A Leboncoin dream

[mk2_craig]

Can anyone translate this for me please? Does it have any issues?

 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1419857711.htm/?ca=12_s

 

Thank you

The short version is "car described as pile of shite".

[carlo]

I am intrigued to know why the French seem averse to dealing with email when selling cars, is it in their physche or do they just think you're a time waster?  That it's easier dealing with Germans is no surprise, I used to regularly go over their and love the people.  But I've also found the French charming and have had very little experience of the rudeness people seem to routinely talk about.

[lesapandre]

I'm not sure on the email either. Never had a response. In rural areas people may prefer to hear a voice and get the measure of somebody rather than in an anon message. This may be to do with rural crime.

[Wingz123]

Wow, that's a detailed ad by LBC standards! It hasn't run in a while, has some minor rust issues, main issue seems to be ignition related (with some help from Google translate)

 

I expect you realise it needs transporting (but I know you're in that business!)

Thank you egg - where abouts is it? Does it give a zip code? Thank you

[egg]

42300 - near* Lyon, long way south.

[lesapandre]

Much closer to home. R18 diesel estate. Amiens. 

[Wingz123]

One for bramz that ^^

[bramz7]

I'd love an R18. Surely that's got to be monumentally buggered for €200?

 

I genuinely would go all that way for an R21 by the way. I'm that stupid.

[lesapandre]

I think just looking for cars in the Nord-pas-de-calais can make that much more viable Panhard, for me it's a £20 train ride to Dover, £20 foot passenger on the ferry, and maybe £100 on the ferry back (if you just roll-up and pay).

 

Still, easy £300-£400 to get it back home and registered (and that does mean driving on French plates illegally). And they can get away with more structural rot and have a CT (so could be other bills to pay).

 

It's why I haven't actually got the LNA I keep banging on about - good ones are £1500, so I'm in for £2k for a car with no market in the UK - and which I would eventually roffle here for about £7-£8 a ticket (if it even sells out), and lose a fortune.

 

However, from just looking at cars online - there are some 50s and 60s cars that could see you ok, or even see you turn a profit - Panhards, Peugeots 204/304/403, Renault 6, Citroen Dyane (or an Ami 8 ), maybe some Simcas. Also 70s (and some 80s) Fords will always sell back in Blighty. Boring Mk2 Fiestas are cheap and plentiful.

 

Still an exciting idea, but not for the risk averse!

What do you do for insurance on French reg cars coming back? I've insured my French chod - but using my French address  - car insurance was very cheap - not done it for a few years though. I only once bought one the cars to the UK on its French plates. Didn't have a problem except a 700 mile round trip in a 600cc aircooled Citroen Visa was a bit slow!

So far as the ferry is concerned - I would advise against turning up at the port - book on a smartphone as far in advance as you can to save ££'s once you know what you are going to do or phone them. 

[lesapandre]

I'd love an R18. Surely that's got to be monumentally buggered for €200?

 

I genuinely would go all that way for an R21 by the way. I'm that stupid.

It's dans l'etat. In a state but really who knows. Looks rustfreeish and its not parked i a field - there may  be hope.

[egg]

What do you do for insurance on French reg cars coming back? I've insured my French chod - but using my French address  - car insurance was very cheap - not done it for a few years though. I only once bought one the cars to the UK on its French plates. Didn't have a problem except a 700 mile round trip in a 600cc aircooled Citroen Visa was a bit slow!

So far as the ferry is concerned - I would advise against turning up at the port - book on a smartphone as far in advance as you can to save ££'s once you know what you are going to do or phone them. 

 

The received wisdom on here is insuring it on the VIN - some UK insurers offer that.  Of course, that may be tricky to actually arrange when you are in France...signal and internet connection permitting.

[lesapandre]

The received wisdom on here is insuring it on the VIN - some UK insurers offer that.  Of course, that may be tricky to actually arrange when you are in France...signal and internet connection permitting.

I suppose T it up with your friendly insurer in advance then you can just provide the details to get final sign-off either by phone or email. Any recommended names out there?

[dave21478]

I wish you good fucking luck. You will need it. See the Junkmans detailed collection post for his experience of turning up in France on spec, hunting around for something to buy and driving it home...Hint - he flew home. Sadly photobucket ate all his photos of the trip, including the ones of the main French capital cities international airport having every restaurant, shop and other commerce closed at 6pm and even the vending machines were not working.

