BHM

XR3!??!!!! Have you any tales within the last quarter of a century?

You’ll always work for pennies as long as you ‘specialise’ in Clios. Those type of buyers have no money.

Surely your first port of call is the dealer?

For the sake of a few nuts/bolts all I do is take a look if there’s nothing recorded in the book. If the belt looks recentish (writing visible etc., not worn) I take a photo & tell the punter’s to make up their own mind. I’ve never (yet?) had an issue with a customer’s belt/pulley failing. Obviously I wouldn’t wish a failure on anyone but if one did occur then from a legal viewpoint my stance would be the car was ok at point of sale - the failure/fault obviously occurred under the owner’s watch. Cambelts don’t add value, although they MAY make it slightly more attractive to a sensible punter (if you are lucky enough to find one).

Weren’t they a heap of shit when new?

In all of my life I’ve only ever had ONE timing belt kit changed & that was on my own car - an old Cavalier Automatic Estate. Belts/kits/pumps; 45% of punters don’t have a clue about them. 45% of punters don’t give a f***. The remaining fussy 10% will find a problem anyway & go elsewhere cos they usually can’t afford to maintain their cars and want everything for free - often these people are referred to as Volkswagen Buyers. In my book these people are welcome to f*** off elsewhere.

The petrol ones!!!!!!!!! Anyhow, selling 80-120K cars gives me an insight into the longevity of certain cars and one thing I realised a few years ago is Vauxhall don’t make/sell a good diesel engine - the 1.3, 1.7 & 1.9 are pure shit once they’ve a few miles on their backs. Thankfully the laughable 1.3 isn’t fitted to the Zaffy, the 1.7 is on borrowed time at about 6 years old & at least most diesel Zafs are fitted with the best (of a bad bunch) 1.9 in 120 & 150bhp guise. The 150bhp version of the 1.9 engine has the dreaded swirl flaps which added to the rest of the ‘issues’ such as blocking egrs, dpfs, the occasional sensor, rattling dmfs etc. My experience of seeing a few over the years is once the diesels start getting problems they should be thrown in the bin. Add to that little list the chocolate gearboxes! I know the trade slag off Zafiras but I like one or two in stock - I don’t get rich on them but they’re steady money & generally nice ‘no-nonsense’ buyers. However I’ve seen sooooooo many knackered diesels ‘in the trade’ I’m permanently frightened off from them unless I can drive them & preferably see a bill for a gearbox refurbishment. The short answer is if you can’t drive it first before buying be warned - at over 107K it’s right on the cusp of needing a new ‘box, the timing belt etc. was due at 100K and any coughing, farting, missing of the engine will mean their are problems!! Other than that the diesels are good cars

+1 I honestly just assumed it was a typo! Very well done indeed although now the seller is reaping their reward for selling to the idiot. What a funny game this industry is!

Sounds like bullshit /a dick to me.

Dave, no offence but you’re living in the dark ages. The planning regulations changed years ago (I’m not going to repeat myself yet again - search Planning Portal) and within reason, basically no changes to the property to accommodate your business, you can do what you want from home apart from a few regulated businesses such as child-minding & arms trading (I kid you not!)

You’re planning on moving business premises because of a few nosey neighbours? Ignore them, they don’t put jam on your bread. As for jealousy over cars get used to it, for some reason I’ve never fully understood, cars rear-up the green eyed monster. Comments like what you’ve received only show them up for the bitter jealous bastards they are - you aren’t going to change their views so let them get on with it safe in the knowledge that every ‘new’ car will be eating away at their souls.

You probably missed out some good no-nonsense deals there. I’m sure they were all Salt of the earth types, genuine men who intended to pay what they’d bid and not try any games when they handed over the money.

+1. Auctions usually aren’t worth a toss on eBay & there’s no point in slitting you’re own throat. Brutal honesty is strictly for your banger/spares adverts. The new GDPR regulations & the DVLA ‘blanked’ log books are the friend of the dodgy trader trying to move on a few knackers as private sales.

Too new for me but it’s knocking on the door of 100K and looks a fortune to my eyes. As for it being quiet I guess the school holidays haven’t helped - fingers crossed, it might go next week then you can tell us all to keep our views to ourselves Yep, he’d be better off with 3 2009 Zafiras at £1999 each with scratches, scuffs and sticky toffees rammed into the seats.

Anyone who asks questions like that clearly has spent too much time in the corporate sausage machine. Sorry but I don’t dance to the tune of a person like that, of course others amongst you feel free to be used by an auction employee. Corporate Facebook innit.

A £300 motor - that’ll be some car

That’s all we’ll & good except for one point - magistrates have nothing to do with the proceedings in a small claims court.

Tell ’em straight & send them on their way. Give people like that an ear & they’ll want to whinge into it.

Ahhhhh, the good old days - that’ll give the private punters reading this forum something to choke on.

If it’s the cluster at fault then the bits that need soldering are easy to see & anyone half-competent can do it. Tbh if it’s not that it’s not worth fucking about with much (unless the punter wishes too) - it’s a 13yr old Focus worth pennies.

Passat diesel man - of course he was motivated by greed

There are a few pitches near me who open the boots all day, every day. I assumed they were drying them out after leaking lamp gaskets.

or says “I want to see a few of your cars”. Always the sign of someone who doesn’t have a clue what they want & want to try out a few before trotting off elsewhere to look at a few more. Sorry, but that’s what you pitch lads are for, not me.

I think a few contributors need a reminder

+1, especially the highlighted sentence - once you allow yourself to be drawn into discussions it’s harder to back away. Correct. They’ve had 3 months of trouble free motoring (I assume has an extra few thousand miles - if it’s been parked-up & has a 100 miles on it then it’s a different proposition), this shows the car was & has been fault free and was at point of sale.