Buying a car with the engine light on

RyanMGF

modnote: posts moved from bangernomics thread

Furzy wrote: »

...... Well it's very quickly up for sale again:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/for-sale-by-honest-owner-taxed-and-nct-/9313214

.... although the 'honest' seller is asking €500 more!

Can't knock somebody trying to make a few quid.

Hope he gets his money but they are a pig of a car to sell and to be honest not particularly great, relatively quick but that's about it.

RyanMGF

RyanMGF wrote: »

Can't knock somebody trying to make a few quid.

Hope he gets his money but they are a pig of a car to sell and to be honest not particularly great, relatively quick but that's about it.

Just because his mechanic doesn't have the gear to clear the fault codes is no excuse to be honest. If he is as honest as the ad makes out he'd find another mechanic

RyanMGF

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Just because his mechanic doesn't have the gear to clear the fault codes is no excuse to be honest. If he is as honest as the ad makes out he'd find another mechanic

Or he just doesn't care with it being a <€1500 car. Beggars can't be choosers at that end of the market and it wouldn't put me off if the car drove well (though it'll be a long time before I want a 9-5 Aero again).

RyanMGF

RyanMGF wrote: »

Or he just doesn't care with it being a <€1500 car. Beggars can't be choosers at that end of the market and it wouldn't put me off if the car drove well (though it'll be a long time before I want a 9-5 Aero again).

So you'd be convinced that the car may be 100% after test driving even with the dash lit up like a Christmas tree? Beggars can't be choosers? Give me a break

RyanMGF

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

So you'd be convinced that the car may be 100% after test driving even with the dash lit up like a Christmas tree? Beggars can't be choosers? Give me a break

Beam me up Snotty...

Just because there's a warning light showing on the dash doesn't mean there is something wrong with the car. If every warning light was showing and the car drove like a bag of nails I might be slightly concerned.

I have both bought and sold quite a lot of cars over the years and a warning light on a €1500 car wouldn't concern me all that much once I'm happy with how it drives.

RyanMGF

RyanMGF wrote: »

Beam me up Snotty...

Just because there's a warning light showing on the dash doesn't mean there is something wrong with the car. If every warning light was showing and the car drove like a bag of nails I might be slightly concerned.

I have both bought and sold quite a lot of cars over the years and a warning light on a €1500 car wouldn't concern me all that much once I'm happy with how it drives.

I don't see why the value of the car has anything got to do with it. If I'm buying a car and the engine management light is glowing I'd be walking away. I don't care if I'm spending €500 or €50000. I don't see why I should be the one to determine if its a "genuine" fault or not. I have also bought and sold a few cars over the years. Doesn't make a difference

RyanMGF

Just have to agree to disagree then..

rizzodun

RyanMGF wrote: »

Just have to agree to disagree then..

To be honest I agree with Goodman, I've walked from cars with dash lights on in the past and that was spending little over a grand, there's plenty of cars about for me to be picky about whether some guy couldn't be arsed cancelling the light or not.

pablo128

rizzodun wrote: »

To be honest I agree with Goodman, I've walked from cars with dash lights on in the past and that was spending little over a grand, there's plenty of cars about for me to be picky about whether some guy couldn't be arsed cancelling the light or not.

And on the other hand I bought my current car with the light on, and got it about 1k less than market value.

If someone is selling a car for less than a grand, you can be sure it's gonna need something.

rizzodun

pablo128 wrote: »

And on the other hand I bought my current car with the light on, and got it about 1k less than market value.

If someone is selling a car for less than a grand, you can be sure it's gonna need something.

Yeah but that Saab is €1550 with 4 months NCT and tax, and is a 2.3ltr petrol, better value out there, and that's before you take the engine light into account, most people at the bottom end of the market are there because they don't have the money to spend on a better car, this means they probably don't have to money to fix potentially expensive problems either.

RyanMGF

I doubt the engine light is on on that Aero. He said he replaced an ABS sensor.

RyanMGF

RyanMGF wrote: »

Just have to agree to disagree then..

Ah sure isint that what boards is for. It would be a fairly boring place without the odd disagreement

Our own thread Ryan!

bilbot79

I bought a citroen for 2250 when on car zone same car was 3500-5000 range. Engine light came on but the guy assured me nothing was wrong. Ended up having to replace computer for 500 sterling up north. I knew I couldn't trust the engine light but figured there couldn't be much wrong that couldn't be fixed for the difference in the market rate

RyanMGF

The irony of this thread now is that the car in question probably doesn't have an engine light on, given that the guy said he replaced an ABS sensor and his mechanic didn't have the code reader to turn the light off.

colm_mcm

Oops. I'll change it once I figure out what it should be

rizzodun

RyanMGF wrote: »

The irony of this thread now is that the car in question probably doesn't have an engine light on, given that the guy said he replaced an ABS sensor and his mechanic didn't have the code reader to turn the light off.