 

French people dont reply to emails because the internet is some silly fad that will never catch on so is not worth bothering with (contradicting them using it to advertise on in the first place, but hey....I never claimed anything is logical here.) They also view the internet with suspicion as it is apparently full of scammers out to rob them blind., there have literally been segments on the main evening news telling folk how to spot a scam, including stating that bad spelling or grammar indicate fraudsters (contradicting them using atrocious spelling, grammar and text speak on their own adverts, but hey...I never claimed anything is logical here.)

Nobody will believe that a sane person will travel to a different country to buy a cheap car, so keep a lid on how far you are travelling until the last possible moment in the transaction. If i am going to buy anything more than a couple of hours away I will pick a city near to the seller and if they ask i will say I am coming from there. This seems to reassure them that I am more likely to turn up.

 

Its not unusual for adverts to not have a price and people will want you to view before telling you a price. This is a waste of everyones time as you will never agree on a price. Since apparently all brits are minted, French people expect me to turn up in a gold plated Rolls Royce wearing a tweed suit with little clouds of fifty euro notes dropping out of my pockets with every movement and fluttering away on the breeze. This is at odds with the reality of a beat old pickup truck and tracksuit bought from Decathlon that is my usual style*

 

Nobody here is in a hurry to do anything and that includes selling you their car that may have been advertised for weeks. Aways ask if the car is available immediately. Its not unusual to find that they need to keep it until whatever date when their new car arrives or until after their holiday or whatever. Its a legal requirement* for all cars sold to have passed the CT test within the last six months so its not unusual for a car to be for sale but they will take it for test once you have viewed and left a deposit etc, all of which is likely to add another week or so. Its also absolutely normal to turn up with a trailer and cash to find the car still full of baby seats, shopping, personal effect and so on and it is a massive hassle for this all to be removed so i can...you know...BUY THE FUCKING CAR.

 

Generally speaking, anything under 500 euros will likely be fucked beyond redemption unless you fancy major restoration work.

Structural rot is not an issue so expect the possibility of a valid CT and gaping holes in sills and chassis rails, although the new CT test starting mid May changes this so expect lots of rotten cars up for sale after then.

 

Outside of cities, its rural as fuck and often public transport is non existant. I mean literally nothing. If I want to get to my nearest city without driving I need to walk six kilometers to the next village, having phoned the bus company the day before I travel so they can authorise the driver of the morning school bus to let me on and take me to another town where I can wait for several hours for the connecting bus to the city. I then need to immediately get back onto that same bus and reverse the trip if I want to get home the same day. Alternatively its a taxi ride that costs the fat end of 60 euros each way and difficult to find a driver willing to make the long* trip.

 

I am in the south, nearest cities are Albi or Castres and am happy....ish to help people out. Its a solid 10 hours drive from here to Calais in something capable of sustained autoroute speeds, so two, possible even three days in something shite. Its possibly a better bet to head down to northern Spain and get the overnight boat to south coast UK.

[lesapandre]

Yea. Public tansport in rural areas is a very difficult. School buses are the only way often. I'm going to invest in a folding bike soon otherwise its a 5km walk to the bus. Taxis are very expensive in rural areas - depressingly so...it can be €50 or more Euros for a 20 mile trip - and to rub it in Claude or whever picks you up will be in a new diesel Mercedes which you are paying for. I do pity the French who might regularly need these things.

[dave21478]

And to clarify when I say I am "happy....ish" to help, I am happy to help genuine people who are not fucking timewasters living life through their keyboards. Last time I offered help on a vaguely similar thread I got requests by several members to contact sellers, ask questions, set up meetings etc. The two genuine autoshiters were a pleasure to deal with and the others had me spending a week phoning around loads of adverts, asking what colour the fucking boot carpet is or whatever tedious details they wanted to know and then went radio silence without even a fucking thank you....so yeah....dont be a dick.

[lesapandre]

The minted thing is partly driven by the fact that France has for decades been the holiday destination of the British middle-classes. So the French have some very funny ideas about the Brits- they assume we all drive big Audi Estates or Range Rovers etc. and never work etc.

[lesapandre]

Equally the Brits have some very funny ideas about France. Behind the facade there is some abject poverty in rural France.

[egg]

Bramz, here is a nice 21. Pez though

 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1420216566.htm/?ca=12_s

 

[panhard65]

Spain might be easier all cars are insured for any driver so you can drive it in Spain no problem. I am also having a lot more luck contacting Spanish sellers, but the ferry is a lot more expensive and takes as long as driving back through France. As a taster why not go along on the Bulgaria trip to see what you are letting yourself in for.

