Buying cars with short MOT
Discussion
I know buying any car, regardless of the length of MOT left, is a risk, but would you every buy a car with a short MOT? I am talking two weeks left for it expires.
An opportunity for me to buy a daily driver has come up at a cheap price, but the shortness of the MOT (and VED, but that is less of an issue) is causing me questions. I know I need to go stand in front of the car, but it is a car I know little about in terms of things to look at.
So, walk or go view?
An opportunity for me to buy a daily driver has come up at a cheap price, but the shortness of the MOT (and VED, but that is less of an issue) is causing me questions. I know I need to go stand in front of the car, but it is a car I know little about in terms of things to look at.
So, walk or go view?
Lowtimer said:
Would you ever try to sell a car with less than a month's MOT on it, but which was capable of getting a new MOT, without putting a new ticket on it?
If not (and I certainly wouldn't), then ask yourself why this vendor is trying to do that.
Good point. I have sold a car with a short MOT before (a few months), and the price reflected that, and living miles away from the car I was selling meant I couldnt easily get back to it. I Usually try and sell cars with a long MOT.If not (and I certainly wouldn't), then ask yourself why this vendor is trying to do that.
steveo3002 said:
unless youre capable of a good check over yourself , why not offer to pay for a local mot and see what it brings up ? haggle a price depending on how the mot goes
If you do take for an MoT don't let the vendor know the result before you haggle a price.If it passes, or only need something minor, he might put the price up.
If it fails, and he knew it would on a specific thing, he might have already factored that in to the original asking price.
Ozzie Osmond said:
Exactly. A car being sold with only a few weeks MOT to run is either,
A. Knackered, or
B. Being sold by an idiot.
or C: being sold by someone too busy to do it themselves. In the case of the last shed I bought, a Doctor who claimed to be doing 80hr weeks. The car passed it's last two MOT's with no advisories.A. Knackered, or
B. Being sold by an idiot.
I bought a Land Rover Series with 9 days MOT a few years ago during a particularly snowy winter for a few hundred quid. I figured that if it failed badly, I'd scrap it and if the fail wasn't too costly, I'd keep it. Since then, it's failed the MOT every year, but parts are so cheap that it has never cost me more than £100 get it through, which is worth it, as A) it has appreciated since I bought it and B) it has paid for itself many times over through taking rubbish to the dump that I'd never put in the boot of my car and getting us out of the village during snowy weather.
Lowtimer said:
Would you ever try to sell a car with less than a month's MOT on it, but which was capable of getting a new MOT, without putting a new ticket on it?
If not (and I certainly wouldn't), then ask yourself why this vendor is trying to do that.
I did and got £700 more than i paid for the car two years earlier.If not (and I certainly wouldn't), then ask yourself why this vendor is trying to do that.
Could have had something to ddl with it being quite a rare spec and had been serviced every 6 months
For sure. It is only a snapshot.
But when I see a car being sold without less than a couple of months' MOT, I am obliged to suspect that the owner thinks it will fail and is hoping buyers won't spot why. ABS or stability control failures with warning bulbs removed or bodged; hidden structural corrosion; lousy emissions etc.
If you have the facility to get a car up on a lift and inspect it properly then you can check a lot of that yourself, even better if you can do emissions checks. But a lot of car buying situations simply don't allow for that.
But when I see a car being sold without less than a couple of months' MOT, I am obliged to suspect that the owner thinks it will fail and is hoping buyers won't spot why. ABS or stability control failures with warning bulbs removed or bodged; hidden structural corrosion; lousy emissions etc.
If you have the facility to get a car up on a lift and inspect it properly then you can check a lot of that yourself, even better if you can do emissions checks. But a lot of car buying situations simply don't allow for that.
Lowtimer said:
For sure. It is only a snapshot.
But when I see a car being sold without less than a couple of months' MOT, I am obliged to suspect that the owner thinks it will fail and is hoping buyers won't spot why. ABS or stability control failures with warning bulbs removed or bodged; hidden structural corrosion; lousy emissions etc.
If you have the facility to get a car up on a lift and inspect it properly then you can check a lot of that yourself, even better if you can do emissions checks. But a lot of car buying situations simply don't allow for that.
And while this applies for any car, at least if you buy a car with a longer MOT, you have some lee-way to sort it. This is going to be my DD, and I can ill afford to get something that has to come off the road instantly (like my other car is right now) and put money into. I might as well have just put it into my M5. But when I see a car being sold without less than a couple of months' MOT, I am obliged to suspect that the owner thinks it will fail and is hoping buyers won't spot why. ABS or stability control failures with warning bulbs removed or bodged; hidden structural corrosion; lousy emissions etc.
If you have the facility to get a car up on a lift and inspect it properly then you can check a lot of that yourself, even better if you can do emissions checks. But a lot of car buying situations simply don't allow for that.
I think I'll give the Primera a miss.
I'd judge each case on its merits.
it is a simple fact that putting a fresh MOT on a fundamentally roadworthy old snotter adds more to its value than the cost of the test. So it's a no- brainer financially for a seller to do it. The exception of course is where the cost of the work needed to get an MOT pass is greater or equal to the additional value the new MOT will add, or even the value of the car itself.
Yes, you might get the odd gem flogged by someone clueless or just too busy / well off to care about a few hundred quid, but I suspect you are more likely to find sheds hiding all manner of woes.
That said, if it was a car I really liked, was DIY-able, and the price was keen enough, I'd happily go and have a poke around it. I'd actually be happier with a fail sheet from a garage personally though. At least it would be open and transparent.
it is a simple fact that putting a fresh MOT on a fundamentally roadworthy old snotter adds more to its value than the cost of the test. So it's a no- brainer financially for a seller to do it. The exception of course is where the cost of the work needed to get an MOT pass is greater or equal to the additional value the new MOT will add, or even the value of the car itself.
Yes, you might get the odd gem flogged by someone clueless or just too busy / well off to care about a few hundred quid, but I suspect you are more likely to find sheds hiding all manner of woes.
That said, if it was a car I really liked, was DIY-able, and the price was keen enough, I'd happily go and have a poke around it. I'd actually be happier with a fail sheet from a garage personally though. At least it would be open and transparent.
Edited by Limpet on Friday 30th May 14:35
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