Considering purchasing a car I have seen, a Mazda 323 1.6 GXI, late
2002 model. It is a private sale, and all paperwork is sound. Car is seemingly fine mechanically, and compared to other offers it's priced about =A3500 to =A3600 less, as there is not a huge supply, and most on offer are from dealerships.The thing is, to save the money, I'd have to spend a bit fixing the rear wheel arches. The car is actually 7.5 years old if we count the months from production, and the arches are in a very bad way for a
323.It's just cosmetic, but if I plan to keep the car for a year or two then sell it on, it would be seen for what it is - a great medium mileage car in otherwise good condition, but with very obvious rear arch rust that could spread further around the flared arch, if it hasn't done so invisibly underneath already.
What sort of rough cost would I be looking at for a rough DIY job that would be reasonably satisfactory, and what is a garage who deals with these repairs likely to charge, assuming I don't want it pristine perfect, given the car is not a new car?
I get the impression I could use a wire brush, spend a day over it, use some anti-rust treatment to convert the rust to a harmless compound, use some basic filler if required, flatten out, sand down to finish, and paint, following by protection overcoat. The car is silver, so the rust is really obvious, and would put off another buyer I feel unless I deal with it upon purchase.
If I could get a garage to do it for =A3150 max as a rough job in which they can rush, safe in the knowledge that it wont be perfect, but a damn sight more invisible than it is now, with lesser chance of reappearing within a year then I see that as potentially worth it.
The arches are bad for their age, and I think Mazda did fix many 323s in similar condition under warranty a few years ago, just a shame the one I'm looking at didn't have it done!
Thanks in advance.