What is the most you have purchased a car for blind?

[Six-cylinder]

What is the most you have purchased a car for blind?

Following on from DirtyDaily buying a £26k Audi R8 blind I looked at my purchases. I will ignore my 3 year old Range Rover as it was an approved used car from a Land Rover dealer so a degree of protection.

In 2014 a blind bid on eBay and we owned a 1994 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe for £2290.

It has been ok, some may remember I took it to Shitefest 2014 in Wales and while it was Mrs6C choice I have enjoyed it. No major problems, the aux belt tensioner bracket is held together with araldite because we can’t get a replacement.

The photo is from the ad we bought it from and they were all poor so guessing what it was like difficult. 

I have bought dozens of cars blind, but all fairly low value. My success rate with blind purchases has been good.

[GeordieInExile]

£2,000 for a Citroen C6. 

Which was to be my daily driver. 

 

[wesacosa]

I think it was £1400 for my LPG converted Saab 9-5 Aero HOT which turned out to be one of the best cars I owned until some imbecile wrote it off when parked up 

 

[Surface Rust]

£1500, also for a Saab. I was also pleased, and it didn't seem like a risk as I bought it of here and we all seem to give honest appraisals.

[Markeh]

It would be the £250 I paid for the Meriva. Prior to purchase I knew the reg, the MOT history, the location, and until maybe a day or two before I went to collect it from Reading I hadn't seen it - even then I saw one picture of it on Street View. I didn't even look around it when I picked it up, it was a case of 'if it starts and runs, it's sold'

[95 quid Peugeot]

8000 euro.   Renault Dauphine from France.  

[horriblemercedes]

Funnily enough, for me it was a Saab too. It was £870 and I still own it.

 

I had a BMW 320d that I was using every day and found one day that it was dangerously rotten (despite a recent MOT with no advisory notices).

So I went on eBay to find a diesel estate car that I could collect that weekend that had working air con. Found a Saab 95 estate with some rust blebs but a long MOT and working air con and the location was pretty local. Won the auction for £870 and went to collect.

 

So far, so good. It's definitely not the nicest one out there but it works and it's reliable and I will probably keep it until it dies. MOT is next week. Wish me luck!

[comfortablynumb]

Never bought anything blind.

I feel like I'm missing out now🥺

[lesapandre]

My limit is about £1000 to buy blind. Always speak on the phone to a vendor to get the best idea of who they are and what they are like. I've bought without a V5 this way too. 

Not really ever had a problem but you need to be savvy and careful. If in doubt 'don't' and if it's too good to be true - it probably is🤣

Collect quickly.

Thought I did break my own rule and  buy my 1985 Diesel Nissan Cedric blind in France for €3000 - paid in advance and travelled from the UK to collect it arriving at a remote railway station at 11.00pm in the dark to meet the owner and drive away. 🫣

I still have it. Apart from a suspension clunky it was fine. But was an exception for an unusual car. Was it a crazy capers  - yes. 

Things didn't go quite according to plan. It was very low on fuel ⛽ so I had to pursuade the owner to come with me to the petrol station as it was absolutely in the middle of nowhere...but got filled and I was off by midnight.

It drives like an absolute barge by the way - and was no match for the contemporary Mercedes or Rover. Easy to forget just how bad dynamically some Japanese cars were. Bad in a good way - it's like driving a Christmas decoration. Beautifully engineered.

[lesapandre]

22 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

Never bought anything blind.

I feel like I'm missing out now🥺

Try it...

It's very refreshing - like dousing yourself in cheap aftershave...

[sierraman]

28 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

My limit is about £1000 to buy blind. Always speak on the phone to a vendor to get the best idea of who they are and what they are like. I've bought without a V5 this way too. 

Not really ever had a problem but you need to be savvy and careful. If in doubt 'don't' and if it's too good to be true - it probably is🤣

Collect quickly.

Thought I did break my own rule and  buy my 1985 Diesel Nissan Cedric blind in France for €3000 - paid in advance and travelled from the UK to collect it arriving at a remote railway station at 11.00pm in the dark to meet the owner and drive away. 🫣

I still have it. Apart from a suspension clunky it was fine. But was an exception for an unusual car. Was it a crazy capers  - yes. 

Things didn't go quite according to plan. It was very low on fuel ⛽ so I had to pursuade the owner to come with me to the petrol station as it was absolutely in the middle of nowhere...but got filled and I was off by midnight.

It drives like an absolute barge by the way - and was no match for the contemporary Mercedes or Rover. Easy to forget just how bad dynamically some Japanese cars were. Bad in a good way - it's like driving a Christmas decoration. Beautifully engineered.

A diesel Cedric. That about makes you tantamount to Jesus Christ himself in my eyes. 

[horriblemercedes]

10 minutes ago, sierraman said:

A diesel Cedric. That about makes you tantamount to Jesus Christ himself in my eyes. 

That's probably a bad thing if you're Jewish but good if you're Christian. Other religions may apply, of course.

[lisbon_road]

Years back, I bought a 2.0 DOHC Sapphire Sierra blind for £600. 

It didn't have a fuel cap.  It was tapping from the top of the engine.  The surname on the MOT was the same as the seller.  It did actually drive ok. 