[bramz7]

Some interesting advice on this subject so far. It seems to be that doing it all in the same week (or days) seems to be the best bet. I was unaware it was illegal to drive it back to the UK though, although I've seen a fair few collection missions....

 

And thanks for all those who have offered help. Obviously I need to do this during some substantial time off, so can't quite go around arranging anything just yet.

 

And yes, the well known fact that CT doesn't mean roadworthy to VOSA is clear in my head. Hence why I want something that is likely not a patchwork of filler and terrible weld underneath.

[carlo]

I wish you good fucking luck. You will need it. See the Junkmans detailed collection post for his experience of turning up in France on spec, hunting around for something to buy and driving it home...Hint - he flew home. Sadly photobucket ate all his photos of the trip, including the ones of the main French capital cities international airport having every restaurant, shop and other commerce closed at 6pm and even the vending machines were not working.

 

French people dont reply to emails because the internet is some silly fad that will never catch on so is not worth bothering with (contradicting them using it to advertise on in the first place, but hey....I never claimed anything is logical here.) They also view the internet with suspicion as it is apparently full of scammers out to rob them blind., there have literally been segments on the main evening news telling folk how to spot a scam, including stating that bad spelling or grammar indicate fraudsters (contradicting them using atrocious spelling, grammar and text speak on their own adverts, but hey...I never claimed anything is logical here.)

Nobody will believe that a sane person will travel to a different country to buy a cheap car, so keep a lid on how far you are travelling until the last possible moment in the transaction. If i am going to buy anything more than a couple of hours away I will pick a city near to the seller and if they ask i will say I am coming from there. This seems to reassure them that I am more likely to turn up.

 

Its not unusual for adverts to not have a price and people will want you to view before telling you a price. This is a waste of everyones time as you will never agree on a price. Since apparently all brits are minted, French people expect me to turn up in a gold plated Rolls Royce wearing a tweed suit with little clouds of fifty euro notes dropping out of my pockets with every movement and fluttering away on the breeze. This is at odds with the reality of a beat old pickup truck and tracksuit bought from Decathlon that is my usual style*

 

Nobody here is in a hurry to do anything and that includes selling you their car that may have been advertised for weeks. Aways ask if the car is available immediately. Its not unusual to find that they need to keep it until whatever date when their new car arrives or until after their holiday or whatever. Its a legal requirement* for all cars sold to have passed the CT test within the last six months so its not unusual for a car to be for sale but they will take it for test once you have viewed and left a deposit etc, all of which is likely to add another week or so. Its also absolutely normal to turn up with a trailer and cash to find the car still full of baby seats, shopping, personal effect and so on and it is a massive hassle for this all to be removed so i can...you know...BUY THE FUCKING CAR.

 

Generally speaking, anything under 500 euros will likely be fucked beyond redemption unless you fancy major restoration work.

Structural rot is not an issue so expect the possibility of a valid CT and gaping holes in sills and chassis rails, although the new CT test starting mid May changes this so expect lots of rotten cars up for sale after then.

 

Outside of cities, its rural as fuck and often public transport is non existant. I mean literally nothing. If I want to get to my nearest city without driving I need to walk six kilometers to the next village, having phoned the bus company the day before I travel so they can authorise the driver of the morning school bus to let me on and take me to another town where I can wait for several hours for the connecting bus to the city. I then need to immediately get back onto that same bus and reverse the trip if I want to get home the same day. Alternatively its a taxi ride that costs the fat end of 60 euros each way and difficult to find a driver willing to make the long* trip.

 

I am in the south, nearest cities are Albi or Castres and am happy....ish to help people out. Its a solid 10 hours drive from here to Calais in something capable of sustained autoroute speeds, so two, possible even three days in something shite. Its possibly a better bet to head down to northern Spain and get the overnight boat to south coast UK.

 

Do you not like France Dave?

[Alfamale]

I’m on the look out for a Mk1 Fiesta or a cheap mk2 XR2 and there have been some advertised in the past but lack of ability in French has somewhat hampered things. Saying that, I’ve always had a response to my emails, all of which have been to say sorry, car is sold.

 

I watch this thread with interest, and if a consortium of an Autoshite Expitiditionary Force is heading for. Northern France could well be tempted.

[dave21478]

Do you not like France Dave?

I love it, but after twelve years here the foibles are getting on my tits and I need a change.

[pshome]

Don't let others stop you. Just take it easy, worst case you had a fun trip to France and something to tell at the pub when back. I bought two cars from Leboncoin and in both cases it was fun. First was the blue (now Dinin colored) Tagora in Bordeaux and the only mishap was spilling my coffee over my pants on the plane.

