The sub £1k Merc S500

The sub £1k Merc S500

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jke11y

3,186 posts

243 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Just re-read this thread from the beginning, pretty amusing peaks and troughs. You'd have thought from some of the posts the OP had bought the holy grail for a tenner.

I recently had to eBay cut-and-run an absolutely goosed S class, so I feel your pain second - owner. It also highlights that one mans "no-rust" is another mans crusty, MOT failing jobby. Kind of surprised from a PHer but then it's happened before; remember that guy with the clio Williams.

Stegel

1,985 posts

180 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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BenjiA said:
I bought a locking wheelnut remover, but ran out of time to try and make it work so i can put the spare on..maybe tomorrow.

My wife has been telling our girls about how great the car is. After 200 miles driving in p1ssing rain from Leeds, she's a convert to barging too. RESULT.

I am tempted to buy a Merc "D" wheelnut remover, but someone has attacked the inner bit of it with a drill, which caused failure, which leads me to believe that was the wrong one in the first place.. As I have no V5 yet,so MB stealership will flip me the V's any suggestions how I can get the spare on the cords showing rear???
You need proof of ownership for keys and plates, but I have bought a locking wheel nut key without these from a dealer.

PS - it's a shame how this has turned out.

JakeT

5,616 posts

126 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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There's a fella near me that has had lucking wheelnuts off of my cars with ease. Excellent fella. Google locking wheel nuts removed reading and he's one of them. 2 mins from my house and a good old boy.

andyps

7,817 posts

288 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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I managed to remove some McGard locking wheel nuts when I lost the key by hammering on a socket of appropriate size, it worked OK but then getting the nut out of the socket was fun!

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

181 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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That's me just seeing this and to say I am surprised and shocked is an understatement.

I'll add my thoughts in full when I get home and happy for Ben to contact me in the interim.

C70R

17,596 posts

110 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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jke11y said:
Just re-read this thread from the beginning, pretty amusing peaks and troughs. You'd have thought from some of the posts the OP had bought the holy grail for a tenner.
Indeed.

The MOT failure and subsequent photos almost make it sound like a different car from the one that was described 3 months ago by the OP as:
R8Steve said:
No rust either that I can see, jacking points and everything look great if not a bit dirty
ETA - I'm certainly not blaming the OP for selling a pup. Buying cars privately is always caveat emptor, and it appears that the buyer didn't look very hard in this instance.
It was more a musing that this might be the reality behind a lot of the "Look how mint this luxury BARGE that I bought for £27 is!" circlejerk threads.

Edited by C70R on Thursday 26th May 09:54

clio007

575 posts

231 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Sand the rust down and stick some hammerite over it. The MOT tester cant put it down as rust if he cant see it behind the hammeritelaugh

Also regarding the wheel nut, take it to a local tyre fitter and they will smash it off for a tenner or so

Edited by clio007 on Thursday 26th May 09:47

p1stonhead

26,803 posts

173 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Is that really the same car?

From 'no visible rust' to that in so little time? Rust doesnt work that fast does it? To caus actual holes?!

clio007

575 posts

231 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Im surprised the hole in the wing wasnt noticed when you saw the car. Thats pretty obvious.

samj2014

569 posts

118 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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p1stonhead said:
Is that really the same car?

From 'no visible rust' to that in so little time? Rust doesnt work that fast does it? To caus actual holes?!
Look at the third photo in the first post - rust along the bottom of the door is visible.

confused_buyer

6,752 posts

187 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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According to the original post it was meant to have had a new MOT (which takes it to Feb 2017) and had one to July anyway?

So how comes it only has one until 9 June 2016?

Sadly this isn't untypical for these. W220s are lovely when they work but my goodness can be hard work. It is really very difficult to argue for one over the equivalent Lexus.

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

181 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Ok, so now i've got some time i'd like to address some points that have been made. As i said last night, i'm rather shocked to see this.

I would have preferred to address any points and discuss the matter over the phone or whatever but as it's in the public domain I shall respond here.

Lets start with why the bottoms of the doors are rusty – The previous owner obviously seen that they were rusty and lightly sanded them and gave them a quick blow over to address this. It looked respectable enough as per the original photos however within a couple of months the rust did start to appear back through. With a closer inspection i would have noticed this in hindsight but i was buying a 1k car, not a 100k car, looking presentable was good enough for me. I made a point of mentioning this in the ebay ad.

Moving on to the mot fail –

The inner wing. What on earth? Now, i must confess i only had the bonnet open a couple of times to check the oil and wasn’t specifically looking at the inner wings but never seen this. I am not struggling to work out why i never. Having looked closely at some pictures i’d taken i can see that area was pretty dirty and has since been cleaned/wiped to reveal the hole.

Offside cat missing. Not something i checked and i doubt anyone else would check to see if a cat was missing. I’m very surprised there was no engine management light on/fault codes present if this was the case. Also, no mention of emissions fail on the mot?

Suspension bush. I was aware of this, my friend gave the car a quick check over and advised this would need done at some point in the future. I passed this information on.

