Buying second hand cars

[ajmat]

Have always tried to buy second hand cars over here but can never find a straight one, either they have been clocked, the price is sky high or no papers - do dealers think we are mugs ?

The biggest howler was when I was trying to buy a Mk 1 Toyota MR2 from a person in Mangalore who wanted 4.5 lakhs for a 1988 car- spoke to him about the car - mentioned that it was "mint" blah, . I was about to go to Mangalore when he came down to Bangalore. This guy is a planter and owns around 50 odd cars (met him earlier socially). I looked at the car but the paintwork was....well original but it looked as though it had been rallied. A look under the spoiler showed it had swept quite a few forests in Mangalore. The Windscreen was cracked. I had done a lot of research and found a lot of potential rust. The car ran well but was a bit tired. I felt it would be a good "project car" and later in the evening rang him and offered 2L. Ended up enduring 20 min of verbl abuse - this guy was dead drunk. He thought that I was a mug and would pay up blindly - the car was later up for sale elsewhere but it never sold.

We should have a system where we can gauge proper second hand prices esp. imported cars out here. Like Rs 50l for a 350Z is way out

[Rehaan]

Hey Ajmat,

Absolutely man. The only time i would ever think that a 2nd hand car was worth buying is if it was directly from an owner who i know / trust or if it is a company owned car. Even then there is a possibility of there being problems with the car.
Buying from dealers is just an area of huge uncertainty for me (this includes "official" 2nd hand cars as well, whether it be ichiban or MB).

Atleast nowadays with the internet it is so much easier to get details on what a decent price is and what areas to keep an eye on when buying a 2nd hand imported car.
Once my friend was trying to buy a Honda CB750F and the owner told him that it was a 1995 model when it was actually made in 1986!! Sometimes i wonder whether they are idiots and actually believe the things they say are true, or they think that we are idiots to believe the things they say!!!

cheers

[Shan2nu]

We always get good value for our cars. I dunno why but people think that all doctor's car are well maintained and are never ripped.

In most cases this happens to be true. You won't believe it, one guy comes to our house when i'm washing the Vtec. He asks for my dad and goes and meets him.

Later on he comes out and says "I heard you really love your car". At that point i didn't get what he meant by that. Then when i asked my dad, he told me that the guy had come asking for the Vtec. That dude was ready to pay 8 lakhs for our car!!!!!!! Which was around 2 years old then.

That's the kind of value a doctor's car has.....provided you don't account for the doctor's son

Regards...
Shan2nu

[ajmat]

Actually, I had once met the owner of the MR2 socially - only later I got to know that this guy is half crazy and most of the time....sky high...get the drift! Call it co-incidence - I saw the MR2 up for sale at a car dealer - new coat of paint + new windscreen looked exotic but good knows whats covered up. There a nice clack BMW328 coupe (Pre 1997) also there - alas - am not even going to even ask !!!!

[Rehaan]

"alas - am not even going to even ask !!!! "

Hahaha..yeah. I always think.....wow...thats an awesome car...but wait...why would anyone want to sell it if it was as perfect as it claims to be....?
And then i leave that question unanswered and try not to think about the car anymore!

cya

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Rehaan @ Mar. 22 2004,02:23)]" and try not to think about the car anymore!

cya

That's the difficult part

[GTO]

Ajmat,

You ought to consider yourself lucky that he did not attempt to "touch up" the damages of the car, and then show it to you. Having a look at the real way he maintained his cars told you about its past history.

Previously the usde car segment did not have any players from the organised segment, and this detered a lot of potential buyers away. The sheer size of the used car market, alongwith profit margins that are bigger than even new cars caught the fancy of mostly all Indian automarkers (mercedes included). They launched their "certified user car schemes" with a lot of hype and hoolah, butttttttttttt its still not 100% safe to buy a used car, even certified used examples, as my experience with Ichibaan Honda has proved.

