Typical Cerbera history?
Discussion
Hi
Im looking to join the clan and buy my first Cerbera soon. Got my eye one one in particular.
Its everything I want spec wise, super reputable dealer who has assured me its in great condition and shouldn't need any of the usual major maintenance or refreshment in the next few years. So I'm pretty keen on it.
I did some background checks on it yesterday though and its thrown up a few things HPI check is giving red alerts for.
Its apparently had 10 previous owners and more than 10 numberplate changes, so guessing most of those have had a private plate on it. Is this number of owners typical? Will this ruin any value in the car? I'm not looking to make money on it as such but I'd be sad if it was worth half what I paid with 11 owners on the paperwork.
Mileage check on HPI threw a wobbly with an apparent discrepancy recorded a couple of years ago, circa 10k miles taken off, though seemingly reappeared the next year. The service record and MOT record do not show any shenanigans so unless someone wound it back then did 15k miles in it one year to get it back up, seems unlikely, I guess this is just a data error.
MOT history has had a fair number of fails along the way, mostly for things like worn tyres or lights not working, its been good, not even an advisory for the last 3 years though while being looked after, no expense spared by the dealer.
Lastly its seemingly been for sale with the dealer for approx 7 months. Is this normal or is there likely something about it that has scared off potential owners?
Anything else I should be particularly aware of?
Thanks for any help.
Im looking to join the clan and buy my first Cerbera soon. Got my eye one one in particular.
Its everything I want spec wise, super reputable dealer who has assured me its in great condition and shouldn't need any of the usual major maintenance or refreshment in the next few years. So I'm pretty keen on it.
I did some background checks on it yesterday though and its thrown up a few things HPI check is giving red alerts for.
Its apparently had 10 previous owners and more than 10 numberplate changes, so guessing most of those have had a private plate on it. Is this number of owners typical? Will this ruin any value in the car? I'm not looking to make money on it as such but I'd be sad if it was worth half what I paid with 11 owners on the paperwork.
Mileage check on HPI threw a wobbly with an apparent discrepancy recorded a couple of years ago, circa 10k miles taken off, though seemingly reappeared the next year. The service record and MOT record do not show any shenanigans so unless someone wound it back then did 15k miles in it one year to get it back up, seems unlikely, I guess this is just a data error.
MOT history has had a fair number of fails along the way, mostly for things like worn tyres or lights not working, its been good, not even an advisory for the last 3 years though while being looked after, no expense spared by the dealer.
Lastly its seemingly been for sale with the dealer for approx 7 months. Is this normal or is there likely something about it that has scared off potential owners?
Anything else I should be particularly aware of?
Thanks for any help.
Private plates are quite common on Cerberas but bear in mind these cars are circa 20yrs old now, so a number of previous owners can be expected. How many is too many? Well that's going to be down to you... Due to the specialist nature of these cars, IMO they do benefit from continuity regarding the maintenance, which can only come from previous owners hanging onto and using them.
MOT Mileage - As it was corrected the following year, I'd suggest it was just 'Fat Fingers' on behalf of the MOT tester.
M
MOT Mileage - As it was corrected the following year, I'd suggest it was just 'Fat Fingers' on behalf of the MOT tester.
M
Personally 10 owners on a ~20 year old car with a polarising ownership proposition such as the Cerbera wouldn't give me a concern. A lot of people own these to tick a box, but the reality of managing them long term is not for everyone. This doesn't meant they haven't been looked after but most people lament the prospect of another significant bill after being hit with the first few, so moving it on in good health is not uncommon.
This being said, I wouldn't go near one that doesn't have a stack of recent specialist history, and knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
This being said, I wouldn't go near one that doesn't have a stack of recent specialist history, and knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
Shanksy87 said:
Personally 10 owners on a ~20 year old car with a polarising ownership proposition such as the Cerbera wouldn't give me a concern. A lot of people own these to tick a box, but the reality of managing them long term is not for everyone. This doesn't meant they haven't been looked after but most people lament the prospect of another significant bill after being hit with the first few, so moving it on in good health is not uncommon.
This being said, I wouldn't go near one that doesn't have a stack of recent specialist history, and knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
Yes!This being said, I wouldn't go near one that doesn't have a stack of recent specialist history, and knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
10 owners is not an issue, mine had one owner a year before me i.e. 10 I am number 11 and have had the car 11 nearly 12 years.
The Cerbera is not technically advanced, it is quirky and it does need regular maintenance but it is not complex just fiddly to do things like the valve clearances.
Check its condition especially the out riggers, check oil pressure, if a V8 around 60psi cold idle 40psi hot idle.
Check for noisy gearbox or diff, basically check all the normal stuff when buying a second hand car.
The Cerbera is not technically advanced, it is quirky and it does need regular maintenance but it is not complex just fiddly to do things like the valve clearances.
Check its condition especially the out riggers, check oil pressure, if a V8 around 60psi cold idle 40psi hot idle.
Check for noisy gearbox or diff, basically check all the normal stuff when buying a second hand car.
Number of owners isn’t a big issue, service history definitely is. The Cerbera is a great car for touring so many have high mileages. Many well loved TVR’s are sold with a couple of lever arch files full of receipts, previous owners details and what they did to the car during ownership etc. This gives a good indication of how well any car was looked after. Knowledge of recent history can be reassuring - look for who maintained the car (I have also used Str8Six for the past ten years), was it serviced annually, was it maintained on the cheap or was no expense spared?