 

The vendor was great, picked us up at the airport (in the Tagora) had the exhaust fixed, and even did an oil change to make sure we make it back home safely. Can you imagine anybody in the UK or Germany doing an oil change on a car being sold? The car was much better than we expected and still we were able to talk the (already cheap) price a bit down. This was in January, and the only real challenge was to buy winter tires in Bordeaux to get home safely.

 

Full story here: https://www.altefranzosen.de/archives/68-Ersatzteile-suchen-Auto.html

 

The second one was the Simca Chambord we bought in Dolé.  The car was correctly priced and described and the seller was friendly and helpful. Initial contact by E-mail did not yield a reply, but a phone call got things started and further communication then was by mail. When we picked up the car, he didn’t move a cent on the price. Admittedly, there was really nothing wrong with the car that he had not told us before, that we could argue about. He had a lift to fully inspect everything and we did an extensive test drive. At the end, he gave us some rare chrome trim spares and a complete original headlining, so that was OK as well.

 

Read more: https://www.altefranzosen.de/archives/164-V-wie....html

 

We drove both cars home on their own power using the original French registration and insurance we bough in France. The key word is “Assurance temporaire”. You can get this from local insurance agents or on line, just google for it. If I remember well, we paid about 30€ for two days.

 

The French car paper “carte gris” remains valid for 2 weeks after a car is sold. It’s perfectly legal to drive a car on its French plates home, just make sure you have it insured.

 

On the way back with the Simca, we were stopped at a motorway péage by the gendarms and they were absolutely  happy with the papers we had.

 

Both cars were excellent buys, but if you add up all the costs, unless you buy rare cars that are not on your local market (as we did) you really need to look at it this a fun trip, not as a way to buy a cheap car.
 

 

P.S.

the best place to search for cars is leparking.fr, it finds cars across all online paltforms, not only leboncoin:

 

http://www.leparking.fr/#!/voiture-occasion/alfa-33.html%3Fid_pays%3D18

[Spottedlaurel]

For a random bit of 1980s Renault bilge direct from the motherland I'd give the garage who had this lot a try:

 

1980s/90s Renault Line-Up by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Although he spoke no English, the chap who ran the place was very friendly and let me wander round taking photos. He clearly had an interest in older cars and it's in a scenic area not too far from Dieppe or Calais (Garage Billy on the D956 between Blois and Selles sur Cher).

 

Renault 11s x2 (and 19) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Simca 1500 and 8 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[Eric]

I have collected a lot of cars from France, and every buy was an adventure.

All the owners were very suprised that we drove that far...for a car, they asked us to explain why 

I do speak french very well, that's a privilige, business can be a struglle.

In May we will be in the Midi-Pyrenees for a month, will be checking out some cars in the region over there..

Looking for R4/9/11/14/21 and ....BX

[Eric]

The silver R21 "symphonie" on LBC is very nice, but watch out for rust issues, subframe....over here standard MOT failliure in the 90s

[egg]

Bramz - just to be clear, if I can help out - I will! Always have an off road parking space in Herne Bay, if any chod you bring back can't make it back home.

[Junkman]

I did find this guy, who on LBC says he has about 150 old cars in stock, and his website does have the type of cars a shiter might be interested in.

 

(its the usual though, no response to SMS, don't answer hidden numbers etc)

 

Near Poitiers, which is about 1.5 hours from Paris on TGV (you have to get across Paris from Gare de Nord to Montparnasse - which isn't too hard, done it a few times).

 

https://vintagemotors86.fr/

 

 

 

How much shall we bet that the place is closed when you rock up?

The place is as far away from Calais as Frankfurt. Just sayin', like.

 

I've reached an age where the time I've left is too precious to me than wasting it on those French wankers.

[dave21478]

How much shall we bet that the place is closed when you rock up?

 

 

Accurate.

 

 

Bear in mind, we are coming up to the "even more closed than usual" season if you are planning on making a trip in the next couple of months. There are several up-coming bank holidays here and you can pretty much guarantee that if a Bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday as many do this year then businesses will also take off the relevant Monday or Friday to make four day weekends. Check bank holidays on https://www.joursferies.fr/    May has three four-day weekends in the first two weeks this year iirc.

Then smaller businesses, tradesmen and some larger businesses too will take off the entire month of July and/or August as summer holidays. Quite often you only find this out when you arrive at the front door to find a hand-written sign up in the window saying they are closed for the next four weeks. Many places dont think to put this minor* detail on their website (assuming they even have one). Check in advance as much as possible.