Weighed it in a couple of years later due to a seized gearbox and extensive rot in the box sections underneath.

Can't save them all. 

[lesapandre]

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

That's probably a bad thing if you're Jewish but good if you're Christian. Other religions may apply, of course.

JC is a prophet in these conjoined Abrahamic religions - I'm happy to settle for that.

[sierraman]

6 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

That's probably a bad thing if you're Jewish but good if you're Christian. Other religions may apply, of course.

I’m neither so take it as a compliment. 

[Mally]

My limit's £1000. I've had a Rickman Ranger and a 75 blind.

I try not to pay over that for anything.

[MrGTI6]

£13500 for a Hyundai Kona in 2023, but it was from Cazoo so not much risk involved (ignoring the fact that Cazoo went bust soon after...). Only bought it because the other half wanted it. 

She refused to drive it due to the overzealous driver aids, and I never wanted the thing in the first place. 

I expected to take a huge bath with it, but thanks to the effects on the used car market post-COVID, it actually ended up selling via Motorway for more than it cost. A very lucky escape!

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I will ignore my 3 year old Range Rover as it was an approved used car from a Land Rover dealer so a degree of protection.

Really?

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

the aux belt tensioner bracket is held together with araldite because we can’t get a replacement.

We did and replaced it...

[LightBulbFun]

On 07/02/2025 at 10:12, Six-cylinder said:

What is the most you have purchased a car for blind?

I suppose by default it would have to be REV! by the time I had gotten to the sellers house she had already been loaded onto the recovery truck and sent on her way!  

and by the time I got to the FoD @Slowsilver had already commandeered her!

all I had otherwise was a video of her very briefly being driven forwards and backwards in the sellers yard and being told over the phone "its more or less roadworthy im just fitting a replacement fuel tank"

Ha, Ha, Ha.

not that I regret the purchase in the slightest and compared to most other Model 70's she was in pretty good shape but "more or less road worthy" she certainly was not at that point, even the replacement fuel tank that was fitted was holed!

I still to this day, basically have no photos of REV from before I owned her, other then the stills I extracted from her movie role in 2002

and this very smoll one from the "about us page" on the sellers main business website probably from about the same time period as the based on the fresh looking paintwork, and lack of "my daughter drove it into a tree" crash damage on the front bumper!

[Uncleben]

Just under £6k for the LTD, winning bid on ebay, I asked plenty of questions and there was a detailed walk around video, yet going to collect I was somewhat apprehensive of what i would be faced with, especially as I had transfered the pound notes a few days prior! 

As it turned out, the old boat was as described, and the experience was a positive one in the end, although there was a brief moment of panic when, en-route to collection, I hadn't received a reply from the seller for a while, and the thought I may have been swindled out of my money did enter my mind! Luckily @Justwatching wasn't out to swindle anyone!

[MVX11V]

I always buy blind and expect the worst to turn up. I also expect the seller to lie out of his arse and tell me blue is red. Sbype was around 4 bags delivered and that was utter shit. Cadbury olé was nearly 2 and was slightly less shit but frozen. Both vehicles have had an unreasonable amount of money thrown at them because they were both shit. Don't regret it though, I do it for pleasure*.

[cort16]

£8000 on a 730d

I think the worst one I've has was that 320si that "ran for loading purposes".  When it turned up quite a lot of the engine was in the boot including all the coil packs and spark plugs so did it fuck run.

It also had what I assume to be a 6 month old bacon roll in the centre console. 

 

[w00dy]

I spent a low 5-figure sum on this. It caught fire on the drive home.

I usually buy cars blind.  It's more fun that way.

 

[goosey]

£500 through PayPal for a Ford Explorer off eBay back in 2012, collected the following week, the rear axle was wining, the timing chain was rattling but it drove 180 odd miles home

the seller was a gentle giant with a heart of gold who had drawn the cash out the hole in the wall that morning to give me a refund if I didn’t want the deal 

[barefoot]

I once bought a Jaguar xj8 blind. 19 years old, 18 owners, no service history and no MOT.

£300, WCPGW?

[95 quid Peugeot]

2 hours ago, 95 quid Peugeot said:

8000 euro.   Renault Dauphine from France.  

Oh.  And Rocket88 riley last week 

[Landy Mann]

£250 well spent in 2016...

[riek]

£260 for a MK3 cavalier expression (mega base but with alloys)  in 2008. Turned out to be an unresolved cat D and needed a VIC. Was a good car tho until it got stolen and written off

[Dobloseven]

Bought a few cars over the phone without looking at them.But they've been new or still under manufactures warranty,so as risk free as possible.Most expensive was the Korando that MrsD still owns.Worked out about £15k with towbar and a few extra bits fitted.Only registered a few days previously though and 14 miles on the clock from being driven to the towbar fitters 

[brownnova]

Both the TransSport and the 2CV Dolly were around the same£1200 mark and both bought blind 

I consider the TransSport the riskier of the two seeing as I bought it from a scrap yard with 3 days MoT left with no idea how it would be!

Paid off, was awesome.

We were told the 2CV was pretty much a basket case, but did my research via the club and found it was a lot better than that so a more calculated purchase. Still needed a lot of work, but not as much as it could have done,