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The worst cars to buy are those where maintenance has been skimped/not done at all as you end up with a series of faults.. often expensive to sort out.
I check:
Wheels and tyres
Lights
Wipers
exhaust
Brakes.
Skimping is obvious: worn tyres, kerbed wheels, bubls not working/damp in lights/cracked lenses, worn wipers, rusty/patched exhaust , rusty front disks/rqyeal/weak handbrake.
Takes about 5 minutes to assess the above..
Paintwork/interior/glass are secondary if you are in banger territory.. but basics must work and be safe..
Ireckon if you had to right the above you could spend:
Tyres 4 x £50 =£200+
Wipers £25
Lights - up to £100
Exhaust - up to £250
Brakes - £150+
If you buy a £1k banger that's another potential £700+.
And those are just obvious faults before you start up or drive... Saves an awful lot of wasted time.
Edited by madf on 12/01/2012 at 15:37
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Tyres are the giveaway for me.
If a car is sitting on worn, budget tyres like LinLong, Sunny or the like, then it's obvious the previous owner paid bare minimum to keep the car running.
If it's got all 4, or at least two matching pairs of tyres, then you'll know the car is well looked after.
My old Mondeo is only worth £800, and it's running Bridgestone and Hankook tyres. It's also meticulously maintained and needs nothing. I see people parking their £40k BMWs or Audis and they've got some £60 Dingadong Skidmasters from deepest China fitted...
Edited by ChannelZ on 12/01/2012 at 16:09
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Tyres are the giveaway for me.
If a car is sitting on worn, budget tyres like LinLong, Sunny or the like, then it's obvious the previous owner paid bare minimum to keep the car running.
If it's got all 4, or at least two matching pairs of tyres, then you'll know the car is well looked after.
My old Mondeo is only worth £800, and it's running Bridgestone and Hankook tyres. It's also meticulously maintained and needs nothing. I see people parking their £40k BMWs or Audis and they've got some £60 Dingadong Skidmasters from deepest China fitted...
My cars are also always meticulously maintained, I tend to buy budget tyres and change them at 3mm. I also also change the oil and filter between services. So in my case you'd walk away from a very well looked after car in perfect mechanical condition thanks to tyre brand snobbery.
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Sniff!
Dinny judge others as ye judge yersel there, Bobbin girl.
Wor ould Galaxy looks like very polite excrement (i.e. spelled with a "e")
Rusty, dirty, polycarbonate side window, damaged door, tow bar electrics hanging off, & both door mirrors bodged on with cable ties & Rito (thats gutter sealant btw).
However despite appearances , she drives perfectly, with most of the mechanicals being origional.
A proper "Q" car.
Because I always kept an eye on fluid levels & topped up changed as required, and displayed a deal of mechanical sympathy when driving.
Cheers
M
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Someone once said to me that if the interior of a car is grubby he bother to go and view it. It's indicative of how a car has been looked after. My view is if you can't be bothered to clean your car properly for sale, then you haven't a clue. It's a bit like selling a house.
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My view is if you can't be bothered to clean your car properly for sale, then you haven't a clue.
You see, I take the opposite view: to my mind, cosmetic fripperies like polished tyre sidewalls and shiny dashboards indicate a guilty conscience. I prefer an untidy car because I think that the current condition reflects the way the car was kept rather than simply window dressed for sale.
I put a lot of weight by tyres too. Matching pairs of good tyres with plenty of tread would swing it for me. A valeted interior? Wouldn't even notice.
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It doesn't have to be valeted. I never go that far, but it must be clean. BTW I hate shiney dashboards.............clean will do. I think you'd notice a dirty interior. :)
Matching tyres says alot, but they musn't be cheap. I mentioned to a friend that tyres should be a good brand, but he didn't get that.
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Yeah, clean is what I'd notice. I also now know to have a good look at the type of tyres, thanks to you chaps on here. I didn't know owt about tyres before I joined this forum.
Sorry unthrottled - the urge to put lots of sarcastic comments in answer to this thread is quite strong. Must resist...........
Take a magnet with you when shopping, as it will be attracted to the real bodywork but not any filler.
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Bobbin-Why resist sarcastic comments? A cathartic outburst will do you the power of good after dealing with kids all day.
Magnets any good on aluminium panels? :P
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Hahaha no, magnets will not work on the alu panels.
Ok fine; on the 'can I reject my Evoque' thread - yes, cos it's an Evoque!!!!!!! Ahhhh that's so much better.
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Now If I had said that, I would be accused of starting an argument!
[wonder how many of us were thinking it...]
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Well that's exactly why I never said it ;-)
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My view is if you can't be bothered to clean your car properly for sale, then you haven't a clue.
You see, I take the opposite view: to my mind, cosmetic fripperies like polished tyre sidewalls and shiny dashboards indicate a guilty conscience. I prefer an untidy car because I think that the current condition reflects the way the car was kept rather than simply window dressed for sale.
Indeed I know people who clean their cars religiously always shining like a pin, but mechanically the cars are completely neglected. Their cars will look fabulous as they wait for the AA.
