Buyers remorse online Auction, can I pull out of purchase ?

[SW18]

Bentley - Wikipedia

The link didn’t quite work as intended but if you flick through to the Vickers years, you’ll see that in some years they couldn’t even flog 10 a week!!

Back in the 1980’s Crewe needed to sell (from memory) around 75 cars a week to break even, and it was often quite close. Cost control measures apply even at the top end of the market.

Another little anecdote from that period:

Top speed of the then current turbo cars was limited to (again, from memory) 135mph by opening the turbo wastegate to dump boost. When my mate asked why I thought they did that my guess was that it was done to limit temperature load on the tyres, but I was wrong. The issue was that at high speeds a low pressure zone existed around the top of the doors, and the window frames weren’t stiff enough to resist the resulting force, meaning that they started to pull away from the seals giving rise to increased wind noise. Limiting the maximum speed to a number that kept the wind noise low was a much cheaper solution than re-engineering stiffer window frames.

Over a few beers, I did suggest to my mate that they could offer a chargeable “high speed kit” to customers, that would include removal of the speed limiter. The wind noise would be cured by putting an eye bolt in the top of each window frame, and then a length of piano wire with a turnbuckle in the middle would be strung between the eye bolts, across the car, and tightened until the wind noise was eliminated. For some reason that escapes me, he didn’t think it viable

Reminds me of a story (maybe apocryphal) about Aston Martin in the ‘60s. The story goes that the crown prince of Monaco visited the factory to buy one, but told them he’d only pay cost price. “Thank you, your highness” came the reply, “all our other customers pay rather less than that!”

 

[Darrell]

Reminds me of a story (maybe apocryphal) about Aston Martin in the ‘60s. The story goes that the crown prince of Monaco visited the factory to buy one, but told them he’d only pay cost price. “Thank you, your highness” came the reply, “all our other customers pay rather less than that!”

That’s pretty much how it came out although I’ve heard it was a different head of state and the manufacturer gave some money on top!!

 

[alabbasi]

it totally outshone my dads boring XJ12C.

Remind me to tell the story about my XJ12C someday. Like the 6.3, it's another never ending saga.

 

[219]

Sub 7s and sub 10mpg

I saw something about the fuel injection pump coming off a Heinkel aircraft engine.

Think it was the ME109 . And the RAF bought a 300SL in the 1950s to reverse engineer it .

 

[219]

One of my neighbours has a 70’s Silver Shadow (I think that’s the model) and another has an 80’s Bentley Turbo. But I’ve always understood that the Arnage is a more complex proposition with more costly brakes and suspension. Maybe I’m wrong...

For a while you could buy Shadows and then later Spirits for two or three grand , usually very tired ex carriage trade examples . I know you no longer pick them up for that money these days .

My 199 blue/black 500SEL was an ex funeral car .

 

[219]

Correct the shadow and spirit is all based on Citroen. The very early cars had 4 wheel SLS, later ones went to the rear. It's a complex system requiring special fluid and accumulators that need rebuilding. Be weary of anyone selling a rolls royce that 'needs a brake job'.

And also the hydropneumatics carried over to MB - used in the 6.9 and then the estate cars , starting with the W123 . Latterly the W126 560SEL had a pure hydropneumatic setup ( no springs ) and all used citroen type accumulator spheres ; many used citroen fluid in their cars as it was cheaper than MB branded ZHM .

 

[alabbasi]

And also the hydropneumatics carried over to MB - used in the 6.9 and then the estate cars , starting with the W123 . Latterly the W126 560SEL had a pure hydropneumatic setup ( no springs ) and all used citroen type accumulator spheres ; many used citroen fluid in their cars as it was cheaper than MB branded ZHM .

Yep, the suspension portion seems to work pretty reliably on all of them. I've never had to replace a strut on a 6.9, W126 or a wagon. SLS valves were pretty reliable too for that matter. I think I have 7-8 cubes sitting around the shop from previous 6.9 and 4 wheel hydro W126's that I've dismantled and never used them. I've only had to replace the 5 accumulators.

Brakes on the other hand? I have had two shadows who's brakes would lock up as soon as you run the engine. When they work however, the work amazingly well and stop that 6000lbs beast on a dime. The shadows used a fluid called RR363 which is DOT 3 based. Many people today are swapping in DOT 3 mixed with about 10% castor oil to lube the pumps. Later SZ cars used LHM which is green stuff and is what Citroen used. I believe it was also used on Jags with SLS.

