How not to do a private purchase

[Nickp82]

Do you have any chalk handy?

I think the key detail there is it being a 20+ year old car , it was a gamble and unfortunately you have lost even though it sounds like you did everything reasonable to check it first.

Edited by Nickp82 on Tuesday 17th March 19:56

[InitialDave]

Haha, yep, been there. What are we talking here, pocket money, or did you remortgage your house to buy it?
Edit: re-reading, you say a couple of grand, how much "should" one be worth?

[MB140]

Sorry to tell you this but private sale. It’s on you. Maybe if the advert says pristine bodywork, no rust etc then maybe a chance due to miss selling but I very very much doubt it. Also on a couple of £k car it’s not even worth.

[gazza285]

Break it and sell it piece by piece, a couple of months and it should mostly be gone. It is the only way you will get back in the wife’s good books.

[rallycross]

Private sale, 20 year old cheap banger, its now your car and its now your problem, first thing to do is get a 2nd opinion from someone who is used to fixing old cars as the first garage may have gone to town on how bad it is.

[InitialDave]

Yeah, have a look at parts prices and take an estimate of how much you'd recoup in parts, vs what it'll cost you to sort it out to a standard you're happy with.

I suspect the former is likely to work out better.

[TheDukeofBork]

I can't believe the reduction in standards on here.

This absolutely calls for deployment of frozen sausages and a hammer.

[2pad]

ash73 said:

Yes I'd break it up too, quite fun to see how things go together.

Happened to me with a MG Midget, looked lovely on the outside but underneath was a basket case. The mechanicals were good and I ended up selling it to someone who wanted a donor car.

Thanks - that's a good route for me to look at. I hope it will be worth something to someone.

[Osinjak]

TheDukeofBork said:

I can't believe the reduction in standards on here.

This absolutely calls for deployment of frozen sausages and a hammer.

For the simple reason that it's not funny anymore.

OP, I had a similar problem many years ago when I was properly seen off on a RR Classic. amongst other things the transfer box was properly shagged and I got my lawyer mate to draft a letter before action for me and the geezer took the car in very quickly. Didn't make a blind bit of difference as the rest of the car fell apart around it, ended up with a donor engine after the original block cracked. Cost me well in excess of £5k in toatl and in the end I got about £800 for it. So you could get a friendly lawyer to do a letter for you but don't think it'll get you very far in the long run, car sounds terminal.

[anonymous-user]

What car is it please OP?

[M4cruiser]

2pad said:

I should have been more careful but even with all the due diligence and checks my recent purchase is a lemon.

...
Fast forward a week and my local mechanics have uncovered a horror show of well disguised bad repairs using domestic expanding foam, painted body filler over major rust and rot, poor or no welding with metal patches loose and major structural rot on the front nearside and other componentry. The car is not roadworthy, even with its MOT in place for a good six months.


What is the Pistonheads collective advice? Is it worth doing anything or just suck it up. Flame suit is donned ...

Edited by 2pad on Tuesday 17th March 19:52

Edited by 2pad on Tuesday 17th March 19:54

Edited by 2pad on Tuesday 17th March 19:54

Put this down to experience and move on.
But I'd have to say that some of the bodges would surely have been "visible" to someone with a more trained eye.

[Digby]

lord trumpton said:

What car is it please OP?

My instant thought was a Mk2 MX5..

[carinaman]

2pad said:

I should have been more careful but even with all the due diligence and checks my recent purchase is a lemon.

Did you type the registration number into that?

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

If you did what did it return?

I've avoided cars where it's clear from the MoT history that someone has plastered the bottom in underseal in a possible attempt to cover up rust.

[anonymous-user]

Digby said:

lord trumpton said:

What car is it please OP?

My instant thought was a Mk2 MX5..

Yeah, good shout

[2pad]

lord trumpton said:

Digby said:

lord trumpton said:

What car is it please OP?

My instant thought was a Mk2 MX5..

Yeah, good shout

Nope. I've had 5 MX5's and know what I'm looking for. This is a VW.

Edited by 2pad on Tuesday 17th March 21:34

[2pad]

lord trumpton said:

What car is it please OP?

VW T4

[A1VDY]

VW t4 to be fair should be reasonably easy to check out for rot even on a driveway..

[carinaman]

Commiserations OP. I went through a phase of buying crappy rust riddled cars when I was new to driving. It's not a nice place to be.

[DaveCWK]

Feel for you OP - It's the pointlessness of the bodging that is most annoying. The time, effort & cost involved in bodging repairs with expanding foam, filler & paint is pretty much equivalent to just cutting the rust out, welding a patch in, light filler skim & paint!

[trickywoo]

This may sound harsh but A two year ago mot advisory for vehicle structure is corroded should have been enough of a flag to check if anything had been done about it.

If the seller gave you any assurances that work had been done this could be actionable even in a private sale.