Furthest you've travelled to buy but eventually walked away?

Furthest you've travelled to buy but eventually walked away?

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Discussion

MissChief

Original Poster:

7,095 posts

167 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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I've been looking at a Blue 5 door Golf GTI DSG which is 123 miles away and it got me thinking about what happens if I go all that way, decide the car has an inherent problem or just looks far better in the pictures than it is in real life and decide to walk away. It's only maybe 3 hours in the car but it also made me wonder, what's the furthest you've travelled only to ultimately not buy the car and walk away? have you travelled hundreds of miles only to realise there's a reason the back left bumper isn't shown in any of the pictures? The description of 'mint' was actually more like a Mento's mint dipped in Diet coke under the wings there were that many rust bubbles? Has anyone even gone abroad or to Europe only to turn around and come right back?

S10GTA

12,645 posts

166 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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MissChief said:
I've been looking at a Blue 5 door Golf GTI DSG which is 123 miles away and it got me thinking about what happens if I go all that way, decide the car has an inherent problem or just looks far better in the pictures than it is in real life and decide to walk away. It's only maybe 3 hours in the car but it also made me wonder, what's the furthest you've travelled only to ultimately not buy the car and walk away? have you travelled hundreds of miles only to realise there's a reason the back left bumper isn't shown in any of the pictures? The description of 'mint' was actually more like a Mento's mint dipped in Diet coke under the wings there were that many rust bubbles? Has anyone even gone abroad or to Europe only to turn around and come right back?
Southampton to Birmingham and back without the car. Went to see a mint, freshly mot'd 300zx with canvas showing on the tyres. Innit bruv.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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not walked away ended up buying as it was not worth not buying, and sold pretty quickly.

I bought an Audi a4 1.8t with no turbo, but kidded myself it was a easy fix. About 200 miles

A mgf I turned up to looked like it had a 100 cats have a year party over it, scratched to buggery and loads of moss. Sold a few weeks later. about 150 miles.

Now I stick to local about 50 miles.


HustleRussell

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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Was in a hurry for a diesel Mondeo with a tow bar. Went 110 miles to find a car with a huge dent obscured in the photos, the tow bar which was evident in the photos was missing (hole in bumper / under tray present and accounted for), engine cover missing, and a totally saturated carpet with damp swampy interior smell (caused by 'the valeter' would you believe).

Edited by HustleRussell on Thursday 29th September 23:47

Jazzy Jag

3,412 posts

90 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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Drove from Bath to Gravesend in Kent to buy a Motorbike from Fleebay.

Got there and the bike bore no resemblance to the pictures and had been bent .

Walked away.

140 mikes each way

I ended up buying a bike from BAT motorcycles in Biggin Hill so not a total loss.

adilkhalifa

39 posts

141 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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All the way from Coventry to Leeds to see a supposedly mint Audi A6. Had different wheels to what was pictured and covered in scratches and dents. Didn't even bother unlocking the car!
I always like to ask for pictures of service history and doing all MOT and HPI checks and just searching google, you never know what you will find.
Good luck with the search.biggrin

AlexRS2782

8,023 posts

212 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
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The only 2 I've ever had to walk away from were a Renault 5 GT Turbo in Southampton, about 65 miles away, which I decided to pass on due to some bodywork / rust issues not described by the seller that I knew I wouldn't have time to sort if I bought the car. The train station was round the corner so it was an easy decision to leave it & get home fairly quickly.

The other one was a Mk2 Golf GTI I went to view for a friend about 150 plus odd miles away, in Lichfield, who told me if the car was as described I should buy it. Obviously it had been described as a great example, all original, no mods, etc, and even the photos suggested it was exactly that.

Sadly I turned up and found the "genuine" BBS alloys were actually cheap Lenso replicas with dodgy replica "BBS" insert badges. The engine in the car was a 16v but the car should have had an 8v, as per the V5, so it had clearly had an engine swap. There were also issues with the "full paper service history from new" that was clearly a mix & match from at least 3 different cars due to the "accidently" faded / obscured number plate on some invoices.

Not as impressed having wasted time on that one as it was a Sunday and the transport links were crap that weekend banghead

steve-5snwi

8,592 posts

92 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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Using Peterborough as the start point, today it was Norwich which I walked away from, but also from London (always rough and usually painted or dented front/rear bumpers) Birmingham lots of times, but I think Bolton was the furthest for me.

On the positive I've been to Aberdeen quite a few times as well as Belfast and come back with the cars. For today a 1 way ticket was £22, for return it was £24 so it makes sense to buy a return.

ambuletz

10,690 posts

180 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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Jazzy Jag said:
Drove from Bath to Gravesend in Kent to buy a Motorbike from Fleebay.

