Contemplating buying cat N car - advice please

motorguy

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I would buy a straight car instead of this one, it doesn't sound cheap enough for the possible grief you will get.

Theres the risk of buying this when you've no idea what actual damage was done from a "private seller" on the internet, and then theres the devaluation come resale time.

So its great buying the car cheaper now, but come resale time its going to be worth proportionally less too. A lot of garages wont retail a Cat N or S car, so if you went to trade it in they'd be quoting what they think a Cat N car might make at auction minus a bit just in case.

foxy-stoat

Go on motorguy, I think you have done some good work there.....cut the OP an invoice!

Mutton_Geoff

motorguy wrote: »

The cheapest comparable car (same model, <30K miles, same year) is £13,800 from a dealer with a warranty.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495?model=A%20CLASS&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=XXXXX&maximum-mileage=30000&radius=1500&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&make=MERCEDES-BENZ&year-from=2017&aggregatedTrim=A180d&keywords=amg%20line&sort=price-asc&page=1

Be careful with those Autotrader links because they reveal your own postcode (I've munged it in the quote above in case you wish to edit your own post).


Unless you don't live in XXX and picked a random postcode anyhow :beer:
I also wouldn't believe the sellers reason for selling. Insurance quotes are something you do before you buy, my guess is he's tinkering at doing up and selling cars off his drive.


Why invite hassle when there are plenty of other hassle free vehicles out there?

AdrianC

Autotrader URLs are really easy to trim - everything after the ? is irrelevant. So...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495
takes you straight to the car in question.

And even better, they tell you when the ad was placed.
autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495
is the date. 23rd August 2019.

So you know that car's been in stock for a month and a half. Might be about ready to cut a deal on it.

foxy-stoat

AdrianC wrote: »

Autotrader URLs are really easy to trim - everything after the ? is irrelevant. So...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495
takes you straight to the car in question.

And even better, they tell you when the ad was placed.
autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495
is the date. 23rd August 2019.

So you know that car's been in stock for a month and a half. Might be about ready to cut a deal on it.

WOW, I did not know that. Amazes me what information you can randomly pick up.

motorguy

Mutton_Geoff wrote: »

Be careful with those Autotrader links because they reveal your own postcode (I've munged it in the quote above in case you wish to edit your own post).


Unless you don't live in ****** and picked a random postcode anyhow :beer:
I also wouldn't believe the sellers reason for selling. Insurance quotes are something you do before you buy, my guess is he's tinkering at doing up and selling cars off his drive.


Why invite hassle when there are plenty of other hassle free vehicles out there?

Good point

Thanks, i've no particular issue however there are one or two on here who would probably try to use the info to their advantage at some point - given one particular individual trawled through two years of my posts on Pistonheads trying to get "dirt" on me (and didnt).

I've edited the post now.

If you could remove the town name from your post that would be appreciated

motorguy

foxy-stoat wrote: »

WOW, I did not know that. Amazes me what information you can randomly pick up.

Funnily, i only realised that a week or so ago. Very handy - particularly for main dealers who might work on a particular stocking cycle - to work out if they may be open to a cheeky offer or not.

angrycrow

As already pointed out the seller of the Merc also sold a BMW in July with a write off marker. He also sold a Toyota Avensis in Feb with a write off marker. He is almost certainly a trade trying to pose as a private seller to avoid his obligations.

That Merc may not have a marker on the current reg yet but give it time and the marker will move over to the current reg.

Would not touch it with a barge pole.

motorguy

angrycrow wrote: »

As already pointed out the seller of the Merc also sold a BMW in July with a write off marker. He also sold a Toyota Avensis in Feb with a write off marker. He is almost certainly a trade trying to pose as a private seller to avoid his obligations.

On gumtree i spotted a manual car being sold "only being sold because my wife wants an auto". I googled his phone number and a month previous he'd sold an auto car "only selling it because my wife prefers a manual car".

Another guy had "must sell this weekend as just found out my wife is pregnant". Well unless she has the gestation period of a mouse i'm fairly certain they've got 7+ months to worry about changing the car.