Things that really put you off buying a car
Discussion
Over the last 3 months I've been a religious follower at the churches of Autotrader, PH and eBay looking for the perfect automatic car for Mrs V. (and me): Volvo C30/V50/V70 T5's, Subaru Impreza R's/Legacys/Forester/Outback, Saab 9-3 Hatches - essentially anything other than a Eurobox or mainstream.
Finally I've bought something I didn't expect to buy, a Clubman Cooper S, when I was actually kicking tyres for a Nissan Note for my mum.
But one thing that really really puts me off a used car is.... black wheels.
I've lost count of the number of cars I've rejected solely because of black wheels. I'm talking about cars that have had them fitted as aftermarket and not standard fitment/slightly anthracite etc. Aftermarket black wheels conjure up an image of baseball caps, wheel screeching and pharma deals.
If I considered buying a car with black wheels I'd have to have them refurbed back to silver and with Lepsons charging £75+ per wheel it's not worth the financial pain and hassle of buying the car in the first place.
There. I said it. And breathe.
Finally I've bought something I didn't expect to buy, a Clubman Cooper S, when I was actually kicking tyres for a Nissan Note for my mum.
But one thing that really really puts me off a used car is.... black wheels.
I've lost count of the number of cars I've rejected solely because of black wheels. I'm talking about cars that have had them fitted as aftermarket and not standard fitment/slightly anthracite etc. Aftermarket black wheels conjure up an image of baseball caps, wheel screeching and pharma deals.If I considered buying a car with black wheels I'd have to have them refurbed back to silver and with Lepsons charging £75+ per wheel it's not worth the financial pain and hassle of buying the car in the first place.
There. I said it. And breathe.
Im with you on this.
Personally, I just dont think black wheels work on many cars, certainly not once the owners kerbed them a few times and the several year old tyres have turned a shade of orangey-brown.
Even the cars it does work, I dont think it looks any better than silver.
Im probably a bit boring.
Personally, I just dont think black wheels work on many cars, certainly not once the owners kerbed them a few times and the several year old tyres have turned a shade of orangey-brown.
Even the cars it does work, I dont think it looks any better than silver.
Im probably a bit boring.
Things that put me off buying a car?
1. You spend all of your hard earned on something to call your pride and joy then have to worry every time you park it anywhere public because some t
t will either run a key up the side, use it as a measure of just how hard they can open a door into it or use it to bring their loaded shopping trolley to a halt..
2. There seems to be a facelift every two and a half weeks so your already 2-3 models behind by the time your first service comes around..
3. When I've finally paid out for my pride and joy admiral bend me over to insure it while the taxman takes what he likes from my wallet..
So, an 8 year old diesel clio it is for now
1. You spend all of your hard earned on something to call your pride and joy then have to worry every time you park it anywhere public because some t
t will either run a key up the side, use it as a measure of just how hard they can open a door into it or use it to bring their loaded shopping trolley to a halt.. 2. There seems to be a facelift every two and a half weeks so your already 2-3 models behind by the time your first service comes around..
3. When I've finally paid out for my pride and joy admiral bend me over to insure it while the taxman takes what he likes from my wallet..
So, an 8 year old diesel clio it is for now
bad spelling and grammar in the advert.
bad modifications.
even some semi decent mods will put me off, as that means its beed driven hard and insurance will be well up from a standard car.
a non existent advert, I.E. advert reads like this :
red, 52k, MOT&tax, good runner.
if thats the only information they can be bothered to put up about the car, with out saying if its got stuff like ABS, electric windows, anything else, then what else could they be not bothered to do to the car in terms of servicing and running.
any of those things, i just click back on the web browser then ignore for ever more. but especially the last point, it really fks me off as i want to see what toys and safety features the car comes with, even if its just ABS an air con as standard with everything else manual or not there then fking put what the car has!!!
bad modifications.
even some semi decent mods will put me off, as that means its beed driven hard and insurance will be well up from a standard car.
a non existent advert, I.E. advert reads like this :
red, 52k, MOT&tax, good runner.
if thats the only information they can be bothered to put up about the car, with out saying if its got stuff like ABS, electric windows, anything else, then what else could they be not bothered to do to the car in terms of servicing and running.
any of those things, i just click back on the web browser then ignore for ever more. but especially the last point, it really f
ks me off as i want to see what toys and safety features the car comes with, even if its just ABS an air con as standard with everything else manual or not there then fking put what the car has!!!dci said:
Things that put me off buying a car?
