Advice on buying 182 car

Pflano

I've seen a car that I'm interested in buying. The seller, although he is a motor dealer, is selling it from his house. The name on the log book is not his (it's under a woman's name) - he said he bought the car from a garage as a demo model. I have an independent mechanic going out to check it out anyway but should I be worried about the log book name or is this done just to keep the number of previous owners low?

He admitted (eventually) that there had been damage to the car which was repaired (and I have told the mechanic to pay particular attention to this). I'm getting a really good deal on it and it has less than 1500 km on the clock which is why I'm reluctant to let it go but are there too many red flags here in peoples' opinion or am I worrying unnecessarily? Planning to do a Motorcheck/Cartell check if mechanic says the car is good. The seller already had a copy of one when I went out to see it but I'd rather be safe than sorry, so will do another.

Any thoughts/advice very much appreciated.

thanks in advance

GustavoFring

If he’s hiding info walk.

Sounds as if he’s bought it to repair and flip for a profit. It’s not worth the hassle and you’ll lose down the line when you can’t offload it.

bazz26

The story about it being a demo is hogwash imo. If it was a demo then the garage's name would be on the logbook, not a woman's name. The word demo is used too commonly these days to hide the negative fact it could have been an rental or leased car. What would really raise a red flag with me though is that a damaged repaired 1 year old car with only 1500 km on it, is being sold privately by someone who is obviously a trader pretending to be a private seller at a "good" price. I'd imagine if the damage was only superficial then that car would be retailing on a dealer's forecourt where it would fetch more money.

It's very possible that the car was crashed and a salvage repair bought from an insurance company who declared it an economical write off but was then repaired and sold on. If I was still interested after that then I'd want an expert to examine it thoroughly to determine that it was repaired to the highest standard and there is no issues with the car's structure. It might also be worth getting a few insurance quotes using the registration to see if it's flagged with any insurance companies as being previously written off.

sasta le

Sounds dodgy
Can he be reported?

Pflano

So the mechanic has said that it has been repaired to an extremely high standard and if I hadn't alerted him to any prior damage, he wouldn't have known. The seller has also offered to get an engineer's report for me.

Got the Motorcheck report back there and as you said, it was a Cat C or D write off, that it was (legally) repaired and put back on the road for 20-25% less than normal retail value which explains the lower price I'm getting.

Seller now reckons there must be an insurance claim against it as the original owner had the accident after 2 weeks of buying it...

Tempted to wait for the engineer's report and check if there are any outstanding insurance claims before making a decision.....but don't know if that covers everything even then??

Pflano

Got some insurance quotes using the car reg and nothing unusual is popping up - one quote unusually high but the other two are in line with what I'm currently paying....

sasta le

Any link to the ad?

bazz26

Just remember if it's recorded as a Cat C or D write off then it will carry that record throughout the car's life. It will put a lot of potential buyers off the car when they run a history report on it if you plan to sell it later.

Pflano

bazz26 wrote: »

Just remember if it's recorded as a Cat C or D write off then it will carry that record throughout the car's life. It will put a lot of potential buyers off the car when they run a history report on it if you plan to sell it later.

Very true, Bazz - I was thinking that too. Although if I can provide them with the copies of the mechanic's and engineer's reports, maybe that would allay their concerns?

bazz26

Your biggest problem will be people who run a history check on your car before inquiring about it. As soon as they see Cat C/D write off they will drop all interest in it. Now not all potential buyer will do that but it certainly does cut down your list of potential buyers.

Pflano

bazz26 wrote: »

Your biggest problem will be people who run a history check on your car before inquiring about it. As soon as they see Cat C/D write off they will drop all interest in it. Now not all potential buyer will do that but it certainly does cut down your list of potential buyers.

Yeah, I think I'll see what the engineer's report says and get onto my insurance company to see if there's any difference in price and then decide. Part of me is thinking if the mechanic and engineer both say the car is safe & repaired to high standard then it might be worth it. Then there's just the resale issue you raised to think about before deciding.

thanks

Atlantic Dawn

If you could see pics of the damage before it was repaired that might assist in making a decision. Will seller let you contact original owner to chat to them with what happened?

Was the sellers motorcheck report also declaring it as damaged?

sasta le

What is the price of the car

colm_mcm

Regardless of the car, I wouldn’t deal with somebody like that. So many red flags.

TheBoyConor

If you are getting a knock down price on it you could, after having it examined and being happy with it, buy it and then keep it for 10+ years and drive it into the ground.

That way you get great value and don't have to worry about whether or not you can sell it down the line.

But then some people aren't into driving long term bangernomics cars into the gound.

C3PO

Run away!

g6fdyotp5nj2l7

Pflano wrote:

Got some insurance quotes using the car reg and nothing unusual is popping up - one quote unusually high but the other two are in line with what I'm currently paying....

Did you do an online quote with AIG

Henry Ford III

Sounds like the damage is unrecorded.

I'd insist on seeing pictures of the damage.

coolbeans

Pflano wrote: »

I've seen a car that I'm interested in buying. The seller, although he is a motor dealer, is selling it from his house. The name on the log book is not his (it's under a woman's name) - he said he bought the car from a garage as a demo model. I have an independent mechanic going out to check it out anyway but should I be worried about the log book name or is this done just to keep the number of previous owners low?

He admitted (eventually) that there had been damage to the car which was repaired (and I have told the mechanic to pay particular attention to this). I'm getting a really good deal on it and it has less than 1500 km on the clock which is why I'm reluctant to let it go but are there too many red flags here in peoples' opinion or am I worrying unnecessarily? Planning to do a Motorcheck/Cartell check if mechanic says the car is good. The seller already had a copy of one when I went out to see it but I'd rather be safe than sorry, so will do another.

Any thoughts/advice very much appreciated.

thanks in advance

If something seems to good to be true it usually is.

biko

Pflano wrote: »

I've seen a car that I'm interested in buying. The seller, although he is a motor dealer, is selling it from his house.

Then he's not a serious seller.
Is he trying to sell it as private?