buying a car that hasn't been used for a while

A

agencydude

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Hi
I 'm considering buying a car that hasn't been used in a while.
Its a 2006 car with 12k miles on the clock.
The car dealer says that the car comes from the car maker that initially had them for car hire but didn't really hire them out.

The car is €3-4 k cheaper than similar aged cars with same model and spec.
This car dealer also has other models from the same car maker with the same low mileage story.

I've also found other car dealers selling the same type of cars at the same cheap price and they have the same story about them as well.
Apparantly these cars were stored for 18 months without being used.

The car dealers say they will do a full service on them and give a 6 month warranty if I buy one.

So does anyone know what kind of problems you coud have with these cars?
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

same story all the time, sounds fishy to me... check the mileage history and find out if it really was a rental car company who had it before
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

get it well checked out if it works out ok then it costs you a few quid and you are still a few grand ahead.

If they find any funnies then you are still better off.
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

Just run a check on it (Cartell for example) as it will show up if they were damaged when relatively new and off the road while being repaired (category D write offs). Especially if they are UK cars.
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

I had a discussion with a mechanic only recently about cars that have been left lying for a while and he maintained that it is not good for them and they can cause problems engine wise with oil etc.

We left a car unused for 6 months and it caused problems afterwards so I would have reservations about it.
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

+1 The minimum that needs to done to the cars is to drain and replace all fluids (fuel, coolant, engine oil, brake, steering & clutch fluid, gearbox & differential fluids. The tyres need to be dumped unless the cars were on axle stands and the batteries are probably shot.
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

I bought a car like this with a similar history when I lived in the London. It had 13,000 miles on the clock and was 20 months old when I bought it. I got it for a great price compared to similar cars and drove it for 10 years with absolutely NO problems - only cost me the price of services and petrol. ( By the way, after I bought the car I left it sitting for almost 4 months and it did not need any fluids or tyres and the battery lasted for 8 more years!)
 
Re: Car for sale that hasn't been used for a while

Generally, stay away would be the recommendation.

A car that isn't used is basically a metal shed left in the open air.

Even if you find a "classic" you'll probably need to replace all the fluids, brakes, etc.

There's a reason why they're cheap........

Bear in mind that the new car you buy may have been stood around in a field for months too!

SSE
 
There's an awful lot of cars in Main Dealer Used Car Stock that's been sitting there for 6-12mths. I've looked at a few with dead batteries and one with a seized hand-brake stuck fast to the wheel drum. These were not your back-street dodgy dealers. Some were at "Gold-Standard" dealers, if you know what I mean. I did notice one dealer who started up every used car in the yard before they shut down for the evening. It seemed to be a ritual for them.
 
RedTop said:
There's an awful lot of cars in Main Dealer Used Car Stock that's been sitting there for 6-12mths. I've looked at a few with dead batteries and one with a seized hand-brake stuck fast to the wheel drum. These were not your back-street dodgy dealers. Some were at "Gold-Standard" dealers, if you know what I mean. I did notice one dealer who started up every used car in the yard before they shut down for the evening. It seemed to be a ritual for them.
Click to expand...

That's actually worse than leaving them unless they leave them for 20-30 minutes - particularly if a diesel which takes an age to warm up fully. I've often wondered about the state of cars which are driven 50yds round to the front of a garage and then moved back again every day. One of the worst things you can do is move the car a very short distance and leave it - e.g. backing it out of the garage to wash it. Condensation will form in the engine leading to the infamous "mayonnaise".

SSE
 
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