eBay Car Purchase Stories
Discussion
Anyone else got any stories of bad luck when purchasing a motor via eBay?
I won an auction for a Skoda Superb estate last week that was in London. The advert was well written, had lots and lots of good photos and a good description. MOT checks were fine and the seller had very good feedback from previous car sales.
Fast forward a week and I travel down on Sunday from Newcastle and turn up to the car that doesn't exactly seem as it was in the advert...
- Bodywork damage that wasn't mentioned.
- Electric opening tailgate broke despite "all electrics fully working" listed in advert.
- Full Skoda history turned out to be mostly Skoda with an independent thrown in and the two most recent entries having no stamp or garage details...
- "Timing belt changed at 160k in 2020" was actually "erm I've seen it written somewhere, maybe I have the invoice somewhere in the house"...
- Radiator fans running pretty much constantly which I don't think they should have been
- Battery knackered or has something draining the battery as it failed to start when I was going to drive it away. Neighbour seemed to have jump leads "handy". I think it was also probably jump started before I got there as well.
- "Two new tyres" weren't new.
Didn't buy it obviously as it wasn't as described. I know there is a risk buying without seeing the car first, but why bother being dishonest and then wasting everyone's time? The seller has now relisted the item with the same inaccurate description.
I won an auction for a Skoda Superb estate last week that was in London. The advert was well written, had lots and lots of good photos and a good description. MOT checks were fine and the seller had very good feedback from previous car sales.
Fast forward a week and I travel down on Sunday from Newcastle and turn up to the car that doesn't exactly seem as it was in the advert...
- Bodywork damage that wasn't mentioned.
- Electric opening tailgate broke despite "all electrics fully working" listed in advert.
- Full Skoda history turned out to be mostly Skoda with an independent thrown in and the two most recent entries having no stamp or garage details...
- "Timing belt changed at 160k in 2020" was actually "erm I've seen it written somewhere, maybe I have the invoice somewhere in the house"...
- Radiator fans running pretty much constantly which I don't think they should have been
- Battery knackered or has something draining the battery as it failed to start when I was going to drive it away. Neighbour seemed to have jump leads "handy". I think it was also probably jump started before I got there as well.
- "Two new tyres" weren't new.
Didn't buy it obviously as it wasn't as described. I know there is a risk buying without seeing the car first, but why bother being dishonest and then wasting everyone's time? The seller has now relisted the item with the same inaccurate description.
Not so much bad luck, but several cars I have bought on eBay have had issues which have made it clear why the car was sold by the owner,
1)Ford Cougar - Paid £1000 and came with six months road tax and a full tank of fuel. It started misfiring the next day and got worse and worse until it because undrivable. I bought a set of HT leads, plugs and an O2 sensor and this fixed the issue. Pretty certain it was a failing O2 sensor and the previous owner had no idea what was wrong with it.
2)E46 318. Paid £1600 and it was a lovely car, definitely a cut above my usual sheds. When I got in it the heaters were on 32 degrees but I thought nothing of it. It started losing coolant over the next few days, and after some research I found out putting the heaters on full temperature is how you bleed the system. The previous owner had clearly topped it up before I collected it.
It turned out the issue was a plastic elbow from the block in the cooling system that had cracked. My dad and I spent a couple of hours removing the old one, cleaning the fitting in the block with some emery paper and fitting the new one. All fixed for £10. I was pretty happy about this one as it was a lovely car and it was perfect once this was fixed. I laugh at the fact the previous owner got shot of it for a £10 repair.
1)Ford Cougar - Paid £1000 and came with six months road tax and a full tank of fuel. It started misfiring the next day and got worse and worse until it because undrivable. I bought a set of HT leads, plugs and an O2 sensor and this fixed the issue. Pretty certain it was a failing O2 sensor and the previous owner had no idea what was wrong with it.
2)E46 318. Paid £1600 and it was a lovely car, definitely a cut above my usual sheds. When I got in it the heaters were on 32 degrees but I thought nothing of it. It started losing coolant over the next few days, and after some research I found out putting the heaters on full temperature is how you bleed the system. The previous owner had clearly topped it up before I collected it.