Offside rear tyre has ply or cords exposed. WTF? Unless this was at the very inner edge or the rear sidewall I struggle to see how this is possible. I checked the tyre pressures/levels and filled the car up with fuel before it was picked up and under no circumstances would have driven it myself or allowed anyone else to drive it if i was aware this was the case and i struggle to understand how i would have missed it.

I done under 1000 miles in the car in the 3 months i had it so struggle to understand the brake pads being low either, i have a photo of them at approx 127700 miles and the previous owner had replaced the pads just before i purchased it.

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

181 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
C70R said:
jke11y said:
Just re-read this thread from the beginning, pretty amusing peaks and troughs. You'd have thought from some of the posts the OP had bought the holy grail for a tenner.
Indeed.

The MOT failure and subsequent photos almost make it sound like a different car from the one that was described 3 months ago by the OP as:
R8Steve said:
No rust either that I can see, jacking points and everything look great if not a bit dirty
ETA - I'm certainly not blaming the OP for selling a pup. Buying cars privately is always caveat emptor, and it appears that the buyer didn't look very hard in this instance.
It was more a musing that this might be the reality behind a lot of the "Look how mint this luxury BARGE that I bought for £27 is!" circlejerk threads.

Edited by C70R on Thursday 26th May 09:54
FWIW i 100% believed i was NOT selling a 'pup'. Do you really believe that i would deliberately sell and drive about myself in a car that i knew was one? Do you think i would sell it to a pistonheader knowing that it would be plain to see on here if i did? For the sake of what? less than a grand?

In regards to the quote above, that is still the case, no MOT fail issues with the underbody/jacking points which i took pictures of. I never paid much attention under the bonnet though which in hindsight i should have, from the attention i did pay i never even seen this and looking at previous pictures i can understand why. The MOT tester has obviously had a good poke at it to look like that now.

CABC

5,769 posts

107 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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some perspective, please.
100k car for 1k. buy with long MoT, check over to ensure safe yourself/friendly mechanic and be prepared to scrap at first MoT or even earlier.
If it lasts more than 6 months, and even passes the next MoT just consider yourself very fortunate. Shedding can be cost effective and fun but be realistic.

If you MoT early it could backfire.

confused_buyer

6,752 posts

187 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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This thread does illustrate why, as a seller, it is always a very, very good idea to MOT a car before sale. Apart from the obvious fact that it makes a car easier to sell it also covers you on (a) comeback from the buyer on MOT items and (b) is a strong, though not 100%, defence should you be accused of selling an un-roadworthy car (which is illegal if you are a private seller as much as trade).

It also illustrates why, as a buyer, a car with a long or recently passed MOT is more desirable than one with 2 weeks left.

em177

3,138 posts

170 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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confused_buyer said:
selling an un-roadworthy car (which is illegal if you are a private seller as much as trade).
Erm?

confused_buyer

6,752 posts

187 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
em177 said:
Erm?
Umm?

Yes, as a private seller it is illegal to sell an unroadworthy car unless sold as scrap. Same applies to trade. Road Traffic Act 1988.

muppets_mate

780 posts

222 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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I don't want to comment on the buyer/seller piece.

But looking at the car's MOT fail sheet and advisories, the question is are these items fixable at a reasonable cost? The biggie is the rust, can it be repaired/welded? A second hand cat off eBay seems to be £80-150 and some labour to fit? I don't know about the price of a bush or the ease of fitting? The tyre is a question of putting the spare on or buying a replacement.

The advisories don't seem horrendous and obviously don't have to be attended to straight away. Brake pads are standard wear and tear item. If you've got a mechanic changing the cat, they can fix the bracket while they're there. The tyre is as above, replace with new or second hand depending on your preference/budget. Can your mechanic rub the worst rust of the brake pipes and cover in grease? Can the two areas of 'slight' corrosion be cleaned up and Hammerite'd or undersealed to slow down the rust?

If everything else seems ok with the car it seems a shame to get rid if it can be fixed reasonably economically, especially as the new owner (and his wife) like the car.



R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

181 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
muppets_mate said:
I don't want to comment on the buyer/seller piece.

But looking at the car's MOT fail sheet and advisories, the question is are these items fixable at a reasonable cost? The biggie is the rust, can it be repaired/welded? A second hand cat off eBay seems to be £80-150 and some labour to fit? I don't know about the price of a bush or the ease of fitting? The tyre is a question of putting the spare on or buying a replacement.

The advisories don't seem horrendous and obviously don't have to be attended to straight away. Brake pads are standard wear and tear item. If you've got a mechanic changing the cat, they can fix the bracket while they're there. The tyre is as above, replace with new or second hand depending on your preference/budget. Can your mechanic rub the worst rust of the brake pipes and cover in grease? Can the two areas of 'slight' corrosion be cleaned up and Hammerite'd or undersealed to slow down the rust?

If everything else seems ok with the car it seems a shame to get rid if it can be fixed reasonably economically, especially as the new owner (and his wife) like the car.
If the buyer had contacted me i would have contributed towards this, as i said, i'd have rather he had just contacted me instead of finding this out on here.

C70R

17,596 posts

110 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
confused_buyer said:
Yes, as a private seller it is illegal to sell an unroadworthy car unless sold as scrap.
I'm going to need a citation here...