Just a little post wondering if anybody else has ever experienced some not so wonderful honest car sellers – be it private or trade - like I have in the past.
I have owned a few cars in the past and have experienced all kinds of poorly described vehicles and im sure the owners where really hiding the problems.
Went to see a Freelander a few years back (Why o why I did this is beyond me – I thought I new best and didn’t listen to the CORRECT advice from You forum guys)
The chap on the phone said it was a fantastic motor and there wasn’t anything wrong with it. I got there and 3 of the 4 tyres were down to metal, the car would make a nasty crunch in 3rd and the thing would never get up to temp – I assumed the stat was removed on purpose.
About 5 years ago I went to see a 1995 BMW e36. The seller said that the car was a good runner – which it was – the body work was mint and never involved in a accident under his ownership.
The car had a hole in the roof above the windscreen that I could get 2 fingers in and the silly chap left a accident damage report and a receipt for over £2000 worth of work to the back end where it had been in a crash in with the service folder.
I have also bought some right lemons through my own stupidity but that’s another matter.
Anyone else got any light hearted stories?
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>>and a receipt for over £2000 worth of work to the back end where it had been in a crash in with the service folder.
Frankly irrelevant for a decade-old car. But I can see that he'd not been quite straight with you!
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I bought a sierra 1.6lx from a garage my mate said clocks cars i thought he was talking rubbish but no he wasn't this sierra showed 55k which it was more like 125k i was young and dumb.
With a little experiance you learn to spot the wrong ones and don't rush into any deal plenty of choice out there.
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My first Escort, a Mark 2 had so much rust that under the drivers door was just fresh air. No metal. I didn't suspect anything as the passenger door was exactly the same...
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Years ago I went to a car lot in Catterick Garrison
The chap who ran it was a right “Arfur Daley” complete with cap.
1st of I went to have a look at this Astra E (Mk2) and the 1st thing he said “it’s a good one, I’ve a new engine going to be delivered next week” – ok I thought “what else do you have?”
he showed me to this blue car which was this old G Reg Peugeot ( Astra size not a 205) and started again with the patter.
“my son wants this, but I don’t want to sell it to him”, and then sure enough, on que his “son” turned up.
“Yes I want this for myself but my dad wont sell it to me” he “confirms”
I showed him my Mk1 Astra
“I saw you in Richmond the other day and a couple of days before it, Ive seen you out and about in this car it’s a good one”
Anyway fortunately I saw past all this and the Peugeot would not start “its probably just a bit of damp on the Ht leads” but the Peugeot wasn’t having any of it, so I walked away.
I think he has gone now
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My father actually had a mate called Arthur Daley, who had a used car lot in Liverpool. I guess he's long gone now. The Sun once did a centre spread on him.
He was straight as a die...
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I went all the way to Scotland to look at a Ford A series beavertail transporter with a crew cab. Ex AA. It was a well known maker of recovery vehicles that was selling it. The truck was nothing like advertised.
There were one or two major faults, it wouldn't turn over but started with a jump. The winch didn't work but they said it needed new solenoids and they'd sort it.
I said OK and they didn't ask for a deposit. I rang a couple of weeks later and was told it was sorted. I gave them a time that I would come and went up my service van intending to stick it on the back and drive home.
When I got there, the engine was running and it was warmed up, suspicious. The winch still didn't work. I asked if there was a shop in the area, to get some cigars, and said I'd be back shortly. I wasn't !
The owner used to send out a newsletter every month, self congratulatory and boring.
I wrote to him to stop mine and I got a very abusive reply back. I later had the satisfaction of reading in a trade journal that he'd been sent down for ' kiddie fiddling '
The firm folded. I read a few weeks ago that he'd died and left a chunky sum of money to a childrens charity.
Ted
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I once bought a Renault 21 ( one and only time ive bought a Renault ) from a countryside garage near work when I was 18. Had a few miles on it but it was basically tidy. Only thing was, after 5 miles, the oil filter exploded and I was left stranded. Dad towed me home and we spent the next month stripping down the engine cleaning out years of sludge in every possible area followed by a flush out and two oil changes in a month.
Ran great after that but it started a slow decline to motoring caution when buying cars!
Funny enough, the young oik that sold it me then came to work at our main dealer in sales. I asked him about it and it turned out the car had been laid up for 5 years and had literally limped through a rather casual MOT. Ill give him his due, he apologised for it!
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My firs Fiesta, broke down within two weeks of owning it. I remember starting it up one night at 9:30pm and it was slightly foggy. By the time I had the engine running the road was very very foggy. I soon realised my pistons didn't have any rings. That engine needed more oil than petrol BUT it was a trade only sale so I thought I had no rights, I know better now.
Still I managed to run it like that for 8 months, there wasn't usualy enough compression to start the car but when there was it worked ok. Sold it to a trader for £60 as a none runner, I knew the engine was shot but I didn't tell him that, just said it didn't start. He then sold it on for to another poor sod who scrapped it about a month later (according to tax records).