It turned out the issue was a plastic elbow from the block in the cooling system that had cracked. My dad and I spent a couple of hours removing the old one, cleaning the fitting in the block with some emery paper and fitting the new one. All fixed for £10. I was pretty happy about this one as it was a lovely car and it was perfect once this was fixed. I laugh at the fact the previous owner got shot of it for a £10 repair.
Chrismawa said:
Anyone else got any stories of bad luck when purchasing a motor via eBay?
I won an auction for a Skoda Superb estate last week that was in London. The advert was well written, had lots and lots of good photos and a good description. MOT checks were fine and the seller had very good feedback from previous car sales.
Fast forward a week and I travel down on Sunday from Newcastle and turn up to the car that doesn't exactly seem as it was in the advert...
- Bodywork damage that wasn't mentioned.
- Electric opening tailgate broke despite "all electrics fully working" listed in advert.
- Full Skoda history turned out to be mostly Skoda with an independent thrown in and the two most recent entries having no stamp or garage details...
- "Timing belt changed at 160k in 2020" was actually "erm I've seen it written somewhere, maybe I have the invoice somewhere in the house"...
- Radiator fans running pretty much constantly which I don't think they should have been
- Battery knackered or has something draining the battery as it failed to start when I was going to drive it away. Neighbour seemed to have jump leads "handy". I think it was also probably jump started before I got there as well.
- "Two new tyres" weren't new.
Didn't buy it obviously as it wasn't as described. I know there is a risk buying without seeing the car first, but why bother being dishonest and then wasting everyone's time? The seller has now relisted the item with the same inaccurate description.
You left negative feedback, I'm assuming. I won an auction for a Skoda Superb estate last week that was in London. The advert was well written, had lots and lots of good photos and a good description. MOT checks were fine and the seller had very good feedback from previous car sales.
Fast forward a week and I travel down on Sunday from Newcastle and turn up to the car that doesn't exactly seem as it was in the advert...
- Bodywork damage that wasn't mentioned.
- Electric opening tailgate broke despite "all electrics fully working" listed in advert.
- Full Skoda history turned out to be mostly Skoda with an independent thrown in and the two most recent entries having no stamp or garage details...
- "Timing belt changed at 160k in 2020" was actually "erm I've seen it written somewhere, maybe I have the invoice somewhere in the house"...
- Radiator fans running pretty much constantly which I don't think they should have been
- Battery knackered or has something draining the battery as it failed to start when I was going to drive it away. Neighbour seemed to have jump leads "handy". I think it was also probably jump started before I got there as well.
- "Two new tyres" weren't new.
Didn't buy it obviously as it wasn't as described. I know there is a risk buying without seeing the car first, but why bother being dishonest and then wasting everyone's time? The seller has now relisted the item with the same inaccurate description.
It's pretty much the new post Covid way to advertise cars. The sellers definition is normally wide of the mark:. I saw one car on eBay described as having perfect bodywork yet the pictures showed bollard damage on both rear doors and lamppost interface on rear hatch.
I realise that the boxed menu autolists features such as aircon. But some sellers also list it in their own text as the car having aircon. So when I fire off a message asking if the aircon works, the response is often no and that it maybe needs regas.
It's the same with many cars offered by dealers - currently we are in a phase where tat is offered as mint.
I realise that the boxed menu autolists features such as aircon. But some sellers also list it in their own text as the car having aircon. So when I fire off a message asking if the aircon works, the response is often no and that it maybe needs regas.
It's the same with many cars offered by dealers - currently we are in a phase where tat is offered as mint.
ARHarh said:
Maybe a daft question but why did you not view the car before bidding? May save a lot of hassle.
It indeed would have. As stated in my original post, car was in London and I'm in Newcastle so not possible. Took a chance based on the quality of the advert, seller feedback and reviews and all other checks being ok. But didn't work out so won't buy a car from eBay at a distance unseen again.2 GKC said:
You travelled from Newcastle to London to see a Skoda with more than 160k miles on it??
Yep. Advertised as a 1 owner full Skoda history car... which neither turned out to be true. My current Octavia has 165k on drives faultlessly. Mileage isn't an indication that the car would be bad and not worthy of purchasing, lies and being deceitful is.Edited by Chrismawa on Tuesday 13th September 15:33
About a decade ago, went to look at a Mk2 Ranger about 100 miles away from me. They were in short supply and being snapped up very quickly.
