metcars

Yes, looks like the "magnificent seven" have ridden off

No, but along with new injection pump or head gasket it is a huge selling point that can sway a buyer. Whereas having to rebuild A/C or change an alternator just sucks profit

In my humble opinion the issues start when the punter gets home and a friend/relative/expert starts a forensic examination of the paperwork

Yes, a new clutch is a nice selling point

Love it, from now on I'm saying a car has a 'history of servicing' rather than 'a service history'

What's the story with 'Autovola'?

Yes, I know what the support bearing is thanks We had the car in the air running already.

Noise starts about 25mph fades away into geneal road noise after 30mph ish. 'Loading up' the bearing doesn't really affect the noise, but I'd say O/S is noisier slightly. Drove it again yesterday, sounds like front O/S, but the only issue I could find is the rear O/S bearing which is picking up a bit when spun. Generally, when driving the back of the car is silent. Thanks for the help

All four tyres have this problem. I noticed O/S rear bearing had some roughness when spun. The noise is defo from the front O/S? I'm chasing ghosts

Interest rate rise before Christmas will be a big help

Funny world. I've sold a few cars to chefs/waiters/kitchen staff who all work weird hours. Ask to view at 7am or 10pm on a sunday night. I suppose it's one of the bitter pills I have to swallow for living in a large city as the city never sleeps?

So, I've had a ruck with my mechanic Tony (mostly because he would rather be out doing his 'buying on comission for wealthy punters' rather than fixing cars) and have had to look at this Focus today. I've put the front end on stands and spun both front wheels which has shown some runout, more so on the drivers side. What is an acceptable radial runout because one tyre has a section about 9-10 inches that is about 1.5mil low? The last car I had with flat spots, the low spot was a much small area so probably from a skid. This car is ABS so I'm guessing not a skid, maybe its been sitting on flat tyres for a while? I don't know.

.... and after changing both front bearings there's still a noise, here we go. I bet its 'cupped' tyres

It's funny you say that, because I've heard the odd story of undeclared total losses being bought and returned. Makes you wonder if they are adopting the 'sell it and see' approach with these cars Maybe it's just me but there seems to be an awful lot more total losses in the system than ever before. I shudder to think what horrors you'd find buying stock from private sellers?

It is not helped by the fact that nobody wants to spend any money on their car until it has catastrophically failed somewhere. There are many motorists that are super fussy about a car when they buy it, then avoid spending 'any' money it for whatever reason other than MOT and fuel. Then when its worn smooth, and rougher than a badgers arse they swap it in two weeks before the MOT is due

Don't forget the niche market of guys that buy estate cars and use them as vans

How are vans selling at the moment?

This is not meant to be a burn on BCA as such, but it was interesting to have the same issue with both auction houses and experience how differently they handled it.

I had the same problem with BCA a few years back. The finance company would not relinquish there interest in the car as the debt was not covered by the sale of the vehicle alone. I argued that I effectively have bought a car without 'clear title'. Huge hassle, BCA were useless and eventually took it back. I fell out with them for about 10yrs.

I'm buying but they need more work. Got a Focus here that needs a little more paint than I'd like, both front wheelbearings, missing spare wheel and jack, and has just started making a noise from the AC compressor? And I'm still not happy the bearing noise is gone, although I'm suspicious it's a tyre out of shape but we'll see

These guys usually manage to go on and on weathering all the financial storms. Shame, because apart from all the wrong-doings they are pretty good at picking stock that sells quickly. But they choose to use their powers for evil not good! And look on the bright side. All those punters after sub £1k 'shitters' will be knocking on your door afte a deal

Why not try and find a 'gadget' that will stick over it. It probably had something there to hold some tech/phone/games console thing. Failing that, some stick on faux carbon fibre? It is an ST after all

This sort of thing? The guy uses youtube to do walkarounds and test drives https://www.youtube.com/user/swallow42

Put some Fast & Furious stickers on it! ..... no they are always in a huge white van that creeps around slowly looking for anything not nailed down