So my little sister trundles off and buys a car...
Discussion
Fairly long rant here. My youngest sister (24) has just returned from a teaching job in Egypt and is back at home living with the parents. She is going to be working for a year prior to studying for a teaching qualification. She was therefore after a cheap runaround. Her budget was around £1000 - £1500. Prior to coming back to the UK, she asks me to scout around for cars in her budget and I trawl through autotrader for suitable little hatches which would suit her.
Having been back in the UK for a couple of weeks, she goes off to stay with her boyfriend and his parents in Wakefield for a weekend and whilst there decides to buy a 2002 Fiat Punto for £1200 with 43,000 miles on. I think the price is a little steep but if the car were straight, I wouldn't have had a problem.
Having had a cursory glance at the car, I am now seething that her boyfriend and his father let her buy this for the following reasons:
- It has daft Wolfrace aftermarket alloy wheels on;
- Four different brands of tyre on all four corners;
- One of the tyres is near it's legal limit;
- The bonnet is riddled with scratches and a dent;
- Front and rear bumpers have been colour coded badly and there is minor overspray on the lights and the colour match is poor;
- There is wear on the driver's seat bolster;
- There is only one key and it is NOT the main key either.
Some of the problems I've highlighted obviously aren't as serious as others, but collectively they would have been enough to put me off buying that car. So I'm pissed off that she went off and bought this car in the first place, that she has a daft boyfriend who knows next to nothing about cars and doesn't drive and yet takes onboard his and his father's advice, asks me to source her a car and then disregards me when deciding to buy one.
Rant over.
Ps I was going to wash, clay and wax the car for her and perhaps buy her a CD head unit for it as a surprise but she can go take a running jumop now.
Having been back in the UK for a couple of weeks, she goes off to stay with her boyfriend and his parents in Wakefield for a weekend and whilst there decides to buy a 2002 Fiat Punto for £1200 with 43,000 miles on. I think the price is a little steep but if the car were straight, I wouldn't have had a problem.
Having had a cursory glance at the car, I am now seething that her boyfriend and his father let her buy this for the following reasons:
- It has daft Wolfrace aftermarket alloy wheels on;
- Four different brands of tyre on all four corners;
- One of the tyres is near it's legal limit;
- The bonnet is riddled with scratches and a dent;
- Front and rear bumpers have been colour coded badly and there is minor overspray on the lights and the colour match is poor;
- There is wear on the driver's seat bolster;
- There is only one key and it is NOT the main key either.
Some of the problems I've highlighted obviously aren't as serious as others, but collectively they would have been enough to put me off buying that car. So I'm pissed off that she went off and bought this car in the first place, that she has a daft boyfriend who knows next to nothing about cars and doesn't drive and yet takes onboard his and his father's advice, asks me to source her a car and then disregards me when deciding to buy one.
Rant over.
Ps I was going to wash, clay and wax the car for her and perhaps buy her a CD head unit for it as a surprise but she can go take a running jumop now.
KungFuPanda said:
Fairly long rant here. My youngest sister (24) has just returned from a teaching job in Egypt and is back at home living with the parents. She is going to be working for a year prior to studying for a teaching qualification. She was therefore after a cheap runaround. Her budget was around £1000 - £1500. Prior to coming back to the UK, she asks me to scout around for cars in her budget and I trawl through autotrader for suitable little hatches which would suit her.
Having been back in the UK for a couple of weeks, she goes off to stay with her boyfriend and his parents in Wakefield for a weekend and whilst there decides to buy a 2002 Fiat Punto for £1200 with 43,000 miles on. I think the price is a little steep but if the car were straight, I wouldn't have had a problem.
Having had a cursory glance at the car, I am now seething that her boyfriend and his father let her buy this for the following reasons:
- It has daft Wolfrace aftermarket alloy wheels on;
- Four different brands of tyre on all four corners;
- One of the tyres is near it's legal limit;
- The bonnet is riddled with scratches and a dent;
- Front and rear bumpers have been colour coded badly and there is minor overspray on the lights and the colour match is poor;
- There is wear on the driver's seat bolster;
- There is only one key and it is NOT the main key either.
Some of the problems I've highlighted obviously aren't as serious as others, but collectively they would have been enough to put me off buying that car. So I'm pissed off that she went off and bought this car in the first place, that she has a daft boyfriend who knows next to nothing about cars and doesn't drive and yet takes onboard his and his father's advice, asks me to source her a car and then disregards me when deciding to buy one.
Rant over.
Ps I was going to wash, clay and wax the car for her and perhaps buy her a CD head unit for it as a surprise but she can go take a running jumop now.
I would buy her some tyres before a CD player TBHHaving been back in the UK for a couple of weeks, she goes off to stay with her boyfriend and his parents in Wakefield for a weekend and whilst there decides to buy a 2002 Fiat Punto for £1200 with 43,000 miles on. I think the price is a little steep but if the car were straight, I wouldn't have had a problem.