The only way to protect yourself in this scenario is knowledge. The only reason I caught Ichibaan red-handed was that I know a fair bit about cars. Even if they had to complete the repair work and give the car for delivery, I still would have known.

But if my father would have gone alone to Ichibaan Honda, he probably wouldnt have a clue.

GTO

[v12]

there have also been many instances of people sellin their Maruti 1000 as a MAruti Esteem. S oyou gotta do a full research of the car, its chassis no, engine number etc etc...

[ajmat]

GTO - Knowledge - Thats the magic word - and saved me from the Toyotas - let me tell you some other howlers

1: 1995 Esteem done on 24000 km - why does it have new tyres (Esteem tyres last for around 35000km)

2: Cousin of mine wants to buy a second hand qualis with 700 km - unregistered - "Factory reject, so toyota will not sell it officially" - Methinks - rubbish, Toyota would rather crush the car - I went and viewed it seperately - dealer tells me - owner going abroad and did not have time to register it - judging by the pockmarked headlights it was propoably used as a taxi and "retired"

3: Zen with the AC fuse blown - actually - a small peice was missing - the condensor - looks like an ex frontal smash

I only bouight one second hand car in India direct from the owner. In the UK, I bought a second hand car from a dealer - it served me well. Bottom line - whether organised or disorganised sector - keep those antennae up for that odd "galli"

[Shan2nu]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (ajmat @ Mar. 22 2004,23:56)]1: 1995 Esteem done on 24000 km - why does it have new tyres (Esteem tyres last for around 35000km)

Y not? Though tyres are supposed to last for more than 35000kms, it again depends on how you use them.

Drive a car hard and you'll end up with bald tyres by the time you hit 20K. I've personally seen Vtec tyres go bald by 25K.

How much torture a tyre can take also depends on the treadwear rating of that tyre.

Did you ask the owner why he changed the tyres? If yes, then what was his reply?

Regards...
Shan2nu

[Shan2nu]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (ajmat @ Mar. 22 2004,23:56)]2: Cousin of mine wants to buy a second hand qualis with 700 km - unregistered - "Factory reject, so toyota will not sell it officially" *- Methinks - rubbish, Toyota would rather crush the car - I went and viewed it seperately - dealer tells me - owner going abroad and did not have time to register it - judging by the pockmarked headlights it was propoably used as a taxi and "retired" *

I too see something fishy here.

If the owner didn't have the time to register it and has gone abroad, how come it's done 700kms?

Either, "like you said", it must have been a taxi, but then again why would someone want to sell a Taxi with just 700 on it?

I have a feeling it must have a been a demo vehicle which they r trying to sell. Just like the Lancer 1.8 guy who said they'd sell the Demo car to somebody.

Regards..
Shan2nu

[v12]

it could be that the clock has been resetted to 700 kms??? It cud be that its a dealer demo car and has covered the distance of 700 kms from factory to dealer??

BTW ajmat, did the dealer tell u its a "Factory Reject"??

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Shan2nu @ Mar. 22 2004,14:45)]Did you ask the owner why he changed the tyres? If yes, then what was his reply?

The "owner" was not the owner and was selling on behalf of a "friend" - some how the story did not add up o I had decided to walk away

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (v12 @ Mar. 22 2004,14:57)]cud be that its a dealer demo car and has covered the distance of 700 kms from factory to dealer??

BTW ajmat, did the dealer tell u its a "Factory Reject"??

The distance of the dealer (unorganised sector) to the Toyta factory is 25 km !!!!

Dealer was not an official one. My cousin saw the car and told me. I told her that I would independently look at it since I smelt a factory reject rat

[ajmat]

Another thing that I have seen in Holland - a BMW odometer being reset by computer from 83000 km to 65000 km in five min flat. The car had done excess mileage as opposed to the lease terms so the person reduced milage but serviced the car unoffically to keep theservice history consistent. Imagine those Lancers, Alto's and Wagon R's - what fun the dealers can have with these !