Advice on car I just viewed, please

skerryman

Hi all, just a quick few questions regarding a car I viewed today and some advice would be greatly appreciated. Looking to buy my first car and came across an Almera hatchback online, 2003 with only 25000 miles on it. Sounds too good to be true and I don't know a whole lot about cars so I was slightly suspicious from the get go. Went to see it today and everything looked good (to me anyway). Started the engine a couple times and noticed that when the engine was started black liquid came out of the exhaust pipe and there was a strong smell of petrol. Decided to take it for a test drive and started it up and it wouldn't move, the guy in the garage said the brakes were probably sticky as it hadn't been driven much and also the cold weather we were having could be responsible, sounded dodgy to me anyway as it hasn't been very cold in a while. The garage guy tried to start it and every time he revved it loads of black liquid was spewing out the exhaust pipe. He said it was serviced recently so I'm presuming it had to have been moved so they could work on it which is why I'm suspicious about his excuse for it not moving. He said it only came in to them in January so I'm also sus about the 'cold weather' excuse. Anyway my question is, is this guy feeding me sh!t, or do they sound like legit reasons, surely if he knew the car wasn't moving he wouldn't offer a test drive?

coylemj

We haven't had any serious cold weather for over two months, that car sounds like a heap of crap and you are being fed a load of BS excuses. Some idiot will probably buy that car, don't let it be you.

Don't even look at any other car being sold by that 'garage', they are probably used as a dumping ground by every other dealer for miles around.

kildare.17hmr

used to happen in my old garage the whole time with almeras especially, i remember having to drive out to the tarmac forecourt to unstick rear wheels! the black liquid is likely water that got into the exhaust. if he knew you were coming i reckon all he is guilty off is not makin sure it was ok before you came!

skerryman

Cheers for the fast reply dude. I was thinking as much myself but as I said I'm no mechanic. Sounded too good to be true with such low mileage. The search goes on. Think I'm gonna view my next car wearing a pair of overalls (heavily stained in oil) and arrive into the place swinging a spanner, maybe they'll ease off on the bull**** then

lau1247

while I'm not defending this one.. I too believe it is a scam so you'll have to look extra closely at the internals etc for wear and tear..

However having said that, my dad bought a Fiat 500 in 08 (traded it in recently) and it only has 3.5K done.. so it's not always the case.. with the fiat you can still pick up the new car smell inside..

kildare.17hmr

I have sold a few cars from the early 2000's with low mileage like the one the OP is discribing, they are rare with that mileage but they do exsist! how many owners has it had?

ltdslipdiff

Nothing unusual about brakes being sticky with the recent weather we've had with all the salt/grit on the road. Also that black water is probably just the result of the car not having warmed up properly for the last few spins its had. Almera's tend to have been bought by older folk who may not have done high mileage. I looked at a 2004 saloon Almera lately with only 24,000 miles on it.

skerryman

He said it was an old persons car and wasn't used much. Is there a site to check car registrations to get history etc. off, might be handy. Not automatically presuming he's lying just don't know much about these things so figured this would be a good place to start asking.

kildare.17hmr

you will just be able to check claims history and finance ect, ask the dealer can you see the log book this shouldnt be a problem. i often gave guys a copy of it when they asked and even had a few previous owners contacted buy the buyers to as a few questions about the cars history! just ask all the questions and bring someone in the know with you for another look

ltdslipdiff

PM me the reg and I'll check it for you

Atlantic Dawn

Did you have a look at the oil on the dipstick to see if it looked like it had been changed recently?

Problem with cars with low miles like this is the owner may have just serviced it once in the 25000 miles instead of once a year as it should be done so the engine is not well maintained. Did the car have a service history with it?

skerryman

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Did you have a look at the oil on the dipstick to see if it looked like it had been changed recently?

Problem with cars with low miles like this is the owner may have just serviced it once in the 25000 miles instead of once a year as it should be done so the engine is not well maintained. Did the car have a service history with it?

Didn't think of checking the dipstick until I had left, was a bit thrown by the car not moving thing. I asked about service history and he said at 25,000 miles it would probably only have had one service. I'm guessing not servicing a car in such a long time can be bad too

Nonoperational

What the feck? I would't go near that "dealer" with a 10 foot poll. Regardless of mileage it should have 7/8 services done at this stage. What a chancer.

biko

Keep looking, you can always go back after having seen a few more.

Nonoperational

You can't advocate buying a car that MIGHT have had one service in 8 years. Madness.

faw1tytowers

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Nissan/Almera/201106201189638/advert?channel=CARS

simi approved car
nct due in june
but to show there are cars out there with that mileage keep looking if not satisfied with your mechanic. You need to trust them or your warranty wont be worth a s***e either.

mickdw

Almeras of that age suffer from the front structural panel rusting and also most suffer from stretched timing chain resulting in non starting. Both expensive jobs. Possibly a headlight replacement recall too. This car you viewed might not have had any of these issues sorted if it has barely seen a garage all its life so it could be a money pit.

bazz26

There are a million used Almeras for sale up and down the country, why would you dwell on one with so many questions hanging over it?

skerryman

bazz26 wrote: »

There are a million used Almeras for sale up and down the country, why would you dwell on one with so many questions hanging over it?

