My £500 snotter challenge....a few observations.

My £500 snotter challenge....a few observations.

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Discussion

littlebasher

Original Poster:

3,767 posts

170 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
quotequote all
Having recently sold my decent car to a colleague, for a bit of a laugh i've decided to replace it (for the time being) with the finest motor that £500 can buy. Worth it alone for the look on the wifes face when confronted by a rotbox.

Trawling through all the Ebay adverts, there seems to be a few common themes when it comes to common faults and their supposed diagnosis.

EML light on - Needs new Lambda sensor for £30
ABS light on - Probably needs a wheel sensor cleaned
Airbag light on - Always caused by hoovering under the seat and just needs the light resetting
Misfire - Needs a new coil pack

Plus the myriad of Ford Focus / Mondeo TDCI's with running issues which merely require an injector recoded!

And let not forget the many adverts where dealers sell cars as 'sold as seen' as they never had time to test them scratchchin ...not because they're terminally shafted!

Do people really still fall for this.....do any real bargains still exist?

C. Grimsley

1,364 posts

194 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
quotequote all
When you buy stters you also buy there problems, hence they are £500, no?

Carl

C. Grimsley

1,364 posts

194 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
quotequote all
When you buy stters you also buy there problems, hence they are £500, no?

Carl

The Nur

9,168 posts

184 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
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2 weeks ago on Monday I bought a diesel 306 estate for not much more than £500. 79k and everything works, bar one electric mirror. I'm amazed hehe

There are good cheap cars out there.

eta: forgot to say, it had been MOT'd on the day I bought it and it has 10 months tax.

Edited by The Nur on Saturday 12th July 21:38

LukeDM

467 posts

122 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
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I picked up my vtr saxo for £445 with 13 months mot, its good fun but nothing special! For £500 there is nearly always going to be something wrong, best bet is a long MOT and get rid of it when it runs out.

itz_baseline

820 posts

220 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
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I bought a shed 14 months ago for £500 as I needed something to take a load of rubbish to the tip instead of 10 skips. Ended up buying an 8 seater Citroen Synergie and taking out 6 of the seats to make it into a spacious skip car. It came with 12 months mot and had 180,000 miles on the clock. Nothing has gone wrong with it and I have spent £0 on it apart from petrol and cheap insurance and tax. 2 months ago I renewed the mot at a cost of £50.

Cheaper snotters do exist if you think outside the box a little for something no one else wants.

littlebasher

Original Poster:

3,767 posts

170 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
quotequote all
C. Grimsley said:
When you buy stters you also buy there problems, hence they are £500, no?

Carl
Problems yes...but guessing at the cheapest or simplest fix just smells of Bullst!


daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Saturday 12th July 2014
quotequote all
littlebasher said:
Having recently sold my decent car to a colleague, for a bit of a laugh i've decided to replace it (for the time being) with the finest motor that £500 can buy. Worth it alone for the look on the wifes face when confronted by a rotbox.

Trawling through all the Ebay adverts, there seems to be a few common themes when it comes to common faults and their supposed diagnosis.

EML light on - Needs new Lambda sensor for £30
ABS light on - Probably needs a wheel sensor cleaned
Airbag light on - Always caused by hoovering under the seat and just needs the light resetting
Misfire - Needs a new coil pack

Plus the myriad of Ford Focus / Mondeo TDCI's with running issues which merely require an injector recoded!

And let not forget the many adverts where dealers sell cars as 'sold as seen' as they never had time to test them scratchchin ...not because they're terminally shafted!

Do people really still fall for this.....do any real bargains still exist?
"MOT just expired but i dont think it will need much" = "mechanic checked it over and told me its a basket case"

littlebasher

Original Poster:

3,767 posts

170 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
Another to add (this being general, rather than applied to my £500 budget)

Any mention of service history has now been replaced with

"Full VOSA history included"


So that would be a print out of the last 3 years worth of MOT history. Now there's peace of mind

Nigel Worc's

8,121 posts

187 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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My mate has a 90's Audi 80, with about ten months ticket on it.

You'd probably get that for less than £200 !

backwoodsman

2,463 posts

128 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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I bought a £200 Focus, that I was told needed a coil pack.

Guess how I fixed it, I put a coil pack on it, sometimes (just sometimes) the advert is truthfully written.

t400ble

1,804 posts

120 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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Every single car on ebay appears to be Cat C or D!

Autotrader is a good call for bargains


Spangles

1,441 posts

184 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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backwoodsman said:
I bought a £200 Focus, that I was told needed a coil pack.

Guess how I fixed it, I put a coil pack on it, sometimes (just sometimes) the advert is truthfully written.
I bought a £250 Mk3 Mondeo that 'just needs a coil pack'. Turned out to only need new plugs, colour me happy.

backwoodsman

2,463 posts

128 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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There are specific pages on Facebook, for cars under £500.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
Seen a couple today "using water but i havent had time to look at it" = "head gasket (or worse) knackered and i've nursed it for as long as i dare".

Saw this one on a £2,850 2004 Skoda "crunches into first gear but never really bothered me" = "needs a gearbox but i'm asking full price for it anyway"

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
C. Grimsley said:
When you buy stters you also buy there problems, hence they are £500, no?

Carl
Not necessarily.

There are quite a few cars out there with no significant faults at that price point, and as has been said its the "sounds like a major problem", but played down as a "probably only needs a few pounds spent to fix"

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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having had my fair share of cheap cars i wouldn't buy one again, spend as must as you can and get one with everything done, 500 will get you 1 in 100 decent car the rest will be horse st.

pherlopolus

2,087 posts

157 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
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I know where there is an ex police t5 estate that might be for sale. I am trying get the owner to strip it for track days but think he wants shot.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
The Spruce goose said:
having had my fair share of cheap cars i wouldn't buy one again, spend as must as you can and get one with everything done, 500 will get you 1 in 100 decent car the rest will be horse st.
Yup. The trick is to weedle out 90 of them before you start, then you'll probably still have to look at 10 to find one thats viable.

Once you've read a few adverts you can spot the driveway traders masquarading as private sellers - these are the guys most likely to hid and / or doctor faults at this price. Look for a car with a full year / close to a full years MOT and being sold by the owner. Also, dont look for a specific car, buy on condition.

Good candidates at this price point are stuff like Mondeos and Laguna petrols. Mostly unloved so can be bought as cheap as chips.

Focus petrol is also a good buy but at this price point the back arches are going to be crusty.


backwoodsman

2,463 posts

128 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
daemon said:
Focus petrol is also a good buy but at this price point the back arches are going to be crusty.
Mine are perfect.