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Indeed I know people who clean their cars religiously always shining like a pin, but mechanically the cars are completely neglected. Their cars will look fabulous as they wait for the AA.
AGreed.
Any fool can wash and polish a car.
Many do. :-)
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I was thinking about this today, how do you (Conversely?) spot a good 'un?
The Berlingo uses no oil, starts first go, and sounds as good as a DW8 engine can.
I can't think of any other checks (And couldn't the day I bought it either, apart from checking for 'mayonaisse' on the oil and expansion tank caps.
The gearbox can be a bit baulky, but my 306Hdi was like that too so I guess it's a PSA thing. Get the revs matched up to make things easy for the syncro' and it's fine.
Go on, tell me what I missed!
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Well a good one is one with no faults!
The mayonnaise on the oilcap can be a red herring. A few short journeys will normally leave some condensation in the oil which will cause mayonaise-doesn't mean that the head gasket is toast!
You can't really tell if it uses oil until you do some serious driving in it-not much use when tyre kicking.
My gearbox is baulky too-still rev matching makes driving more interesting, right?
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MOT history on VOSA site is useful. Shows all MOTs and advisories issued since 2005. I always check that. Long MOT essential obviously.
Service history with Invoices is good. Even at bangernomics there are plenty of cars with a stack of bills to view. Why buy one without?
Evidence of recent timing belt change.
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Also..before even considering a car for myself or friends I always use the CarByCar breakdown on here to research a model to find out if there are inherent faults with a model, or strong likelyhood of expensive failure etc then I tend to rule it out.
Also, online forums/fanclubs for particular models are excellent source of info. You can glean much info on common faults, what specifics in a model to check for when buying one. Check out cost of consumables, service items to see if model X has a particularly expensive item Y (like a timing belt job)
You should do lots of research before leaving house I think.
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Whilst research is definitely a good thing when buying a spendy car, I'm not sure it is helpful on a cheap one-because it can blinker the mind. The condition of an individual car is probably more important than the characteristics of the model. This is especially true when scouring garages for thos p/exs round the back that they'll often be willing to get rid of at an attractive price.
You really don't want to be falling into a trap of thinking that "ah, an Avensis 1.8. They go on forever". nothing goes on forever if it's run out of oil for instance!
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I think you've misinterpreted my post unthrottled. Or I phrased it poorly!
I like to research models so I can identify those that probably won't go on forever or probably will suffer an expensive failure and eliminate those from my enquiries. I understand the fundamental concept of bangernomics of buying a good example of whatever is around rather than a particular make, but for me that choice has to include factoring models that historically have proved they stand a decent chance of carrying on.
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If it's survived 10 years or s, has a decent mileage, no obvious faults, there's a good chance that it'll carry on.
Most of your research will be available to everyone else who bothers to look. So there ae a shedload of people looking for 130Pd AWX/ASZ engined cars for instance-and they command premiums even in knackered form.
I've got an 'unreliable' car from an 'unreliable' manufacturer. 15 years old. Apart from consumables (and a head gasket) it's all OEM-and everything works.
I was gifted the car when I was broke. I would never have bought it. But my dad (who knew better) used his nose and not the internet. Any high volume car will throw up hundreds of anguished owners pledging never to buy from brand X again. The tens of thousands that don't go wrong never say anything. That's why searches can be misleading.
The beauty of an car with a chequered reputation is that you can get one for a song. And if you're unlucky, phone the scrappy, collect £50 and get something else!
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is the number of previous owners greater than the number of hot dinners you've had ?
I once bought an Austin Metro (yes, it was a while ago!). It had a long MoT (12 months), no service history & had been fitted with MG metro seats (phoarrr).
however, it had 12 previous recorded keepers and the guy selling it hadn't got his name on the V5 (he'd only owned it a couple of months and cobbled it through the MoT).
So, 13 owners in 10 years. An average of around a change of owner every 9 months or so.
So I replaced the radiator (first long journey I discovered it had a leak), then the dissy (electronic ign amplifer failed), then the ign switch went as someone had removed the starter motor relay and bridged the relevant contact with wire in the relay socket, then the rear suspension all started leaking so after some umming and arrrr'ing I replaced the whole rear suspension taken from another Metro. eventually it went wrong again and at that point I scrapped it, I wouldn't have wished it on anyone.
So to me now, if a car has had more than 1 owner every 2 or 3 years I just walk away. Not worth it.
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Sure sign of a lemon. Good tip!
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My gearbox is baulky too-still rev matching makes driving more interesting, right?
My sentiments exactly!
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My view is if you can't be bothered to clean your car properly for sale, then you haven't a clue.
You see, I take the opposite view: to my mind, cosmetic fripperies like polished tyre sidewalls and shiny dashboards indicate a guilty conscience. I prefer an untidy car because I think that the current condition reflects the way the car was kept rather than simply window dressed for sale.
Indeed I know people who clean their cars religiously always shining like a pin, but mechanically the cars are completely neglected. Their cars will look fabulous as they wait for the AA.
Not all people who clean their cars religiously always shining like a pin.................neglect their cars.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120836504915?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
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