[lemedico]

I picked up my pre-owned Tiago a few months ago, from a direct seller on FB Marketplace.
I had been on the useless websites like spinny, olx etc for a long time, only to be fed up by the photo shopped images and non negotiable prices. Tbhp had nothing in my geographical location so that was out.

Even FB is full of crap to be honest. Far too many excessive commercial posts with inflated prices and the use of too many emojis. This direct seller was a needle in the haystack. Took me 48 hrs from ad discovery to car pick up. I'm a happy chap

[smasher]

I bought my car from the marketplace.

I was in search of one particular car-Crysta 2.8z. Found a few cars there. rates were reasonable. But all turned out to be dealers.

Shortlisted a few, and went to see the first choice and it was love at first sight. The deal was decent and transparent.

My takeaway. The Facebook marketplace is not different from OLX or Quickr. Most of the ads you see are from dealers-but you have a bit more choice here.

[cs_rajesh]

People seem to be posting self drive rentals on facebook marketplace

[varun_ro]

Back in March 2021, I sold my girlfriend's RE Meteor 350 on FB marketplace 4000 rs over the OTR she paid for it in November. It took me 2 hours.

[MageshSai]

I bought a 9 year old Volkswagen Passat Highline AT from a FB marketplace ad. posted by a dealer, in Mar 2022. What I found during my search was, FB marketplace and OLX are the two places where we can see almost all the pre-owned vehicles that are for sale, in Bangalore. The dealers also post ad. there and so are the authorized dealer's used car outlets. For instance, Renault Select (Trident) post the cars in their own site as well as in OLX.

My buying experience:
The dealer from whom I bought the car was 'Wheels 24R', near Agara Lake, through their FB marketplace ad. Coming to my buying experience, overall it is fair. They allowed me to take the car to VW dealer and get a general checkup done. With the result of general checkup, I could negotiate and get the price lowered by 30K than for what I amount I had booked and paid a token advance.

Two things were disappointing:
1) The spare key: These guys had bought the car from cars24 through online auction and hence the sparekey and RC original had to come from them, which came a week or two after I took the delivery of the car. I had asked them to send the key through dunzo since I didn't want to travel 30KM (up and down) just for the key. After receiving the key, it was not working. I assumed it to be a battery issue. So bought battery from Amazon, replaced it (had to take help from youtube video for how to do it!! That's how complex it is) but no luck. Left it for checking it with VW dealer later. When I had gone to put A/C vents and suspension link rods later at VW dealer, I was told that keys cannot be repaired and the only option is to buy a new one. Passat has smarkey which would cost 15K.

2. After few months, found that the spare tyre had a sidewall cut and hence not usable at all. The damage was on the bottom side of the tyre when mounted in the boot. The tyre had good treads so I did not check the tyre thoroughly. It is not fully a mistake of the dealer though they could have warned me about it. It was the mistake of VW SA and myself. The service advisor told me the spare tyre is weak (or may be I interpreted it like that). After 9 months when I checked the report for something else, it was clearly written as damaged. May be since no amount was mentioned for that, it didn't catch my attention.

I didn't even do a oil service or a DSG oil replacement after buying. The MID showed the service is due only after 12,000 KM or 8 months. I did service only buy that schedule and no issues until then. After the RC transfer, I got the service history from VW, so I am good for another 29K KM for DSG service.

Two other things which I could have been bit more careful are:

A) Headlight throw; when I had seen the car before buying and during TD, the car had some external bar lights fixed. During delivery, I asked them to remove it if it is dysfunctional. Since, I did test driving only during day time, I didn't had a chance to use and see the lights. I had assumed, the previous owner had put external lights as an enhancement in poor taste. Little that I knew, the projector lenses had become too old and clouded. The visibility was not sufficient even within the city. Upgraded the lights at the cost of 35K. Everyone was saying, with new lights, the visibility is great. But I had difficulty in visibility in night when it rains. The windshield had sun protection films which was causing this issue. Removed the windshield sun films at a cost of 3K.

B) The suspension issue; During the TD itself, I was able to feel that the suspension has some issues and it need to be fixed. VW SA did a poor job here. He said only 2 link rods needs to be replaced. After the link rods were replaced, it became smoother but that was not sufficient. I was getting suspension noises and was not able to push the car comfortably beyond 90-95 KMPH. The car was floating and did not give sufficient confidence to push it further. Also, the car used to bounce after crossing the speed humps and get hit on the under-body. Even the SA from an FNG, after test drive felt that nothing is wrong with the suspension. Only after they removed parts and checked, found that several components needed replacement. Replaced 4 shocks, Rear link rods, Rear struct ket and Lower arm ball joints. parts, labor and wheel alignment together costed 44K.

For the purchase cost of Rs.6.5 lakhs, these expenses were okay. Only that, it took longer to get desired condition of the vehicle due to some careless mistakes.

Images: VW general check-up report, delivery of the vehicle, pooja, old headlights, testing low beam and high beam after upgrade, spare tyre damage, After first professional wash & interior detailing.

[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by MageshSai

I bought a 9 year old Volkswagen Passat Highline AT from a FB marketplace ad.

Take a bow, King.
There are few and far high-risk rollers like us, especially in our country.

The Passat is a very nice car and decently reliable too (if taken care of)

Wish you many happy vrooms

[MageshSai]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Wish you many happy vrooms

Thanks bro! Yes, your statement is true about the risk taking. With so much research, wanted to take this calculated risk, after all once in a life. I felt the risk to reward ratio is much higher in this. Completed 9K KMs in a year and header for ECU tuning!

[gaurav.kokra]

Some might really hit you for buying this almost 10 year old sedan.

But these gem of engines, the 2.0 TDIs are on the way to their graveyard. And it is the last chance one can enjoy these cars while their around.

I'd say even if you had to all get this work done, if the engine is in ship shape, it is worth spending on the car.

The 2.0 TDIs are reliable and frugal if maintained well.

I'd say please share more and more maintenance tips and your observations of the car, so it becomes a great reference point for people like me who would follow your footsteps and go for these Passats, Jettas, Octavias etc etc.

Also, You wouldn't even get a wagonr in this budget and you got a Passat for that rate.

[exhaustbreather]

Originally Posted by gaurav.kokra

Also, You wouldn't even get a wagonr in this budget and you got a Passat for that rate.

Really? I think this much for a ten year old Passat is too much. The last generation Passat that got discontinued in India is still very expensive in the pre owned car market but paying this amount for a 10 year old Passat doesn't seem logical to me. Believe me, I am a huge Passat fan boy