So we went to look at a car. This one:

http://www.adtrader.co.uk/greater-london/wandsworth/putney/cars/cars-under-1500/subaru-impreza-2-0-gl-4wd-5dr-auto-estate-1996-n-reg/a9391a47c9fa4437807210f7761c1a69?keywords=subaru

As from this thread of mine

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/older-subaru-impreza-what-do-i-need-to-know

(Before I start please bear in mind I know one end of a car from another. I’ve had many bangers. I’ve built engines, fitted gearboxes. I’m a fair mechanic. I’m not stupid either)

On the phone the bloke sounded a bit ‘bored’ or ‘uninterested’ but I ignored this as I’ve spoken to loads of people who sound the same who are fine when you meet them. He sounded as though he’d been messed around with the car in the past, to be fair. No bother. That happens.

So we turn up at and he seems a bit pushy to me. He tells me it’s the cheapest on in the country and that it’s worth £1400. I know this is rubbish and that it’s at the top end of what it’s worth. I still ignore it as I’m going through the service history with a fine tooth comb.
Looking at the car shortly after I see, (as I expected from the pic in the ad) that the front offside wing has been replaced and has since been damaged again. I also expected this because there was a bill for a new sidelight in the history.

Bear in mind the description in the ad. I believe the words PRISTINE and SUPERB CONDITION are used. It’s not. Its probably above average. Maybe even ‘good’, but nowhere even close to pristine.

I pop the lid and spot some oiliness down below. He fobs me off that it’s water.

I point out the coolant is a little low, but he misses the link between the two.

I produce a tyre depth gauge to check the tread. I don’t want to be replacing tyres. Oil is overdue for a change. 10k in the history since changed, it’s not clean on the dipstick either. I keep quiet about that though. No bother.

We go for a drive, car starts easily, ticks over fine, auto box shifts well. Brakes feel wooden (Seized??) and the car pulls left – “the tyre must be soft” he says. ‘Why the hell didn’t you check them before trying to sell it?’ I think to myself.

The bloke is getting more of a pushy know it all. He’s telling me not to open the window as I can hear the engine better with them closed. “I’m hot” is my polite reply

We stop. I try the radio. Dead. “It was working.” He fiddles. It’s still dead. I open the door and blip the throttle. Exhaust’s blowing slightly. I lie down in the gutter for a look. Centre section is rusty as hell. I hop to the front and look under the running engine. A dark oily crankcase greets me. it doesn’t look too bad to be fair, but there’s a drip. I touch the drip. Oil, 100% for certain, as I suspected from above.

Now bear in mind that Kirsty and I have been polite, and very friendly and he still just keeps getting pushier.

“Oh yeah, they said it was blowing on the MOT but it can’t be leaking oil or it would have failed” I try explaining that oil leaks are not MOT problems but exhausts are and that the centre section of the exhaust will need replacing soon, and that the non working radio is no good to me. I also point to that he’s said to me earlier that there were no advisories on the MOTs. He denies this. He’s really annoying me by now though so in the end I just say “Sorry I don’t want it. There’s too much wrong with it for me”

I’ve never done that before. Said “No” straight to someones face. it’s usually “I’ve got another to look at, I’ll call you back” which is code for ‘Thankyou, but no thank you’

At all times I was polite.

Then he starts ranting (No other word for it) that I’m mad and I’ll be looking for 6 months too find one. And that Kirsty must be bored of me being like this. I try and thank him for his time, but he drives off, still ranting.

And the icing on the cake?
As I drive home, 2 text messages –

Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

As you can see I ignored him, so far….

Suggestions on a postcard please…..

To be honest, I would have probably made an offer on it, but he was such a prick he can keep it.

😯

What an idiot!

I’ve never done that before. Said “No” straight to someones face. it’s usually “I’ve got another to look at, I’ll call you back” which is code for ‘Thankyou, but no thank you’

Everyday’s a school day, I didn’t know that. Thanks. 😀
Are we supposed to ID the STW user from the text messages or something?

Suggestions – move on with your life. You did the right thing, pity that he has your mobile number. IGNORE his texts leave it here and now. He is the one who obviously has some sort of personality problems/issues.

Suggestions on a postcard please…..

Chalk it up to experience! And if he sends any more messages, report him to the police for harrassment…

Went to look at a car for a mate the other day. He’s after an early mk2 Focus 1.6TDCi estate. He spotted one at a dealer about 30 miles away, advertised as “immaculate” and “one careful owner”… Price was a bit steep, about £500 over book IMO, but decided to have a look anyway…

Got there, the car was under a tree and covered in a film of dirt. Not good start…

Looked round the car, number of minor scuffs and scratches on the body work, more than you would expect anyway even for a 6 year old car. No dents though.