Got there and the bike bore no resemblance to the pictures and had been bent .

Walked away.

140 mikes each way

I ended up buying a bike from BAT motorcycles in Biggin Hill so not a total loss.
it's a shame they closed down around 2010

Odhran

579 posts

182 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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About 4 weeks ago my Dad wanted a replacement Avensis and we spied a nice looking one on Autotrader. Called trader who was selling the car. Advised car was in fantastic condition, no problems, no evidence of accidents etc. Travelled from Derry to Belfast - 75 miles (left at 4:00am for 7:00am flight) fly to Manchester, seller collects us and drives us 30 mins to his garage in Mossley. Car is a parcel (overspray on rear lights, evidence of accident repair to front namely replacement headlight and various scrapes and scratches that weren't as described plus it just didn't feel 'right'.) Car was pretty well priced in fairness but not that well priced that it was a bargain. Walked away because it wasn't the car for us.

Flights home from Manchester were very expensive that day so we booked one home from Liverpool at 20:30 that evening. Didn't get to bed until after midnight that evening. Very long day and an expensive mistake.

One good thing that came from it was we went on the piss in Liverpool all day while waiting on the flights, a bittersweet trip.

sebhaque

6,402 posts

180 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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London to Leeds (and back) in a day to view a certain specialist type of car. Was a pretty ropey example even after being assured over phone/email/Skype it was a good'un. Quite a long drive there and back for no reason.

caelite

4,273 posts

111 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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From Glasgow to Blackburn to look at a supposedly minted Alfa 156 v6. Turned up to find a knackered example sitting at the back of the lot with 2 flats, started it up and it sounded like a bag of nails, body work looked a lot worse than it did in the pictures, didnt even bother taking it for a test drive just got back on my bus and left, waste of a £20 megabus ticket.

Bought an mg zs v6 2 days later in Newcastle which broke on the way home (immaculate body & engine, knackered fuel pump, which I eventually realised was because the top of the fuek tank was missing its rust treatment and had rusted through)

hora

37,000 posts

210 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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One owner legacy in Bath, I hired a Car from Manchester
The seller had photographed every part that wasn't dented or scratched and blatantly lied over the course of days on numerous 'check' questions.

Got there, coolant tank fogged up, dented all round, hideous thing. I knew as soon as I saw the car, my heart sank. I never ever leave a deposit and glad I didnt too.

Fonzey

2,056 posts

126 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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Only ever needed to walk away once, needed a quick stopgap until a new car arrived so drove 60miles to look at a Clio182. Crunched into most gears, didn't pull very well and it stank. Drove out of the guys cul-de-sac and whipped gumtree out, found another car 10 miles away so bought that.


generationx

6,641 posts

104 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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The furthest I went was Watford from south Essex while on the hunt for a Mk2 RS2000 in the mid 90s. Saw two in one day so it wasn´t a completely wasted one, but dear god what a minefield of rust, "tasteful" modifications, accident damage, never-raced-or-rallied etc.

Eventually found one two miles from my house...

MikeTFSI

4,985 posts

101 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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I went from Lincoln to High Wycombe (160 each eay) to look at a 335i. Got there and found the car to be tatty, no iDrive or sports seats and worst of all no test drives permitted (unless I bought the car). The missus was not impressed...

harmy2010

39 posts

158 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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Birmingham to Portsmouth to see a Blue VX220 about 6 years ago. Did not fancy the car once i had seen it in the flesh so walked away.

MDMA .

8,849 posts

100 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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numerous times. Wigan to Exeter to look at a B5 S4 in " mint " condition. pulled up, walked round it, looked like it had been pulled from a river. over 500 mile round trip in the day.

Wigan to Newburg ( north of Aberdeen ) to look at a " mint " Alfa 156 GTA. was like a rotten carrot. over 500 mile round trip in the day.

bit of a theme going with me and cars. never anything local at the time I want something frown

Edited by MDMA . on Friday 30th September 08:17

davamer23

1,126 posts

153 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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South Wales to somewhere near Dudley. 200 ish mile round trip so not too far. The rain however was biblical. It was to see a late reg e36 328 coupe manual. The only issue was a rumbling wheel bearing and I was offered money off to cover it if I wanted to take the car that day. Stack of paperwork and otherwise seemed good.
I walked away as something didn't feel right. Maybe I should've just had it.

Triumph Man

8,670 posts

167 months

Friday 30th September 2016
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MikeTFSI said:
I went from Lincoln to High Wycombe (160 each eay) to look at a 335i. Got there and found the car to be tatty, no iDrive or sports seats and worst of all no test drives permitted (unless I bought the car). The missus was not impressed...
Tatty I can understand you walking away from, but surely you would be able to tell before setting off that it didn't have idrive or sports seats?