Buying advice........

[BigBazza]

Afternoon, since I lost my Cerb i've been trying to convince a mate of mine who loved it to get one of his own....I used to let him drive mine (you can see where i'm going with this lol)
He has been to see one this afternoon, Blue with Cream Hide 99/t 4.5 headlight conversion, standard wheels, 19k on the clock for £21k
Now the last service was at bauer Millets in M'cr (NON TVR) how will this affect the car/its history etc and would it be worth turning your back on a good deal for the sake of 1 service?
Seems quite cheap for the miles too....something just niggling me
Any ideas?

>>> Edited by BigBazza on Friday 27th August 15:47

[arcbeer]

Sounds too cheap to me.

I know it's been to'd and throe'd on here before but I'd go for a higher mileage that has had the niggles sorted (e.g. 20-30K is pretty near clutch replacement time), especially if it's his first TVR.

[Tripps]

If thats a private purchase it sounds about right given the prices I'm finding during my search. Is it full leather?

If from dealer then it does sound a little cheap, my local dealers have bog-standard 4.5 97s and 98s for £25k.

[kojak69]

I wouldn't necesarily walk away from it, but i'd look into it more carefully. How about taking someone along with you who is 'in the know'. Rob Ingleby has been mentioned in the past. You could even have it checked over with the AA, but look at the problems you had. They dont specialise in that sort of car, as you found out. Good luck.

[ro_butler]

Yep, sounds about right. Certainly not worryingly cheap.

Getting it checked over is a good idea but no guarantee (just ask around on this forum for proof of that).

For peace of mind I personally would go to James Agger, or someone like that, who knows the cars inside out.

Rob.

[Tripps]

Or take it to the closest dealer, for £80 less than the AA were quoting for my 280i (Actually an S3 but their database knew not of Ss) they put on the ramp for a few hours and inspected it with fully, giving me a full report afterwards.

The AA even expected me to find the ramps for them to use...

I've heard of one specialist doing an inspection for free if you promise to use them for servicing.

[J_S_G]

Take it for a test drive... down to Chris Neils, and get them to give it the once over.

Doesn't seem alarmingly cheap at all, just priced to sell. Would find out why the last service was there - was it because it's a company car, and that's the place they use for everything, or was it because the previous owner's a cheapskate that wasn't willing for it to be "maintained regardless of cost". If the latter, I'd be a bit more concerned.

[Julian64]

Even a TVR with no service history wouldn't make me walk away.

You lot are far too reliant one what someone else is telling you.

For about £100 I could buy a full service history for any car.

Go find the person you trust the most and get them to inspect the car. A full service history is no replacement for anything.

[BigBazza]

Hi, he drove it this mornign and said it was absolutely awful...shaking violently under braking (warped discs?) not ticking over etc.
It was serviced at Bauer Millets as that is where the guy bought it from and it came with a free service, however they didn't stamp his book so he could take it to TVR and STILL have a full history on it.
The guy has said he will take £18k to get it out of the way as his vanquish has arrived! Some people have a hard life!
I told him at £18k just bloody buy it and get it sorted out....my mate knows the guy who owns AP Brakes so that should save him a few quid anyway!!

[carl_w]

BigBazza said:

my mate knows the guy who owns AP Brakes

Surely Brembo owns AP Racing?

>> Edited by carl_w on Saturday 28th August 23:02

[J_S_G]

Julian64 said:

Even a TVR with no service history wouldn't make me walk away.

My Cerb had been through the auctions before I got it (ex company car). Could've walked away as soon as I saw it as there was little available at the time to judge it on. But I did a bit of digging and turned up a full TVR service history, and details of every single time it'd been in to the garage. Just takes a bit of effort.

[J_S_G]

BigBazza said:

Hi, he drove it this mornign and said it was absolutely awful...shaking violently under braking (warped discs?) not ticking over etc. It was serviced at Bauer Millets as that is where the guy bought it from and it came with a free service, however they didn't stamp his book so he could take it to TVR and STILL have a full history on it. The guy has said he will take £18k to get it out of the way as his vanquish has arrived! Some people have a hard life! I told him at £18k just bloody buy it and get it sorted out....my mate knows the guy who owns AP Brakes so that should save him a few quid anyway!!

Not going to start the whole "warped disc" debate again.

Would be more worried about it not ticking over right. At £18k it could be a real bargain. Or it could be a £7k bill about to happen... 20k miles does seem to be around clutch slave cylinder time for a few Cerbs. Wouldn't buy it without having someone else take a look at it and/or getting a third party warranty with decent claims limit sorted.