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Buying a car blind


Bradders59

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"..The other thing is to do your research if it’s a rare or interesting model.."

I read the detail about 'Swift? QuickQuick..Slow!' and knew I was buying it..... Guy is genuine, and has repeated to me how pleased he is to see the car go to someone with such enthusiasm and *appreciates it. :)

*well..... enthusiasm to pay full whack and not be a tyre kicker

**he had been mauled by GlumtreeBottomfeeders already  :/

Can't fuckkin wait ;)

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The car, if genuine is a very good price , which is why Im not advertising details about it. I have had an offer of help from a Stanky, the like of which I have rarely, if ever experienced from a stranger before. I have honestly found this to be very heart warming to say the least and whether or not I buy the car, I will long remember their kindness

Only issue now is that the seller hasnt responded to my many messages yet. I have no finger nails left. Im going to start on my toenails soon. 

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Is it on the road currently? Sometimes I'll say "I can't travel because of work, but I've got the cash for you here plus I'll pay your train fare home".  If you sound reasonable and the car is roadworthy he'll agree.  If he hesitates or it breaks down on the way, you've dodged a bullet. Maybe do a zoom call to check the body.  Get the seller to ask a passer-by if it smells of dog inside. 

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I've met Mr @Stanky in person to collect some free ramps and he's a top chap but also I'm not surprised at an offer for help on here, its a great place for that.

As for buying blind I've done so this week and I'm very happy with my berlingo purchase from @Eavb, just as described.

I am also guilty of the old bid on ebay and turn up with a booster pack/Halfords socket set and hope for the best which has always gone pretty well on the whole. 

The only time I've ever been caught out was on passionford when I bought an airfilter for my cossie from a well respected member on there only the trouble was he wasn't actually the seller, it was someone else on the forum (also quite well respected) using his account. The forum admin sadly took his side saying I'd never sent the money but luckily I'd done so via tracked royal mail so it wasn't long before his mate popped up saying I'd sent the money in a card that was too big to fit through the door and he'd had to pay another £1 postage on it. Hmmm, ratted out there mate. He sent half the money back which pissed me off but again as the forum admin loved him they thought that was fair. Prick. Pretty much washed my hands of the place after that. 

Got caught out one other time in a lightly* damaged car that was fucked, totally misdescribed by the seller and he really fucked me over on that, so much so that a very hard notorious local Northern Irish friend of mine wanted to drive up there and obtain* the funds 🤣🤣.  I convinced him an £800 car was not worth another spell at her majesties pleasure. 

Oddly, I received an email from the seller about a year ago offering a partial refund...... Ten years later!!! 

I may even take him up on that the lying little toad.....  hopefully the guilt has eaten him away over the years!!! 

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150 miles isnt really that far if you're not 100% sure

Ive always bought blind off this forum, and never had a issue with any of them, if fact all were better than described

I did this a few years ago to look at a glider, spend 5 mins looking at a pile of  crap, and straight back in the car without purchase 

Screenshot_20201011-110256_Maps.jpg

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8 minutes ago, Alan_Green said:

Is it on the road currently? Sometimes I'll say "I can't travel because of work, but I've got the cash for you here plus I'll pay your train fare home".  If you sound reasonable and the car is roadworthy he'll agree.  If he hesitates or it breaks down on the way, you've dodged a bullet. Maybe do a zoom call to check the body.  Get the seller to ask a passer-by if it smells of dog inside. 

I don't wholly agree with that.

If you offered to pay me a days labour to do it then fine but otherwise my days of driving around to deliver cars only for the seller to try and knock you down/waste my time have been over for a long time. 

If it's not out of my way, I'd do it no bother but in this case a 300 mile round trip for the seller is excessive free of charge. 

Delivery would cost you £2/250 approx for that, if you really want it offer that on top as I was happy to do so on the berlingo but @Eavb is also a busy man as well hence I used shiply with no issues at all. 

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Yeah i reckon that would have been gone in a matter of minutes plus the seller looks like he's lives in a decent area, possibly an older chap and they generally appreciate a phone call rather than constant messages,does generally separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Shame but if its not meant to be its not meant to be. 