Got the keys, had a look inside. Hmmmm… Seats are ok condition, but plastics are scuffed a bit more than you’d expect. Couple of holes in some of them too. Then get the history to have a look at… Ah, an ex police car!

OK, so not a problem, History is A1 perfect and I know police car get looked after mechanically, but it was certainly scruffy. Also, ex police cars go for a lot less than private cars do 2nd hand, so immediately this ain’t worth anything like the asking price.

Drove it, drove fine, no problems at all. It is mechanically sound, and worth a punt…

So we go to have a word with the dealer, but first I check the MOT… Hmmmm 9 months MOT, MOT was done by the dealer in their garage, 6 miles and 3 months ago… We had just driven the car exactly how far… 6 miles! The car hadn’t moved in 3 months, not once.

Went straight in with “we think the car is good mechanically, but cosmetically it’s nothing like perfect, and being an ex cop car lowers the value too”. Guy is asking £3995 for it, I said “we wanna pay £3k for it, but I don’t think you’ll come close, so how much under £3500 can you do it for?” I asked cos the cosmetics aren’t such an issue to my mate who’s after a car to last him a good few years that will probably have lots of kit chucked in it anyway.

Basically told me to “F off” and “it’s ok mate, I’ll keep it thanks”… I responded with “you’ve had it for 3 months already, how much longer you wanna keep it for before you have to lower the price?”… His response… “I’ve got 60 cars here mate, all bought and paid for, don’t owe the bank a penny for any of them… Someone will buy it at some point for the price I’m asking!”

On a different planet! To me if he’d have advertised it at £3500, and sold for say £3350, he’d have sold it in a week… And being an ex cop car, I doubt he paid much more than £2k for it anyway.

Some people are just greedy, and they don’t like it being pointed out to them PP… Hey ho!

‘My niece know more about cars than ME’

There, FTFH!

I can only say that youve been very reasonable & the other guy thinks an AWFUL lot of himself..certainly the car sounds like a dud.

Ignore him, if it continues I find the word “harassment” is normally enough to send people scurrying for cover..

What a knob. Text him a link to this thread.

Or… add his phone number to loads of price comparison websites.

Suggestions – move on with your life……………IGNORE his texts leave it here and now.

Oh, I have and I will. I’ve just been left amazed, that’s all.

It’s soooooooo tempting though 😈

certainly the car sounds like a dud.

I don’t think it was really. I’d have given £500 for it, maybe £550. Not to him though.

This would never happen in an Audi dealership 😉

Text him a link to this thread.

That was my first thought, to be honest.

No ignore him, if you make contact you would just be encouraging him.

cinnamon_girl – Member

What an idiot!

A bit harsh, I’ve met Mr Poddy before and he seemed okay.

Cheers Neil….. 🙁 😉

Wouldn’t it be awful if someone pretendibg to be him reported it stolen…
Imagine the hassle he’d have shifting it then.

😀

You could always text him and say you got a far superior car in a Mitsubishi evo at an unbelievable price and that you can’t believe you even considered the scooby 😉

You sure it was the coolant you checked? 😉

I think you’ve handled it well so far. Admirable restraint. Maybe leave it at that and know you’ve got the moral high ground, eh.

I once hired a van from a crap hire company in Radcliffe called Smyrna Van Hire. The front tyre was flat so I asked the bloke to pump it up, which he did with bad grace. While I had it on hire the battery went flat, the tyre went flat again and the steering was frightening. I mentioned all this when I returned it and the bloke went mad, shouting abuse at me and ranting “I knew you were trouble right from the start!”

I don’t think Smegma Van Hire exists any more.

I have passed he matter over to my Elfinsafety Health and Safety Consultant for further investigation

The thing is, I can sit here in smug silence because in the service history was the receipt from when he bought the car. He’s not had it long but he traded DOWN from an Audi TT. He got £3000 and that car for his Audi.
He actually told Kirsty he was broke, and the reason why, and I know he needs the money more than I need the car.

Cool story bro!

Last week I went and saw a Mondeo, phoned ahead to check condition, explained I had to cycle up so I didn’t want a wasted trip. No bother, it’s in great nick. Get there and to be fair, it’s in lovely cosmetic condition, near perfect. Test drive. Try to drive away, car stalls. Stalls again. Hmm, 2 litre diesel shouldn’t be hard to drive away at a junction. Get it moving with more revs, go for a drive. Feels proper weak- my Focus is an ancient 1.8, 90bhp one, this should be 130bhp, so why is it slower? Quite whistly too. Try some fast roll-ons, car starts juddering like mad.

So I took it back, said “It’s not working!”, he says “Yeah I know but it probably just needs a service, we’ll sort that once you’ve paid”. So buy a broken car, in the hope they can fix it.

So I walk away, and he calls me a timewaster!

Incidentally, it’s probably a bunged EGR and a split turbo hose, would take me an hour to fix them both so they’ve chucked away a sale for the sake of that. Eejits.

