Viewing a car

skerryman

Been on the prowl for a car now for a while and pretty sick of scouring Donedeal and the like. Hopefully going to view a car tomorrow (private sale). Problem is I'm not very experienced in this sort of thing. The car is a almost a 2 hour drive away so I'm having trouble getting someone willing to travel to view the car with me who knows how to look over a car. I know the AA and Carcheck have a service to check a car out and am awaiting the AA to get back to me with a quote to get the car checked out. From what I hear its upwards of €200 to get a proper check. Money well spent I guess if it shows up something but seeing as my budget is tight I'm not sure how many car viewings I can afford this liberty on (I'm hoping its just one). Just wondering if anyone out there has advice on viewing cars in a similar situation. Is it best to view and test drive the car and then arrange the AA or Carcheck to give it a proper look over before buying. And even so what guarantee do I have that the seller will hold the car until I do, i.e how do I go about giving deposits to a private seller etc. Also should I leave it until the car is checked over to haggle. Or is there other options of getting the car checked out that I'm overlooking?

kildare.17hmr

where are you going to look at the car? what is it?

Boom_Bap

There's a sticky by Limerick Man on this topic:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056198864

Ardennes1944

if theres a dealer nearby associated with the particular make of car id do that. usually only about €30-50 and saved me from buying a big mess of a car last year

skerryman

Cheers for the reply's. Seen the sticky just wondering if anyone had further suggestions or had been in the same situation.

The car is a 1.6 L Focus and is located in Cork. Think the main Ford dealer there is Cavanaghs, would I be better to get them have a look over it or would the AA option be better, I'm guessing the AA route is more expensive.

Ardennes1944

im in cork myself, never actually looked at a car in cork now i think about it! i have asked 2 ford dealers in the past to check out a car and both declined, whereas nissan, fiat, mazda and toyota had no problems. i would recommend the dealer as they work with the cars everyday. the AA price is ridiculous imo.

glad to see your going for the 1.6 too! :cool:

kildare.17hmr

would have offered myself to help ya out if it was near me! ring the dealer if sure or google local garages in the area and see if they will have a look over it for you, wouldnt be goin near a main dealer with a focus, every mechanic in the country should know them inside out there is that many of them about!

skerryman

Definitely gonna pack my tyre kicking boots Seller says he only put up about 10,000 miles since getting the car (2nd hand) in 2007 and so has only had it serviced once which was recently. Should a car not be serviced more regularly even if there's not much miles going up on it, and if so is this something I should be wary of?

Ardennes1944

i wouldnt worry about it once it was sometime in the middle of the 4years. it'd only bother me if the car was laid up for a longish period

skerryman

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

i wouldnt worry about it once it was sometime in the middle of the 4years. it'd only bother me if the car was laid up for a longish period

From what I gather it was just used for driving to and from work. Service was late last year but not at main dealer so not sure if it was just oil change or something more extensive

skerryman

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

would have offered myself to help ya out if it was near me! ring the dealer if sure or google local garages in the area and see if they will have a look over it for you, wouldnt be goin near a main dealer with a focus, every mechanic in the country should know them inside out there is that many of them about!

Cheers for the offer. The seller mentioned that one of the front tyres might be worn more than the other but the rest are fine. He said maybe get it changed in the next service, which isn't due for a while. Could this be a result of tracking being off or could it be something more serious?

Nonoperational

Could be a result of tracking or worn suspension components but it's most likely they are just worn from normal wear and tear. Check if they are evenly worn, they should be.

skerryman

gpf101 wrote: »

Could be a result of tracking or worn suspension components but it's most likely they are just worn from normal wear and tear. Check if they are evenly worn, they should be.

I'm pretty sure he said that one tyre on the front was worn more than the other, so would that be more of a worry than if they were evenly worn? I haven't seen it yet so only going on what he said

zilog_jones

skerryman wrote: »

The car is a 1.6 L Focus and is located in Cork. Think the main Ford dealer there is Cavanaghs...

Where in Cork exactly? Cavanagh's is in Charleville, about 60 km north of Cork city. The main dealer in the city is CAB Motors, in Blackrock. There's also Bandon Motors in Bandon. Sorry I haven't dealt with any of these dealers so don't know what they're like.

Uneven tyre wear could be something as simple as a tyre pressure imbalance, but yes it could also be tracking, worn comonents, etc.

skerryman

zilog_jones wrote: »

Where in Cork exactly? Cavanagh's is in Charleville, about 60 km north of Cork city. The main dealer in the city is CAB Motors, in Blackrock. There's also Bandon Motors in Bandon. Sorry I haven't dealt with any of these dealers so don't know what they're like.

Uneven tyre wear could be something as simple as a tyre pressure imbalance, but yes it could also be tracking, worn comonents, etc.

About 20 mins drive from Mallow, near Kanturk I think. Any reputable garages out that direction that might be able to check it out for me? AA is sounding pretty expensive from what I've heard its in the €200 region

skerryman

skerryman wrote: »

Definitely gonna pack my tyre kicking boots Seller says he only put up about 10,000 miles since getting the car (2nd hand) in 2007 and so has only had it serviced once which was recently. Should a car not be serviced more regularly even if there's not much miles going up on it, and if so is this something I should be wary of?

skerryman wrote: »

From what I gather it was just used for driving to and from work. Service was late last year but not at main dealer so not sure if it was just oil change or something more extensive

I wouldn't fancy a car that hadn't an oil change from 2007 to late 2010. That's three years for the same oil knocking around in it. 1.6 Focus' are not rare, wait until one pops up close to home.

Wolverine_1999

The record of Service History for Irish cars is deplorable.

I've looked at 5 cars now and NONE ZERO ZILCH had any service history at all. 1 had the first stamp in the book I think and that was it.

It's no surprise that cars aren't selling seeing the state of them though. Like said above, a car should be serviced every year even if you haven't put many miles on it.

Stay away as you'll only be dissapointed - wait for another one to come up. It took me a year to find the car I was after previously!

barron

I wonder how looks this car and what is condition of it ;d

skerryman

The car looks good on the pictures, pretty clean inside and out although I haven't seen it in person yet. I am concerned about it only getting serviced once since he got it. Don't think it was just sitting there idle, just didn't put a lot of miles up on it. Still, surely a service every year regardless is a must. Ad says full service history but AFAIK that's only one service stamp. Might ring him later to clarify. Its been on Donedeal for a month and a half also, are cars that slow to sell these days? AA got back to me with a quote to do a full check, €330 :eek: