New car joy turned sour. Legal help please!!

[parker455]

Ah that's great!

Not so good news on the deal though, may I ask why you think that?

[shnazzle]

Of course. We're an open and honest community  s:) s:)

I paid 4290 (as can be seen in my Garage).

The quote I got from gtschris, a local mr2 expert here, is "I would have expected it to be immaculate for that!"  

Having looked on eBay a bit more, it's hard to find others with. 50k mileage on 05 plates that are at the same price. granted there are ridiculous outliers.

I thought it was alright based on:
- 05
- just short of 50k miles
- 2 owners (prev one had it for 5 years)
- hardtop fitting kit
- brand new Yokos all around
- heated leather with A/C
- full service history

But now I can see it's worth about 4k max. Granted I did get it at a dealer

[parker455]

That's a shame maybe privately it would have been cheaper, still though.. good milage and everything minus the rad (potentially) and the windscreen. And being a later model facelift you can't go wrong, looks cracking!

Mine was a PFL 2001 import on 60k miles that cost me circa £1800 at the end of the summer, slowly loosing patience with little rattles and small issues OH and the silly girl next door dented my door the other day.

All in the fun of it.

[MR TWO]

Of course. We're an open and honest community  s:) s:)

I paid 4290 (as can be seen in my Garage).

The quote I got from gtschris, a local mr2 expert here, is "I would have expected it to be immaculate for that!"  

Having looked on eBay a bit more, it's hard to find others with. 50k mileage on 05 plates that are at the same price. granted there are ridiculous outliers.

I thought it was alright based on:
- 05
- just short of 50k miles
- 2 owners (prev one had it for 5 years)
- hardtop fitting kit
- brand new Yokos all around
- heated leather with A/C
- full service history

But now I can see it's worth about 4k max. Granted I did get it at a dealer

Low miles and service history plus good condition, I dont think it was too expensive.  Neither do you - so who cares!

It looks great!

[shnazzle]

Of course. We're an open and honest community  s:) s:)

I paid 4290 (as can be seen in my Garage).

The quote I got from gtschris, a local mr2 expert here, is "I would have expected it to be immaculate for that!"  

Having looked on eBay a bit more, it's hard to find others with. 50k mileage on 05 plates that are at the same price. granted there are ridiculous outliers.

I thought it was alright based on:
- 05
- just short of 50k miles
- 2 owners (prev one had it for 5 years)
- hardtop fitting kit
- brand new Yokos all around
- heated leather with A/C
- full service history

But now I can see it's worth about 4k max. Granted I did get it at a dealer

Low miles and service history plus good condition, I dont think it was too expensive.  Neither do you - so who cares!

It looks great!

This is a fair point  s:) s:)  No use crying over spilt milk anyway. But I suppose it's always gutting to know you could have gotten the same for less  s:) s:)  To be honest it doesn't bother me

I'm very happy with it.
Funny thing is, I didn't really feel like it was mine until I sold the old MR2 yesterday. Granted I loved my old pre-FL 2

[Mightyquin]

The car was worth what you were prepared to pay for it. We all know that dealers prices are usually higher than you'd pay privately.

If you turned this one down because you thought it was £250 too much, how much time and £'s would you spend looking for another as good?

[shnazzle]

The car was worth what you were prepared to pay for it. We all know that dealers prices are usually higher than you'd pay privately.

If you turned this one down because you thought it was £250 too much, how much time and £'s would you spend looking for another as good?

Exactly.

Cars are always an expensive affair.
All in all, buying the new MR2 and selling the old one has cost a right fortune.
4290 for car, 250 in fuel for 1 cars there and 2 cars back, 40 to have it fully checked over. And windscreen yet to be done
Old one: 45 to put on autotrader, 45 to insure for 2 separate viewing days

So much money  s:( s:(  Then already ordered non-performance mods (keyhole covers, etc etc)

[is1]

Unless you get very lucky, buying specialist cars (in particular) is a pain.
If you want a Ford Focus, you can view 200 cars within 20 miles.  It's low cost, good choice and the sellers know this so you can do a deal.
I have been struggling for a while now to find an MR2 to my spec (which is not that unreasonable!) so have to accept that I may have to travel the breadth of the country to look at one before taking one look and turning on my heels and going back home because it was not as it appeared in the advert.

There is also the fact that we always think the grass is greener elsewhere so we buy a car, see another one cheaper and think "that would've been better" but in reality, it probably wouldn't be.  It may have issues that aren't apparent in the photographs.  You simply can't tell the true condition of a car by the photos.
In two instances of viewing cars in the past (not MR2s I might add), the photos used by the owner were when they bought the car, a couple of years earlier!!

[Mightyquin]

Indeed - you can spend ages looking for a car you want and not find any. The moment you buy one, then you'll see plenty of others for sale that all sound like a better deal! It's a car buying fact!

Of course you can never tell until you see the car for yourself - I've seen cars for sale on websites that look and sound ideal, gone to view and immediately notice something that puts me off, or sometimes just get a feeling about a car that's not right. You have to use your instinct as much as anything when buying s/h cars.

[parker455]

In looking for mine I lost £200 deposit on a crap heap that looked great in photos, dry on oil and no coolant in it whatsoever, paint missing all over it.

Dodgy dealers, was so angry.

[parker455]

Guess it's swings and roundabouts, lost 200 but found a way better example for a decent price.

Even then the seller didn't tell me the roof was leaking AND the brakes were shagged (test drive wasn't able to be done due to lack of insurance)

[shnazzle]

I do feel a lot better buying the car now. It's odd because this is the 8th car I've bought in 4 years...you'd think I was well-versed in it by now.
But it seems to be different with MR2s. Maybe because it's the first "old" car I've bought or "specialist".

There are indeed ALWAYS better cars that you find after you've bought yours. Name of the game.

I'm feel no regret about any of the money spent at all. But I guess everybody would want the best possible deal for the least amount of effort.
Life doesn't always pan out that way. Especially not "car life"

In any case, as mentioned above, I had a good gut feeling about the car itself, and the important parts of it. And all of that seems to have been right. Just some small fixes and it'll be perfect ( for me)