Careful with ebay!

[1mustard]

Hi all i am just posting this to tell any potential buyers of cars on ebay to be careful with what they are buying, today i moted a car for a customer who had paid £2300 for a salon of ebay 6 months ago, it was absolutley slaughtered, truly shocking repairs, filler, underseal etc, etc, its going to cost him alot of money to put it right, or it goes for scrap and he has done his money.
This car needs full resto really and then some to remove all the bodging which just makes it worse, should never have passed last year.
Moral of the story is don't buy cars blind of ebay or at least go and have a look for yourself or take someone who knows what they are doing, an mot isn't always a certain way of confirming the condition of a car and a shiny car in the photo stands for nothing.

[charlie_morris_minor]

never buy a car without seeing it full stop

[Neil MG]

Good point!

I would add to be careful buying any Minor, eBay or not!

There are a lot of shockingly repaired cars out there and often even the owners are not fully aware. The cost of having the shell properly repaired is higher than the value of most cars, hence all the plates and bodge. Unless you are a competent welder and ready to half dismantle the car this will be the most expensive and difficult thing to fix on a minor.

In my view the underside of the bodyshell is by far most important to properly check out before buying. Often described as "solid" or "all necessary welding done" etc. that is not enough. Unless the car has been repaired properly by removing all the rust and replacing the original sheet metal it will just be a matter of (often short) time before problems reoccur. Buy a car with patches or plates welded on underneath at your peril!

In comparison almost all other problems are quick, cheap and easy to fix.

Of course the flip side is that if you do get a properly sorted car you will have very few worries!

[1mustard]

yes thats the point i am making.

[Neil MG]

I thought that was what i was saying don't buy a car without seeing it? that is my point.

And we agree!

[dellerie]

purchased about 6/7 cars from ebay over the years. even got a one way flight from london to aberdeen to collect it.

buy with your eyes. if it looks too good to be true, it often is. at the end of the day its down to experience, red wine and the knack.

never had a bad purchase. the missus even loves here car that she currently drives.......

[les]

Are you saying you looked at these cars before you bid? When you say 'buy with your eyes'

[dellerie]

Are you saying you looked at these cars before you bid? When you say 'buy with your eyes'

it does help to know the value of what you are buying. now i'm not saying that you can tell that by looking a picture, but if you know how much the car you are after is worth and you see one for less than that, then keep your eye on it. it obviously is better if you can see before you buy, but thats not fun then. i can't have had good luck 6/7 times, as those odds are to high. what i do know is that all the cars i have had, have been good value for money as well as good cars that have lasted the time i've owned them and have had a re-sale value when i've decided to sell.

for an example..... the car i purchased in northern scotland was £1200 cheaper than buying the same car in london. i paid £120 for a one way flight and £80 to drive it back. obviously add the time on...... 24 hours and i saved myself £1000. i then used the car for 2 years before selling it on for the same as i purchased it 2 years previously. now thats what i call cheap motoring.

of course, it doesn't always work that way does it? yonks ago, before ebay, i purchased plenty of old cars that didn't last as long as the 'mot' it was supposed to have. i don't know, maybe i just have the nack..........

i'm currently watching a couple of cars on ebay that are miles from home. if i do my sums correctly, then i can get some more 'free' motoring in the future. there's obviously a risk in doing this, but then there's an element of risk in anything you do in life. do we all think about this when we leave the house in the morning? if we did, we'd all be hermits!

[1mustard]

my point is if you don't know what you are doing, you can easily get your fingers burnt, the car i am reffering to is a wreck, and he was well and truly stitched up, its got nothing to do with never leaving the house in the morning.
Its cost him alot of money looking at a photo of a car, bidding and taking a risk hasn't paid of.
This car could be bodged (again!) and sold again on ebay and probably will by someone to some other unsuspecting naive punter, but what value do you put on the safety of your wife and kids?

[C6Dave]

It's not only cars to be wary of..........

A certain eBay member has been buying parts up in auction, then re listing at highly inflated 'Buy Now' prices

Steering wheels and horn pushes are the ones to be very wary of at the moment as condition on receipt may not be what you expect..........................

[dellerie]

my point is if you don't know what you are doing, you can easily get your fingers burnt, the car i am reffering to is a wreck, and he was well and truly stitched up, its got nothing to do with never leaving the house in the morning.
Its cost him alot of money looking at a photo of a car, bidding and taking a risk hasn't paid of.
This car could be bodged (again!) and sold again on ebay and probably will by someone to some other unsuspecting naive punter, but what value do you put on the safety of your wife and kids?

i'm fine on that score. none of them will get in my classic cars. they say they are afraid to be seen by someone that knows them.

[irmscher]

I have noticed that a few cars have been bought off the forum by so called enthusiasts then end up on ebay

[rayofleamington]

Buying unseen is like putting your money on a roulette table, you can win or loose.
However on a car you can spend more time asking sensible detailed questions to reduce the risk.
I've bought a few bad cars off ebay and had some bargains also.
Viewing can help a lot, but this does not give any guarantee.*
Basically unless you class yourself as an expert in the car, it pays to get a reliable second opinion.
Ebay auctions don't lend themselves to the process of inspection, but you can negotiate individually with the seller (I have).



