lad had been driving round in it for weeks. Utter shambles!
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I know of a well-known dealer in second hand cars where the "head" salesman would take cars from the forecourt and use them for a few months with the speedo disconnected.
After he felt like taking out another car he would re-connect the speedo on the one he had been using, change the oil so that it looked fresh on the dipstick (cheapest possible - Tesco's own usually) and put in back on the forecourt.
Makes me nervous about buying second hand!
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....when I was flogging cars about 40 years ago that was one of the perks of the job, Lord knows we needed 'em with the garbage wages which were the norm in UK in those days. Nothing like a decent set of wheels to set the tone for the Saturday night prowl. Cars were routinely clocked if they looked like it would help to sell them and there was always a job to do Mondays clearing out the fagends, chip papers and packets which had once held 3.....
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