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Just bought a car today, have a couple of questions
Comments
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72k for an '03 seems reasonable.
As commented by others, the MOT history would show mileage, and you can get thet info online.
Regarding the documentation, the procedure is that the seller gives the buyer the little V5C/2 slip and they send off the remainder of the form to the DVLA (with the buyers details entered in the appropriate fields), and you receive the new one in the post.0 -
Check the MOT history online.
So long as you have the V5C, the tiny little green slip, you're fine. The full logbook will arrive in the post in 2-6 weeks.
And FWIW I've had several cars with failed instrument clusters.
I've had a Volvo 940 with a broken odometer, permanently stuck at 137,000ish miles.
I've had a 2001 Audi TT, which is notorious for this type of failure.
I've had a Ford Escort where the backing paper started to become unstuck and eventually jammed up the speedo needle. This was the same unit as the odometer so that got replaced at the same time. I did, however, hook up the new odometer to an electric drill and wind it up to the same mileage.
Also had one car which we converted from manual to automatic. This involved taking the instrument cluster from the automatic version of the car, so again the instrument cluster was wrong afterwards. Funnily enough we also took the engine and gearbox from the same car as the instrument cluster, but that was the third engine and second gearbox to go in the original car so the mileage still isn't useful.0 -
That depends entirely on what variant of the Focus it is.property.advert wrote: ȣ1900 for a 2003 Focus with an iffy mileage is way OTT IMHO.The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0 -
C_Mababejive wrote: »You know...i must have been lucky but I have never driven a vehicle which has suffered an instrument cluster failure. Neither has a member of my family and neither has anyone ever mentioned same happening to them. I used to have a Golf that was almost twenty years old and all its bits still worked. Guess this was the exception.
From what I recall, it was quite a common problem in Focuses from about ten years ago.The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0 -
The upside is that if the dealer has legitimately changed the instruments, they have told you in an open manner.
The downside is that you only have their word for it that the old instruments read 72k and not 172k and that's a difference that wear in the interior may well not show.
This goes some way of asuaging that issue:it has been declared on the mot and the dvla site confirmed the mot was authentic.The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0 -
So it's all good, normal and above board... for once!
Stop worrying OP, enjoy your new car. Remember to declare the correct mileage in your ad when you eventually sell it, and keep the paperwork documenting the new clocks and new numbers so that your buyer doesn't come on here and post the exact same thread!0 -
No it's not alright. Lots of cars have dash failures and it's the easiest thing in the world to both change them and, for a well connected dealer, to reset the second hand clocks to the "correct" mileage. Might seem a lttle thing, but if he's too lazy/cheap to carry out that job, what else has he skated over?
Get a proper HPi done and if theres anything remotely amiss, get the car back to him and your cash back. Theres plenty of cheap Foci about.0 -
No it's not alright. Lots of cars have dash failures and it's the easiest thing in the world to both change them and, for a well connected dealer, to reset the second hand clocks to the "correct" mileage. Might seem a lttle thing, but if he's too lazy/cheap to carry out that job, what else has he skated over?
Get a proper HPi done and if theres anything remotely amiss, get the car back to him and your cash back. Theres plenty of cheap Foci about.
With margins for all cars now quite thin, it will have cost money to have the clock reset. Also we have no indication of when the cluster was changed, was it by the previous owner or the selling dealer?The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0 -
Do you really think selling a nine year old Focus for £1900 carries a "thin" margin!0
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Do you really think selling a nine year old Focus for £1900 carries a "thin" margin!
Err...yeah, that is what I wrote...hmm...let me check.......yep, it was.
I don't suppose you know what variant of Focus it was, do you.The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark0
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