Another (My First) BCA Tale of Woe

[XFS 70]

I have to admit, Ive been lucky with BCA up until now. Can't really complain.

Ive had my arse bitten with vengeance now though.

So, in early June I bought a Porsche Boxster, older than my usual, but very low miles, FSH and low owners. It was sold with the roof inoperative. I was at the auction. I was pretty certain the problem was simply the pushrods. Anyway, I bought it well, with £3500 margin in it after tip. Plenty spare in there for any refurb. Rubs hands...nice easy refurb, nice profit. On sale just at the peak of the convertible market.

The way things worked out it was delivered a week/ten days after purchase...during that monsoon period we had here. Transporter guy says battery is flat as a pancake and there is a weird electrical fault.

Battery is flat ok, but the minute it starts, dash lights up like a Christmas tree, reverse lights on, brake lights on, roof motor doing its thing...with the roof closed...uh..oh! Driver says , oh yeah, guys at the auction were fiddling about with the relays trying to stop that! Uh!

Long story short. Managed to take the roof fuse out and get it parked up...making sure windows up, everything watertight. The rain stops several days later. Damage inspected...roof mechanism  variously twisted and pretty much fucked. Rubber waterproofing trim where the roof sits looks like its been chewed up by a giant rat.

Further inspection, several inches of water behind the seats. All makes sense now, BCA had left it outside with a flat battery, windows not fully up...car fills with water. Rear control unit situated under the passengers seat,  in a pool of water...hence the lightshow and self operating roof.

Seats out, carpets out...about 10 litres of water out...and two weeks later its almost dry.

Rear control box actually mouldy. I take it apart...nothing to loose, clean it with surgical spirit, dry it out in the oven at 50c seems fine.

Thats the story so far. should be able to refit the controller soon, and see if it works....if not a used one is available for £125 or I can get a new one for £300 which is not bad. But obviously any one other than original will have to be recoded by a Porsche Specialist.

The roof...fuck knows. I can source all the mechanical parts easily and cheaply, but the plastic waterproofing trim is proving a headache. That and the fact I can see the whole roof needing to be taken off refitted and recalibrated by someone who actually knows what they are doing, and wants compensated accordingly.

It may be ready just in time for convertibles to start dropping in value... 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by XFS

[Stalker 180]

A tale of woe with 3.5k margin? 

[XFS 70]

2 minutes ago, Stalker said:

A tale of woe with 3.5k margin? 

The margin between the purchase price and projected selling price....

Be lucky to see a worthwhile profit now after time and money spend and giving HMRC and AT their cut.

[XFS 70]

7 minutes ago, C B said:

Seal the roof shut and sell it as a Cayman 

Like 

[Rory RSC 596]

Anywhere do a hard top for boxsters? 

[DPF 18]

Unless you are big buyer your complain getting you no way:-(

[metcars 397]

So, auction staff were messing with the 'electricals' after you'd won it? 

[XFS 70]

25 minutes ago, met said:

So, auction staff were messing with the 'electricals' after you'd won it? 

I can't prove that.

But what I bought was a very nice Porsche with a minor roof problem.

What I received was a mobile light display with its own swimming pool.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

2 hours ago, C B said:

Seal the roof shut and sell it as a Cayman 

LIKE

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

isnt this now a tale of woe with more like 2.5k in it then now, he he

[BHM 994]

I’d like a few tales of woe with 2.5K wiped across them.

[XFS 70]

59 minutes ago, BHM said:

I’d like a few tales of woe with 2.5K wiped across them.

There was barely 2.5k in it if I had sold it without touching it. (vat, advertising, transport etc)

I'll be happy to take 1k now. And that is a risky margin on something like a Porshe, very little wiggle room to deal with any problems.

The tale of woe is that a potentially decent profit was wiped out by BCA and there is not a thing I can do about it.

 

[Mojo121 229]

Tale of woe and still takes a grand out of it. Woe is me more like XFS.

[andymc1973 199]

im lost 

[metcars 397]

Its an interesting position. If you'd seen the guy messing with your car then you may have been able to take some private action against him?  I'm not sure, but i'm sure there are some experts on here. I suppose the grey area is that technically, is it still 'their' car until youve paid for it? So from driving out of the auction hall until youve paid for it, it's in a sort of no mans land?

[XFS 70]

1 hour ago, met said:

Its an interesting position. If you'd seen the guy messing with your car then you may have been able to take some private action against him?  I'm not sure, but i'm sure there are some experts on here. I suppose the grey area is that technically, is it still 'their' car until youve paid for it? So from driving out of the auction hall until youve paid for it, it's in a sort of no mans land?