I've seen plenty of MB's using ATF for hydraulic suspension fluid. While I've never tried it, it seems to work.

 

[st13phil]

Brakes on the other hand? I have had two shadows who's brakes would lock up as soon as you run the engine. When they work however, the work amazingly well and stop that 6000lbs beast on a dime.

Many don't realise that Royce in that era were one of the very few manufacturers who fitted true power (rather than power assisted) brakes to their cars. The only other one that springs to mind is some models of Citroen. The brake pedal just operates a spool valve and brake pedal "feel" on those Royces is provided by a rubber cone of which there were different variants available so that the feel could be tuned to the driver's preference. ISTR that the hydraulic accumulator was sized to permit up to 30 full-power stops without the engine running. After that you were on your own...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Any updates from the OP?

 

[Darrell]

Any updates from the OP?

 

[Darrell]

I’ve got an old episode of Columbo on and they’ve just blown up a Corniche fhc.

 

[Jatboy]

Just to close this one, they agreed to rewind the deal as the sales person had gotten a bit carried away as he describing the SH without checking 1st with the owner. I asked if they would contribute to a full service as a concession. They declined due to the perceived cost. Consumer protection is useful against over zealous sales people, fortunately.

Thanks for some useful posts on this topic.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Just to close this one, they agreed to rewind the deal

Sorry, "rewind" the deal?

as the sales person had gotten a bit carried away as he describing the SH without checking 1st with the owner.

SH ?

 

[whitenemesis]

SH = Service History?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Sorry, "rewind" the deal?

His **** fell out once he’d woken up and he found a big enough hole to wriggle through to save him buying the car.

SH ?

Service History.

 

[Jatboy]

His **** fell out once he’d woken up and he found a big enough hole to wriggle through to save him buying the car.


Service History.

Sorry, but my what fell out ?? I wasn't trying to wriggle out of anything, as I say, I was still prepared to buy it if someone backed up the reassurances given before I had bid on the car. Like I say, this is a bucket list car for me, just don't like being misled, which is why I decided to pull them up on it.

Rewind just means to retract my winning bid from the auction.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Sorry, but my what fell out?

Your ar5e fell out, you admitted so yourself in the title of the thread..!

I wasn't trying to wriggle out of anything, as I say, I was still prepared to buy it if someone backed up the reassurances given before I had bid on the car. Like I say, this is a bucket list car for me, just don't like being misled, which is why I decided to pull them up on it.

You didn’t read the auction terms and conditions then backtracked - they quite clearly state that they act for the vendor and it’s up to the buyer to do their homework before bidding.

Rewind just means to retract my winning bid from the auction.

The way you talk about “consumer rights” and your general tone around “your rights” I’d suggest you might want to stick to buying from a dealer; at least they build the cost of “buyers remorse” into their business model.

 

[ChrisEdu]

I often buy things at auction. The most important thing is to ask the auction house for a condition report, separate from their general description / listing, as this then forms part of your contract with them, in as much as if the item fails to match the requested report, you can return it.

Auction houses are often quite reserved with their descriptions, to avoid any potential issues, putting the onus on the buyer.

However, this all assumes that there was the facility for bidders to view the items prior to purchase. In the absence of such a facility being available, I'm not too sure what the situation would be. I would guess, that their description would become part of the contractual agreement, so if incorrect it could be deemed to nullify your contract to purchase.

Edit: forgot to mention, normally it is not the auction house that you're agreement to buy is with, rather the party putting the item for auction. The auction house merely acts as an intermediary.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

I think you have just found your own way out but that is only my opinion.

If I had put my hand up and ended up buying I'd have stuck to it.
Even if I had remorse I'd have moved the thing on and took it on the chin but that is just my way.

You bid, had a thought, looked for a way out then went about trying to justify this, lets not beat about the bush.

Did you ever confirm if the car in question was the one linked to which was well described?

 

[Jatboy]

I guess some people just want to believe what they want in that case Partick. All I can tell you is what happened in my experience.

This auction had the phone number of a sales rep to answer questions during the auction, the auction lasted for several days. It was those answers from the sale rep which turned out to be misleading regarding the completeness of the Service History. The auction house management were fine and acknowledged the issue.


Chris, i spoke with the consumer rights people at the time. Their view was, whoever's advertising the car and taking your money at the end dictates the kind of sale and protection possible.