Mate of mine phoned me once to tell me that he'd just looked at a series one rs turbo up in brecon, mint car but he could only offer the seller a p/ex which he didn't need. 

I jumped on it but couldn't get there until 7pm. Someone had come round and showed an interest but chipped him on it but the car was mint, 1 owner, low miles with only a smoky turbo to scare people off, and even then it wasn't that bad. £2k,that was cheap even back in 1997!!!

Time I got there it was dark, I was late and sadly matey had said he'd have it and the seller being a man of his word honoured it, fair play despite him being chipped below £1500 and me offering £2k straight. Gutted, he told me to phone after 6pm incase the sale fell through. Waited until about 6:01pm,phoned, some mad old bat answered the phone shouting where had I got this number as it was ex directory and slammed down the phone. Tried again, left a message on the old 1471 but no reply, tried one more time, line dead, assume she'd pulled the cable out.

Fuck it, no guts no glory, drove up about an hour away, pulled into the street, car gone,gutted. 

Still, to be fair, maybe 6 months later I saw one in a petrol station, half followed the guy home until he pulled in and asked what I was doing (🤣🤣🤣), got chatting and i bought it for a grand in excellent order. Ok, it had no history but I drove it for 2 years and swapped it for a fiesta turbo. Lovely car. 

I'm sure you'll find another. 

 

20201009_171120.jpg

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Some of these bargains you just have to go drive and get. I've only bought one car blind remotely and it was the Austin 1100 - mostly because it was peak COVID at the time. With that, I had worldofceri turn up and give the nod that the car existed and wasn't completely fucked. Then I transferred the cash on a bank transfer. Worse case on that I'd just have to pay Ceri for his services and had no car. But I got it cheap enough anyway that I could recoup most of my loss by breaking it.

I'm much happier giving money in person. I'd 100% give money remotely to someone on here though to buy remotely. 

Not sure I'd want to buy a Boxster remotely though. Saying that, it was a very cheap one - even if you'll end up spending a lot to make it working. 

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@JrWomble has the hots for this:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202006270588914?postcode=pr55sj&price-to=3000&radius=1500&sort=distance&make=SEAT&maximum-mileage=50000&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&model=IBIZA&page=1&fbclid=IwAR0bvujRGnNhney7Ngm-ouDfaNSLvEkJMnWMpuFwZsXdBi6NJJiGXIH6HNk&modal=photos

Which is in budget and a colour he likes  (also coming up as £700 fully comp insurance)

ff5a2669b68746b8b1d4bf3916d00eb9.jpg

Its 198 miles away though - which is a long way to go just to have a look at it....

Debating driving down in the Astra and leaving it there somewhere.

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Done it once, on a 940 turbo (peak COVID purchase). Wasn't "stung" as such,  but probably would have walked had I viewed in person, 300 miles round trip though it would have been.  Sometimes you just get a "feel" for the seller from the ad, pics, description and format etc. Would likely buy blind on here, although regardless I'd never buy blind for over £1k (again)

Invariably the first to view wins, and drive it away there and then,  don't leave it with a deposit and come back for it. It's an added time, money and worry expense from making two trips, and I've previously had people remove parts and fiddle around with cars after I'd left deposits on them

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On 10/10/2020 at 9:49 PM, Timewaster said:

Let's face it,  a lot of us get a bit excited and turn up to see a car but in our head we have already bought it and unless the floor has fallen out or the thing is on fire we are going to buy it whatever. 

It's just as much a blind buy as a car you haven't even seen. 

Henry my Focus was like that, I'd already decided before I saw him if he was any good I was having him. 

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All three of my current vehicles I bought without seeing. And they are all good things. The leon is in exceptionally good condition both mechanically and bodily, the hilux is exactly as it was described as a cat N writeoff which has had very little done to run it, and the forum bike bora I bought cos I really wanted a pd130 which are like hens teeth up here unless you pay over a grand, and the history of it and comments about it on here. I have bought quite a few cars unseen off of ebay and only had the fingers burned once, that was a citroen c1 sensodrive with the most comprehensive service history ever which was a bucket of shit, but that was due to citroens crappy semi auto gearbox than the car. I would and probably will buy unseen again.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

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2 hours ago, sickboy said:

don't leave it with a deposit and come back for it. It's an added time, money and worry expense from making two trips, and I've previously had people remove parts and fiddle around with cars after I'd left deposits on them

 

A mate who was selling his mx5 took a deposit in the morning, which he then spent on a trackday in the afternoon, IN the mx5 he had just taken a deposit on - I suspect the buyer would have not been very impressed 

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I would NEVER buy a car again without going to see it first. I bought a Daf off eB, the pics made it look good, but when it arrived (sale included 200 mile delivery for extra} it was a mess. The owner had made a complete *****k up of repairs. If you cant go and see it yourself, DONT buy it.

