Amazon: Buyers beware - Amazon estate

[austingipsy]

Originally Posted by stigansven

He is only a new member by the fact that it is the first time he has entered the Forum, he could have been a member of VOC for 20 years.He has a right to be peeved after going 350 miles, it goes to show that not everyone is truthfull,even dealers. To be honest if the seller can't clean the RUST off the bumper,it's proof enough that the car has not been looked after,or does the rust come FREE.

But it was his choice to take the gamble, and as Soren says the pictures do pretty much give away the condition of the car.
I love two tone paint and this makes the amazon look a tad like an old humber which was an excellent beast but the fact that the paint was obviously slapped on with such careless abandon is apparent from the pics. And you have to wonder what fresh paint hides. So it was a gamble.
And the rusty bumper, well he mentions a surf wagon i think so he was probably desperately hoping to appeal to the rat look fraternity so the fresh paint cocked that one up.
Anyway, if there is a way of simply cleaning rust off a bumper as opposed to treating it or rechroming it or hiding it under silver paint then i'd love to know. Mine's a mess !

[rippedoffagain]

I personally think that unless someone asks, we shouldn't really slag off someone's advert or whatever they are selling.

When you view a car, either as a buyer or a seller, there is a large subjective element to it. For example, if I was to advertise my 940 for sale, a car that is not in the best condition, someone looking for a cheap solid motor with a bit of character might love it, while someone looking for a fine example of a 940 might hate it. I love my motor, but I'm no mechanic or body work expert. I don't know what is standard and what might have been replaced later etc. If I was selling my car I would say that as far as I know it is a good motor, but has X, Y and Z minor faults that I know about. I would be a tad upset if I then looked on the interweb and found that someone who knows far more than I do has criticised everything about the car, listing faults that I myself was unaware of, and putting off potential buyers.

I'm not specifically on about the car ad that prompted this thread, I mean in general. If we've never met the prospective buyer nor the seller, nor seen the car, how can it be fair to pass judgement on anyone involved? And how can it be fair to reduce someone's chances of selling their car? Another bidder might see from the pics that work needs doing but still fancy the challenge, but then think twice having been told by one person who they don't even know, that the seller is misrepresenting his car.

Now if someone was to post up along the lines of "I'm going to see this car, what should I look for and has anyone actually seen it, if so what is their opinion?", then fair cop. "I didn't like it" or "I had disagreements with the seller" are both different to "It was crap" or "the seller is an ...".

[amazondean]

Once again there is a heated discusion about the condition of a car. Like i have mentioned in a different subject, it is a very skilled job regarding working out the true condition of a car and most people think they have this skill. I have been reasonably heavily involved in classic cars for over 20 years and i would say that realisticaly it has only been the last five years that i can say that now i am pretty skilled at it. Maybe in another 5 years i may look back at now and say the same thing.

Telboyofpackham has stated that he is pretty switched on. However he has made the most basic of mistakes that people have already pointed out regarding the look of the car from the photos. I saw this on ebay and my instant reaction was "lets see what else is for sale". If i lived a few miles away i might have possibly looked at it just to satisfy my suspicions but to travel the said distance was always going to end in disaster. A skilled person would have been able to put a list together similar to what was written without even looking at the car and never set foot out the door.

So my advice to Telboyofpackham is use this in your portfolio of mistakes to one day finish your apprenticeship in "how to spot the good from the crap". It takes much longer than you think.

I hope you find what you want but just to finish, you never actualy stated what the price was even before you tried to haggle. I presume the £1250 was just the price before it was removed from the listing. Cars like these are only worth a few hundred pounds and that is only because it does have an only just passed years MOT.

[LankyTim]

That estate looks absolutley dreadful. Good job you didnt buy it!

[austingipsy]

Originally Posted by amazondean

Cars like these are only worth a few hundred pounds and that is only because it does have an only just passed years MOT.

I can see why he wouldn't want to try and flog it on the forums, the poor lad would be torn to shreds. Dean , I suspect if you offered him that much there would be no lift back to the station for you either !

[austingipsy]

Originally Posted by LankyTim

That estate looks absolutley dreadful. Good job you didnt buy it!

An Amazon estate can never look dreadful , stop bashing the guys motor, I've driven worse, oh wait i am driving worse and i love it to bits...it's in bits actually.

[Dibble]

You are right Lanky Tim. First give away for me was the seats. Definitely not 1968 and were pre 1965/64. What was the red underhalf hiding and even from the distance shot it looked as if the paint had been applied with a roller. Front bumper horrendous. Not worth leaving Peckham to look at. Del Boy wouldn't have!
Not worth £200. New MOT or not.

[gillberry]

Been interesting reading this as we saw the advert and just thought a hell of a lot of work body wise let alone anything else . Our car is currently being professionally restored (costing both arms and both legs) and she was in a fantastic conditon by comparison but its amazing what horrors a good looking car can hide , offside rear arch had 6 repair sections under the shiny paint all rusting badly and that was just one small area that needed doing . The 2 tone paint job would look good if the bottom half was not so poorly done but at least you can see that there are hoorors lurking there and the seller hasn't repainted it to cover it up .

[telboyofpeckham]

OK I concede. My expectations were way to high.

I certainly did not base my judgement on the photos. Shooting from a far is an obvious trick. I did however base them on the information the seller gives me through numerous telephone conversations & emails. If I am guilty of something then that is trusting what someone says & writes. What a mug. Never again, for sure. But then again if I did this, I would never go anywhere.

So for the future...can be restored immaculately with little difficulty; some surface rust; The car was, for the first time, left out in the rain and cold last night. Having looked inside the car now, there is not a drop of water anywhere, so all the seals are fine = full restoration, lots of sheet metal to cut out & replace + new seals all round.

I forgot that I was meeting an Estate Agent

Boom boom! Thank you & good night!

[Moosejaw]

It's possible as well that the guy didn't really know how good, bad or otherwise his car was compared to others of it's type.
I've bought and sold dozens of cars just as a private motorist with no trade leanings or experience, but I'll be pretty stumped when I decide to sell mine. How do I describe a car that I've only ever seen one other example of in the last 20 years which was in far better condition than mine, and sold for twice what mine cost? How would I state its condition in an ad?

I know it's pretty far from perfect, but if I listed every single fault the car has compared to a concourse or brand new one the list would run into several pages, and no one would come and look at it. It's a 40 year old car that lives outside and gets driven in all weathers, of course it's rusty, has rattles, worn out bits etc, but if I try and "big it up" for the ad then I'm all the barstewards under the sun for not mentioning that the interior light doesn't work?
It's a hard thing to get right when you're trying to be reasonably honest yet your prime concern is to sell your car.

The description given of the car is about what I would have expected to see given the pictures and general "surf dude/rat look" pitch of the ad.
People on Retro Rides spend thousands to get their cars that tatty looking!