Hi again Dag, Maybe its the angle of the photo, but the door really does look misaligned. Hmmm! Maybe they took the door off to repaint it and didnt put it back on properly? Still, I'd rather get this car then the poor sod who bought one on ebay yesterday for a couple of grand - a 2006 but only serviced once a year!! I keep meaning to ask him about the keys. The advert on autotrader states that he has the manual. Lets hope he does. He definitely has some history such as old MOT's though, which is a good sign
When the seller stated that it was slightly paint stripped, maybe he just forgot to say that it was stripped by another car ploughing into it?
Price is pretty strong really. Yes he is definitely a wheeler dealer. Most likely he bought it at auction as a Cat C. Just guessing though, He does say "now repaired to very high standards" which hints that he has had it repaired. As such I would take someone who knows bodyfiller from metal, and has good wisdom. I see poorly repaired crash damaged vehicles on a weekly basis. I know they will be sold to people who don't know what they are looking at. It is sad. Ask when it was VIC checked, this will tell you how long it was since repaired. Ask if the V5c is in his name, and ask how long the registered keeper has owned the vehicle. I prefer to buy cars from the actual owner, the person that has owned it for the last 5 years. Mr and Mrs Quite well off, nicely retired, always services the car and doesn't get thrashed. Car dealers tell you what you want to hear. You are about to spend £3.5k, that is the sort of money you can buy a mint copen. I wouldn't sniff at a car that has been serviced every year, that one that sold for £2050 looked pretty reasonable. At least he is honest. It's done 42k miles over 8 years, which is about 5k a year, if its had an annual oil change then its been pampered!!! They bought the car when it was 4 years old, so I bet it cost them like £7000. If you spend £7k on something you tend to look after it. He could have said good condition - "aying small dinks" and "back light cracked" is being honest. Find a 8 year old car without small bodywork defects! Also look at the guys house in the background, its a proper house, with a double garage - dormer bungalow. Nice part of the world that, more that likely a car owned by ok people. Give any car to a middle aged woman for 4 years, it will get a few car parking scars on it. That is honest wear and tear. I would prefer that sort of visual wear and tear, than a car that has been driven hard by some hoon artist, but they washed and polished it so it still looks mint. While the car you are looking at is owned by some car flipper, who has to take pictures of the car on the road round the corner because more than likely where he stores them is a dive. I deal with people who place this game weekly. I do air bag module crash data resetting for some likely lads, and a couple of wheeler dealers bring me their latest crocks of auction junk to get lights turned off the dashboards - often in less than ideal manors. I am being very negative - it could be a nice car. You have to go look, and know what you are looking at. Every used car has stuff wrong with it if you dig into it hard enough.
The car was 3.5k on gumtree a few weeks ago its now on autotrader for just over 2.5k which is an excellent price for a 1.3. That is the price that 007 is paying. I'm saying its a good price but only as long as it has no issues of course.
Thank you very much for the reply threepot. I dont mind faults as long as I know what Im dealing with. I can tell from the vehicle check I did that that copen sustained the injury in feb this year and then changed hands in April. It was silly of him to lie and tell me he had the car for a year when he knew I would be undertaking a check. I asked about the V5 and he stated it was in his name and had his address on it. I already asked him to send a pic of it to my phone today. Im still waiting. I will be very surprised if his name is really Alex I will take your advice threepot and ask for the date of the VIC. I too prefer your way of buying cars but as you stated, the price is strong. I just want to know what actually happened to the car. Im minded to ask for photo's of the repair receipts also. I wish there was a way for the damage on cars to be recorded so that anyone could check and then noone would have to lie. I dont have anyone who can come with me. Will a magnet suffice? Actually Dag, do you know a mechanic in the area? I'd pay them to come and see the vehicle with me
Thank you Threepot and Dag Threepot, that £2050 car on ebay is in my home town. I ummed and Ahhed but I personally wouldnt take on a 0.7 that was doing 5000 miles a year for the past few years with only an annual oil change. The poor turbo! Could cost an extra £1000 soon if it goes. Did you buy it or sell it? No offence meant if so, we all are willing to take different types of risks. Also a 0.7's servicing requirements are too much of a faff for me. I use my car every day to go to work and during my work. I wouldnt have the time to service it every 3000 miles. I have to have a 1.3 And as Dag said I agreed to pay £2575 when the ad went on Autotrader a few days ago. Actually I agreed £2500. That gives me some scope to rectify any faults given the market price of the car. Obviously I would take a punt on it but I need to know what I am dealing with and how much it will cost me to rectify any issues. I think Alex and I need to have a little chat again.
I didn't buy it or sell it. But i'm always looking across the market at copens. I also watch all the trade auction sites, I got out bid on one earlier this month for about £780, which was a late model one with low miles and slight damage on the front passenger side. Unrecorded too which is nice, so after it was fixed know one would ever know. I was going to buy it as another toy for myself. HPI checks really are a load of nonsense. What some one tells you and what the truth of a used car is always a grey area. Give a turbo car to someone who cruises around and it never gets a glowing hot turbo. Give it to me and I batter the shit out of it! I will cook the oil in 2k miles, give it to my gran or mum or dad or girlfriend and it never gets driven on boost or in anger. Also if it was just paint damage then it would be at most a Cat D more than likely as the repair would only cost 25% of the market value of the vehicle. Cat C vehicles tend to have some pretty ugly bodywork here and there, and often wheels that point in funny directions. For example, these are CAT C http://auctions.motorhog.co.uk/vehi...GEOT&trns=0&fuel=0&catc=1&dist=0&sort=0&srch= http://auctions.motorhog.co.uk/vehi...GEOT&trns=0&fuel=0&catc=1&dist=0&sort=0&srch= http://auctions.motorhog.co.uk/vehi...YOTA&trns=0&fuel=0&catc=1&dist=0&sort=0&srch=
You're right threepot, Cat C's can have really bad damage, but you can also get a Cat C if the paint has been stripped. However thanks to Lotuseater's keen observations, and Alex's small but significant lies, I now have good reason to doubt that the car was only paint stripped. Alex and I will have another little chat tomorrow I hope
Ask him why it was a cat c with only paint damage. It can happen but as the insurers go off value of the car the paint stripping might have been extensive. Find out where the car is and I'll see if I can go along and have a look at it. Can you get a refund on your train ticket?
