Not a Volvo but help needed with a car purchase.

[ITSv40]

Those pads are neither worn down to the metal or under the minimum thickness, so are fit for purpose - assuming the calipers are not seized. If I was looking to purchase a 150,000m motor I would expect the brakes to be in that condition - unless they had been recently renewed and that was a selling point - and would mentally budget for replacing all discs and pads and factor that into the purchase price.

[Swedefarm]

Originally Posted by ITSv40

Those pads are neither worn down to the metal or under the minimum thickness, so are fit for purpose - assuming the calipers are not seized. If I was looking to purchase a 150,000m motor I would expect the brakes to be in that condition - unless they had been recently renewed and that was a selling point - and would mentally budget for replacing all discs and pads and factor that into the purchase price.

Totally understand and taken into consideration.

Now I understand the mileage and year of the car, and I didn’t expect a showroom car by any stretch of the imagination nor did I think that at some point I did not have to put my hand in my pocket, cara require maintenance and preventative maintenance and up keep, however there must be a fine line as to what is acceptable in terms of what is sold under the pretence of being in (and I quote) “very good condition” “drives as well as it looks” and what cannot be sold as it’s condition is simply poor.

I.e. at the age and mileage I accept that wear and tear is apparent but there must be a point in which a wear and tear item is so worn that it actually becomes unacceptable to be put forward for sale...

Just an example, shock absorbers on a vehicle which no longer function as per design and no longer stablilise a vehicle over bumps or under increased loads.

Correct me if I’m wrong...

A complaint of this magnitude is new to me and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty so educate me, don’t flame me...

[Guy Incognito]

Trading Standards and CAB are your best friends. I would go CAB first who will be able to advise.

As others have said, the pads are fine but at the mileage and age it may well benefit from new pads,discs and pipes.

Gearbox may well be torque bushes which are a relatively cheap and easy fix.

When there are longer distances involved the dealer (I am assuming small trader?) will assume if he plays had to get most folks will give up.

Shocks are not dear, as to the state of them, that will be for your specialist to determine and then armed with that knowledge and the advice from CAB inform your next move.

I am assuming it is a Dame Edna at that age? Less Saabish dash and some corners cut by that stage but still a good car. Worth joining UKSaabs.com as the peeps on there (quite a number of whom are also on here) are a brilliant bunch with a ton of knowledge on most subjects.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Swedefarm

Hi all,

Sorry for the really delayed reply.

Thank you all for the messages, it would seem that this trader doesn’t see thing things the same way the rest of the world does. So I’ve mentioned the consumer rights act of 2015 and he has simply brushed that aside.

I mentioned the brakes today and showed him images and he claims that there are 50% left on the pads, the disks are not much better either. I shall post images.

So tomorrow morning, the car is booked in for an evaluation of the rear shocks, gears and brakes... shall see what comes of it.... Just to note that one of the dealers were not willing to provide a report, which I find odd...

Anyway, opinions on those pads please..

Looking at those pads, i would say there is about 3-4mm of friction lining left so they're not down to the metal. However the wear pattern on the discs tells a tale that the calipers don't appear to be operating properly. Possibly they're seized in which case will barely be working at all.

As for the second gear problem, if you search online you'll find it seems to be a common problem along with similar in 5th gear. There also seems to be a whole host of other faults that plague the model you bought as well.

Bottom line is the car should have been "fit for purpose" as has already been pointed out. I'd suggest contacting the Office of Fair Trading/Trading Standards and/or a solicitor. You have very right to expect a car to be fit for the purpose it was sold for and if not, for it to be repaired at the traders cost or a refund.
Once you have the report of all/any faults present, you can contact the trader again and offer him the chance to put it right or pay the bill for you having it put right or a full refund.
If you go for the refund he'll probably say you have to deliver the car back to him and i believe he has that right.
I'm not a solicitor or even legally trained in any way, shape or form, this is just stuff i've picked up over the years - for a full and more importantly, up to date and correct interpretation of the current laws you'd really need a solicitor or legal advisor of some sort.

As for telling you that "you should have bought a Volvo" - i'm not going to

Just that you shouldn't have bought a Saab, and certainly not a diesel!

[Swedefarm]

That is a really comprehensive page of information, thank you Laird Scooby.


So the report from the Saab Specialist, in simple form.

Second gear is at fault and is either clutch forks but more likely syncromesh.

Rear inner brake pads are worn nearly into metals
Rear outer pads are 80% worn at least.

NSR DISK, 35% corroded & heavily pitted
OSR DISK, 25% As above

Rear engine support bushes heavily worn and split.

Rear trailing arm bushes worn & split causing loss of tracking both sides.

There is more but I think that’s enough for now.

Oooo actually, the rear shocks are gone and the springs are not correct for the car.

I have sent a letter detailing my consumer rights to the seller with 14 days to respond and a copy of the report with a credit card copy & business card of the Specialist if he does so wish to contact him..

Shall see what comes of it.

[Laird Scooby]

You're welcome - most of the information was already in the thread, i just added a couple of bits and put the rest all in one place.

Glad you've got the report and have written to the trader, if the rear engine mounts are shot that might be the cause of jumping out of gear and/or a contributory cause of the damaged synchro on it but need doing anyway.

Hopefully the trader will see sense!

[Swedefarm]

I agree and similar to what the Specialist has said.

His argument was, if the bushes were a contributing factor of the box failing second then at minimum it’s a new transmission, bushes, top linkage and slave cylinder. Which once all said and done will be the best part of £600 minimum...

Shall see what comes next.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Swedefarm

I agree and similar to what the Specialist has said.

His argument was, if the bushes were a contributing factor of the box failing second then at minimum it’s a new transmission, bushes, top linkage and slave cylinder. Which once all said and done will be the best part of £600 minimum...

Shall see what comes next.

I have to agree with all of that - putting the Saab specialists hat on for a moment (on loan for the purposes of the comment) he has to guarantee the repair he might be doing.
The only way he can give a guarantee on something like the gearbox when he knows the engine mounts are shot is to renew the engine mounts, transmission, all and any linkages, bushes that are involved and any other connected components such as the slave cylinder.

It's a matter of good business sense and as such he has to cover his backside before giving a guarantee - that said there's a strong chance all those things will be excessively worn anyway!

I'd hazard a guess the previous owner put it into a garage because the brakes were a bit below par and it was jumping out of gear. When the repair quote came in, the decision was made to trade it in against something else.
There's a fair chance it went to auction and your "friend" bought it there, cleaned it up and polished it and sold it to you.

I don't know how much you or the trader paid for it but i suspect his best course of action will be to refund you, take the car back then put it in another auction not too close to home.

[Swedefarm]

Hi all,

Just so you are all aware, the car went back over a month ago, but even that wasn't without a fight.

It actually got rather nasty.

Anyway the car has gone.

It was not replaced with a Volvo but another Saab.

I opted for the 9-3, purely because the other half fell in love with it, she did try the S40 & V50 but she didn't much favour the front end, seemed a little bland whereas the 9-3 has a few quirky features that SWMBO loves.

Anyway, thank you all so very much, very helpful and much appreciated.

[Laird Scooby]

I hope this one is less troublesome!