Cheap car.

Post by **pete** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:09 am

My mate wants to buy one for his wife but on a limited budget.

http://pistonheads.com/sales/84421.htm

Looks v cheap to me. I know it is Cat D but even so... What do you think?

pete

offshorematt · Post by **offshorematt** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:45 am

Looks like a realistic sale with non Cat D cars dropping to £8000. At that price, the money saved will fix any problems anyway. Just make sure you get an HPI check done to check its his to sell...

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:00 pm

I'm sure some of the more techinically inclined could help you mor on this, but would have thought and alignment check etc would be a definate though

SteveBanks · Post by **SteveBanks** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:27 pm

Hassle him for pictures of the car before it was repaired, it may put your mind at ease if it was mainly cosmetic, and you should be able to gauge the severity of the impact and therefore likelihood of any structural damage. Doesn't take much for an early S1 to be written-off by an insurance company as uneconomical to repair, something I've unfortunately just recently found out. You obviously need to be careful, but don't be too put off by CatD cars if they are offered at a good price. I'd hit him with 5.5k based on the fact that lots of people are wary of buying such cars.

robin · Post by **robin** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:49 pm

The problem with this car will be checking that there was no chassis damage - it needed new wishbones. I have bent wishbones without there being any chassis damage, so not always going to be a problem, but you would want to very carefully check each of the wishbone mounting points and look for signs of repair welding (a no-no). You should also check that the chassis is flat - there must be at most 1mm difference in height between the four corners IIRC.

All of that's going to cost you some time and money, so I would agree a deal with him that factors in the cost of stripping out the wheel arch liners and putting the chassis on the jig (not sure that all dealers have such a jig, BTW).

In fact it would be in the sellers interest to get a report written up, perhaps, to be sure the car is OK.

OTOH you can buy it cheap and wing it - 99% likely it will be OK - a 98 S1 will be a cat D write off with just front and rear clam damage, so could be entirely genuine.

Cheers,
Robin

Post by **pete** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:49 pm

Thanks all, excellent advice. My mate being the impetuous sort is probably going to chance it. (I couldn't, although 6K for an Elise sounds tempting!).

pete

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:19 pm

I would seriously question the quality of the repair.. the front indicator lenses are not even the same colour.

Dominic

Post by ed » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:54 pm

that car has also been on ebay, said he lost the other cover?!

i have read that insurance for cat ds can be up to 30%

more expensive!