beware when purchasing.

[bigboy]

Hi.I was speaking to a friend today, who owns a well known saloon in the club and for a while has be wanting to correct a poorly fitted front drivers wing.Also,the paintwork was bubbling slightly.He took the vehicle to a local classic car restorer last autumn and shock,horror,the chap took the wing off and the metal work underneath was rotten.You may not be surprised by this but when you consider my friend bought the vehicle from a well known Morris minor dealer and has spent thousands on buying it,having it resprayed and detailed,to the point of winning awards,then you can see why it was a bit of a shock to him.When you look at the car,it looks in new condition.So it just goes to show,don't just look at the gleaming paintwork when purchasing.

[POMMReg]

Name and shame....

[67-2door]

Are we allowed to ask who the well known Morris minor dealer was?

[Cornishman]

Are we allowed to ask who the well known Morris minor dealer was?

I agree...the dealer should be named, just to prevent this from happening again.

[amgrave]

Where about in the country are these well known Morris Dealers, just an area will do as we are not allowed to point fingers

[67-2door]

The dealer responsible for the really poor work previously on my car came from Bristol area I believe, not sure exactly Ware-abouts, never been.

[POMMReg]

Buyer beware

[amgrave]

I wonder who the heck you lot could be referring to, it's got me guessing.

[67-2door]

[bmcecosse]

You can ask by PM - up to the owner if he is willing to tell you. It's just the public listing of what is a clear fact that the Club is worried about - perhaps worried about losing advertising revenue - or perhaps worried about the likely de-valuing of cars that have been bodged up to look good, but may hide horrors below. I fully understand it's not acceptable to say eg that 'the xyz' Company is rubbish' - but we should be able to say 'look at the poor quality restoration work carried out to my car by the xyz Company'. Of course - the person authorising these repairs in the past may have had a limited budget, and had simply asked for cosmetic work to be done. We'll never know. Caveat Emptor !

[bigboy]

Obviously,i'm not allowed to tell you who the dealer is but I do feel sorry for my friend.I would guess the total cost to him must be at least £10k, if not more.He's been taken advantage of,without a doubt!

[POMMReg]

Headed receipts or invoices for work done?

[simmitc]

As Roy said, we do not know the specification that was agreed on the original restoration, nor the maintenance schedule used since restoration (for example, regular re-application of rust proofing). It is possible for metal to appear good one year, and to have rusted through a year later. That said, if I paid a lot of money to a specialist restorer I would expect a pretty good warranty to guard against unexpected corrosion. I do recall viewing one Traveller that had been restored by a well known company a year previously. The vehicle looked beautiful, sounded good, and drove well. It's just that there was a 1/4 inch gap between the metal and the timber just behind the B-post. I also know of an immaculate vehicle, but the budget was over £20K for the work. It just goes to show that there are variable standards.

[SteveClem]

My beetle is nearly finished. Called at the restorers last week and he showed me a (potentially) fabulous split screen bus. His remit is to make it look immaculate for sale but within a £6k budget. Well,it can't be done. The respray alone will be half of that.
So someone will be buying a beautiful looking vehicle that is not right under the skin.
Rich is horrified that the bus could be sold for big money...these things are going for £25k plus..and the sales blurb of a full restoration at a reputable marque expert.
What should he do guys? He needs to make a living and do as his customer asks. Then when the fabulous looking car is sold,fails its next mot with rot etc.who is at fault?
I'd say the owner, but the restorer will get the blame.

[POMMReg]

Don't let restoration companies both weld AND underseal the underside....a thick coat of black stuff can hide poor quality work!

Yabba-Dabba-Don't....

[bigboy]

If a car advertised says undersealed,walk away,especially if it's the black stuff.I don't care if it's a top notch dealer,if there's such a thing or private

[GBond]

My beetle is nearly finished. Called at the restorers last week and he showed me a (potentially) fabulous split screen bus. His remit is to make it look immaculate for sale but within a £6k budget. Well,it can't be done. The respray alone will be half of that.
So someone will be buying a beautiful looking vehicle that is not right under the skin.
Rich is horrified that the bus could be sold for big money...these things are going for £25k plus..and the sales blurb of a full restoration at a reputable marque expert.
What should he do guys? He needs to make a living and do as his customer asks. Then when the fabulous looking car is sold,fails its next mot with rot etc.who is at fault?
I'd say the owner, but the restorer will get the blame.

The restorer must not allow an unsafe vehicle to exit his shop, if he can't do it within the budget he must let the customer know, and not accept the job. He will lose in the short run but less than if he lets a bad car exit his shop which would damage his reputation.

[morris van]

A friend of mine had a MGB which needed some body work done front wings, rear wings etc and the garage photographed with the wings off any other welding that needed doing and he could see it was all being done properly.

[bmcecosse]

The answer for the VW is to either refuse the work - or - put it through a very strict MOT before the owner takes delivery, and any faults that show on the MOT will be there for everyone to see on the DVLA computer. You only need the make and Reg Number to see the recent MOT history of any car. To avoid this of course (perhaps for your own car) - is to ask the garage to do a pre-MOT inspection, and then have the faults sorted out before submitting it back for the real MOT. In the VW case - if he's worried, he should get it MOTd even before he starts the work and show that to the owner. The faults will be on record, and perhaps the owner will ask for them to be rectified as part of the renovation. Anyone buying a car (old or new) would be well advised to look at the MOT history - and if there is none - run away.

[POMMReg]

Yet another "Chop-Top" 2dr uncovered - bought on the strength of a "M/AT" chassis plate....

PLEASE check before purchasing!!!