Advice on Part-Exchanging My 2008 Honda CR-V for a 2017 Toyota RAV4 2.5 VVT-i Excel AWD TSS

justinjustice

Hi all!

We're in the process of buying our first second-hand car and could really use some advice. We've put down a refundable deposit on a 2017 Toyota RAV4 2.5 VVT-i Excel AWD with 48,000 miles on the clock (in grey). The car is priced at £17,500.

We visited the dealer to inspect the car and found a few issues:
- There are some chips and paintwork problems, plus a bit of rust on the metal step to get into the car.
- Scratches on the rear window tint that apparently can’t be removed.
- Rips in the leather rear seats and doors (the dealer says they'll fix this before we collect).
- The front left tyre is in bad shape with ripped treads and two thick sidewall rips.
- The boot cover is missing, but the dealer promised to replace it.

The dealer hasn't agreed to lower the price but has added £500 to the part-exchange value of our Honda CR-V (2008 with 88,000 miles), making it £3,500 in total. Instead of repainting the rear bumper, they're going to polish and fix the defects.

The car comes with 2 keys, 6 months dealer warranty, 1 year AA breakdown cover, and they'll be doing the MOT and service before we collect. We haven't test-driven it yet, but will be doing that when we go back.

Any advice on what we should check for when we return to inspect the repairs? Is there anything we've missed or should be extra careful about before we finalise the deal? Appreciate any thoughts or tips! Thanks 

Ayr_Rage

With all those issues I'd walk away.

You can get an Approved Used even cheaper with a full 12 month Toyota warranty and if you continue to service it at Toyota you'll benefit for the Relax warranty up until it is 10 years old.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406170835779?sort=relevance&advertising-location=at_cars&aggregatedTrim=Excel&make=Toyota&model=RAV4&postcode=ka10 7lb&year-from=2017&year-to=2018&fromsra

photome

I would also leave it and get one from a Toyota dealer with a proper warranty

Mildly_Miffed

justinjustice said:

Hi all!

We're in the process of buying our first second-hand car and could really use some advice. We've put down a refundable deposit on a 2017 Toyota RAV4 2.5 VVT-i Excel AWD with 48,000 miles on the clock (in grey). The car is priced at £17,500.

We visited the dealer to inspect the car and found a few issues:
- There are some chips and paintwork problems, plus a bit of rust on the metal step to get into the car.
- Scratches on the rear window tint that apparently can’t be removed.
- Rips in the leather rear seats and doors (the dealer says they'll fix this before we collect).
- The front left tyre is in bad shape with ripped treads and two thick sidewall rips.
- The boot cover is missing, but the dealer promised to replace it.

The dealer hasn't agreed to lower the price but has added £500 to the part-exchange value of our Honda CR-V (2008 with 88,000 miles), making it £3,500 in total. Instead of repainting the rear bumper, they're going to polish and fix the defects.

The car comes with 2 keys, 6 months dealer warranty, 1 year AA breakdown cover, and they'll be doing the MOT and service before we collect. We haven't test-driven it yet, but will be doing that when we go back.

Any advice on what we should check for when we return to inspect the repairs? Is there anything we've missed or should be extra careful about before we finalise the deal? Appreciate any thoughts or tips! Thanks 

You're buying a 7yo car.
You're PXing a 16yo, more-or-less worthless car.
You're paying £14k to change. Forget how it breaks down, that's an issue for their accountants, not you.

* Paint chips - it's a 7yo car. Of course there's some paint chips.
* Scratch on rear window - Are they actually significant? If it's just on the "tint", then it's probably aftermarket film, rather than factory tint.
* Rust on metal step - Aftermarket side bar? Or scuffs on the actual sill?
* Rips on seats - They're repairing. If they'd done that already, you wouldn't even know.
* Tyre - Sounds knackered. £100 or so of consumable routine maintenance item. 
* Boot cover - you mean the parcel shelf? They're replacing it, but if not, it's £50 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185406096951

I'd suggest test-driving any used car was the FIRST step in negotiations, not the last. How do you even know you like it?

paul_c123

What kind of dealer?

WellKnownSid

I'm 100% with @Ayr_Rage - for that money I would only buy approved used direct from Toyota.

The car will be prepared to dealer standards, which means they'll only pick the best cars to begin with.  Seven year old cars that need a lot of money thrown at them / have significant issues or some hidden history are just too expensive to bring back to standards so get auctioned off to the kind of dealers that don't really care if they've got a dodgy tyre.  Approved used means you'll be able to get any issues fixed without quibble at any Toyota dealer, and best of all if you keep up the services and time it so the last service is a day before the car's 10th birthday they'll actually cover the car until the day before it's 11th birthday.  Little known fact.

Yes, it's true that none of the things you mention - rips in the seat, dodgy tyres, missing parcel shelves, etc - are deal killers, they are strong indications that the previous owner(s) didn't give a flying fig about the car, and neither does the dealer.  Yes I'm sure with a bit of boot polish that seat will come up lovely, but really?

Mutton_Geoff

I agree with others. Walk away. Good luck getting your "refundable" deposit back though.

boobyd

What do previous MOT's come up with?
If it has got a shot tyre now ,what was on others

sheslookinhot

Sounds like an unloved car, why spend £14k on a neglected car. There are plenty of good cars about.

Jaybee_16

justinjustice said:

Hi all!

We're in the process of buying our first second-hand car and could really use some advice. We've put down a refundable deposit on a 2017 Toyota RAV4 2.5 VVT-i Excel AWD with 48,000 miles on the clock (in grey). The car is priced at £17,500.

We visited the dealer to inspect the car and found a few issues:
- There are some chips and paintwork problems, plus a bit of rust on the metal step to get into the car.
- Scratches on the rear window tint that apparently can’t be removed.
- Rips in the leather rear seats and doors (the dealer says they'll fix this before we collect).
- The front left tyre is in bad shape with ripped treads and two thick sidewall rips.
- The boot cover is missing, but the dealer promised to replace it.

The dealer hasn't agreed to lower the price but has added £500 to the part-exchange value of our Honda CR-V (2008 with 88,000 miles), making it £3,500 in total. Instead of repainting the rear bumper, they're going to polish and fix the defects.

The car comes with 2 keys, 6 months dealer warranty, 1 year AA breakdown cover, and they'll be doing the MOT and service before we collect. We haven't test-driven it yet, but will be doing that when we go back.

Any advice on what we should check for when we return to inspect the repairs? Is there anything we've missed or should be extra careful about before we finalise the deal? Appreciate any thoughts or tips! Thanks 

I would follow the advice of @Ayr_Rage and head for a Toyota main dealer as it looks like a car not cared for.

There may be a few expected stone chips but it depends on what the other paintwork problems are.
Rear seats will have a patch put inside the tear and glued. 
One tyre needs replacing but what's the condition of the others?
Boot cover I assume is for the spare mounted on the rear door?

I would give it a miss and look elsewhere.

Nobbie1967

If you are tempted to go ahead with this car, at least make sure it’s been properly serviced according to the schedule. It doesn’t sound like it’s been looked after so it might have had the servicing neglected.