Do Not Buy This Car!

[mech205eng 11]

I'm writing to warn everyone not to buy this car

 

 

This was on ebay last week. It had had an engine failure and had not tax and mot. In the advert it is described as 'very clean and original example', I fancied it because i have a spare 1900 engine in my garage so i bidded and won it at £1020 which i thought wasn't bad.

I had a 15 minute phone conversation about the condition of the car, the seller told me it was one owner from 1991 to 2013, had had a full respray one year ago and extensive work to get rid of any engine bay rust. It had been taken off the road in July last year because of a smokey engine and the engine removed but the test had only ran out in december. I asked about the quality of the respray, the rear beam condition and if there was any rust, i was told the back edge of the boot against the bumper was rusty and althought it had done 200k it was in good condition for the mileage.

 

I've just got back from a 400 mile round trip, doing 20mpg pulling a trailer and wasting 9 hours of my life to pick it up.

 

It is the most rotten example i've ever seen!

 

Starting from the front and working back;

the strut tops have been badly repaired, patches welded over rot that are starting to rot back through,

chasis legs very rusty where subframe mounts on drivers side,

bulkhead very rusty where seam is below pedal box,

underside recently waxoiled over all the damage,

i ripped a hole under drivers seat with my hands and could pull sound deadening out,

passenger door completely rotten at bottom,

back of boot floor very rotten,

sides of boot/rear tubs completely rotten,

with little effort I managed to rip most of the chasis leg under the boot floor off with my hands,

 

On to the paint job, i could have done a better job with a brush whilst tugging over page 3!

runs all over,

painted over seals,

lots of laquer peel,

rust already come through infront of rear arches

 

the 309 beam that i was told was in great condition was infact a 205 beam...that was cambered!

 

On the positive side it had 2 fairly decent autogrip's on the back!

 

I told the lad if he had out about him he'd pay my fuel, he refused and said i was exaggerating and he was going to relist it on ebay and someone will save this 'rare example'

 

So be warned please do not buy this car!!!

Edited May 5, 2014 by mech205eng

[Biggles 65]

I hope you've reported the seller to eBay too.

[mech205eng 11]

Left negative feedback but not reported as there is no money for me to claim back. If i report him is there anything they can do to him like stop him selling it again. I told him i was going to wait for it to be relisted and if he didnt state shell is fit for scrap then i would contact ebay

[AlexRS2782 136 1 Cars]

Not good Fair play for taking the time to post this up - always good to give others a heads up / warning

[mech205eng 11]

No worries, i know how pissed off i am and i want to save anyone from feeling the same and at the same time i dont want that little s*it to get a penny for his car

[Biggles 65]

TBH I don't know if it does any good. Might help the poor sod who buys it get his cash back if needs be. My only experience of this is when I bought a BE3 'box supposedly with a Quaife gearset - took the end cover off to count the teeth on 5th to check and guess what - it was the std ratio. Got my money back & reported the seller who'd pretty much immediately relisted it. Dunno what happened after that.

[m@ttc 30]

am i missing something? what car is it, reg, vin? surly hes already relisted it. but if he leaves this one pic out? how will anyone know

god job on the heads up

[mech205eng 11]

It's a graphite grey 3 door 309 gti with no engine in it. There won't be many fitting that description come up for sale, but i get what you mean i could have given the reg so here it is J409AWT

[omega 82]

and where is it located

[mech205eng 11]

Hereford

[jackherer 543]

It's this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181390010124

 

And it looks like you're not the first person to not buy it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181352854584

 

edit: this is in the q&a on the earlier auction:

 

Hi, yea shes quite tidy, bit of rot in the boot behind the piece of plastic trim between the lights and a patch in the floor pan from what i can remember.

Edited May 5, 2014 by jackherer

[GLPoomobile 958]

Whilst I can understand you not wanting him to make any money from this, if he doesn't sell it, he may resort to scrapping it. Which would be a shame. He clearly needs to list it honestly and hopefully someone will take it on as a resto.