Buying a car that has been standing for ages

bainbridge

bainbridge

bainbridge

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Joined
9 Dec 2009
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Location
Bristol
Hi

After an MX5 and my commute takes me past a Mazda dealer. There are 4 MX5s outside and each of them has been standing there outside on the forecourt since late July.

They really haven't moved an inch.

Went in there on the weekend and looked them over and in addition to light rust over the swept surfaces of the brake discs which is to be expected the inner part of the discs are corroded and the caliper body is too. Also the locking wheelnut on each wheel is brown with rust. Ages range from a 2012 to 2014.

It might not seem a big deal to some, I'd sort out the discs myself anyway and presumably put a bit of wire wool against the wheel nuts but it really put me off the cars there, what with standing outside in all weather not being driven. It made me think about other metal parts out of view which may have been exposed.

What do people think about this? Am I worrying over nothing?
 
personally nothing major to worry about as that happens quite quickly in our weather if not used.

If you interested then just ask for plenty of fuel so you can have an extended test drive to make sure you can through all the motions and speeds etc to make sure your happy.
 
Wash your car, go inside, have a cuppa, go back out and look at your discs :)

Wouldn't worry one bit about a few months apart from battery voltage
 
Yes well maybe ages is an exaggeration in used car sales terms but the longest my car was ever outside standing was a couple of weeks at an airport car park and even then I was a bit concerned about it!

Still don't like the thought of them being just stuck out there. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a bit of fading on the paintwork if only one side was getting the sun, though maybe paintwork needs longer exposure for that sort of thing.

Anyway point taken I guess it's just the way unsold cars are treated (even brand new ones).
 
Depends if the car has a reason to be sitting, mine had been but thats because it was a petrol auto so not popular despite there being nothing wrong with the car.

It can be quite good to get an unnanounced test drive in those circumstances as itll show you how it behaves in the ultimate cold start.

Seeing as how its an mx5, and theyre well known summer cars im not surprised the dealers had a hard time shifting them since summers over.
 
Fading of the paintwork?

What about the multi directional wind? Might be some creases in the bodywork. Not to mention the rain damaging the paint too.

Think of all the random people who have touched it and sat in it, leaving all their germs behind.

I wouldn't bother.
 
I caught one garage out with this by cross-referencing the last mot results with the mileage that the car advert had. Although in this case it was about 8 months.

In my case this garage wasn't local, and in my view if it had been sat there for 8 months with no buyers, can only assume there were things wrong with it - price was about on par with other traders for the same condition mind. It's a fairly popular car too, so there's no doubt that if the dealer priced it lower, it would likely have been picked up. Just a typical case of dealer greed i guess.
 
They haven't even been sitting for 3 months yet, you're worrying over nothing. :)

When things have been sitting outside for over a year things start happening that might need attention, like the exhaust filling up with water and causing loads of steam when started up, brakes getting stuck on, flat spots on the tyres etc. But not at 3 months. Especially not on such new cars.

sigma said:
Fading of the paintwork?

What about the multi directional wind? Might be some creases in the bodywork. Not to mention the rain damaging the paint too.

Think of all the random people who have touched it and sat in it, leaving all their germs behind.

I wouldn't bother.
Click to expand...

I'm going to assume you're joking, though you had me in astounded disbelief at first, with the comments about paint fading from being outside, and bodywork 'creasing' from the wind. :p
 
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My car has been sat in a garage untouched since November. Fired it up the other week for the first time and whilst initially it was a bit lumpy after a few seconds it cleared and was ticking over just fine. One of the tyres had deflated, otherwise that is it. Aside from dust nothing would give it away that it hadn't moved.

3 months is sod all. :)

Besides. If they haven't moved take them for a test drive, if you fancy one you can argue that its a tough time to sell and get them to fix any issues that may have occurred or already pre-existing thrown in to the sale.
 
One of my purchases hadn't run for well over a year and had been outside rain and shine. It needed the surface rust brushing off of the brakes and muck buildup cleaning off of the ABS sensors. That's all.

Took perhaps 10 seconds of cranking to start and it was off.
 
I left my prelude for almost 18 months when I went traveling.

Although my dad was supposed to start it and rotate the tires every so often he didn't do it often enough, and I didn't trust my friends not to crash it (vtec yo)

Ended up having to refurb all the brake calipers as they rusted up.
Also needed new tires (sidewalls cracked)

Apart from that all it needed was a service and it was fine.

Id expect an mx5 to be better than my old prelude.

Having said that... There are loads of mx5 for sale so if your not in a rush you can afford to be picky and wait for the right car /price.
 
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