Fed up with problems of 2nd hand cars

harveybobbles

mrscb wrote: »

ex mobility cars go to auction,the oldest they will be is 3 years old and should have been serviced correctly...

And usually have very thin clutches, battered wheels, scratches here there and everywhere and have more hits than The Beatles...

Milky_Mocha

jeannieblue wrote: »

Exhausts Unlimited do cats now... Think they are a nationwide company.

Meanwhile - no one has given the OP any ideas on leasing companies. I've never leased, so can't give a view.

Thanks. I hadn't thought of an independent source. Apparently I need a pre-cat as well as a cat so I thought I had to get Merc parts.
I will get in touch with Exhausts Unlimited. Looks like they have a branch a few minutes away.

vaio

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

……we picked up a Merc E320 Avantgarde auto estate diesel for 8k two years ago. It had done 107k miles and drove like a dream literally up until last week when the cataclytic converter (I know I spelt that wrong!) went and apparently it'll cost 2k to fix so virtually useless. I doubt anyone will buy it now as I don't want to spend that much on repairs. We got a turbo diesel golf which looked amazing and drove perfectly for two years and the turbo suddenly went. ………..QUOTE]

It looks like you manage to break them after two years, maybe the best plan would be carry on buying as you do but only keep them for 18 months

More seriously, www.cats-direct-shop.co.uk look like they will do you a cat for under £350, say double it to allow for fitting and you are still well under a grand. Still not cheap but not a deal breaker either

Wouldn’t have thought a recon/repaired golf turbo would be arm and leg either.

mrscb

harveybobbles wrote: »

And usually have very thin clutches, battered wheels, scratches here there and everywhere and have more hits than The Beatles...

I would say most are well looked afer especially since motability pay a bonus if the car is handed back in good condition.? Dents/scratches can be easily spotted so if they too bad dont buy it and a clutch is not as expensive as a lot of people think.

Volcano

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

Thanks. I hadn't thought of an independent source.

I predict this revelation will save you a fortune over the coming years!

gilbert_and_sullivan

This rather fun but shrewd Chinese girl does excellent deals and gets good write up's.http://www.lingscars.com/

pault123

Recently my cam belt needed doing and a service, on top of this my car had done 180,000 miles its a 2001 plate.

I decided to sell the car for £2000-£2500 and buy a low milage one for £3500-£4000. Hence saving the cambelt and service cost, knocking a few years off the reg plate, and getting a younger engine - my thoughts lower milage also eqauls less wear on all the components, shinier bodywork, leather interior etc.

Looked at over 15 cars all with low milage and some with 04/05 plates which I expected to be in fabulous condition Several had bad bodywork, over half of them just didn't drive as well and the engine felt like it wasn't as keen as mine (owners doing trips to local shops and no motorway miles?), leather in terrible condition, interior full of key scratches :mad: I was surprised at the amount of work a lot of them had for low mileage - new clutches, turbos, suspension etc

After much deliberation I stuck with the devil I know and got the cambelt done for £300 by shopping around and decided to drive mine until the engine wears out! :rotfl:

It led me to realise my high motorway mileage car which has been serviced without fail every 10,000 miles, still on the original clutch and turbo overall is better than all the 04/05's I looked at.

Low mileage doesnt in my experience = less hassle/better car!

Volcano

pault123 wrote: »

After much deliberation I stuck with the devil I know.......It led me to realise my high motorway mileage car which has been serviced without fail every 10,000 miles, still on the original clutch and turbo overall is better than all the 04/05's I looked at.

One thing you can't put a price on is knowing your car. If you've had it for a few years then you have an intimate knowledge of how it's been treated, the work carried out (even if you've lost the receipts) and the parts replaced (and hence less likely to be a problem). This has a very real value (on top of the car's value) that needs to be taken into account if you are deciding to sell it.

harveybobbles

mrscb wrote: »

I would say most are well looked afer especially since motability pay a bonus if the car is handed back in good condition.? Dents/scratches can be easily spotted so if they too bad dont buy it and a clutch is not as expensive as a lot of people think.

It is when you involve the DMF...

Milky_Mocha

vaio wrote: »

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

……we picked up a Merc E320 Avantgarde auto estate diesel for 8k two years ago. It had done 107k miles and drove like a dream literally up until last week when the cataclytic converter (I know I spelt that wrong!) went and apparently it'll cost 2k to fix so virtually useless. I doubt anyone will buy it now as I don't want to spend that much on repairs. We got a turbo diesel golf which looked amazing and drove perfectly for two years and the turbo suddenly went. ………..QUOTE]

It looks like you manage to break them after two years, maybe the best plan would be carry on buying as you do but only keep them for 18 months

More seriously, www.cats-direct-shop.co.uk look like they will do you a cat for under £350, say double it to allow for fitting and you are still well under a grand. Still not cheap but not a deal breaker either

Wouldn’t have thought a recon/repaired golf turbo would be arm and leg either.

This looks promising! Thanks for the link. Do you know where I can get a pre-cat? They sell the 2nd cat. I'll phone them on Monday to find out. If a pre-cat comes in at the same price then things may not be as gloomy as I thought. I tried ExhaustsUnlimited and they quoted about £1,000.