Thinking of buying a motor for about £2K (approx 3x as much as I've ever spent in the past!) and wondering about getting a survey done on it. Are the AA ones OK? Any other organisations doing them? What sort of money do they cost and what do they tell you?
The AA haven't done vehicle inspections themselves for a number of years. They contract out to this company:
IMHO, for a 2000 quid car, I'd prefer to keep that 200 quid tucked away for a rainy day!
If you don't have the expertise to check a car yourself, and don't know someone who could do it for you, why not see if a local mobile mechanic would do it? An hour of his time is likely to be a lot less than 132 quid!
HTH
Chris
Excellent suggestion thanks.
I used to do all my own maintenance & repairs but nowadays prefer pay someone who's got a nice cozy workshop and decent tools so I'm a bit out of touch. The motor is a 1997 R Reg CITROEN SYNERGIE 1.9 Turbo Diesel X with 95k on the clock. The seller is a dealer who took it in part exchange. No service history. The one thing I'd be thinking is whether/when it'll need a cambelt change and how much that would cost. Do they usually put a sticker on the engine when it's done? Any other major £££ things to look out for?
Oh God! It's ten years old man, and a Citreon! £2K?!
That would be when you buy it and lots. See that two hundred pounds......
No.
It's French. Everything!
It's a Synergie, they do go for that sort of money.
Electrics. Finding the wiring diagram will be an interesting game.
Hey, I had one of those. What colour is it?
If it's my old one you don't want it. Had to have a gearbox rebuild for syncro failure which wasn't entirely successful. Chances are though if its got to 95k without obvious syncro problems the gearbox is okay. Think mine was just a bad 'un.
Tim
.=2E.but don't the AA etc offer a guarantee? i.e. if it goes wrong they'll fix it? A friend had one done on a car and to my mind it wasn't worth it. You'll get a report noting the sotne chips but it won't say that the whole rear end has been resprayed.
I'm not 100% sure what you mean. The AA don't do vehicle examinations, and haven't done so for a number of years. As far as I can see, Dekra don't offer any sort of warranty service related to their vehicle examinations.
Warranty insurance is available from other sources, but is generally seen as totally worthless here.
Chris
For £2K i would just get an HPI check for about £40 including the option to check if the mileage is genuine. Check the V5 matches the chassis no and the plate doesn't look as if it's ever been moved. Everything else is whether the car has been in a big accident or needs mechanical work, so again for that £2K I would look for overspray, buckled metalwork under the bonnet, and whether it drives well and all the electrics work.
Try the Parkers Car guide online, for about £2-3 you can purchase a buyers guide for most cars. This usually gives a few pages specific to the car you want to purchase. I've used them a few times, at least you'll have a basic idea of what goes wrong with that model of car.
Regards,
Tim
In article , Tim writes
I don't believe the AA (Dekra) or the RAC do examinations on vehicles over
10 years old, so your original query may be moot.I agree with the suggestion of paying a local mechanic to accompany you and check the car over - much cheaper.
A quick look at their website shows that Dekra will inspect vehicles of up to 15 years old.
Chris
Whoops... sorry about that. I could have sworn I saw a 10 year figure somewhere - having said that it was a while ago (3 years) since I had an (RAC) examination done.
I've just had a look at the RAC website and it states there is no maximum age. So either I imagined it all, or it has changed in the last few years.
Probably my mistake - My apologies to the OP. I'll go and lie in a darkened room now :)
Eventually got to see it today. Think we'll keep on looking :-( It was very tatty and had a couple of oil leaks, one looking like it was the steering pump (under front offside of lump) and something else further back more mid/nearside. £2k was taking the piss - I'd have considered it for 1/3 to 1/4 that but I don't suppose they'd go that far. Same dealer also had a mitsubishi chariot at the same price - L reg but not bad all round and showing 060,000 on the clock which I thought odd. Dealer said it had been imported from Tokyo some years ago where you have to be pretty well heeled to put any mileage on it given their congestion, and congestion charges. Hideous colour (SWMBO tells me :-)) and knacked n/s front electric window and a bit small.
We did notice that the Chariot's back seats fold flat to make a level (but rather high) load space whereas the Synergie's ones seemed fixed so very limited large-load capacity.
Ho hum, back to autotrader.com
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