Described as:
100,000 miles
FSH
12 months MOT
1 Months tax
Looked light blue in the pictures.
Arrived to find a pretty decent looking, Green MK2 Ranger, with the right plates at least.
130,000 miles - no service history.
Took for a test drive and all was well then discovered it had no MOT and no tax - pre-digital era.
At this point, rather tired and hungry I was losing the will to live.
To the dealer's credit, they took it for an MOT, which it passed and then put six months tax on it.
I bought it and ten years and 50,000 miles on it's been absolutely fantastic!
When I bought a newer and more economical Ranger I couldn't sell the old one, so I now have two.
Described as:
100,000 miles
FSH
12 months MOT
1 Months tax
Looked light blue in the pictures.
Arrived to find a pretty decent looking, Green MK2 Ranger, with the right plates at least.
130,000 miles - no service history.
Took for a test drive and all was well then discovered it had no MOT and no tax - pre-digital era.
At this point, rather tired and hungry I was losing the will to live.
To the dealer's credit, they took it for an MOT, which it passed and then put six months tax on it.
I bought it and ten years and 50,000 miles on it's been absolutely fantastic!
When I bought a newer and more economical Ranger I couldn't sell the old one, so I now have two.
T6 vanman said:
Bought a Honda CR-Z off e-bay for £1050 .... FML .. must be 3 years ago now .... (as an aside .. currently the cheapest on AT is £3.7k & E-Bay is £3.6k)
I'm not saying it was perfect ... but it had been serviced recently
But it's still being run by T6 Junior
Unless you're round the corner from me in Taunton, that's now the second CR-Z I know of that was on L-plates. Interesting first car. I'm not saying it was perfect ... but it had been serviced recently
But it's still being run by T6 Junior
(Apologies for the thread dereail!)
Adverts rarely state any faults at all recently it seems. I did go look at a family car for the missus a few months ago... 4hr round trip. No mention of any bodywork issues in the advert and pictures made it look mint. Got there and every single panel had a dent or scratch on it. Nice rip in the drivers seat as well which wasn't shown in pictures. Makes me not want to travel more than 30 minutes away in future to be honest.
PistonBroker said:
Unless you're round the corner from me in Taunton, that's now the second CR-Z I know of that was on L-plates. Interesting first car.
(Apologies for the thread dereail!)
No not quite that far down into 6 finger country (Apologies for the thread dereail!)
Amazingly the insurance for a CR-Z (on an 18yr old just passed test lad) was only £100 more than a C1 and less than a base Fiesta/Corsa ...
My first ever eBay car purchase, almost two decades ago, was a chavved-up NA Eunos Roadster V-Spec.
It was the cheapest around and it was local.
Back then it seemed like it wasn't the done thing to back out when you turned up to look at it, but I knew immediately I'd bought a wrong-un. A matter of days later I'd managed to lock myself in it so tracked down a replacement lock set in a less salubrious area of Brum and drove over to have it fitted.
They had a showroom full of mint imports including, as luck would have it, another green-over-tan Eunos V-Spec on some nice BBS cross-spokes. As they fawned over mine - I suspect the Advan wheels, despite being painted yellow, were the clincher - I sensed there was a deal to be done. Minimal cash their way from me as I recall and I drove home in the minty example instead.
That one served us well for a couple of years until little Miss PB was on her way and I sold it to make way for a Clio 1.2.
I ran an NC 2.0 from 2012-2014 so I can claim to have run a very PH 3 x MX5s in total. Glossing over the first one of course . . .
Thankfully, all other eBay purchases have been fine ever since. Some of our best cars were from there, including the Bora that we ran alongside the aforementioned Clio and that NC. Both PXs into main dealers.
It was the cheapest around and it was local.
Back then it seemed like it wasn't the done thing to back out when you turned up to look at it, but I knew immediately I'd bought a wrong-un. A matter of days later I'd managed to lock myself in it so tracked down a replacement lock set in a less salubrious area of Brum and drove over to have it fitted.
They had a showroom full of mint imports including, as luck would have it, another green-over-tan Eunos V-Spec on some nice BBS cross-spokes. As they fawned over mine - I suspect the Advan wheels, despite being painted yellow, were the clincher - I sensed there was a deal to be done. Minimal cash their way from me as I recall and I drove home in the minty example instead.