Oh Dag thats a lovely offer. You're a star. If I do end up getting it I'll take you and your Mrs for a cup of tea and a cream bun ( I cant drink I have to drive home! And Im a proper light weight drinker!). I'll pm you tomorrow when I have more details from "Alex" about the whereabouts of the car, pics of the V5 and details of the VIC. Thank you Luckily I can get a refund for the train ticket if needs be. I love this site. Thank you all x By the way threepot, two years ago I sadly wrote off my VW cabriolet that Id only had for two years. Beautiful she was, FSH and VW at that, one lady owner before me. It wasnt my fault, an idiot pulled out in front of me and I T-boned them, right on their front wheel luckily for their passenger. You could only see their wheel arch flattened against their tyre but I am sure there would have been significant damage to the axle at the very least. They had to be towed away. The front of my car looked much like the pics you've just posted. My car still sounded and drove the same for the 20 miles I needed to drive to get back home. I was gutted to let her go but she looked so ugly.
I enquired about that one also when it was on ebay the other week.I was just too busy and a bit lazy to go and see it . I had a bit off correspondence with him on the bay Hi Mate ,nice car just wondered? is there any service history what was the damage? does the hood work ok and is there any corrosion to the rear wheel arches. sorry for the essay chris reply hi there im sorry theres no service history the damage was a scrape/dent along passenger side yes the hood works everything works fine - buyorsellnow2013 Personally i would say go have a look ,make a day out of it you could always walk away if the feeling isnt right.Cars get written off so easily these days for minor bumps which dont affect a cars safety. good luck and i hope its the one for you ,
Thanks for the reply Harimscodd. I spoke to "Alex" a couple of hours ago. It was an interesting and brief conversation. I asked if he could send me the pic of the V5 which he had voluntarily offered to do on Saturday and which I had to ask for again yesterday. He told me that he was getting "offended" that I didn't trust him and sounded quite narky. I advised that I was asking for reasonable information considering I was travelling miles and spending thousands and that he'd voluntarily offered to send it to me on Saturday. He told me again he was "offended" I didn't trust him. I told him that I knew he was a car dealer and that this was not a private sale as he's stated and that he hadn't owned the car for a year as he's told me. I then told him I wouldn't be purchasing the car. He is so dodgy and defensive. I wonder if there is VIC for the car at all. A Small scrape and a bit of paint stripping would not result in a Cat C. There's a Cat D Copen for sale on Ebay, the damage would have to be worse than that. I just wish he could have been honest with me about it all. The fact that he is not raises my concerns considerably. I wish I had chosen a different username..it was based on me owning a 2007 Copen. I feel a bit of a tw*t now
If you go on the dvla site and put the cars details in it gives you a basic identity check. There was no VIC marker against the car so if it was a write off it must have passed a VIC test which removes the marker. Its strange he won't show you the documents you've probably done the right thing walking away.
Not sure on your budget but this one has been for sale for months now.Looks a good one ,nicer color as well might be a deal to be had http://www.gumtree.com/p/daihatsu/£...l-great-condition-1-owner-from-new/1082627682
Hey Dag, I didnt see your reply. I didnt know you could check on the VIN status, so thanks for educating me. I cant figure out why the seller is being so cagey?! I cant be the only buyer thats been put off buying the car because of his poor customer service and inconsistencies.
Sounds like he acted like a typical wheeler dealer. You will find the right one. Sometimes the easier you take it, the easier it comes. You could drive cross the country 3 times, then you settle for something less than ideal, then the best bargain gem of the century pops up in the next town.
Hey Threepot, Ive never dealt with a car dealer before, I hope I dont have to again if thats what they're like. Im a totally legit buyer and his tactics were really off putting. What you said about settling and then seeing the bargain gem shortly thereafter, happened in reverse to me. When I bought my beloved vw Cabriolet, I tried to sell on my old purgeot but in the end I took it to the scrap yard and sold it for £60 on the last day of the tax disc. As I walked out of the scrapped yard a bloke offered me £250 for it and I watched with tears in my eyes as he purchased my car for £250 from the scrappy. Sods law Ive got time to wait luckily and had planned to buy after Christmas as I've heard its the best time to buy, everyone being skint and all that. The one I've been kindly refered to by harimscodd looks like a gem to me but Im not going to get to excited about it just yet. I dont want my heart broken again.
I'm tempted to ring Alex at the weekend and go have a look at his copen. This has me intrigued. Driving to B&Q today I drove past where he photographs his cars. Its called Matamba terrace and is an old rat run shortcut I used to take years ago. Until the council bollarded it off to stop people like me. I should have recognised it yesterday really I know Millfield fairly well. Threepot was probably right about him having a dive premises and taking his cars around the corner to photograph. There are loads of lock up garages and other small yards and premises to rent in that area. Either that or he lives in Matamba terrace. Anyway best of luck with your search 007. Keep us informed how its going and anything you need to know or are not sure about just ask. The car on the gumtree ad looks ok, could be worth the extra grand not to have a cat c and no history. Its a good colour as well, same colour as mine.
