Has one of these had a bump?
Discussion
We're looking at the possibility of a used Dacia Duster for use as a general workhorse and family runaround.
We've come across two pretty similar cars, both at the same dealership local to us in Aberdeen (non-franchise used car centre type place). Both '66 plated; both the 1.5DCi 110hp lump; both Prestige spec; both two wheel drive; the grey one has circa 35,000 miles and the blue one 39,000 miles.
I'd expect, being so similar and at the same place, that they'd be around the same price but the grey one is £550 cheaper. The web also says it's been reduced £1450 recently so I presume it's been in stock longer. It's also in worse condition than the blue one.
Do you think the price is a 'come and get me' as it's been in stock for too long?
Or is it the fact that it's a bit tatty?
The website says that all used cars come with a used car promise blah blah blah but a specific point of this is that it will have no visible scratches when viewed from 2 metres....so you'd think it would be fair to presume that both cars should have bodywork in a similar condition on handover - so the grey one being rough now shouldn't matter?
One thing I did notice when digging around was that the boot carpet of the cheaper grey car was wet. Salesperson said - of course - that this was because the car had just been valeted. But on inspection the boot floors of the two cars actually look different:
The floor of the grey car has slight surface rust and, difficult to see in the picture, a slight crease to the bottom right of that picture. If you press hard with the palm of your hand on the boot floor, it also feels fragile; it is possible to make the panel move down the way (think the movement on a roof panel if you were to stand on it). It feels flimsy. There's also a hole - bottom right - where you can see the road. Not a rust hole - like a perfect small circle has been punched out of the steel. Has this been in an accident?
Compare that to the more expensive blue car where there is no rust and there is no hole at the bottom right of the picture:
We're going in to this with our eyes open - any 6 year old car could have potentially had an accident or two along the way. But I'd definitely appreciate the input of the forum..! Any thoughts gratefully received.
We've come across two pretty similar cars, both at the same dealership local to us in Aberdeen (non-franchise used car centre type place). Both '66 plated; both the 1.5DCi 110hp lump; both Prestige spec; both two wheel drive; the grey one has circa 35,000 miles and the blue one 39,000 miles.
I'd expect, being so similar and at the same place, that they'd be around the same price but the grey one is £550 cheaper. The web also says it's been reduced £1450 recently so I presume it's been in stock longer. It's also in worse condition than the blue one.
Do you think the price is a 'come and get me' as it's been in stock for too long?
Or is it the fact that it's a bit tatty?
The website says that all used cars come with a used car promise blah blah blah but a specific point of this is that it will have no visible scratches when viewed from 2 metres....so you'd think it would be fair to presume that both cars should have bodywork in a similar condition on handover - so the grey one being rough now shouldn't matter?
One thing I did notice when digging around was that the boot carpet of the cheaper grey car was wet. Salesperson said - of course - that this was because the car had just been valeted. But on inspection the boot floors of the two cars actually look different:
The floor of the grey car has slight surface rust and, difficult to see in the picture, a slight crease to the bottom right of that picture. If you press hard with the palm of your hand on the boot floor, it also feels fragile; it is possible to make the panel move down the way (think the movement on a roof panel if you were to stand on it). It feels flimsy. There's also a hole - bottom right - where you can see the road. Not a rust hole - like a perfect small circle has been punched out of the steel. Has this been in an accident?
Compare that to the more expensive blue car where there is no rust and there is no hole at the bottom right of the picture:
We're going in to this with our eyes open - any 6 year old car could have potentially had an accident or two along the way. But I'd definitely appreciate the input of the forum..! Any thoughts gratefully received.
I'd go for the blue car personally. The hole in the grey car looks like it could be where something else may have been screwed into place above or below it. There seems to be another circle above it and maybe the outline of maybe a flange around the hole?
I would not expect any rust in the boot. If there was crash damage, the car may have been straightened out but not 100% perfectly leading to the door/boot seals not quite able to seal properly leading to water ingress.
I would not expect any rust in the boot. If there was crash damage, the car may have been straightened out but not 100% perfectly leading to the door/boot seals not quite able to seal properly leading to water ingress.
