About to buy used car, mot advisory thoughts

Sail4lot

Hi all..I am about to buy a used 2014 smax. It is a great deal but the mot just came back with a few odd advisories. Wondering if anyone had any thoughts about them in particular. It came back hpi clear.

Nearside Front Headlamp insecure (4.1.1 (c))
Nearside Front Road wheel badly distorted (5.2.2 (c) (i))

Any advice very much appreciated!

Joe_Horner

Could be nothing, could be a dodgy crash repair, could be anything in between.

If you need to ask then probably one to avoid.

Sail4lot

If hpi clear though it would have had to be a repair outside insurance, right? The car looks like it is in great shape so it seems odd that it would have been in any kind of big crash.

martinthebandit

So it's potentially had a big enough bump to deform a wheel and loosen a headlight which has then been repaired without going through any insurance claim?

I hope the price your paying reflects the increased risk your taking on

Sail4lot

According to the seller, a commercial seller with apparently good reviews it's not been in a crash. Nothing I see indicated any dodgy fix but I guess there's no way to really know.

It's about 1.5k below book value in my estimate.

sheslookinhot

I’m surprised a badly distorted front wheel is only an advisory. Sounds like it’s been in a bump and not repaired properly.

Sail4lot

Sorry, forgive me. It failed on those two things... Sorry not from the UK so don't have the terms right.

Ectophile

The car in its current state is unroadworthy, so shouldn't be driven until it's fixed.


A bent wheel could just be from hitting a pothole. But somebody is going to have to buy a new (or secondhand) wheel.


If I was buying, I would want to know why the headlamp is loose. It may just have been put together wrong after somebody replaced a lamp. Or it might be damage that wasn't repaired properly.

AdrianC

Sail4lot wrote: »

If hpi clear though it would have had to be a repair outside insurance, right?

Or an incompetent insurance repair.

HPI only records write-offs, not damage or repairs.

The headlight could easily just be a parking knock, and the wheel could be a pothole.

If it failed on them, and has since passed a test, then they've already been repaired.

Mercdriver

"These boots were made for walking...."

Sail4lot

I thought that if insurance became involved it automatically gets assigned a category of some sort a,b,s, etc. No?