Not dwelling on that one, wasn't even looking for an Almera specifically just popped up on a search. Happened to be in Limerick and had a look when I was in the area. Gonna keep looking regardless. I'm guessing the car was sitting around for years and only one service sounds like it could be a money pit as suggested a couple posts ago.

lifer_sean

OP, don't be so panicked by this car. The black liquid coming out of the exhaust will be just water mixed with soot from the inside of the exhaust. When you burn petrol or diesel, you get water (and CO2) as by-products of the combustion. When the car is good and warm, the water just passes out the exhaust as steam/vapour so you don't see it. If car is cold then it condenses on the way through the cold exhaust.

Brake caliper sticking is very common on Almeras - have replaced severals. This could easily explain the sticky brakes. Also, brakes will stick on any car if you leave it parked with handbrake on for an extended period. The garage would obviously fix before sale.

Re timing chain / gearbox problems, you are highly unlikely to hit these at 25k miles, even if the car was never serviced. I drove an Almera tonight with 144k miles on it and both the timing chain and gearbox were fine on it.

To check the history, you could ask to see the log book and ask for contact details of the previous owner, and call them to ask if the car is genuine. I'd expect it is - a dealer would be daft to offer it for sale as is if the 25k was not genuine as all buyers will question why it is so low. Low mileage cars do exist - I had 3yr old Almera a while back with 5100 miles on it, and a 3yr old Corolla with 4,600 miles on it (with documentation to prove both).

I wouldn't see anything wrong with the car other than the price. 4250 seems a lot for a 03 Almera, even with low mileage. For comparison, I sold a higher spec 05 saloon last August for 4300, with a 6 month warranty, although it did have 90k miles on it.

Granted the dealer should have had the brakes in particular sorted before offering for sale, or should know better than to park the car with the handbrake on (if that's what caused the problem).

skerryman

lifer_sean wrote: »

OP, don't be so panicked by this car. The black liquid coming out of the exhaust will be just water mixed with soot from the inside of the exhaust. When you burn petrol or diesel, you get water (and CO2) as by-products of the combustion. When the car is good and warm, the water just passes out the exhaust as steam/vapour so you don't see it. If car is cold then it condenses on the way through the cold exhaust.

Brake caliper sticking is very common on Almeras - have replaced severals. This could easily explain the sticky brakes. Also, brakes will stick on any car if you leave it parked with handbrake on for an extended period. The garage would obviously fix before sale.

Re timing chain / gearbox problems, you are highly unlikely to hit these at 25k miles, even if the car was never serviced. I drove an Almera tonight with 144k miles on it and both the timing chain and gearbox were fine on it.

To check the history, you could ask to see the log book and ask for contact details of the previous owner, and call them to ask if the car is genuine. I'd expect it is - a dealer would be daft to offer it for sale as is if the 25k was not genuine as all buyers will question why it is so low. Low mileage cars do exist - I had 3yr old Almera a while back with 5100 miles on it, and a 3yr old Corolla with 4,600 miles on it (with documentation to prove both).

I wouldn't see anything wrong with the car other than the price. 4250 seems a lot for a 03 Almera, even with low mileage. For comparison, I sold a higher spec 05 saloon last August for 4300, with a 6 month warranty, although it did have 90k miles on it.

Granted the dealer should have had the brakes in particular sorted before offering for sale, or should know better than to park the car with the handbrake on (if that's what caused the problem).

Cheers for the input, appreciate it. Not getting panicked by car, just thought it wasn't exactly a smooth first viewing. I think a car not moving on a test drive is a bad start in anyone's book. Not in a huge rush to get something have a month or maybe a bit more to be looking around so gonna keep options open. Just figured it was worth checking out with such low mileage and I was in the area. Price did seem a tad high. NCT was up in June but he offered to sort it if I was buying and offered a 3 month warranty also. Is that the usual warranty a garage will offer on a car that age?

lifer_sean

skerryman wrote: »

Cheers for the input, appreciate it. Not getting panicked by car, just thought it wasn't exactly a smooth first viewing. I think a car not moving on a test drive is a bad start in anyone's book. Not in a huge rush to get something have a month or maybe a bit more to be looking around so gonna keep options open. Just figured it was worth checking out with such low mileage and I was in the area. Price did seem a tad high. NCT was up in June but he offered to sort it if I was buying and offered a 3 month warranty also. Is that the usual warranty a garage will offer on a car that age?

Personally on a car with that mileage I'd give a 6 month warranty because I'd be confident it wouldn't have any issues, and to the buyer it gives peace of mind and shows I have faith in the product being sold. Three months is considered the minimum warranty but isn't that unusual for an 8 year old car. Also if they are looking after the NCT that's good, you will be covered on that score until June 2013 (if current NCT expires June 11).

antodeco

OP, my Almera is nearly 5 years old. 110k on the clock. Its been serviced 6 times I would imagine. 4 times by the dealer, twice by an indy. These cars do take abuse. I have a grinding noise coming from the front left wheel. I assume its a stuck caliper!