Spotting damage/defects after buying a car.... Doh!

[mattman]

Just bought myself a cheap little run around, and after looking at some complete dogs I found a nice, clean looking car. Gave it the once over, had a good look around, checked all the paperwork, test drive etc etc etc and negotiated a price I was happy with
Very pleased with myself, drove hone and gave it a clean, it's only then that I notice a previous dent master type paint repair on the door (that you can only see from a certain angle) and the folding mirrors don't fold - bugga!

It's not as if I'm a novice buyer either - thus is car no 48 and I did a 2yr stint running a classic car sales business but still things seem to slip through

Am I the only one?

I think I'll take my sponge and bucket to the next viewing and offer to wash it first as that seems to be the only time you ever see ant paint defects!

[daemon]

If its a cheap little runaround why worry?

[Driver101]

Sometimes it is hard to see imperfections due to light and the car not being clean.

One thing for sure, once you see it for the first time, your eyes are always drawn back to it.

[ILoveMondeo]

mattman said:

I think I'll take my sponge and bucket to the next viewing and offer to wash it first as that seems to be the only time you ever see ant paint defects!

Often said the same myself after being in similar situations, once missed a evidence of a major accident on an M3 a while back, only came to light when I was giving it a good clean. Nothing quite lined up!

I pretend like I'm washing a car I'm viewing now, get down low and close.

Must look mental!

[Riley Blue]

I missed seeing damage to the nearside sill on a car I recently bought. Having had to change a wheel I can see exactly what happened, at some time it slipped off the jack which sprung up and whacked the plastic sill cover. It's an Audi A8 - ho-hum....

[Liquid Tuna]

You can find every defect on a car when washing it. Looks odd turning up at a sale with a bucket and sponge though.

[mattman]

daemon said:

If its a cheap little runaround why worry?

Not worried, just kicking myself that no matter how well prepared I am I always seem to miss something

[anonymous-user]

you worry about things like that.

i bought a wrong model car I thought it was the hdi model when it was the non turbo one.

i also bought a Audi quattro 1.8t with no turbo...

edit to add i bought a car that had been in an accident, which was only advised when it was bought off me with 2 creased a pillars.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Sunday 15th June 22:18

[magpie215]

took me 18 months to spot that my celica had a full rear quarter replacement at some point in its life..........only noticed it one day when the light caught it right and could see the blended paint lost halfway into the drivers door......really nice job though.

[Rickyy]

There was a chap on here that bought the wrong version of Xsara VTS. I believe he bought the 112bhp 1.8 version instead of the 167bhp 2.0 version!

[Sensibleboy]

That's nothing. My mum thought she'd bought a Mitsubishi Shogun diesel with air con. She'd actually bought a V6 petrol with no air con!

[Pebbles167]

A friend (literally) fell for an Impreza 2.0 gx with a fake dump valve once, thinking it was a WRX. Spent £1600 on it. The car also turned out to have a large hole in the floor, with rust where a previous owner was careless with a jack. He never did hear the end of it!