I only have anecdotal evidence from the driver who subcontracts to BCA. 

I suppose the whole issue is that the car was left out in very heavy rain for a prolonged period, presumably with the windows not fully closed. I checked the drain channels and they are fine. 

Essentially BCA have cost me at least 1k due to not taking reasonable care after purchase. But its not something I will get anywhere with. Its just very frustrating.

I know I will get little sympathy in some quarters as I can probably still turn a profit on the car, but thats not the point.

Who here would not be extremely pissed off about dropping 1k through no fault of their own ? 

[It's me 615]

my ten penorth

if i had bought that (i wouldnt) i would have taken it out of the compound as soon as i had paid for it because its one of those cars every dick wants to sit in when they can 

[BHM 994]

12 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

im lost 

If I understand it correctly £2.5K gross profit isn’t worth getting out of bed for.

[XFS 70]

1 hour ago, BHM said:

If I understand it correctly £2.5K gross profit isn’t worth getting out of bed for.

Clearly you do not understand correctly at all.

[Rory RSC 596]

2 hours ago, XFS said:

Clearly you do not understand correctly at all.

Exactly course he doesn't its 4.5k or we are all staying home right?

[Stalker 180]

6 hours ago, XFS said:

I know I will get little sympathy in some quarters as I can probably still turn a profit on the car, but thats not the point.

Who here would not be extremely pissed off about dropping 1k through no fault of their own ? 

Im confused also, so are you saying they left it open and that has caused further problems?

The roof was always broken right?

[justlooking 48]

I’m lost. 

Did you buy an old porsche at auction thinking it’ll need £0-200 prep and you’d clear 3k?

[XFS 70]

2 hours ago, justlooking said:

I’m lost. 

Did you buy an old porsche at auction thinking it’ll need £0-200 prep and you’d clear 3k?

Really? Did you read my OP? I bought a very nice low milage Porsche with impeccable history with a pretty good idea based on a lot of experience what I would spend on prep.

You buy a car and expect it to be same when delivered as it was when you bought it.

Is that so difficult to grasp?

Things can and do go wrong...thats why an experienced buyer leaves plenty of margin in higher end stuff.

How would you buy something like that?...with a 1k margin?

I don't appreciate a large part of my margin being taken away by the incompetence of a third party. Causing me extra work and having the vehicle sitting around depreciating. And knowing there is not a thing I can do about it...Its quite a big deal really.

Whats left in it is at least 1k less than it should be. How would you feel if that happened to you? Would you be happy to just to bin 1k and go...oh well, its no big deal, I'll still make something...

I've seen plenty of posts on here moaning about been done for a couple of hundred....

 

 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

42 minutes ago, XFS said:

Really? Did you read my OP? I bought a very nice low milage Porsche with impeccable history with a pretty good idea based on a lot of experience what I would spend on prep.

You buy a car and expect it to be same when delivered as it was when you bought it.

Is that so difficult to grasp?

Things can and do go wrong...thats why an experienced buyer leaves plenty of margin in higher end stuff.

How would you buy something like that?...with a 1k margin?

I don't appreciate a large part of my margin being taken away by the incompetence of a third party. Causing me extra work and having the vehicle sitting around depreciating. And knowing there is not a thing I can do about it...Its quite a big deal really.

Whats left in it is at least 1k less than it should be. How would you feel if that happened to you? Would you be happy to just to bin 1k and go...oh well, its no big deal, I'll still make something...

Neglect neglect neglect.....

I've seen plenty of posts on here moaning about been done for a couple of hundred....

 

 

BCA have the responsibility to deliver it to you as per the hammer description. If they haven't done that its down to them..... They have a duty of care to make sure they deliver it to you as you purchased it, nothing more nothing less. If there was an issue with the roof they should of communicated it with you.... The question is... is it worth the battle... I would say yes, its worth pursuing if you have done it immediately on arrival.... Taken pictures, video and forwarded straight to the site manager on its arrival with a polite request the car is put right....  

Its careless neglect of responsibility by BCA

Edited July 9, 2019 by Arfur Dealy

[Rory RSC 596]

Every now and again in this job this sort of thing can happen. You either kick up a fuss at the time of collection delivery and kick the car back and get out of it, or alternatively you have a go at fixing it and it ends up being more but then you have no recourse. 

On this one you made your choice, with hindsight perhaps you would have done differently but other than venting not really anything you can do now.