2011 Skoda Octavia - Is this legit?

padraig.od

Following on from a "help me" thread I made here during the week my wife found an imported 2011 Octavia, 80k km, good spec for just 10,650 advertised on donedeal.

We went to see it last night. Very impressive car, looks in great condition. Exactly what we are looking for. We put the chassis number through cartell - no problems found. No outstanding finance, not written off here or in the UK. Electrics are perfect, body in great condition. Seats not worn, pedals fresh. No wobbles or any alarm bells. Keys are like new, brakes good. My wife is used to driving Octavias. She has drivesn one for work over the last two years and she said it drove just like her own. She had it on the road for 15 - 20 minutes.

Everything points to it being a 2011 car, with 80k km on the clock.
APART FROM THE PRICE!! If it cost 12k I'd take his arm off. 13 even and I'd reckon I was doing well. I don't understand how it is so cheap. The revenue VRT estimate is roughly 2k, plus, say 500 for return trip to UK on the ferry. So this seller needs to be buying this car for maximum 8k euro, or say 6,500 sterling. Equivalent cars on autotrader look to sell for 8 - 10k sterling. I can't see how he is profiting selling for E10,650.

Is it possible to clock modern cars with electronic displays? Can you think of any reason how this guy picked the car up so cheaply? If the mileage is legit, could it be ex-hire maybe? Even if he did manage to pick it up cheaply in the UK (at an auction?), why is he selling it so cheaply here?

I'll be seeing the car on Monday is there anything else I should look out for? Or since I don't trust it should I just walk away? A part of me is saying even if the engine falls out of it in a couple of months, at 2k to replace I'm still probably ahead! I haven't seen the service history, plan to look over it on Monday.

Two idioms spring to mind - if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... then it probably is too good to be true. The other is never look a gift horse in the mouth. I don't know which one to go with.

Opinions welcome!!

The ad has been taken down but can still be seen on google cache.

Bpmull

It could well be clocked not hard to do even on modern mileage displays. You could get it plugged into diagnostics at a garage and that would most likely show real figure although if it's clocked really well the ecu can be changed so even that would show the new false mileage. Does it have service history ?


Look to see the owners name match the log book.

It seems too cheap to me 14-15k euro is probably closer to going rates. As long as it's not stolen and someone trying to get rid of it quick that's the main worry.

Just thread carefully check everything thoroughly and if anything seems even slightly off walk away.

MuppetCheck

White estate...I'd be checking if it was an ex-cop car tbh.

Bpmull

Also just so you know it's not an elegance spec. More like classic the most basic spec you can. No arm rest, auto wipers, fogs, full computer, dual climate, walnut, parking sensors, multi functional steering wheel, cruise control. It really is very basic but that might not bother you and still is a very very cheap car if (and a big if) it checks out.

bazz26

A white Octavia estate would suggest to me that it was some sort of company rep's car or a mini cab. In both cases I'd question the validity of such low mileage. I'd be checking the old UK reg and VIN to make sure they all matched and doing a history check in the UK. To be bought and sold on cheaply then there has to be some sort of history with this car, ie. could be a swimmer, cloned, etc. My gut feeling would be if something seems too good then it usually is.

colm_mcm

His other ads seem a bit too cheap too
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2010-insignia-2-0-cdti-sat-nav/7330864
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2008-vw-touareg-2-5-tdi-automatic/7111566

MuppetCheck

Looks like it's outside a body shop.

padraig.od

MuppetCheck wrote: »

White estate...I'd be checking if it was an ex-cop car tbh.

If it was however removed the badges/stickers did a great job. Nothing visible on the body.

padraig.od

Bpmull wrote: »

Also just so you know it's not an elegance spec. More like classic the most basic spec you can. No arm rest, auto wipers, fogs, full computer, dual climate, walnut, parking sensors, multi functional steering wheel, cruise control. It really is very basic but that might not bother you and still is a very very cheap car if (and a big if) it checks out.

Yeah I had noticed that. I'm not too fussed really, but thanks for pointing it out. There is however a 6 CD changer, which really stands out among the otherwise austere interior.

padraig.od

Bpmull wrote: »

It could well be clocked not hard to do even on modern mileage displays. You could get it plugged into diagnostics at a garage and that would most likely show real figure although if it's clocked really well the ecu can be changed so even that would show the new false mileage. Does it have service history ?


Look to see the owners name match the log book.

It seems too cheap to me 14-15k euro is probably closer to going rates. As long as it's not stolen and someone trying to get rid of it quick that's the main worry.

Just thread carefully check everything thoroughly and if anything seems even slightly off walk away.

Thanks for that. He says there is a service history, plan to look at it on Monday. Great idea with bringing it to main dealer. Will try to organise that first thing.

MuppetCheck

padraig.od wrote: »

Thanks for that. He says there is a service history, plan to look at it on Monday. Great idea with bringing it to main dealer. Will try to organise that first thing.

Barretts are actually pretty decent, have used them in the past.

But anyone with vagcom can see what the ecu mileage says.

padraig.od

bazz26 wrote: »

A white Octavia estate would suggest to me that it was some sort of company rep's car or a mini cab. In both cases I'd question the validity of such low mileage. I'd be checking the old UK reg and VIN to make sure they all matched and doing a history check in the UK. To be bought and sold on cheaply then there has to be some sort of history with this car, ie. could be a swimmer, cloned, etc. My gut feeling would be if something seems too good then it usually is.

History check is good. UK reg and VIN adds up. It has never been MOT'd so there is no mileage history to compare against. No history of non-private (police, taxi) use that has turned up in the online check (motorcheck + cartell).

Looking forward to reviewing the service history if one is produced. What is a swimmer or cloned car?

bazz26

A swimmer is a car that was written off because of flood damage. Lots of these in the UK from the wet winter we just had and they tend to find their way over this side of the Irish Sea.

A clone is basically they find an identical car that has a clean history, they then clone the reg, VIN and registration documents onto the dodgy car so that when someone does a check the car comes back clean. That is why I said make sure the VIN on the car matches that in the registration documents, etc.

Henry Ford III

Nothing to verify mileage? No service history? HPI it.

Sounds like a time machine.

padraig.od

Gazumped over the weekend while I prevaricated! Car gone

colm_mcm

Meh, it was probably a bag anyway. Onward and upward

padraig.od

colm_mcm wrote: »

Meh, it was probably a bag anyway. Onward and upward

he has another Octavia and a Passat coming in next week

lifer_sean

Book value (trade price, not the retail price) of a 2011 Octavia Estate 1.6 base model in UK is 8350 stg with 45k-ish miles, and of a 2.0 TDi elegance is 10k stg. Retail prices approx. 1500 higher.

If that guy can source a quality 2011 Octavia at low enough price to retail with VRT at 10,650, then I'd like to have access to his source !