Ah, ok, I'll call Toyota. Sorry to Mischief, I thought it was being suggested to me not to buy the car. If it's something Toyota will fix for free then yeah, you're right, makes sense to call them.
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Need help with stop gap car
- Thread starter Merlin5
- Start date
Ah, ok, I'll call Toyota. Sorry to Mischief, I thought it was being suggested to me not to buy the car. If it's something Toyota will fix for free then yeah, you're right, makes sense to call them.
No offence taken, and I meant that he knows you'll buy the car at the stated price so why would he want to offer a discount. At that price he may only have £2-300 in profit, perhaps even less.
I bought a car!
My mobile mechanic got in touch today with a dealer he knows that is trustworthy and sells decent cars. The dealer has a 2002 Mondeo, 74K, automatic for £850. And a 2007 Toyota Auris 1.6 petrol, one owner, MOT till next April with 98K for £1395. My. mechanic went along to check them both out for me. He said they're both good but recommended the Auris. No funny noises, drives nicely and basically what he calls good risk.
For me, the Mondeo was decent mileage and in my budget, but auto gearbox and 2 litre, possibly risky and not very economical.
The Auris is twice my budget but I thought, meh, it's a good car and worth stretching to. So the dealer is bringing it to my house tomorrow and I'll buy it. There's no negotiating space on the price.
This is the one I'm buying.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202003088152913?postcode=n32rl&price-from=500&model=AURIS&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&price-to=1500&make=TOYOTA&radius=30&page=1
I did an online quote with my insurers to transfer my policy to the Auris and it's an extra £122.
The panel gap between the bumper and the bonnet looks quite large to me. I've compared it to other cars on AT and it looks different. Either it's had a bump or has been misaligned for some reason.
As much as you trust your mechanic and as best as his intentions may be, I still wouldn't have blind faith in his opinion, it's worth getting an HPI check to see if the car has been in an accident. Even the HPI isn't fool proof, it could have been in an undeclared accident/bump.
Edit - in fact, you can see the damage in the first photograph, on the right hand side of the front bumper, look how small the gap is to the wing, it's basically joined.
Compare it to this car which also has scrapes in that area:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202001176269917
Edit 2 - sorry, didn't realise you'd bought it! Does this mean you've paid for it, you've said you've bought it but then later said "this is the one I'm buying"? Surprised your mechanic didn't pick this up... well, actually I'm not...
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Thanks sigma for your observations. No, I haven't actually paid for it yet. It's true there does appear to be some gap between bumper and bonnet. There probably has been some repair. Tbh though, whatever car I buy in this price range is likely to have something wrong, surely? If it's not a gap, there'll probably be rust or some other thing that's wrong. I might get an HPI check. £20 I think it is?
Here's a question. I was thinking of paying cash but that's probably a bad idea right as there's no paper trail in the event of any problems with the car? Maybe I should postpone him bringing me the car tomorrow until Tuesday when I can take the cash and put it into my bank account, and then do a bank transfer to his account. Would you recommend that as a must, to have more comeback?
Here's a question. I was thinking of paying cash but that's probably a bad idea right as there's no paper trail in the event of any problems with the car? Maybe I should postpone him bringing me the car tomorrow until Tuesday when I can take the cash and put it into my bank account, and then do a bank transfer to his account. Would you recommend that as a must, to have more comeback?
If you can, ask him if you can make a small payment via credit card as this offers extra protection.
Thing is, I don't own any credit cards, only my Barclays visa debit card. Would an instant bank transfer be sufficient and better than cash?
you can see that the front bumper has been painted on the osf and the nsf has scuffs on the lower edge. this will have pulled the bumper down and probably stretched the brackets behind the wings and stretched the locating tabs next to the bonnet
Alex
Alex
Soldato
This will be in regards to the rather large worldwide Takata airbag recall, and given the nature of the issue you'd be silly not to get it sorted.
(condolences on your loss)
sounds like you pushed original temp budget significantly, maybe re-appraise the repair option (and, tell your mechanic+dealer that)..
with only a few hundred at risk, mechanics mate will find out if repair cost is genuinely 'only' £700; as said, you know that car.
Would have though mechanics/garages might be short of work and would do job in a good timescale .. don't know if parts availibility is problematic.
insurance handover cost saved too.
sounds like you pushed original temp budget significantly, maybe re-appraise the repair option (and, tell your mechanic+dealer that)..
with only a few hundred at risk, mechanics mate will find out if repair cost is genuinely 'only' £700; as said, you know that car.
Would have though mechanics/garages might be short of work and would do job in a good timescale .. don't know if parts availibility is problematic.
insurance handover cost saved too.
I don’t think it’ll make a difference, the bank transfer is effectively cash. As the person you’re buying it off is a trader you should receive an invoice which will be your proof of purchase.
The reason to buy using a credit card is to enable you to make use of the consumer protection offered by the service. It’s not for proof of payment. It’s worth getting a credit card anyway, especially for use online so you don’t end up out of pocket if someone steals your details. You could get one with a low limit to prevent temptations. I doubt the trader would even accept even a part payment on credit card.