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10 hours ago, Kiltox said:

A thousand pound Boxster S? 

”hello, when can I collect this please?” is the only message it requires, no? 

Yep. 100 times over. You absolutely have to - in cases like this - do the deal and just head off there and then to pick it up.  It was a ridiculous bargain, that someone else also identified.

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Then the subsequent call to Design911 

"Did you just say it's 3000 pounds for the parts I need???!!"

I think fate has intervened here for you @Bradders59.  If you haven't £1k to gamble on a Boxster S, then you don't have the means to feed the ongoing habit.  I know my anaology has been used before, but it's relevant.  It's not the entry prices that hurt in clubs like these - it's the prices at the bar.

Other than £7k on the wife's Fiat, I think I've bought everything blind over the last 4 years.  A 35 year old Mini that hadn't seen the road in 20 years, a Ford Sierra off of eBay, a Rover 75 that I had delivered to work having paid the man, a Peugeot 306 that my Dad collected and delivered, a Renault Clio and a Mercedes 190.

As @brownnovasays - talking to the vendor on the telephone as everyone did when you bought cars out of the newspaper is the greatest barometer, along with MOT history, going.  I've not bought a lemon yet... (famous last words)

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12 hours ago, Kiltox said:

A thousand pound Boxster S? 

”hello, when can I collect this please?” is the only message it requires, no? 

Almost. First message to him asked if it was his car and the V5 in his name. And if he knew why the rear axle was out of alignment.

All the messages after that concerned payment and collection. Once Stanky had offered to take it to his place, 5 miles away, I told the seller someone could collect it for me in the next day or two, gave him my number and asked him to contact me so we could finalise the sale.

I didnt hear a thing from him until 10.30 Sunday morning and that was just "sorry car is sold.

Google shows it to have lived at an enormous house with a swimming pool, in a very upmarket road. So I imagine he just wanted enough for a couple of bottles of fine wine, and get rid of it off his drive. 🙄

It looked almost too god to be true, so I was initially a bit suspicious that it was. Turns out it wasnt.

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To add from experience: 

If you are after cheap cars keep £cash stashed where you can get it quickly to do a deal.

On hyper-bargins where the contact is by phone - I have left straight for the locality even though the phone was not answered - then hung about so when at last I got through I could say 'be there in 5 minutes' - this sometime literally wastes a whole day but hey.

If it's a super-bargin make sure you pay and drive away (leave your other car round the corner to pick up later).  This is because if you leave a deposit on a seriously undervalued car they can "change their mind" and only offer the deposit back. I once almost bought a TriumphTR2 - except the vendor suddenly realised it was worth 4x what he 'sold' it to me for and flogged it to someone else. 

Cars I missed the TR2 and a 60's Mercedes coupe for a few hundred quid. Best bargin a Peugeot 304 convertible for £100 drive away. 

Buying cars blind I do it all the time. But only banger money and they have to have a MoT. The odd one has gone straight to scrap - but on the whole it goes ok. I study whatever visual evidence in add pretty hard tho - some skaggy locations I never bother.

Best indicator of a good-un...nice floor mats. 😁 House is no indication of quality - bought a Panda off a person in ritzy Highgate - just round the corner from George Michael's old house...no real brakes which we found out going down Highgate Hill...🤣 

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I buy blind all the time. It's a matter of judging the seller as much as the car. I generally only buy cheap crap, but paid top dollar for the GSA, blind, 11,000 miles away. To be honest, it's not quite as good as I imagined, though I do know a previous owner and the company that restored it for him, which added confidence. A few interior bits and a small bit of welding and the car will be as good as I imagined it was, so can't complain too much.

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