Many of the cars I've had from ebay (and non-ebay) seem to have very dubious MOT's (rot, suspension faults etc..).
I recently sold a car (polo) for a friend who was going abroad. He got it MOT'd before going and it turned out the MOTer had overlooked a couple of annoying faults - which left me (my conscience) out of pocket

MOT or not, the MOT is not a good verification of the car being any good, and there are plenty of companies that offer vehicle evaluation. I've only ever had one car inspected before I bought it and that saved me thousands.

* Recent example. I went with a friend to buy a 206 with new MOT. It had some inconsequential body damage which we already knew about and the car 'seemed' honest and had new MOT. A few days after purchase I spotted one rear wheel had a dodgy camber angle - on closer inspection the suspension was sloppy and should never have passed an honest MOT

[aupickup]

i have never had a problem buing minors off ebay

[chickenjohn]

Hi all i am just posting this to tell any potential buyers of cars on ebay to be careful with what they are buying, today i moted a car for a customer who had paid £2300 for a salon of ebay 6 months ago, it was absolutley slaughtered, truly shocking repairs, filler, underseal etc, etc, its going to cost him alot of money to put it right, or it goes for scrap and he has done his money.
This car needs full resto really and then some to remove all the bodging which just makes it worse, should never have passed last year.
Moral of the story is don't buy cars blind of ebay or at least go and have a look for yourself or take someone who knows what they are doing, an mot isn't always a certain way of confirming the condition of a car and a shiny car in the photo stands for nothing.

Good advice!

I would go one further than this- don't buy from Ebay unless you can see the car and REALLY know what you are looking at - in which case you would not need to take advice!

Buy from a local club branch member=. They are less likely to rip you off if they know they will see you each month at the club meetings ets.

[TvdWerf]

I do not think it is always the same.
All my daily cars, I bought them from the picture on the Internet.
In 2006, I saw a Suzuki Ignis, called the man who had him and said, bring him to my home for the price.
last year the same with the newer one for my wife, and the year before also the same with my Toyota Prius.

The only difference: it were all (a little bit cheaper) damaged cars, who had a crash, and I am technician.
But my first two moggy's I also never see before buying,
The reason: it was clear the are cars for restoration, one of them I had to buy together with the other, and the price for both of them were low ;) The other one, I used him for 6 months for driving to my job, with a minimum of work on it.
I sold him a year ago, because it was a Series 2, and complete changed. Engine and gearbox were from a 1970 moggy. And because I like my cars original, the actual one, the '51 MM, is waiting in a warm place, on time and parts ;)

But this MM, I saw him before, and bought him from a dutch club member, so the car is known by a few people in the club.
And it is also a car to be restored.

About the MOT, in Holland we have the "APK", and 15 years ago I had a Toyota Starlet, who had this "APK" by the dutch RDW, (this is the organization who has to check all the "APK" stations).
This Toyota had two weeks after the visit on the RDW, a problem in the rear axle, the rubbers to keep the springs fitted on the body were not fitted anymore.
I saw this, because I lifted the car on the body, so all the wheels were hanging down.
The complete rear axle turned down on that moment.
The reaction from the RDW was simple: this could happen, it are people who are looking, and people are making mistakes sometimes.
And you could not see it when the car was on his wheels, or only one wheel lifted.

[Pikey]

Ive actually recently sold a 2002 Vauxhall corsa on ebay. The car was actually my brother in laws car and he had driven it through flood water and hydrauliced the engine, thus seizing the engine solid.

I put the car on ebay for spares or repair as a non runner and fully stated the condition of the car and the engine damage and I sold the car too for an amount that I was more than happy with, to a buyer that didnt view the car before bidding. The bidder bid blind in the last 5 seconds of the auction.

The buyer wanted to pick the car up the next day at around 6-7pm ish (in darkness). Me being honest, suggested to the buyer that he viewed the car during the day (whilst I was in work, I told him where the car was) to judge the condition for himself to see if my description was honest enough. The buyer was obviously happy with the condition as he had viewed the car during the daylight and picked the car up in the evening and everyone was happy.

If the buyer of the corsa wasnt happy that my description matched the condition of the car, he legally and probably quite rightly didnt have to buy it.

Ebay isnt the problem, in fact I find it a valuable source of rare items. You just have to see what you are buying, if the owner of the morris noted filler and dodgy repair patches on his inspection, before or after bidding, he legally didnt have to buy it.

Cheers

Steve B

[linearaudio]

Don't think I would ever have bought one off EBay, but did just that getting my Traveller. Only thing that attracted me to it was the absence of a listing photo. Turned out the seller was only half-heartedly re-advertising it due to being let down by the previous "winner". I still would have let it go, but on ringing the seller, he admitted it had 4 months MOT(not in the ad!), and read me out the engineers report from a reputed Minor company(also not mentioned in the ad!), and sent me loads of close-up photo's of woodwork etc! So I bought it without seeing, but as satisfied as I could want! Suppose the moral is not to neccessarily skip an item that appears badly advertised, rather to be wary of over-enthusing adverts!

[aupickup]

Buy from a local club branch member=. They are less likely to rip you off if they know they will see you each month at the club meetings ets.[/quote]

not necessarily

[kennatt]

best of this forum from established members,then you can be confident that what they say is a reasonable assesment of their car