1. You spend all of your hard earned on something to call your pride and joy then have to worry every time you park it anywhere public because some tt will either run a key up the side, use it as a measure of just how hard they can open a door into it or use it to bring their loaded shopping trolley to a halt..
2. There seems to be a facelift every two and a half weeks so your already 2-3 models behind by the time your first service comes around..
3. When I've finally paid out for my pride and joy admiral bend me over to insure it while the taxman takes what he likes from my wallet..
So, an 8 year old diesel clio it is for now
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring1. You spend all of your hard earned on something to call your pride and joy then have to worry every time you park it anywhere public because some t
t will either run a key up the side, use it as a measure of just how hard they can open a door into it or use it to bring their loaded shopping trolley to a halt.. 2. There seems to be a facelift every two and a half weeks so your already 2-3 models behind by the time your first service comes around..
3. When I've finally paid out for my pride and joy admiral bend me over to insure it while the taxman takes what he likes from my wallet..
So, an 8 year old diesel clio it is for now
Anything more than gentle modification, aftermarket alloys, wky halfords stickers (V8, turbo etc). Black alloys, even OEM, would be a turn off for me which is foolish because all my wheels end up black soon enough 
Also poor spelling or chav speak in adverts. Basically anything that suggests the owner is a moron.
ky halfords stickers (V8, turbo etc). Black alloys, even OEM, would be a turn off for me which is foolish because all my wheels end up black soon enough Also poor spelling or chav speak in adverts. Basically anything that suggests the owner is a moron.
Complexity - I don't need a car to turn on the wipers or the lights, I don't need it to tell me when I go in to a 30 limit or tell me when I'm drifting out of a lane or have a tyre thats gone flat. I don't need the increasingly complicated interlinking of systems on a car. I don't need a DMF or DPF that will fail sooner or later. This leads to the next point...
Bork Factor - With budgets cut to the bone and the complexity mentioned above reliability is not a strong point of pretty much anything, together with increasing repair costs and ever increasing reliance on a dealer network to do it make owning a recent car even more of a risk.
Dullness - Set yourself a 30k budget for a daily driver, take the last two points in to consideration, now find something our average PHer might take a second glance at and appreciate. Not easy.
All of the above means that I'm more disenchanted with cars than ever. I'd quite like to change cars but frankly I don't see anything worth the money and my current car is costing very little in upkeep. Hopefully something interesting will appear in the next few years.
Bork Factor - With budgets cut to the bone and the complexity mentioned above reliability is not a strong point of pretty much anything, together with increasing repair costs and ever increasing reliance on a dealer network to do it make owning a recent car even more of a risk.
Dullness - Set yourself a 30k budget for a daily driver, take the last two points in to consideration, now find something our average PHer might take a second glance at and appreciate. Not easy.
All of the above means that I'm more disenchanted with cars than ever. I'd quite like to change cars but frankly I don't see anything worth the money and my current car is costing very little in upkeep. Hopefully something interesting will appear in the next few years.
When the person selling has no idea about the car. BMW's advertised as V6 for instance, or the bloke who told me that HE V12 Jags shut down 6 cylinders when cruising instead of knowing about the May head.
Mods. Almost any put me off.
Location. I don't care how nice your Range Rover is but if it is outside a house in a council estate I'm out!
Mods. Almost any put me off.
Location. I don't care how nice your Range Rover is but if it is outside a house in a council estate I'm out!
Any silly mods, after market alloys, budget tyres, mismatched tyres, bad advert pictures, dirty car in the pictures and any advert written in CAPS would not get a second look.
You can usually spot an enthusiastic owner of a car. If they seem unenthusiastic and don't know where things like the bonnet release catch are, again time to walk away.
If alloys are a bit pitted and flakey I don't find that a problem as I get the wheels refurbed when I get a new car. If the alloys have chunks missing out the rim; that would put me off.
Oh, nearly forgot that 'one carfull woman doctor/vicar owner' bullst
OP kind of with you on the black alloys thing....... But I have them, they are the OEM colour on my car
You can usually spot an enthusiastic owner of a car. If they seem unenthusiastic and don't know where things like the bonnet release catch are, again time to walk away.
If alloys are a bit pitted and flakey I don't find that a problem as I get the wheels refurbed when I get a new car. If the alloys have chunks missing out the rim; that would put me off.
Oh, nearly forgot that 'one carfull woman doctor/vicar owner' bulls
tOP kind of with you on the black alloys thing....... But I have them, they are the OEM colour on my car
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