Also, where you’ve deduced a hole could be punched out in the blue one isn’t where the hole is on the grey one. The grey one has that potential hole punch as well, to the right of the actual hole.
The circle above the actual hole looks like it’s full of body filler.
The grey one also has a different rubber seal half-tucked under the plastic trim.
The circle above the actual hole looks like it’s full of body filler.
The grey one also has a different rubber seal half-tucked under the plastic trim.
Thanks for the replies everybody 
We'll give the grey one a swerve and see if negotiations on the blue one go anywhere. The blue one is priced very similarly to others of a similar age so there are always more out there should that fail.
I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc. I don't see it quite as black and white as that though - it could be that the 144 checks or whatever it is they do don't cover something as specific as that; couldn't have been they just didn't notice - I don't expect any foul play here, and the sales exec wasn't trying to push us into the grey one over the blue one at any time.
Thanks again!
We'll give the grey one a swerve and see if negotiations on the blue one go anywhere. The blue one is priced very similarly to others of a similar age so there are always more out there should that fail.
I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc. I don't see it quite as black and white as that though - it could be that the 144 checks or whatever it is they do don't cover something as specific as that; couldn't have been they just didn't notice - I don't expect any foul play here, and the sales exec wasn't trying to push us into the grey one over the blue one at any time.
Thanks again!
Maybe the grey one had a towbar or dog cage bolted in. But that doesn’t make it wet, what with the rust etc.
Had a nearly new 500 that had a damp carpet, salesman reckoned on the valet, but to be fair asked a tech to take a look, who said, no probably some common issue behind the bumper. Was fixed before sale and still dry, but it had no rust, just damp carpet and spare wheel well.
Had a nearly new 500 that had a damp carpet, salesman reckoned on the valet, but to be fair asked a tech to take a look, who said, no probably some common issue behind the bumper. Was fixed before sale and still dry, but it had no rust, just damp carpet and spare wheel well.
Brodz said:
Thanks for the replies everybody
I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc.
Loads of cars have minor bumps and be fine if they're repaired properly.I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc.
Major bumps a different matter, their professional buyer should weed those ones out.
If you really don't want a used car that's had some sort of repair then pay a bodywork expert to go along with you.
But even then, the "expert" may say to you it's had a little bit of paint, but nothing that would stop them buying the car.
Trevor555 said:
Brodz said:
Thanks for the replies everybody
I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc.
Loads of cars have minor bumps and be fine if they're repaired properly.I was talking this over with a friend this morning who suggested that he'd walk away from the dealer, full stop...they shouldn't be trying to sell a potentially accident damaged car etc.
Major bumps a different matter, their professional buyer should weed those ones out.
If you really don't want a used car that's had some sort of repair then pay a bodywork expert to go along with you.
But even then, the "expert" may say to you it's had a little bit of paint, but nothing that would stop them buying the car.
Fastpedeller said:
It may be just the lighting/photo, but it looks like the blue one has had a partial paint spray in that area?
We had a Sandero Stepway way back in 2014 which was bought new; the boot floor in it was sort of very black and glossy where the boot floor meets the rear of the car, but a more sort of 'mottled' finish the further forward you looked, almost like it had had a very thin coat of paint and not much more and like it needed going over again. So the finish looked quite similar to the blue one, from memory.Walk away from the grey one and look at the blue one. Tell the car salesman that you are not a fool and have an account on PistonHeads so no nonsense will get past you.
The blue one sounds like the better purchase. I think if you were seriously interested you could get it at the same price as the grey one.
Remember with salesmen, they don’t care what cars they are selling, all they care about quite rightly is their monthly targets. Salesmen will say anything to get a sale (I certainly would). In car sales morals are nice to have but business is business.
The blue one sounds like the better purchase. I think if you were seriously interested you could get it at the same price as the grey one.
Remember with salesmen, they don’t care what cars they are selling, all they care about quite rightly is their monthly targets. Salesmen will say anything to get a sale (I certainly would). In car sales morals are nice to have but business is business.
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