Be Excellent To Each Other

Price of car - cost of putting things right - 5% = your offer. If they say no, walk away.

There'll be quite a few people selling their cars on CCUK, Meaty. You might even be lucky enough to find someone willing to partex for the Octy, give it a try. That's how I got the GT4 - swapped my T-sport to someone who was wanting a more modern car, got his GT4 and he gave me some cash on top.

Currently emailing with this guy on Pistonheads who says he'll take any partex. I have asked more questions about that car (mileage, tax, service history, etc) as it seems a bit unusual to just accept any old thing.

Saw the second Celica. Seller is a pleasant young chap who runs a DIY shop but sells the odd car on the side.

Noted issues:
-alloy wheels (especially nearside front) curbed, no doubt due to previous female owner.
-a few stone chips on the front
-front wheels slightly out of balance (to be rectified before sale)

That's it. Everything else worked as it should. Car has just had air and oil filters changed along with the oil. It also has brand new front brakes.

Started fine, took it to dual carriageway, booted it, no warning lights (though light came on as it should when ignition first turned), drove some distance, turned around came back. Apart from the vibration due to the unbalanced wheels, felt fine. Full service history, no advisories on previous MOT, 12 months tax.

Not as much part-ex on my car but Glass's suggests I had a better than expected offer from the previous dealer, no doubt hoping that I'd take the tatty Celica off him.

My dad (who is no doubt grumpy as he's just picked up his first bus pass) wonders why I'm going to pay two grand to buy a smaller car of equal age and mileage to my existing one.

So, seed of doubt planted, not sure.

I've had a battering from all the grit/salt. What's the best procedure for dealing with this? Can I get a man out who can do a good job or should I bodge it myself?

There's a large number of very fine chips across the bonnet which are quite evident (the car being black) so might be nice to get it done.

Well, it's a good question. I was in a similar situation, moving from a Vauxhall Vectra saloon to my Celica 140.

For me, the answer was simply that I'd always loved Celicas, since I was a kid playing Toyota Celica GT Rally on the Amiga.

Terrible game! Drive abit, crash, drive some more, crash, go abit further, crash. All while being able to see sod all.

No more than 380 Bananas in anyones money.

Define very fine? If it's minimal I'd say simply t-cut and polish it about a dozen times. You can get touch-up sticks which are OK as long as you don't use the fucking stupid brush they come with, dilute the paint slightly and add multiple coats with a decent small artist's brush and t-cut it back to level. That could be a bit of a faff, but paying someone else to do it if it is peppered like you say, could be pricey.

Chipsaway are the company to call if you want to pay though.

Grim... will be along in a minute telling me off, but the cars he used to clean cost 30x what yours does.

If it's an odd car I definitely wouldn't buy it.

I'm not buying odd cars. Even ones, though...

I am fucking furious.

The guy I took my car to at the weekend in Wolverhampton, a supposed Japanese performance car specialist, has fucked my car up royally.

I asked him to fit three gauges for me, do a compression test, change the plugs, fuel filter, dizzy cap and rotor arm.

As far as I'm aware, the last four tasks there have all been done OK (although my fuel gauge is dropping at an alarming rate, making me wonder whether the fuel filter is on properly or whether that's leaking fuel)

The compression test I referred to above with low cylinder compression has been thoroughly debunked by other people as codswallop and nothing to worry about.

Of the three gauges he's fitted, only one of them actually works and even that's not 100% certain as the readings don't seem to match up with what I'm expecting.

And to top it all off, I now find that he's fucked up when putting the oil temperature sensor in the block and the car's pissing oil out all over the fucking engine now.

Fucking furious.

This specialist...... did he have a large PC that appeared to be on fire?*


* Seriously, was this a garage or just some bloke?

It's black metallic so polishing is proving a pain. Nothing really seems to shift scratches, let alone fine chips.

I love the car, I love the way it looks but 3 months in and I'm never having a black car again. And I speak as someone who's first car was white!

Actually I saw a new white GTi today and thought I hadn't seen a white car looking that good since the 80's.

A proper garage.

You need to speak to them pronto.

I would suggest writing down all the problems, going back and explaining to the man that he will be fixing them all for free, and then producing the list of what needs fixing.

It might also be worth informing him that if said things are not fixed, or he is unhappy to do so, you are a member of a massive Toyota fan club who would be more than happy to advise all his future customers not to go there.

I'm sure it won't get that far though.

He could offer to fix all the problems for free - as far as I'm concerned he's not going anywhere near the car again.

So you're going to get someone else to fix it and present him with the bill?

Or just not pay his initial bill?

Already paid his initial bill, but yeah I'll be doing the former I think.

Could you edit your post there please dude to take out the bit about the girlfriend, would rather he doesn't read something like that if he does a Google for my username on the owner's club, gonna edit my post now. Calmed down a bit now.

Try 300 times


PERSONAL BUGBEAR ALERT!

There should be a fucking minimum standard required before you put the word 'sport' on a car. Slightly harder suspension is not enough. A louder exhaust is not enough. Different coloured fucking seats is not enough. They even put it on diesels which, by design, are not 'sporty' - but it's okay - just throw on a set of 'unique' alloy wheels and there you go!

It makes me angry.