Personally I wouldn’t buy the car. Especially as you’re spending more than you originally wanted to. It seems like you’re paying more than you wanted and also you’re getting a car that isn’t 100% right. I appreciate all cars could have issues but so could the car you’re buying, it could have more issues than what's visible in the photographs. If your mechanic didn’t spot this obvious issue what else did he miss?
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Well guys, don't shout at me 
but I went against the grain. Dealer drove car to me and I ended up buying it. Did bank transfer. Very happy tbh. Yes it has the grazing and imperfect gaps but doesn't bother me. It's a 2007, I can keep it for a couple of years until 2022, at which point the ULEZ rules will say my car is more than 15 years old, then I'll have to get something newer.
Drives really nicely and apart from a few scratches is very clean. Weird getting used to a different gearbox and the position is interesting compared to my Peugeot, more ergonomic I suppose you'd say. It's taxed for another month.
Compared to the condition my 307 ended up, this is luxury for me, lol.
Question. Dealer was very nice and friendly and helpful. Didn't even accept a lift back and it had started raining. He recommended me a scrap dealer he uses and said they'd pay me about £150 to take it. I was only expecting £50!
Anyway, I normally fuel up at supermarket stations.
He said to me, don't buy fuel from supermarkets, only buy from dedicated places, eg, BP, Shell, Esso. He said because of the electronics in the car, cheap fuel can mess things up. And that I'd get better fuel consumption from Shell, BP, etc. What is your opinion on those two points? Any of you fill up at supermarket garages?
but I went against the grain. Dealer drove car to me and I ended up buying it. Did bank transfer. Very happy tbh. Yes it has the grazing and imperfect gaps but doesn't bother me. It's a 2007, I can keep it for a couple of years until 2022, at which point the ULEZ rules will say my car is more than 15 years old, then I'll have to get something newer.Drives really nicely and apart from a few scratches is very clean. Weird getting used to a different gearbox and the position is interesting compared to my Peugeot, more ergonomic I suppose you'd say. It's taxed for another month.
Compared to the condition my 307 ended up, this is luxury for me, lol.
Question. Dealer was very nice and friendly and helpful. Didn't even accept a lift back and it had started raining. He recommended me a scrap dealer he uses and said they'd pay me about £150 to take it. I was only expecting £50!
Anyway, I normally fuel up at supermarket stations.
He said to me, don't buy fuel from supermarkets, only buy from dedicated places, eg, BP, Shell, Esso. He said because of the electronics in the car, cheap fuel can mess things up. And that I'd get better fuel consumption from Shell, BP, etc. What is your opinion on those two points? Any of you fill up at supermarket garages?
Soldato
Put any brand fuel in it, it’ll be fine.
Congratulations on new purchase. As someone who bought a "stop gap" car for £1500ish over 3 years ago you maybe surprised how long you keep it haha. I've been gone from the UK for a couple of years now but when I was there, tax didn't transfer with ownership iirc. Or is it different because of the covid19 rules?
That change was made ages ago, tax used to transfer but not anymore.
Thanks geekman and mccarf.
ezekial, I said to him today that I was going online to buy road tax and he said don't worry about it, it's taxed till May. So if it's not transferred with new ownership does it mean the car is currently not road taxed? At the moment, it's also still on his insurance and I'm transferring to my insurance policy on Tuesday when I can speak to my insurers. But don't know about road tax right now.
ezekial, I said to him today that I was going online to buy road tax and he said don't worry about it, it's taxed till May. So if it's not transferred with new ownership does it mean the car is currently not road taxed? At the moment, it's also still on his insurance and I'm transferring to my insurance policy on Tuesday when I can speak to my insurers. But don't know about road tax right now.
Technically you should tax it as soon as you get it but he won't receive a refund for this month and you'll be expected to pay the full month too so DVLA get two months for the price of one! Check it online.
Have a look here:
https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax
Generally pretty up to date but did take a day to register when we taxed a car.
I just set up direct debit for road tax. For 6 months it's £126. My peugeot road tax renewed in February at £76 for 6 months. £50 difference, wtf?
Well guys, don't shout at me
Drives really nicely and apart from a few scratches is very clean. Weird getting used to a different gearbox and the position is interesting compared to my Peugeot, more ergonomic I suppose you'd say. It's taxed for another month.
Compared to the condition my 307 ended up, this is luxury for me, lol.
Question. Dealer was very nice and friendly and helpful. Didn't even accept a lift back and it had started raining. He recommended me a scrap dealer he uses and said they'd pay me about £150 to take it. I was only expecting £50!
Anyway, I normally fuel up at supermarket stations.
He said to me, don't buy fuel from supermarkets, only buy from dedicated places, eg, BP, Shell, Esso. He said because of the electronics in the car, cheap fuel can mess things up. And that I'd get better fuel consumption from Shell, BP, etc. What is your opinion on those two points? Any of you fill up at supermarket garages?
Could I have a refund for the amount of time I spent trying to help you out?
£100/hr
'grats on the purchase, hope it serves you well
