Selling car with history of problems

petrolhead69

So the car is ok now, all the repairs are done and no faults are present currently?, your just selling it because your own confidence is shaken? If thats the case I wouldn't mention any of it in the ad, maybe even put "maintained regardless of cost" in there. Your not doing anybody, it's a recent cdti diesel vauxhall, if the buyer is expecting a reliable cheap to maintain car then they obviously haven't done a very thorough job in researching their choice of car so hell mend them.
BTW the new generation ones aren't any better, my insignia has had 11 major faults in 13 months and spent nearly 3 months waiting on backorder parts (Calipers, egr cooler) so if you want a reliable replacement i'd look elsewhere.

eschaton

pgilc1 wrote: »

Or is it ok to crap on dealers?

Yes.......

newfoundglory

When I got my car, I saw it at Dagenham Motors before it had been "prepared" for sale.

Oh my, some newish cars (under 2 years old) are really abused by their owners. It will always make me think you have no idea what sort of condition the car you are buying was in... as its all covered up. So seeing 'unprepared' has its advantages.

When i first saw the car, three out of the 4 alloys were completed screwed and had obviously had many bad and severe encounters with the kerb. The bonnet was very scratched. The gear stick wasn't right at all and didnt return to the central position.

The alloys were replaced, bonnet resprayed in a ford body shop and gear adjustment. But i test drove as originally seen, and it was clearly mechanically sound. And when I got the V5C discovered it was owned by a Doctor (consultant Geriatrics) on the medical register... which kinda explained the damage anyway.

mikey72

harveybobbles wrote: »

Most people do.

About 90% of cars we get in PX have something serious wrong with them, despite them "being the best that they've had and how sorry they will to see it go..."

And "its never let me down"
And "oh its never missed a beat"

etc etc...

Took a car in swap a few month ago and I said to the man, or !!!!!! as he is now referred to "I'll just nip up the road in to to make sure it drives ok". He got twitchy...

Anyway, as I pulled out, I noticed a Fishermans Friend on the speedo binacle. Nothing odd there really, as people do leave things like that. So as I moved it out of the way to reveal the engine management light!

Dealers must be really gullible then.
Every one I've met must fall for it hook, line and sinker, as they always say exactly the same when they come to sell it on.
None have ever said what a load of cr*p they are actually selling.
(even the ones that just take the bulb out of the engine management light, and put a blown one back in, in case someone eats the fishermans friend)

Kilty_2

It sounds to me like your car has had all of the typical 1.9 CDTI problems and they've been fixed - I'd rather buy one that's been there and been repaired than buy one that's not had the issues yet.

Gearbox problems are notorious on that model - just browse the owners clubs and you'll see.

harveybobbles

Not had the manifold yet then...?

Driving another car prior to it being PX'd this guy got twitchy too and insisted he drove it... In the end he let me drive and swa sweating like a !!!!! ona school bus... Turns out it needed a fuel pump...

johnnyroper

Strider590 wrote: »

The dealers won't care anyway, if it's not a noticeable issue they'll shove a dodgy MOT on it and flog it on without touching the problems.

It's ok to crap on dealers, but in fact your actually crapping on some poor sap who'll eventually buy the car.




As for "bad karma", a car is a car and in my experience it's always "better the devil you know, than the devil you don't". Selling a car because it's had a few issues is just daft.
Look after a car, check it's levels, listen out for odd noises before they turn into expensive repairs...... Why do women (yes some men too) just turn the radio up and pretend they can't hear the metalic grinding noise coming from the engine bay?
Basically, selling a car because it doesn't look after itself is beyond daft.

you are wrong to tar all dealers with the same brush,when i was in the trade salesman did some dodgy things but putting an iffy MOT was not one of them.
the cars were checked/prepared by the in house service department and ultimatly it is the technicians name going on the ticket so the comebacks if any will be with him/her.

i must admit i have traded in a problem motor in the past without feeling any guilt,the salesman checks car over when giving a price so if they do not spot a problem then it is there fault,also dont forget they offer well below the going rate anyway.

As for the op's problem i would just advertise the car privately it sounds like ou have had problems but have spent a lot of money putting right so there is nothing wrong with it,also why would you mention to potential buyers it has had problems??? just advertise for what it is and let them look over/drive and offer you a price.

if you started listing all the problems you have had in past then it would never sell,a recon box is no different to an original one in my opinion they have had any parts replaced that needed it,lets face it the original equipment one packed up so they cannot be that good.