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 18 May 10 at 20:46
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I did buy a 306 D turbo once of ebay. Went to Coventry to pick it up, had a good look over it and it ran perfect untili was on my way home and the thing over heated.I rang RAC and they came and rescued me from the motorway and said that the Head Gasket had gone. I rang the chap who i bought it off and had it taken back to him on a flatbed and he gave me back my money. He was a trader and a top bloke so i was lucky there.
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In my younger days, I went through a few Alfasuds. Now everybody knew they were rot boxes but even so, they were great to drive.
I went to veiw one second hand one, being sold by a Jamaican gentleman.
Doing the usual checks for visible signs of rot, I stuck my hand up above the front wheel to feel the wheel arch and pulled out a newspaper that had been used to hold the body filler in place while it set.
In his finest Jamaican patois, he told be it must have been blown up there by the wind.
I had to laugh.
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I once bought a B-reg Sierra in a hurry from a trader as I needed a working car, pronto, very cheap. This thing had rusty wings, doors and tailgate, some of the windows didn't wind down and the door cards had an annoying habit of snagging on the B pillar when the doors were opened. But it was only £100, it had a couple of months' T&T and the seller told me it had a good engine and would get me by for a bit.
The engine seized solid after 6 days.
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Conversely I tried to trade in a Micra last weekend.
I let the dealer take it for a drive and he told me the 'ball joint' was knocking and needed to be replaced before he could sell it on.
I asked him if he meant the CV joint or track rod end but he said no - the ball joint!
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PS - a couple of years ago before I bought the car I went to see another Micra.
The dealer told me he'd just given it a full service and replaced the cambelt - Micra's have cam chains!
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That happened to me my friend. She was looking at a Micra on a 55 plate and the dealer told her it has had a new cambelt. At this point I was sure it was a chian so researched and showed her my findings. By telling that lie the dealer just lost a £5k sale.
I had a balljoint done on my Corsa for £30 including labour so no idea what the dealer was trying to say.
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My first car - A Mk1 Belmont Astravan.
The guy selling it told us how it ran really well, his wife drove to work and back along the motorway in it every day.
On the way home, along the motorway, we found that you couldn't get above 50mph without it rattling about so much it tried to leave the road. Turned out to only be because the nuts on one of the front wheels had not been correctly cross-tightened, but clearly showed up a lie by the seller.
Paid £400 for that car, and was royally ripped off at that. Had it a year, and in that time replaced 2 doors, 2 sills, one engine, one fuel tank, one radiator and myriad smaller items. Still, what little mechanical knowledge I've had (and since lost) is down to that car.
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I once phoned up about a car, and was told that it had "a little rust round the rear wheel arches". Having driven 20 miles to look at it, he was right - where the rear wheel arches used to be, there was a bit of rust round it.....one of only two times I've got anything near angry with a used car seller. The other was rust-related in the same vein - drove 50-odd miles to look at at an "excellent condition" Saab 99 to discover that unusually, it had the rust bug really bad. Sold by "Prestige Autos - Quality is our byword" or some such carp, who turned out to be a home trader with a few bangers outside.
Last edited by: Mike H on Thu 20 May 10 at 22:06
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Which reminds of the 99W reg Focus I went to see. I went up to North Manchester on the buses (actually takes almost as long as Manchester to London by train). I had assumed the 99W was a mistake. I got there to be confronted with some older style chavs, I asked about the reg and he said it was no mistake it is a 99w. I looked over it, but the VIN didn't look right to me, it didn't look like a genuine Ford one.
I then tooked under the carpet and again the VIN was missing (althogh it is quite common for Ford to forget to stamp that area, I am not sure it was common on the Focuses). I just walked away writing off an entire afternoon.
Then I went all the way to Leigh to see a Ford Focus which was discribed as excellent condition. By exellent condition they mean full Ford service history, why then did it have barely legal Wanli tyres and rust on the wheel arches? I walked away.
Even a Focus I saw at my local dealer was a complete shed, the usual rust etc.
Oh and then there was the red 1.8 Focus I went to see in Stockport, the car actually seemed ok but the setup didn't. A year later the same garage was in the MEN as they had been fined for being caught clockling loads of cars.
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I then tooked under the carpet and again the VIN was missing (althogh it is quite common for Ford to forget to stamp that area
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>>>>>>>>>> really ?
in all my years of being in the motor trade i have never ever seen a ford without the manufacturer stamping the floor
i think you are in the job now that enid blyton is dead
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recently travelled 100 miles to see a 12-month old car at a main dealer after being told "car is perfect. Not ex-hire car, full service history", to find it failed all three criteria.
Worst one was an old avenger,25 years ago. it started eventually on 3 cylinders. sills were completely rotten. described as a "solid, good runner"
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" (althogh it is quite common for Ford to forget to stamp that area, I am not sure it was common on the Focuses)."
Absolute rubbish.
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Not so honest sellers/cars - Mapmaker
