Urgent reassurance required!

I've found a Leon Cupra keenly priced locally.

The guy classes himself as trade, but his cars appear to be priced in the same ball-park as private sales. The business is run from his house, so he has no overheads like a standard dealer.

Website:http://www.wentworthsportscars.com/stocklist.htm

Having never bought a second hand car before, I'm obviously being very cautious and want to make sure there is nothing dodgy about it.

He will happily accept my car as trade-in, and he will let me have the car for £10,750. It's a '53' plate with 7.6k miles (registered in Sept 03). One or two minor marks, which will be sorted before purchase. He has promised I only have to accept the vehicle if I'm satisfied. It's not in my preferred colour, but is about £1500 less than I would have to pay at a local dealer!

The Cupra is supposed to be serviced once every 10k miles or once per year (is that correct?). It is yet to be serviced, so if I buy, I think I will get it serviced immediately. Will it be a problem re. service history that it wasn't done in Sept last year ? The car will still have 18 months or so warranty so I'm assuming I'll be well covered in that respect.

However, things I don't know about buying second hand are:

- do I have any come-back to him if things go wrong ?
- does it sound dodgy to you ? (how can I check that everything is legit ?)

I've checked the V5 etc and it was originally supplied by a dealer in Hampton Court area (I'm guessing this means it's not an import). The guy will run an HPI check, but I think for peace of mind, I'll do my own too.

- is there anything I should be looking out for (I've checked the VIN and the car seemed ok on the test drive) ?
- Can someone reassure me that this is a good (or bad!) idea!

Some of these questions may sound a bit daft, but I want to make sure I'm getting a legit deal.

Cheers.

 

Since it hasn't been serviced according to the manufacturer's schedule that will probably invalidate the Seat warranty.

Make sure you get your own HPI check done and find out who the previous owner was so that you can give them a call to find out its history.

 

Checked with a Seat dealer. The warranty is invalidated, but can be reinstated if serviced immediately and checked over by Seat. The dealer didn't imply it would be a problem, but I've asked the seller to sort this out before I agree to purchase the vehicle.

 

My dad nearly bought a car from this kind of setup once, it was a huge mansion in Poynton, Cheshire. However the Escort had 48,000 yet the gearknob was worn and the seats had tears in it, he also claimed to have bought the car form a dealer who supplies him the cars.

We got a vibe that somthing wasn't quite right and walked away. My dads escort he has now which was identical the other one has done 82,000 miles and not a sign of seat wear so its quite obvious it had been clocked.

You can use you instint, if you think it all seems genuine and everything checks out go for it, if you even have a slight doubt about the cars history I would walk away.

 

History seems ok. HPI check done and nothing out of order with it. I think it's much hard for the dodgy dealer types now with the large number of checks etc that are carried out and the amount of information that is available over the internet for consumers. I don't have any bad vibes about it, I'm probably just being over-cautious because 1) I've never bought second hand before and 2) I'm buying the car second hand from someone who isn't a main dealer (although I know also that main dealers can con you as much as the next person).

The guy says he specifically doesn't deal in cheap, high mileage cars because he wants to attract only quality customers (AT - no offence meant. He was referring to people with large families/debts that try to persuade him to halve the price of the car with some kind of sob story).

 

With cars if it smells like a turd it probably is a turd. If it looks good and clean and everything checks out it shouldn't be a problem. I'd check a few Seat dealers and make sure they all tell the same story re the warranty, if they do you should be fine.
HPI it I think there's a more extensive check that will give you better comeback should they be wrong. Will your dealer give you a warranty, or is he relying upon the Seat one? If he is make sure he includes getting it reinstated as part of the deal. I'd consider an AA check as well. For about £100 you are getting reassurance you're not being done up like a kipper. They'll make sure there's no mechanical or physical reason it's cheaper, and if the seller objects to having this done walk away.

 

I bought my car from a similar dealer, who similarly was priced lower than many. However, he was utterly resistant to haggling, and I only got the price down by £100. However, he had brought the car to me to test drive and so on.

I spent £150 or so on having an AA history and mechanical check done, which turned up nothing but gives some coverage in case there is major mechanical mishap (which they missed).

In the coming up on two years I have had the car, I've not had any untoward problems with it at all.

 

Amazingtrade
I know size is relative but we don't have any huge mansions in Poynton believe me.

Bob