[edit]And yes, I'm well aware of the model of car I own, thanks (but it'll pull 0-60 in less than 8 seconds which is clearly the cut-off point )

BROOOM! The Peugeot 107 SPORT!

13.7 seconds 0-60! 13.7! A top speed of NINETY-FUCKING-EIGHT!
Someone explain to me how that can possibly be "sporty"?

I has a stripe.

A STRIPE!

It's got nice stripes, and it's red.

My diesel Skoda manages it in 10.8 seconds. 'Sport', pfff!

MaliA, it's also French and will shortly look like this.

/strangles MaliA

(Also @GazChap But I'll be surprised if you can get him to pay for the additional work if it's done somewhere else)

There is nothing wrong with French cars and I've never had any problems with the electrics or anything like that at all with the MaliMobile.

GazChap, letter writing time, sir.

I took the M3 to a garage right near work on a personal recommendation this morning. After a quick test - the clutch is on its last legs after all. 5.1 hours book labour, about £290, and I'm getting the spigot bearing done at the same time.

I look forward to seeing how it accelerates after bedding in, given it's still not exactly a slouch.

The guy testing almost smelled oil, which they reckon is probably the rocker cover gasket I've been told about before (about 16k ago, in fact). So I'll see about getting that done before Bruges too, along with a good look at the tyres/wheels/suspension after the pothole and an alignment.

After Bruges I think it's time to spend spend spend, now I'm a bachelor and have cheap credit for 11 months. I am keeping the M3.

Second Celica, while nice, worries me - the guy wasn't keen to tax it and now wants to charge £60 for an MOT and also for any work that needs doing if it fails. This, combined with the lack of any warranty, has put me off.

I'm now contemplating a much newer, lower mileage example from Evans Halshaw that will have all of the above included with the added bonus of lasting me longer.

I'd have said "OK, thanks, but no worries, I'll go elsewhere" and don exactly that.



wOOt!

Urg. Cunts.

Try a lambswool mitt. I used to own a black car and they are a PITA to clean, but they will polish up OK. You could always look at getting a polishing mop for a drill, that'll take the chore out of it.

It's "sporty" in the Ozzie or public school British sense, as you'd need to be a good sport to be seen in one.

That's what I'm going to do. I'd emailed and said I was happy with it all IF he did all the work needing doing (wheel balancing, tax and MOT) but that, with no warranty AND a lower than expected tradein on my car has left me disappointed.



Yeah. Now trying to decide if I wanted 67k miles but nice alloys and spoiler and climate control and leather, or 47k miles but poverty spec.



Why?

Yeah, that's not cricket. If you're selling a car, you should be selling a car that's in proven roadworthy condition. To be honest the lack of a warranty is unlikely to be an issue on a post-facelift Celica, they're damn reliable, but £60 for an MOT is a rip off.

Walk away.


Good, good. Link?

Lush one with toys.

Poverty one with low mileage

Alternative to lush one

The staff, generally. I had to drag my father-in-law out of the Northwich branch to stop him decking the Used Car manager. This prat had basically called my FIL a skint timewaster and told him to bugger off. Granted, FIL had come straight from work in his mechanic's clothes but is definitely not skint and *was* going to buy a car, that very day.

We went to Bristol Street Motors in Crewe and the guy there told us that Evans Halshaw is a pretty bad employer, setting unrealistic sales targets and withholding bonuses.

We'll see how it goes. If they're cunts, they don't sell me a car. The lady I spoke to yesterday when I asked about a dealer transfer (the car I want is in another one of their dealers 200 miles away) was very helpful.

If it was me I'd go for the "Alternative to lush one". Lower mileage, lower price, same toys. Colour is a bit boring compared to the blue, true, but it'll be easier to keep clean and you won't have the horrible blue trim on the doors and seats.

Useful guidance for negotiating the purchase of a Toyota: http://www.brokenmind.co.uk/?p=38

The guy's obviously useless or has really messed up but can you not learn to do some of this sort of stuff yourself? I imagine that if you want a car to customise and hammer round a racetrack it'll get pretty expensive if you can't at least do the basics.

Doesn't work, either at work or on my mobile (just sits there for a bit until no reply comes up). You couldn't paste it into a PM to me, could you?

Oh, sorry, it was a piss-take
It's CG's buying-an-Aygo saga from yesteryear.

I'm capable of doing all of that myself, with the exception of fitting the gauges as I've no clue what I'm doing electrically. It's just a case of having the time.

I don't mind paying someone to do it for me if they're doing something at the same time that I can't do. I just expect them to do a good job.

Broken Mind? More like Broken Website, amiright?

£475 all-in for the clutch and spigot bearing. Not bad I reckon; cheap enough I'm definitely saying 'fuck it' and getting the rocker cover gasket done at the same time.

It needs more shit eating (probably)

If the gauges are anything like mine (and I don't think you mentioned what they are?), then wiring them is very simple - usually a case of wiring to a ignition live and earthing through the sender for the gauge.

They're electronic gauges rather than mechanical. A boost pressure gauge, an oil temperature gauge and an AFR gauge. In the case of the latter two, getting access to the senders involves taking quite a lot of stuff out of the engine bay which I wouldn't be too comfortable with as I'm still very much learning, and the electrical stuff is all greek to me.