That one served us well for a couple of years until little Miss PB was on her way and I sold it to make way for a Clio 1.2.
I ran an NC 2.0 from 2012-2014 so I can claim to have run a very PH 3 x MX5s in total. Glossing over the first one of course . . .
Thankfully, all other eBay purchases have been fine ever since. Some of our best cars were from there, including the Bora that we ran alongside the aforementioned Clio and that NC. Both PXs into main dealers.
Last year I won an eBay auction (vehicle unseen) for a V8 5.7 litre lefthand drive, twin cab, Chevrolet Silverado truck. It was bloody huge and guzzled fuel, obviously. Apparently head gaskets had been done etc. On arrival to collect, it was absolutely battered. What made it weird is the owner wasn’t there and just left the V5 and keys in it, unlocked. I thought I had been scammed or it was stolen…. I’m still not sure to this day.
4 months later of occasional use the engine blew up. Sold it at quite a lost. But hell it was fun, sounded insane with the exhaust cut off, and turned heads absolutely everywhere. I remember putting my foot down under a bridge and a boy on the pavement almost fell over due to the echoing sound.
4 months later of occasional use the engine blew up. Sold it at quite a lost. But hell it was fun, sounded insane with the exhaust cut off, and turned heads absolutely everywhere. I remember putting my foot down under a bridge and a boy on the pavement almost fell over due to the echoing sound.
Private auction is a format full of risks for both seller and buyer. Early signs of risk typically are ...
The seller/buyer behaviour and quality of communication. Poor spelling ...... ManUEL, NONE-turbo, etc avoid dealing with them as their negligence of correct description & spelling is indicative of their mentality.
Sellers who use poor photos i.e mix of landscape and portrait, or a screenshot from a mobile phone showing 2% battery left. And my pet hate is their thumb/finger partially blocking the photo!
The seller/buyer behaviour and quality of communication. Poor spelling ...... ManUEL, NONE-turbo, etc avoid dealing with them as their negligence of correct description & spelling is indicative of their mentality.
Sellers who use poor photos i.e mix of landscape and portrait, or a screenshot from a mobile phone showing 2% battery left. And my pet hate is their thumb/finger partially blocking the photo!
Mk1 TT, bought it as got bored looking, was fairly near and it had TT Sport quattro wheels.
Ignored my own advice and didnt check it properly, it had oil and water, except the water was just a tidemark on the ancient water reservoir.
Spent time and money messing about with it, fixing this and that, was always something up with it, paid £2500 or thereabouts and then disposed of it for £1500 a few months later, having spent several hundred and lots of time on the old heap, think it had seen 12 owners in its time.
I did like the car but by god they can be a needy thing.
Ignored my own advice and didnt check it properly, it had oil and water, except the water was just a tidemark on the ancient water reservoir.
Spent time and money messing about with it, fixing this and that, was always something up with it, paid £2500 or thereabouts and then disposed of it for £1500 a few months later, having spent several hundred and lots of time on the old heap, think it had seen 12 owners in its time.
I did like the car but by god they can be a needy thing.
TwinExit said:
Private auction is a format full of risks for both seller and buyer. Early signs of risk typically are ...
The seller/buyer behaviour and quality of communication. Poor spelling ...... ManUEL, NONE-turbo, etc avoid dealing with them as their negligence of correct description & spelling is indicative of their mentality.
Sellers who use poor photos i.e mix of landscape and portrait, or a screenshot from a mobile phone showing 2% battery left. And my pet hate is their thumb/finger partially blocking the photo!
Yep well aware of this.The seller/buyer behaviour and quality of communication. Poor spelling ...... ManUEL, NONE-turbo, etc avoid dealing with them as their negligence of correct description & spelling is indicative of their mentality.
Sellers who use poor photos i.e mix of landscape and portrait, or a screenshot from a mobile phone showing 2% battery left. And my pet hate is their thumb/finger partially blocking the photo!
The seller had brilliant communication, using correct language and grammar. Advert was one of the best I've seen with a very good description and lots and lots of huge photos of the car inside and out etc. His eBay feedback was 100% over a few 100 transactions. He had very very good feedback from other cars he'd sold like "brilliant guy", "car exactly as described" etc etc.
You can see now how I trusted the guy to have been honest. Well I don't know what happened but the car definitely wasn't as described in this instance!
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