Silly Things That Put You Off A Car

[UltraWomble]

...Which you know shouldn't do really, but against all sensible rationale make you jog on by a second-hand car in Autotrader / Gumtree / eBay.

 

With me its Poundland / mismatched / missing wheel trims.

 

I have no scientific evidence to back up why when confronted with a shiny dent free car my mind screams at me that it must surely have been run on zero maintenance budget when I am confronted with a picture that shows it with aftermarket wheel trims.

Nothing abuses my sensibilities like a car that has clearly been driven by Rhodes Boyson on crack because it has missing steel wheel trims.

And  obviously Magnus Pike toking a bong full of red-leb thought it was a great idea to fit one Vauxhall trim to a fucking Ford and means that it must have been driven like a fecking dodgem car all its life even though I cant see a mark anywhere on the paintwork.

 

What irrational thing makes you skate over an advert?


*Photos for illustration only and not of actual intended purchases, no similarity to people alive or dead is intended

[dugong]

Poor spelling and punctuation.

 

I realise that some people genuinely find writing \ typing difficult; the depressing majority are just lazy. If you can't even spell 'bumpers' properly, why should I give you three of four figures' worth of my hard-earned?

[D Spares & Tyres]

Painted brake calipers

 

big holes for speakers

[strangeangel]

Poor spelling and punctuation.

 

 

But not only this: TXT SPK INNIT. Even if it's something I really fancy this sort of thing makes me leg it.

[stripped fred]

Lack of detail about a car and a lack of honesty about its condition in adverts puts me off, dealers I'm looking at you! Such as 'tyres: excellent, suspension: excellent, overall condition: excellent' when you know that's not true on an older car. I would rather have some honesty about it's condition. Also when they say 'cambelt changed' and when you probe further you find out it was in 2011.

[the judge]

Photos with background photoshopped in a fuzzy/coloured in way. Still can see the shithole/caravan behind the squiggle dumbfuck

[CHRIS1980]

Poor spelling and punctuation.I realise that some people genuinely find writing \ typing difficult; the depressing majority are just lazy. If you can't even spell 'bumpers' properly, why should I give you three of four figures' worth of my hard-earned?

Breaks=brakes

Cills=sills

Text speak puts me off,right away.

And when people describe the car as driving perfectly except for...insert fault. So it doesn't drive perfect does it?

Or the fact they say it just needs a small tiny job doing but they don't have the time. But It took them longer to do the advert.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

When the ad, says "every extra" then goes on to mention electric windows and HRW. Because it hasn't got leather,nav, sunroof or one of the almost essential extras on a newish luxury car, in fact these are usually the lowest spec of a particular model you'll ever see.

[Station]

Drab, Horrible unaesthetically pleasing interiors!

Also filthy, worn interiors. I sat in a car in a colleagues garage to do the brakes etc on an MOT and its was horrendous. Rubbish everywhere, sticky plastics, hair, bits, detritus, yuck! It was also a Scenic. He said he usually refuses to test these types, I didn't want to touch the wheel.

Leaking oil!

Heavy corrosion.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Drab, Horrible unaesthetically pleasing interiors!

Also filthy, worn interiors.

Leaking oil!

Heavy corrosion.

Sounds like my last Discovery.

[Ghosty]

Auto Trader dealer problems:

 

ad price £2290.

 

Hidden in ad description that's a massive wall of text:

 

'PLEASE NOTE PX @ SCREEN PRICE £2500'

 

There was another one that was £1995 drive away, p/x invited at £2695?! 

 

It's a PITA - it's misleading, and it's just a daft way of saying 'px considered'.

 

As well as that, trade sellers that aren't really - Auto Trader showed me a 320i locally, so out of interest I decided to click the dealer website button - there was a mainly blank page with just 'Deal Right Cars' (wtf?) and an address in the corner, along with 'call (mobile number) for latest stock details'.

 

Looked at the address on Street View and it's a semi-detached house in ahem, Levenshulme. A closer look at the photos in the 320i ad and I know where they've been taken - the back car park for University of Manchester's sports complex about a mile away from the address.

Hm, fishy.

 

Another one for car copy+pasted onto more pleasant/appealing background.

[Ghosty]

Oh, another one:

 

 

L@@K!!!!!

[Junkman]

When viewing ads: Cars in run down country-bumchuck surroundings and ads where I see dogs in the pictures are surefire click aways.

When I actually view a car: Cars with broken cigarette lighters.

[warren t claim]

Vauxhall badge.

[xtriple]

Agree with all the above to be honest (though I thought 'cills' was correct, Setright said it was... ) but have to add: green cars - hate them.

 

Cars advertised as private when they are obviously being flogged on by a dodgy dealer.

[Hendry]

Cars with mismatched plates, makes me think the cars been pranged.

 

Cars on dealer forecourts with plates advertising another dealer, if they couldn't be bothered replacing them, what else have they not bothered doing. Even more so if it has that dealers rear window sticker, the fact they don't match drives me crazy.