A twenty year old TVR is going to need chassis work sooner rather than later if it hasn’t already been done, so as has been already mentioned, check the outriggers. If they’ve been replaced was the body lifted or were they repaired/sleeved in situ (a bodge in my opinion)?
Some parts for the AJP engine are getting scarce so check it for faults carefully and obviously take it for a test drive. Check all the electrical items work correctly - there are many relays in a Cerb which can cause niggles.
I recently had the great fortune to buy back my old Cerb 4.2, bought new by me in 1997. Eight owners and 65000 miles later (7500 of which were added by me in its first 15 months) it hasn’t let me down or shocked me in the last year of ownership. It had a checkered history of work by TVR specialists and unknown independents which included some substantial bills along the way. The last owner of 6 years did some maintenance himself and used non-TVR garages so I was a bit nervous at what I might find but he clearly loved the car. There were a few minor niggles, but a 12k service with Jason resulted in a clean bill of health.
As always though the moral has to be “buyer beware”, just make sure you do your due diligence.
A twenty year old TVR is going to need chassis work sooner rather than later if it hasn’t already been done, so as has been already mentioned, check the outriggers. If they’ve been replaced was the body lifted or were they repaired/sleeved in situ (a bodge in my opinion)?
Some parts for the AJP engine are getting scarce so check it for faults carefully and obviously take it for a test drive. Check all the electrical items work correctly - there are many relays in a Cerb which can cause niggles.
I recently had the great fortune to buy back my old Cerb 4.2, bought new by me in 1997. Eight owners and 65000 miles later (7500 of which were added by me in its first 15 months) it hasn’t let me down or shocked me in the last year of ownership. It had a checkered history of work by TVR specialists and unknown independents which included some substantial bills along the way. The last owner of 6 years did some maintenance himself and used non-TVR garages so I was a bit nervous at what I might find but he clearly loved the car. There were a few minor niggles, but a 12k service with Jason resulted in a clean bill of health.
As always though the moral has to be “buyer beware”, just make sure you do your due diligence.
One point to note, with an owner every two years, the money that is spent on it is all “new money”. Most owners buy a car like this and then spend money on the bits they’ve seen they want to improve. It’s a common theme with enthusiast owned cars. Once the novelty has worn off, the temptation to spend becomes less.
gruffalo said:
10 owners is not an issue, mine had one owner a year before me i.e. 10 I am number 11 and have had the car 11 nearly 12 years.
The Cerbera is not technically advanced, it is quirky and it does need regular maintenance but it is not complex just fiddly to do things like the valve clearances.
Check its condition especially the out riggers, check oil pressure, if a V8 around 60psi cold idle 40psi hot idle.
Check for noisy gearbox or diff, basically check all the normal stuff when buying a second hand car.
high amount of owners and regular maintenance, usually exclude each other.The Cerbera is not technically advanced, it is quirky and it does need regular maintenance but it is not complex just fiddly to do things like the valve clearances.
Check its condition especially the out riggers, check oil pressure, if a V8 around 60psi cold idle 40psi hot idle.
Check for noisy gearbox or diff, basically check all the normal stuff when buying a second hand car.
you can neglect maintenance on a landrover-TVR (aka chimaera)...but not an an AJP or Speed6....
usually what happened: the first owner kept the car for several years with good maintenance history...the 2nd one maybe as well...so the first 10years have passed with evtl. just 2 owners. than the car became older, the market value low and automatically the clientle changed:
it was suddenly affordable for people without money in the pocket and with the wish to drive a car with GT3 perfomance. they drove it one season, zero-maintenance, sold it to the next buyer , with even less money in his empty pockets and so on..
its the typical history...so at the end of the day the majoroty of those 11 owners split-up to 10years.
RB Will said:
Shanksy87 said:
knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
The one I'm looking at is being sold by them and has been maintained by them for the last few years 
Thanks for all the input chaps
I'd have no issue buying from Str8Six, but would expect to pay a premium, well worth it though for peace of mind
RB Will said:
Shanksy87 said:
knowing what I know now I wouldn't buy a TVR that isn't either sold or maintained by Str8six.
The one I'm looking at is being sold by them and has been maintained by them for the last few years Thanks for all the input chaps
A Cerb up for sale for a few months is not unusual as many TVR or potential TVR owners want convertibles so the Cerbera has a smaller market.
Is it the blue factory red rose one they have for sale, if so it is a peach.
Edited by gruffalo on Saturday 6th February 09:56
gruffalo said:
If it a STR8SIX car and has been maintained by them then any issues will have been sorted and their 12 months warranty is built proof.
A Cerb up for sale for a few months is not unusual as many TVR or potential TVR owners want convertibles so the Cerbera has a smaller market.
Is it the blue factory red rose one they have for sale, if so it is a peach.
It is that one, and I've put a deposit on it this morning A Cerb up for sale for a few months is not unusual as many TVR or potential TVR owners want convertibles so the Cerbera has a smaller market.
Is it the blue factory red rose one they have for sale, if so it is a peach.
Edited by gruffalo on Saturday 6th February 09:56
http://www.str8six.co.uk/car_sales/cerbera_uba/_4....
40k for a cerb , 50k miles with original chassis? a 2003 car with original chassis dinitrol-ed to hide corrosion....
with this price range a full body-off refurb should be included!!
40k for a cerb , 50k miles with original chassis? a 2003 car with original chassis dinitrol-ed to hide corrosion....
with this price range a full body-off refurb should be included!!
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