Having had a cursory glance at the car, I am now seething that her boyfriend and his father let her buy this for the following reasons:
- It has daft Wolfrace aftermarket alloy wheels on;
- Four different brands of tyre on all four corners;
- One of the tyres is near it's legal limit;
- The bonnet is riddled with scratches and a dent;
- Front and rear bumpers have been colour coded badly and there is minor overspray on the lights and the colour match is poor;
- There is wear on the driver's seat bolster;
- There is only one key and it is NOT the main key either.
Some of the problems I've highlighted obviously aren't as serious as others, but collectively they would have been enough to put me off buying that car. So I'm pissed off that she went off and bought this car in the first place, that she has a daft boyfriend who knows next to nothing about cars and doesn't drive and yet takes onboard his and his father's advice, asks me to source her a car and then disregards me when deciding to buy one.
Rant over.
Ps I was going to wash, clay and wax the car for her and perhaps buy her a CD head unit for it as a surprise but she can go take a running jumop now.
KungFuPanda said:
- It has daft Wolfrace aftermarket alloy wheels on;
Who cares, she obviously likes them.KungFuPanda said:
- Four different brands of tyre on all four corners;
This can be fixed, particularly since...KungFuPanda said:
- One of the tyres is near it's legal limit;
...so buy 4 new ones. No harm done.KungFuPanda said:
- The bonnet is riddled with scratches and a dent;
Who cares, it's a £1,200 car!KungFuPanda said:
- Front and rear bumpers have been colour coded badly and there is minor overspray on the lights and the colour match is poor;
Who cares, it's a £1,200 car!KungFuPanda said:
- There is wear on the driver's seat bolster;
Who cares, it's a £1,200 car!KungFuPanda said:
- There is only one key and it is NOT the main key either.
Who cares, it's a £1,200 car!I wouldn't worry about it too much.
When I saw you start carrying on about it I assumed that you'd discovered it was a stolen vehicle, or Cat-D, or had finance on it, or a cut-n-shut, or a massive repair, or not straight, or had the wrong log book, or false VIN numbers, or any number of actually serious problems that would be cause for concern on even a car this cheap.
If 'a worn seat bolster' is in your top 6 gripes then you're doing ok. I do agree that it needs new tyres though.
Her money, her choice; although I'd agree there was little point asking your advice if she then chose to ignore it.
Change the filters & fluids, sell the Wolfraces on eBay and use the proceeds to buy some standard wheels and new tyres.
Basically she's got herself a small hatchback within budget. It sounds a bit scruffy round the edges but £1200 is never going to buy you a mint example of anything.
You're not going to find many well maintained cheap hatchbacks because they're often bought be people who see cars as a necessary evil. Manufacturers know this and make sure these are the cars that don't need too much in the way of specialist servicing. With any luck it'll suit her purposes perfectly well.
Change the filters & fluids, sell the Wolfraces on eBay and use the proceeds to buy some standard wheels and new tyres.
Basically she's got herself a small hatchback within budget. It sounds a bit scruffy round the edges but £1200 is never going to buy you a mint example of anything.
You're not going to find many well maintained cheap hatchbacks because they're often bought be people who see cars as a necessary evil. Manufacturers know this and make sure these are the cars that don't need too much in the way of specialist servicing. With any luck it'll suit her purposes perfectly well.
cheap for an 02 punto with low miles
Only a guess but its probably clocked or cat D at that price.
I recently saw a 2000 w punto that was one owner, no history, 120,000 miles, it sold quickly for £1200, and it had no wear on the drivers bolster, they are pretty tough those puntos, but watch out for the electric power steering. It starts as an intermittent fault, very common, and then it becomes all the time, its about £400 to fix it cheaply, or nearly double that from a Fiat dealer.
Only a guess but its probably clocked or cat D at that price.
I recently saw a 2000 w punto that was one owner, no history, 120,000 miles, it sold quickly for £1200, and it had no wear on the drivers bolster, they are pretty tough those puntos, but watch out for the electric power steering. It starts as an intermittent fault, very common, and then it becomes all the time, its about £400 to fix it cheaply, or nearly double that from a Fiat dealer.
Edited by rallycross on Tuesday 5th October 15:34
Yes. A long haired hippy nob jockey of the highest order. Yet his father is a retired copper who now acts as a consultant for Crimestoppers. He drives a decent new Merc and has a 993. You would have thought he would have had a modicum of knowledge re the purchase of second hand cars but unfortunately not.
It's a £1200 car. Whilst the issues you mention are probably a bit irritating to a car person, for someone just looking for transport they're probably neither here nor there.
I think at this end of the market finding a low mileage motor with decent MOT and some tax can be a job, and tbh nothing you've mentioned is stuff that can't be easily remedied. Tyres first!