Fair enough, so how much would you think this car would go for with no lights or potential faults of any kind then?

RyanMGF

rizzodun wrote: »

Fair enough, so how much would you think this car would go for with no lights or potential faults of any kind then?

€1000-1500. Same as I think it's worth now.

My point was that it's an old car on DD which is worth peanuts. An auld warning light coming on doesn't make much of a difference to its value and I personally would not care, once everything else checks out.

That is just my own personal view having bought & sold cars and having worked in the trade for the last few years.

rizzodun

RyanMGF wrote: »

€1000-1500. Same as I think it's worth now.

My point was that it's an old car on DD which is worth peanuts. An auld warning light coming on doesn't make much of a difference to its value and I personally would not care, once everything else checks out.

That is just my own personal view having bought & sold cars and having worked in the trade for the last few years.

We'd differ there then, I had looked at two cars at the €1000 price range over a year ago, a corolla, which I must say I liked, but had a fault, that 'wasn't a big deal', and a carisma that while looked good just had something I wasn't sure of, so I walked from both, ended up picking up an almera with a much longer test and in the last 14 months costed me the total of an oil change, so I think you can still be choosy, I wasn't waiting weeks or travelling the country either.

26000 Elephants

engine warning lights are a bit like timing belt roulette. You just dont know whats gonna happen.

00 Fiat Punto with airbag light on - simple reset of voltage error - fixed
01 PT Cruiser with MIL on - turned out to be cracked board - needed new ecu to fix, which of course wrote off the (495e) car, but ran trouble free for the 8 months the MOT lasted.

Place your bets, gentlemen. :)

But, yeah, given 2 cars of similar price, go for the light free one.

billy few mates

A few years ago when I was looking for a VW Golf with my son we came across one advertised for approx €2,200 which was about the going rate at the time. When we went to look at it there was an engine management light lit up on it and the guy told us the exact same thing, he'd just had it serviced but the guy who serviced it didn't have the tool to reset it. I said the guy who services my car has the software on his laptop to read and reset these things and asked if he'd mind if i asked him to have a look at it, he reluctantly agreed. I called my mate the mechanic up and he came and and plugged in his laptop and diagnosed whatever the particular fault was (I can't remember exactly), immediately the guy piped up "I'll take €1200".
I said I'd think about it while I consulted with the mechanic and he told me that the light might be on for a fault related to the failed item which might cost just a few quid to fix or worst case scenario the flagged item might have to be replaced for approx €500, either way he said it was a bargain at €1200 with the fault identified and the other slight faults noticed on inspection.
Bottom line, don't let the light put you off but get it diagnosed before you buy it.

pablo128

bilbot79 wrote: »

I bought a citroen for 2250 when on car zone same car was 3500-5000 range. Engine light came on but the guy assured me nothing was wrong. Ended up having to replace computer for 500 sterling up north. I knew I couldn't trust the engine light but figured there couldn't be much wrong that couldn't be fixed for the difference in the market rate

Ah now here. If an auld French yoke has the light on, all bets are off!:pac:

In my case, I picked up an 05 Avensis d4d T4 hatchback with reasonable miles 140k) last year for 1700. Some history to back up the miles too. The light was on but it drove fine so I bought it. I had the codes cleared, and drove it till the light came back on. All it needed was glow plugs. Fitted them and the lights been off ever since.

RyanMGF

I bought a nice 520i out of the auctions with the engine light on, drove the stones out of it down the motorway and it went away. Car was perfect.

Furzy

RyanMGF wrote: »

The irony of this thread now is that the car in question probably doesn't have an engine light on, given that the guy said he replaced an ABS sensor and his mechanic didn't have the code reader to turn the light off.

Its interesting that the text of the ad has changed completely since I linked it. It originally said that he was quoted €500 to replace the unit but prospective buyers should be able to do it for less. A few hours later it says unit has been replaced but light not cancelled. I would be very worried about buying a car with an engine light on knowing that the seller had bought it only a few weeks previously so would definitely have it checked out before buying.

Irishcrx

God almightly lads , easy one really. If your interested in the car go and view it , take along a €20 OBD2 reader and read the engine code, then google what the code is relating to, cost up the repair , minus it from the asking price in the haggle and be done with it...

Or if it's serious keep walking??