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View Poll Results: What's your fastest pre-purchase inspection time?
When I saw the car I turned round and went home! 8 32.00%
I said hello to the seller. Said good bye and went home! 1 4.00%
Under 5 mins 10 40.00%
5 mins to 15 mins 3 12.00%
15 mins to 30 mins 2 8.00%
30 mins to 60 mins 0 0%
I always arse about and make a test drive even if I know it is a POS! 1 4.00%
Voters: 25. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old 06-24-2013, 10:04 AM
Stretch's Avatar
...like a shield of steel
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Your fastest (automotive) pre-purchase inspection

G'day Folks,

I've been looking for a car for ages now and I think I've got trying to buy an old Mercedes down to a fine art.

How about this?

I went to see a W112 today (220S). Turned out to be an American spec vehicle with non working AC.

Walk over to car put hand under rear rear arch - feel something crumbling. Put on overalls and crawl along the side of the car find evidence of crusty rot and botched repairs on all four wheel "corners" of the chassis.

Noticed rubbers on all doors and windscreen front and rear were shot. Open boot - find it swimming with water. Open rear and front doors on the passenger side find evidence of wavy lumpy repairs on outer sides and undersides.

Whilst I'm doing this I'm listening to the seller saying how if I were to put a magnet up against the body work I'd not find any filler. Seller doesn't know how long the car has been in the country. Hasn't owned the car for long. Tells me there's no welding needed. Tells me it is an excellent car for "the year".

Dashboard and interior falling to bits.

Seller wants 7K - I think it might be worth 3K when the sun is shining.

I stand up - take off my overalls - shake his hand and wish him success for selling the car. I walk away saying "thank you for showing me the car" get on my bike and peddle home.

Pre-purchase inspection all done within 5 minutes.

Seller didn't know what had hit him!



So what's your fastest time?

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

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  #2  
Old 06-24-2013, 10:36 AM
Posting since Jan 2000
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 7,166
I've always taken an approach opposite that of the seller you describe.

In an effort to be fair and forthright I find myself telling about all the problems with the car and typically fail to point out the positives. I guess I shouldn't try to make my living as a used car salesman.
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  #3  
Old 06-24-2013, 11:27 AM
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hmm - I said hello and then goodbye. It was a porch style house with walls and a gate.

advertised as a 1997 Camry - no pictures, repeatedly saying 97 camry on the phone, get there to find a 1987 camry which was a rusting POS - holes in doors the size of saucers.
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  #4  
Old 06-24-2013, 11:30 AM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,237
Trying to buy a B6 VW Passat for my wife a few years back (man I hated that car). Found a car online we wanted, tan leather, ~80,000 miles, no accident, new tires, dealer serviced with records, etc.

Got to the lot for a scheduled test drive and just to look.

Black leather interior instead of tan. Very flashy aftermarket sound system with obvious missing subwoofer in the trunk (I preferred the stock Monsoon sound system). And no battery in the car.

We gave the guy one more chance and he ran to the back shop and retrieved a battery. Battery installed key turns... no noise, not even a click. The battery is dead.

Handed him the key and without saying a word my dad and I just walked back to our car and left.
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  #5  
Old 06-24-2013, 11:32 AM
A Talent for Obfuscation
 
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In these circumstances, I usually smile broadly at the seller while slowly walking backwards to my own car. I try not to let the tires squeal too pointedly when I leave.
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  #6  
Old 06-24-2013, 02:09 PM
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Join Date: May 2011
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Volvo 240 wagon for $1k in college.
Opened driver's door. Saw that sills were totally rusted out and someone had filled them with self expanding foam. I smiled and decided to be somewhere else quickly.
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  #7  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:31 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Carson City, NV
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This has happened several times:

See a car for sale that interests me. Walk up to it, look in driver's window and count pedals. No clutch pedal, no deal.
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  #8  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:35 PM
Stretch's Avatar
...like a shield of steel
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere in the Netherlands
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippy View Post
This has happened several times:

See a car for sale that interests me. Walk up to it, look in driver's window and count pedals. No clutch pedal, no deal.
You really do need to live over here!
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #9  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:39 PM
Stretch's Avatar
...like a shield of steel
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere in the Netherlands
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zulfiqar View Post
hmm - I said hello and then goodbye. It was a porch style house with walls and a gate.

advertised as a 1997 Camry - no pictures, repeatedly saying 97 camry on the phone, get there to find a 1987 camry which was a rusting POS - holes in doors the size of saucers.
Do walls and a gate indicate a poor area? Is this kind of a code for you wouldn't expect much from the place or am I over analysing it?
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #10  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:42 PM
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Much, but not all of my used car qualifying before purchase is done before I even travel to see it - whether cross town or across the state.

If I do travel to see something, it's already on it's way as a possible purchase. However, once I arrive to see the merchandise, it needs to live up to what it has already been represented as.

I don't like wasting time continuing to look at something I'm not even remotely interested in.

The older a car, the more likelyhood that it's history and condition is unknown to a seller.
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  #11  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:50 PM
Stretch's Avatar
...like a shield of steel
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere in the Netherlands
Posts: 14,461
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe View Post
Much, but not all of my used car qualifying before purchase is done before I even travel to see it - whether cross town or across the state.

...
I have found no reliable way of doing that. Asking for pictures or speaking on the telephone seems to be a total waste of time. In fact I now have a policy where I will not ring any sellers, I only communicate via email, and that's just to make an appointment.
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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  #12  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:11 PM
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Nothing's a waste of time to me - if it's a target car of interest to me.

I am building a case of assessment - it's a used car. I want all the information I can gather to build my case on whether I want the car or not.

Of secondary interest to me is the perceived credibility of the seller. Some are clueless, some are liars, and some are helpful, honest, or trying to be. I am there to assess the car and it's price - not the seller.

By the time I get to see the car in person, it only takes seconds assessing if it was as described or as pictured. That is the time the car takes over my focus - what the seller is saying becomes noise. The time to assess the car by letting the car do the presenting is all important. Typically, I don't need to crawl around under a car before deciding that I'm still interested in it. Most everything I see and hear above the rocker panels will tell me whether or not I want to even drive it, or have it hoisted up on a rack, after the test drive.

When I am in the hunt for a particular used car, I'm not typically interested in wasting any more time than is necessary doing it. Mountains of pre-qualification has already been done on the Internet and by telephone. So, when I do arrive - it had better match-up to it's depictions.
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  #13  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:13 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dayton, Ohio region
Posts: 302
If I don't like how it looks as I pull up to see it, I drive away.

If the car is clean, it usually has been taken care of. If I like how it looks, I'll get out, kick the tires, listen to the engine, etc.

If it looks like a rat trap with rust holes and faded paint, that tells em someone didn't care enough to keep the mechanics in good order.
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  #14  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:35 PM
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Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville View Post
If I don't like how it looks as I pull up to see it, I drive away.

If the car is clean, it usually has been taken care of. If I like how it looks, I'll get out, kick the tires, listen to the engine, etc.

If it looks like a rat trap with rust holes and faded paint, that tells em someone didn't care enough to keep the mechanics in good order.
Bingo!

While you may occasionally find a car that looks very nice, but is let down by the mechanicals, conversely, you rarely find a beat puppy that lives up to a well maintained mechanical standard.

Jim
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  #15  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:51 PM
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Why WASTE your time to walk up to it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippy View Post
This has happened several times:

See a car for sale that interests me. Walk up to it, look in driver's window and count pedals. No clutch pedal, no deal.
You did not ask whether it manual or auto? You have no email, cell phone or anything to communicate with the seller??

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