It is annoying though, as the family car buff, when relatives ask your advice then totally disregard it. My parents have been doing it for years
- "We've got £10k, what should we buy?"
- I scurry away and draw up a list of nice motors, not even necessarily stuff that's outlandish
- "oh, we've bought a new Fiesta". FFS.
I think at this end of the market finding a low mileage motor with decent MOT and some tax can be a job, and tbh nothing you've mentioned is stuff that can't be easily remedied. Tyres first!
It is annoying though, as the family car buff, when relatives ask your advice then totally disregard it. My parents have been doing it for years
- "We've got £10k, what should we buy?"
- I scurry away and draw up a list of nice motors, not even necessarily stuff that's outlandish
- "oh, we've bought a new Fiesta". FFS.
Whilst it doesn't sound exactly like the bargain of the century, what were you expecting? Eagle F1s all round? Fully synth 5/30 every 6000miles? It's a £1200 runabout that some kid has had for his first car by the sounds of it.
It sounds like you're more pissed off about having your nose pushed out of joint because she went off with the BF to buy a car and not you.
All IMHO
It sounds like you're more pissed off about having your nose pushed out of joint because she went off with the BF to buy a car and not you.
All IMHO
Course I'm pissed off by having my nose pushed out of joint! I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't have asked me for advice and just went off to buy the car without any intervention from me whatsoever. But she decided to ask me to produce a shortlist of a few and then totally disregard my advice and didn't even tell me what she was buying.
Further discussions reveals that there is no service history and only the past 2 MOTs as paperwork.
Further discussions reveals that there is no service history and only the past 2 MOTs as paperwork.
Annoys me too. I get asked for advice regularly, do some research - mostly on PH but I also Google PH favourites to see what sort of problems people find, normally find a few interesting specimens which I communicate to interested buyer along with warnings about "this or that" make or model, then find out they've only bought the one I advised against because it was in a nice colour, or a mate was selling it.
There have been 4 occasions in the past 18 months where this has happened. Not one of my "interested buyer" friends has followed the recommendation which has led to:
1. One car failing an MoT only "weeks" after purchase on brakes pulling to one side, the handbrake needing to be pulled up to your shoulder, and lights pointing at aircraft.
2. One car uses a lot of oil and has needed a new exhaust (I would have thought the oil passing through the exhaust would have protected it for eternity - the quantity is ~1 litre/400 miles).
3. One car needed 3 new tyres not 200 miles into the new ownership. Wouldn't be so bad but they didn't notice at purchase time so didn't negotiate any money off the original asking price. They also had problems getting the V5 off the seller, although it did come through eventually (~3 months later). This was one advert I specfically warned against - it was a "flashy" 3-series BMW (I've no idea what E-number) from a sellar who couldn't spell and misrepresented the age of the car in the ad.
4. The last car hasn't proven to be anything specifically bad (apart from being a hateful hatchback)... yet... but it's only 4 months into ownership.
There have been 4 occasions in the past 18 months where this has happened. Not one of my "interested buyer" friends has followed the recommendation which has led to:
1. One car failing an MoT only "weeks" after purchase on brakes pulling to one side, the handbrake needing to be pulled up to your shoulder, and lights pointing at aircraft.
2. One car uses a lot of oil and has needed a new exhaust (I would have thought the oil passing through the exhaust would have protected it for eternity - the quantity is ~1 litre/400 miles).
3. One car needed 3 new tyres not 200 miles into the new ownership. Wouldn't be so bad but they didn't notice at purchase time so didn't negotiate any money off the original asking price. They also had problems getting the V5 off the seller, although it did come through eventually (~3 months later). This was one advert I specfically warned against - it was a "flashy" 3-series BMW (I've no idea what E-number) from a sellar who couldn't spell and misrepresented the age of the car in the ad.
4. The last car hasn't proven to be anything specifically bad (apart from being a hateful hatchback)... yet... but it's only 4 months into ownership.
Really anything for this money is going to have some blemishes, it's an old(ish) cheap car. Most of the faults are cosmetic only, and the important one (tyres) is easy to fix. Bit of a daft rant IMO.
However, tell her to keep an eye on coolant and oil if it's the 1.2 8v, they do have a bit of an appetite for head gaskets.
However, tell her to keep an eye on coolant and oil if it's the 1.2 8v, they do have a bit of an appetite for head gaskets.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Tuesday 5th October 15:31
KungFuPanda said:
Further discussions reveals that there is no service history and only the past 2 MOTs as paperwork.
30 seconds online will reveal the mileage at each MOT. Certainly no guarantee that it hasn't been clocked but may provide some reassurance (or perhaps evidence that it has been clocked 
)http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicl...
Edited by Risotto on Tuesday 5th October 15:34
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