The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
Well, it's got a full tank of diesel (to show my faith in it), a nicely pumped up tyre with a slow puncture, a borrowed number plate light off my mate (who also has an Accord Mk5 shed) and I gave it a quick jetwash to make it look respectable.....hopefully the MOT gods are on my side!! 
tomble22 said:
Well, it's got a full tank of diesel (to show my faith in it), a nicely pumped up tyre with a slow puncture, a borrowed number plate light off my mate (who also has an Accord Mk5 shed) and I gave it a quick jetwash to make it look respectable.....hopefully the MOT gods are on my side!!
Good luck may the shed gods provide protection as it travels through the valley of ministry testing.Shedding life is over for a while.
Just got a BMW 320d in the spec I’ve been looking for for over 3 months.
The 159 was bought as a stopgap. But as usual it had tonnes of Alfa charm.
Kept it longer. Made getting a rarer spec combo attainable.
So after a decent wash and vac. She’s going on scumtree. Queue the silly offers and the stress of selling.
That I don’t miss.
Just got a BMW 320d in the spec I’ve been looking for for over 3 months.
The 159 was bought as a stopgap. But as usual it had tonnes of Alfa charm.
Kept it longer. Made getting a rarer spec combo attainable.
So after a decent wash and vac. She’s going on scumtree. Queue the silly offers and the stress of selling.
That I don’t miss.
Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:
What's it like dealing with shed buyers & sellers? I'm anxious as I start to shop for one. Posts above made me realise they aren't exactly mostly enthusiasts as found here.. I feel a thread coming on 'Shed selling nightmares'...
The same as it is with most price brackets. I've met great sellers, I've also met absolute cretins. Selling wise I find it easier to just scrap the car to avoid dealing with the kind of people that you have to when selling a cheap car. aaron_2000 said:
The same as it is with most price brackets. I've met great sellers, I've also met absolute cretins. Selling wise I find it easier to just scrap the car to avoid dealing with the kind of people that you have to when selling a cheap car.
That's a good assessment. I haven't sold a usable shed since a Rover 200 in 2010 and that was to a friend's son so it was easy. A guy at work bought my last one (Astra SRi Turbo 200) for scrap value as it had the side caved in, was Category N and the clutch was madly slipping. He stripped it and scrapped it. My shed between them was a Corsa and as it's faultless but worthless, I've kept it in case I need it. Hasn't been on the road for a while and needs a new battery Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:
What's it like dealing with shed buyers & sellers? I'm anxious as I start to shop for one. Posts above made me realise they aren't exactly mostly enthusiasts as found here.. I feel a thread coming on 'Shed selling nightmares'...
I had 3 eastern Europeans spend 2 hours on my driveway on Tuesday to buy my ML. They took it but my god were they hard work.
That Alfa is lovely. Love the look of them.
loskie said:
is a 2003 XC70 200 000m D5 a ruinous prospect for a shed? Talk me out of it!!!
Or not.
Depends what it's had done. We got out of ours at those miles because steering rack (as it turned out) & transfer box were just ruinous. Gearboxes also fail because sealed for life. Can be home-fettled, but as a frinstance the transfer box ex scrappy was £450.Or not.
Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:
What's it like dealing with shed buyers & sellers? I'm anxious as I start to shop for one. Posts above made me realise they aren't exactly mostly enthusiasts as found here.. I feel a thread coming on 'Shed selling nightmares'...
Never really had any major issues buying sheds, but it seems to me the majority are selling for one of two reasons.1)They have treated the car like complete crap for the last few years. The car will be filthy dirty, covered it dents and scratches and you will find the remnants of multiple tip runs in the spare wheel well and under the back seats.
2)It has a not immediately noticeable issue that will become apparent a few days into ownership. The seller obviously thinks this is serious and wants shot of the car while it is still running. In my experience a misfire turned out to be a Lambda sensor and a coolant leak was a £10 plastic piece (BMW obvs).
In my experience the safest sheds to buy are the deeply uncool cars as these are more likely to be originally privately owned by older individuals who look after the cars and maintain them. Because these depreciate like a stone and nobody wants them you are much more likely to get a newer, lower mileage car. However, this is shed life and everyone would prefer to take a gamble on that £1k BMW, Audi or Mercedes of course.
Selling is a whole different ball game, after my last experience i vowed to never sell a shed again. Basically you can divide the "buyers" into four groups
1)The "Best Price" or "£400 in hand cash today" time wasters. Easy, just ignore them
2)The time wasters who email a massive list of questions and then dismiss the car as "I have a few to look at" or "the service in 2007 was a week late, it's not for me". These are the sort of people who believe they are getting a brand new car for £1K and any issues will be your responsibility to sort out and they expect a full refund if they change their mind. Not that they ever actually come and view a car, they just spend their days sitting on their sofa on eBay/Gumtree/Facebook Marketplace.
3)Eastern Europeans who can be incredibly hard work
4)The decent people who are just after a cheap car because their current car has died. I would say this accounts for about 5% of the total inquiries you will receive, the rest will be from scammers and time wasters.
Finally never sell a car on eBay via Auction or Buy it now as the buyer will string you along with "Can you wait until pay day" and "So excited to collect this car" messages before pulling out the night before collection day due to "unforseen circumstances". You will then receive loads of messages from group two of the buyers listed above asking "What happened, I thought this car was sold?"
Toaster Pilot said:
Cheap cars are cheap for a reason. I have bought some excellent ones for less than £500 but I’ve bought some utter f
king dross too!
About 12 years ago i bought a Fiat Bravo from a chap in Newquay, horrible light green colour it was. I paid £350 for it and I think it had 6 months mot or something like that. One of the front wings was caved in, the gearbox sounded like an air raid siren and the front brake pads were down to the backing plate......and I still bought it!!king dross too!It did last until the MOT ran out though.
tomble22 said:
About 12 years ago i bought a Fiat Bravo from a chap in Newquay, horrible light green colour it was. I paid £350 for it and I think it had 6 months mot or something like that. One of the front wings was caved in, the gearbox sounded like an air raid siren and the front brake pads were down to the backing plate......and I still bought it!!
It did last until the MOT ran out though.
Man! You are the definition of an optimist! :-)It did last until the MOT ran out though.
W00DY said:
I'm going to pop my girlfriend's '03 Jazz up on Gumtree this weekend. Looking to get £400 out of it, so do we think put it up at £600? It's a great car, just has a fairly short ticket and can't is SORN so more hassle than it's worth to get a fresh test.
Drop me a PM with the details, looking for a runabout for my mum. ThanksI'm hoping to move my shed on in the next few months but will try to use it as a p/x with a main dealer even if it means taking a hit on the potential selling price just for the hassle free transaction. I have no interest in entertaining what I am sure will be a lot of time wasters Vs the 5% genuine buyers who will look for any opportunity to lower the price with unreasonable expectations or try shafting you after the sale.
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