advice on buying 1995 defender 90

it has 31,500 miles, and was crashed (Cat D) at 24,000 miles, and apparently fully repaired. it's a 300 TDi engine. comes with new tyres, snorkel, underbody protection. i spoke to the owner briefly on the phone and will phone him again later to discuss more details, but he said it was owned by a farmer who crashed it, and the insurance company didn't want to repair it so he sold it. then this new owner bought it and repaired it fully and has had for the last 10,000 miles. i couldn't make out all the details of the crash, but he said the chassis was not affected and he sounds very convinced of its long term road-worthiness. the price is £4750 which is great compared to what you get here in ireland, even after the vehicle reg tax and vat.

i'd be mainly using it on the roads, but would like it to be able to stand up to some light off-road use. i'll be asking the guy about the service history, receipts + detail of repair work etc., but i'm hoping someone can give me advice on anything to look out for? i'm a bit concerned about investing so much in an 11 year old car, but with such a low mileage it could go on for years.

thanks in advance tim.

Get an engineers report and save yourself a wasted journey, deal with the engineer via net and phone. ~ £150 would see a good report and if all is OK you will have piece of mind. Personally if it's too good to be true I would walk away or at very least be ultra suspicious. Crashed and scrapped at 24k miles seems a bit extreme for a good vehicle unless the truth is being stretched.

"Hirsty's" wrote in news:HwySf.457$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net:

I purchased my written off 200Tdi from the insurers for £650. The insurers paid out the written down value - £3,500. Cost another £500 plus my own labour to put back on the road. (New rear cross member and secondhand tub). Rompted through the MOT. Sold it for £4,300. The buyer, who is local, reckons he got a bargain.

Land Rovers are like Meccano. It would not worry me that it had been rebuilt. But it makes sense to get that engineer's report.

Funny thing, though. My 200Tdi had been imported from Eire and it was my impression that they are cheaper out there. But what do I know?

Derry

hi derry, thanks for the positive story. i'm pretty sure i'll go with this guy because he sounds like a very decent chap. spoke to him on the phone for an hour last night and he was very down to earth, and forthright about the details of the crash, etc. i'm also glad of hirsty's advice to get the engineers report, thanks!

in ireland, there are so few defenders that it's very hard to get what you're looking for. there are only 7 defenders for sale on the leading irish car trader web site 'cbg.ie'

and most ofthem are commercial hard-tops, and incredibly expensive. compare thata gzillion defenders on autotrader.co.uk and you can see why it is avery viable option to import from the UK. a quick ferry trip, pay 10%Vehicle Registration Tax, + 21% vat, and it's still worthwhile. theVRT is a disguised import tax, and it would usually be 30% except thatthe defender is classed differently to other 4x4 vehicles. i gather that servicing for defenders is very expensive here, so i'm going to learn to do as much as i can myself. i'm really starting from scratch, so i'll need to find out what additions are needed to my very basic toolbox, and equally basic mechanic skills. i'm also on the lookout for a worn winch and some side step bars.

thanks again for the post. tim

"Tim_Mac" wrote in news:1142671377.193282.229010 @j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Absolutely! Lots of helpful guys here too and a veritable fund of knowledge.

No ex-MOD Defenders up north? Might be worth checking out. Did you say you'd tried autotrader? (The site has a "distance from home" box which is useful).

Derry

hi derry. Autotrader.ie has only one defender 90 on sale at the mo, i guess defenders are the type of car people tend to hang on to. i'm on the lookout for a set of side runners to start with, but i'll get the car brought over and let things settle a bit first. thanks for the tips, i'm sure i'll be back soon with more questions :) tim

"Tim_Mac" wrote in news:1142705491.905390.78900 @e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

You're right! I'm amazed. Mind you, that doesn't look a bad vehicle -- though the seller is suspiciously silent about the mileage.

Good luck in your hunt. As you say, plenty on this side.

Derry