Buying second hand car, potential red flags?
Discussion
Pretty new to all this so please bare with me.
I went to see a second hand car sold by a private seller/dealer (private seller on autotrader but he had a lot of cars parked outside his house) last week - a Mazda3 1.6 TS2 2009.
It had clean MOT, pretty much a full service history and seems to be quite well looked after.
I just had two concerns. First, when I went to check the engine, I noticed it was slightly warm to the touch indicating it had just been started. I've read that you should ideally 'cold start' the car to be on the safe side and stay clear of some faults.
Second, the cars mileage is around 100k and there's no proof of a timing chain replacement. I've read that timing chains don't really need to be replaced and the engine sounded fine when starting up and on the brief drive so I'm thinking that's not an issue.
Are any of these red flags? I'm tempted to go for it but just wanted to get a sanity check. Thanks!
I went to see a second hand car sold by a private seller/dealer (private seller on autotrader but he had a lot of cars parked outside his house) last week - a Mazda3 1.6 TS2 2009.
It had clean MOT, pretty much a full service history and seems to be quite well looked after.
I just had two concerns. First, when I went to check the engine, I noticed it was slightly warm to the touch indicating it had just been started. I've read that you should ideally 'cold start' the car to be on the safe side and stay clear of some faults.
Second, the cars mileage is around 100k and there's no proof of a timing chain replacement. I've read that timing chains don't really need to be replaced and the engine sounded fine when starting up and on the brief drive so I'm thinking that's not an issue.
Are any of these red flags? I'm tempted to go for it but just wanted to get a sanity check. Thanks!
First as said the dealer pretending to be a private seller would worry me. Check how many other cars he has for sale. But its a 13 year old car with 100k on the clock. It's not going to be perfect and it will no doubt have some issues. I would not worry about a slightly warm engine as he may have just moved it to the front so you could test drive it.
With cars unless it is very rare, if you have any concerns walk away. There will be plenty more for sale.
With cars unless it is very rare, if you have any concerns walk away. There will be plenty more for sale.
Stick the numberplate into the DVLA mot thing and check the previous mot history
Are the tyres good quality or a load of mismatched ling longs? Possibly asking too much to have Michelin PS4's on an old Mazda though....
Go have a second look but this time ask the trader/private seller to leave the engine cold and take someone else with you to try and listen for any rattles on startup, if there are then walk away.
And stick the reg into car vertical to see if it's been in a smash.
Other than that if the service history stacks up and it looks looked after then go for it.
Are the tyres good quality or a load of mismatched ling longs? Possibly asking too much to have Michelin PS4's on an old Mazda though....
Go have a second look but this time ask the trader/private seller to leave the engine cold and take someone else with you to try and listen for any rattles on startup, if there are then walk away.
And stick the reg into car vertical to see if it's been in a smash.
Other than that if the service history stacks up and it looks looked after then go for it.
As a general rule, a timing chain on a Japanese engine will last forever. And a quick google doesn't suggest the Mazda3 has any particular issues, so I assume it's the same. I certainly wouldn't expect to see it being replaced in the service history, nor would I expect to worry about it as an owner. Certainly when I had Nissan SR20s I just made sure the oil and filter was changed regularly, and left it at that engine-wise.
Thanks for the responses!
Didn't realise it was a big red flag for a private seller to be a dealer, why is that so?
I was thinking of going for a second look but asking him to leave the engine cold this time - other than that I was thinking of going for it as it does drive well, has a clean MOT, good service history and isn't too far from where I live.
Didn't realise it was a big red flag for a private seller to be a dealer, why is that so?
I was thinking of going for a second look but asking him to leave the engine cold this time - other than that I was thinking of going for it as it does drive well, has a clean MOT, good service history and isn't too far from where I live.
CarlosSainz100 said:
Stick the numberplate into the DVLA mot thing and check the previous mot history
Are the tyres good quality or a load of mismatched ling longs?.
Tyres didn't seem bad either. Are the tyres good quality or a load of mismatched ling longs?.
Univold said:
Thanks for the responses!
Didn't realise it was a big red flag for a private seller to be a dealer, why is that so?
With a dealer sale you have certain consumer protections when you buy a car and there turns out to be subsequent faults, with a private sale you have no such protection.Didn't realise it was a big red flag for a private seller to be a dealer, why is that so?
A dealer posing as a private seller may be attempting to avoid his legal liabilities/obligations.
Sc0tchland said:
get someone else to phone the number he provided and ask "I'm interested in the car you have for sale", if he says which one. Run.
So I got my friend to do this lol and it went like this. Friend: I'm interested in the car you have listed
Seller: Which one?
Friend: The Mazda
Seller: Which one?
Friend: Mazda3...
Soo I'll probably give it a miss then I guess
Univold said:
Sc0tchland said:
get someone else to phone the number he provided and ask "I'm interested in the car you have for sale", if he says which one. Run.
So I got my friend to do this lol and it went like this. Friend: I'm interested in the car you have listed
Seller: Which one?
Friend: The Mazda
Seller: Which one?
Friend: Mazda3...
Soo I'll probably give it a miss then I guess
Sc0tchland said:
get someone else to phone the number he provided and ask "I'm interested in the car you have for sale", if he says which one. Run.
Google is a brilliant thing: there have been many instances whereby a Google search of a 'private' seller's phone number has yielded historic car adverts. You just know you'll most likely be dealing with an auction car flipper then!Another red flags is a combination of high idle, incorrect date and time and any all-automatic feature of electric windows not working.
These can indicate that the battery has probably been disconnected for long enough so as to reset the system and temporarily clear the engine management light.
It can reappear at any moment (pot luck) whilst the car re-configures itself.
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