"Mint" DB9. Really?
Discussion
I'm looking for a DB9 and saw an advert in Autotrader which was described as "Mint DB9":
I phoned the seller and he said the only thing that needs attention is very small bubbling on the handle of one of the doors. Other than that the car was virtually perfect. I asked if the coil packs and spark plugs had ever been replaced and he said this was done at the last service in June 2025. On that information I arranged to view the car (400 miles round trip).
I left home this morning at 5:45 and arrived just before 11am. The seller invited me to check the car out: One of the wheels has really bad kerb rash. Both door handle have slight corrosion and one of the doors has bad corrosion near the window area. The passenger door and boot lid have failed struts (won't stay open on their own). One of the front grille slats is out of alignment. The headliner is sagging in the centre by quite a few inches. The drivers seat is really bad on the side bolsters - cracking, worn, wrinkled and discoloured. The picture on the ad doesn't show this damage and looks to be an old pic taken at a car dealer. I then checked the paperwork and mentioned that I couldn't see that the coil packs were done and the seller said he must have made a mistake.
Needless to say I'm disappointed and a little angry. If I had been given this information in my phone conversation with him, I wouldn't have bothered viewing it.
Rant over.
I phoned the seller and he said the only thing that needs attention is very small bubbling on the handle of one of the doors. Other than that the car was virtually perfect. I asked if the coil packs and spark plugs had ever been replaced and he said this was done at the last service in June 2025. On that information I arranged to view the car (400 miles round trip).
I left home this morning at 5:45 and arrived just before 11am. The seller invited me to check the car out: One of the wheels has really bad kerb rash. Both door handle have slight corrosion and one of the doors has bad corrosion near the window area. The passenger door and boot lid have failed struts (won't stay open on their own). One of the front grille slats is out of alignment. The headliner is sagging in the centre by quite a few inches. The drivers seat is really bad on the side bolsters - cracking, worn, wrinkled and discoloured. The picture on the ad doesn't show this damage and looks to be an old pic taken at a car dealer. I then checked the paperwork and mentioned that I couldn't see that the coil packs were done and the seller said he must have made a mistake.
Needless to say I'm disappointed and a little angry. If I had been given this information in my phone conversation with him, I wouldn't have bothered viewing it.
Rant over.
Edited by zafod on Tuesday 2nd September 22:38
A 2007 car with 27,104 miles is never going to be mint though. The door handle corrosion and failed door/boot struts are absolutely normal - in fact even with new struts on the boot it will still slam with a massive bang. So be ready for those on any DB9 you look at. However the seat wear and headliner issues are very poor (mine's on 31K miles and they're fine) and the coilpack issue is downright shady. The advert doesn't claim they've been done, which would be odd if they were because it's a powerful selling point that costs £2,000. Well done for having the presence of mind to check. It seems you ended up with an idiot, unfortunately.
Never mind, you still need a DB9 so regroup and continue the hunt :-)
Never mind, you still need a DB9 so regroup and continue the hunt :-)
Sorry to hear that Colin,
I did notice that the photos have different no. plates so as you suggest they are probably not recent photos.
Take the positive that you have now seen a bad one so you will have something to compare against when looking at others.
There are lots out there so you should have some choice.
Poor show by the seller.
Sean
I did notice that the photos have different no. plates so as you suggest they are probably not recent photos.
Take the positive that you have now seen a bad one so you will have something to compare against when looking at others.
There are lots out there so you should have some choice.
Poor show by the seller.
Sean
Ry.Clarke said:
Welcome to private sales.
It only gets better (Worse) from here
Not just private sellers, when I was looking, I went to one dealer who had a "mint" car, only to find it had come from Jersey, was really rusty and had been in quite a large crash It only gets better (Worse) from here
When we pulled him up on it, he just said sorry, that is not one of our cars, it is a sale or return!!!!!
“ Sorry “ about the wasted journey but that may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
That advert doesn’t to me at least say private sale and indeed the number plate appears different in one photo.
Price relative to mileage relative to other adverts also a slight clue.
Good luck with the renewed search.
Perhaps mint referred to a hole ?!
That advert doesn’t to me at least say private sale and indeed the number plate appears different in one photo.
Price relative to mileage relative to other adverts also a slight clue.
Good luck with the renewed search.
Perhaps mint referred to a hole ?!
It is so bloody annoying when a seller describes as 'mint' and it clearly isn't. 'Mint' to me means perfect and from him first saying that then adding the corrosion would've put me off straight away. There are good private sales out there, you just need to suss the owner out, which in some ways has advantages as to how the car has been treated where as you get no such feeling from dealers who will hide defects. Don't rush, you will find the right car.
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