 

And one which shouldnt happen now but previously, cars with stickers on the number plates with the dealers name clearly stuck over the original dealers name on the plates again if they are too skinflint to change a £10 set of plates what else have they akimped or avoided spending money on.

 

Squinty/wonky fitted plates, or too high up/low down, too much to one side, screws not in the same places in the plate at both sides, just looks untidy. Damaged, scruffy or water damaged plates.

 

Badly valeted cars, I used to be a valeter so I notice bad cleaning more than the usual customer, I hate seeing cars with badly cleaned consoles with dirt and shit in the grooves/between the joins but covered in thick slimy vinyl silicone spray.

 

Cars with bits missing (I'm not talking obvious like trim, wipe blades and so on) stuff like aerial masts, tyre valve caps, badges, preparation is everything, if the car I bdly prepped then what else hasn't been done and why should I give you top dollar for low quality.

 

The above is in regards to buying from a dealer, traders or garage, private sales just good prep, I.E. presenting a clean car, doing the wee minor things to aid the likelihood of it selling like buying a new set of trims if one is missing, digging out the spare key if you have it, having the paperwork you have in order ready for any viewer to see.

[dugong]

Levenshulme

'Nuff said.

[gordonbennet]

Mismatched set of wank king widowmaker tyres worn more on the sidewalls than they are on the tread, alloys/trims similarly scuffed from repeated clouts against kerbs.

Knackered or rusty as an old horseshoe discs/calipers showing through those scabby filthy wheels.

 

I go on the theory that if someone can't be arsed to maintain the most important and visible parts of a car,  the out of sight bits will have been totally neglected.

 

If i was certified insane again and wanted to buy a modern, then long life unservicing, ie 20k oil changes, i'd avoid like the plague.

[purplebargeken]

Crap photos, feck all advert info and ignoring questions. 

[Taff]

the owner having a dog.

 

I've nothing against dogs but I don't want a car that smells of someone else's dog, thank you very much

[sierraman]

Recent welding sprayed over badly on the sills with shutz. Just shows its been patched up for 'just one more MOT'.

 

Towbar on something not up to the job like a Fiesta or whatever

 

Cars for sale in certain areas parts of Rotherham

 

When people say 'never needed a service'

 

Aftermarket stereos

 

Crap hubcaps

 

Filthy cars people couldn't be arsed to clean

 

Indicators of idiot ownership - painted calipers, big bore exhaust, Lexus lights

[jonny69]

Poor spelling and punctuation.

 

I realise that some people genuinely find writing \ typing difficult; the depressing majority are just lazy. If you can't even spell 'bumpers' properly, why should I give you three of four figures' worth of my hard-earned?

 

But not only this: TXT SPK INNIT. Even if it's something I really fancy this sort of thing makes me leg it.

 

Both of those - sure fire way to get me to click the 'back' button before reading the whole advert.

 

Another thing ought to put me off is that the car is French, so it's going to provide some level of annoyance most of the time. I'm comparing this to a 50 year old car with hard suspension, oily fumes stink and a number of rattles and squeaks, but it annoys me less than her 5 year old 207.

[sierraman]

Contact names on bumtree like Daz or invitations to swap for Xbox. Why do people live on this feudal system of swapping everything?

[saucedoctor]

Black alloy wheels. I know they are standard on a lot of posh cars these days, but it always puts me in mind of silver wheels that have been biffed, and rattle canned over.

 

Just serviced. Usually a lie.

 

"MoT prepared."

 

"Low owners". Can't be arsed to find out how many?

[Sealtainn]

For me it would be

1) A filthy car/interior - if you couldn't be arsed to give a damn good clean, what else haven't you been arsed to do regarding maintenance?

2) Bad spelling/grammar - chances are you have composed the advert on a PC so run it through the sodding Spell Checker before you post

3) Obviously tarted up cars (mainly dealers) - where they have gone overboard with the tyre gel etc

4) Txt spk - don't even get me started

5) General waffly adverts that you finish reading and it doesn't really tell you much about the car but you feel like you have their life story

6) The immortal line "should fly through an MoT" - well if that's the case then spend the £50-odd on getting it a 12-month ticket and add a couple of hundred onto the asking price

[John F]

20p stuck in the handbrake

[richardthestag]

easy / cheap to fix

 

 

why not fix it before sale then?

[sierraman]

Just needs...

 

Can't be doing with that emotional bull shit people give you... 'My dad loved this car' or 'reluctant sale'. It's going to cut no ice with me pal.

 

Other one... 'My uncle is a mechanic'... So shit?

[inconsistant]

Cars photographed on a gravel driveway often with gates and mature trees behind, the same background as all the sellersdealers other car photos, when you know they're driving all their cars to the posh house around the corner for a photo op so you mistakenly assume the car has been owned by someone posh who might just have cared for it.

[Bren]

"Carcraft" on the number plates.