North wind, we’ve had similar at a garage too. Mrs PP just said “it’s ****!” to the salesman. He didn’t argue.

Brilliant. Reminds me of these brakes I bought once…

Walk away, he’s clearly a wee bit crazy and nothing you say will sink in or make any difference to him.

I feel for you…really.

I did something (actually many things) really really stupid when trying to find my mum a new car in a hurry when hers failed the MOT (no point in getting fixed). I drove 120 miles down to London to see a car that fitted the bill… immaculate and pristine, being sold by the careful owner. Yep, you guessed, rust (when cars this new don’t usually have rust), scratches, didn’t run too well, he wasn’t the registered keeper (and the car wasn’t at the registered keepers address).

I said to my girlfriend I didn’t know what to do. Beat the living crap out of him (or try, big fella)? Count to 10 and walk off? I was completely dumbstruck.

The guy was so oblivious he even said “Well, make me an offer”. Sure, because after you’ve lied through your teeth I’m going to buy something off you. Close to exploding I went for “I’ll let you live?”.

What amazes me is that I’m the guy telling everyone how 80% of the population are as thick as planks and as dishonest as the day is long…but I never knew people could be that blatantly and obviously dishonest.

I curse the day my spaceship crashed on this planet, and pray for the day my people come to pick me up.

Looked at a V70 a while back, pointed out that the NSF wheel bearing was beyond knackered, but said to let me know when they’ve fixed it and I’ll take it, if I hadn’t bought anything before then. They called 3 months later to say they looked at it and did I want it before they ordered the part? I got something 2 months previously after waiting a bit.

Not sure how his impreza can be worth £1400, when i did not get so much as a sniff in subaru country for my 03 plate at £1200. 😀

Don’t reply to him. It’ll do his head in wondering if you ever got the message. If he believes that you must have got the message then you’ll be messing with his poor head even more so as he still won’t know what you’re thinking.

Don’t stoop to his level – play mind games!

PP if you do reply you could just use the last line from what you wrote above, i.e.

” I would have probably made an offer on it, but you were such a prick you can keep it.”

What are the final two digits of his phone number?

ianpinder – Member
What are the final two digits of his phone number?

I was just thinking the very same! 🙂

There’s a mobile number in the advert linked to 🙂

Edit: Actually that’s a generic AdTrader one, ignore..

It would be a waste of time to reply.

He is already down, broke, so let him be as sooner or later he will be able to afford public transport only …

As for the other garages that take people for being idiots let’s see how long they last in current economy climate.

Your money so spend it wisely.

“I might be a prick, but at least I’m not a prick with a shit car.”

TBH I think it’s best ignored. If he messages you again I’d probably reply, “Do not contact me again or I shall report you for harassment.”

I won’t be replying. It’s better that way. It’s more fun to just talk about replies IMO 🙂

Anybody got a cheap auto car for sale?

I’ve had similar…spoke to a independent trader about a van he had advertised. Stated I was looking for something to convert to a camper and knowing these vans get knocked about a bit, had a lengthy conversation where he said it was pretty much immaculate, that I wouldn’t be dissapointed, basically promised that I’d be happy and handing over the cash.

So I drove down there, 116 miles. Looked at the van, and thought, nah, can’t be that one, its been touched up all over with what looks like Tippex. The front bumper was pushed in flush with the grill, the rear doors had been gently crowbarred so they were kinked all up the middle, the sliding door had also been crowbarred leaving a sizeable dent in the pillar, ripples in the side loading door, dent in the front wing, curry under the front floor mat, broken rear step etc etc.

Knocked on the door, he takes me straight over to it 🙁 Drove it, it was fine, but I don’t think I even made an offer. Drove back the 116 miles. I had looked at a few other vans on the way but they were all sheds as expected, this was top of the list.

Annoyingly, I ended up travelling back down by train (a big gamble, I was desperate) and buying it two weeks later after he had send it to the bodyshop for a full makeover. I think he felt a bit guilty as he had added £500 to the price to cover the work so I got it for the original price, although he did ‘accidentally’ try and overcharge me when he deducted the deposit I’d paid from the balance. Once I’d cleaned out the curry and taken a sledgehammer to the bumper supports, it turned out to be a good buy/price.

But I will never travel so far for a vehicle again unless it is something really special.

PeterPoddy – Member

I won’t be replying. It’s better that way. It’s more fun to just talk about replies IMO

Anybody got a cheap auto car for sale?

Best option PP, bet he is checking his phone every half hour waiting for your reply, don’t give him the satisfaction.

On the other hand I would be tempted to….

I feel for you mate. Luckily this was only 60 mile round trip and 2.5 hrs wasted.

Actually looked at a little Mazda as well which was as straight as they come but needed 2 tyres and tax. Seller was a part time trader and a lovely, honest bloke.