Buying advice

[markjay]

...* The motor trade devalue an ex taxi by approx 20%...

Out of curiosity, do you have information refarding ex-rentals as well? I.e. Avis, Hertz, etc? Or are these not devalued in the same way that ex-taxis are?

 

[Brandon007]

Sadly not true! Of the 365 different licensing councils all with their own ideas (I'm not going to bore you with all the different standards adopted) you can in fact license a car without an inspection... That's one of many many myths surrounding private hire vehicles.

 

[Brandon007]

Sadly not TRUE!!!!!! So many people including the trade believe this to be true and it is not, the 350 plus licensing councils across England, Scotland and Wales all have their own licensing criteria so it's an old wives tale I'm afraid...

 

[Brandon007]

oops...had a glass of red (not driving) this is my first time today posting on a forum so please forgive me

 

[Brandon007]

All clear

I'm chuffed, I seem to spend my recent life upsetting folk ha ha

 

[rtfm]

This looks like an important and interesting service to potential buyers. Well done.



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[Brandon007]

This looks like an important and interesting service to potential buyers. Well done.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you, I hope it helps inform buyers as dealers are very reluctant to tell consumers and that's all manufacturers

 

[Brandon007]

Call the seller and ask him to come and pick you up. If he says “I’ll be there in ten minutes”. It’s a mini cab.


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That was so funny, I'm an old chap so should I use lol?

 

[unimog]

Out of curiosity, do you have information refarding ex-rentals as well? I.e. Avis, Hertz, etc? Or are these not devalued in the same way that ex-taxis are?

Ex rental cars get a hard life... unless its ridiculously cheap who would want one? I have recently rented Vauxhalls and Peugeots from Europcar with interstellar milage that stink inside and externally look like they have done a tour of Afghanistan, despite being just a year old...

Unfortunately when it comes to rental cars the manufacturers have been sneaky for a long time regarding this. A lot of MBUK/VAG/BMW/Jaguar registered cars are 'loaned' to rental fleets for 12-15000 miles/6-12 month periods and the rental companies pay the difference between new and disposal price. Peugeot and VW started this a number of years ago, helps keep lots of late model nearly new cars in the system and helps resale, sensible for the manufacturer but not necessarily good for the consumer!

I bought my daughter a six month old mini, a few days after I was concerned it might have been a Sixt renter after I got a similar car at an Airport, When I looked properly at the V5 the previous keeper was in fact Mini Press Office, which was confirmed by Sytner's, It had been used by the factory. I never thought to ask when I bought it, but it turned out ok.

 

[markjay]

The difficulty is that when the registered keeper for the first 2 or 3 years is showing as a finance company, it is impossible to tell who drove the car or how it was driven.

It may have been driven by one careful driver, but equally it may have been a company hack or an airport shuttle.

Sometimes you just have to go by mileage and condition....

 

[Petrol Pete]

All diesel E class Merc's come out of the factory as Taxi's, it's just that not all of them get used as such...

 

[unimog]

The difficulty is that when the registered keeper for the first 2 or 3 years is showing as a finance company, it is impossible to tell who drove the car or how it was driven.

It may have been driven by one careful driver, but equally it may have been a company hack or an airport shuttle.

Sometimes you just have to go by mileage and condition....

I have had a few lease cars through MBFS, all of which when returned by me and sold I have been contacted by the new buyer (I had the V5 in my name c/o MBFS) asking if I ran the car solely or it was a pool car. They also usually ask where the spare key is which I obviously returned to avoid the £400 penalty charge!!!

 

[Justintyme]

Some where deep in the bowels of the electronics, there has to be a place where the true mileage is stored? That and a verifiable service history is what I would be looking at.

 

[markjay]

Some where deep in the bowels of the electronics, there has to be a place where the true mileage is stored? That and a verifiable service history is what I would be looking at.

The Digital Service Book should help?

 

[Justintyme]

The Digital Service Book should help?

Hi Mark, That's the first I have heard of this Book... can you tell me a bit more about it? How to access it? I presume that it's individual to each car? A digital version of the old stamped service booklet?

 

[John]

What if the car is clocked back before a service each time prior to the MOT tests starting?

You would never know...

 

[markjay]

As of 2007, Mercedes Benz cars are not supplied with a paper service book.

Instead, the services are recorded on MB's central computer system.

Owners can have online access to their own vehicle's service record via the Internet, but if you are looking to buy a second hand car then you can go to an MB dealer with the VIN number and ask for a print-out of the car's service record.

As John said, in theory the car could have been clocked between two services, so there's no guaranty that it's accurate. But between the MOT history and the service history you can, in most cases, get a reliable picture of the car's mileage.

Said that, if the car is pre-2007, or if it wasn't serviced by a dealer or by an independent specialist with access to the digital system, then the services won't be recorded and this won't be much help.

 

[Justintyme]

What if the car is clocked back before a service each time prior to the MOT tests starting?

You would never know...

Yes,but I think that in a car as complicated as this, there has to be some place in the electronics, where the true mileage would be stored, a place which would be impossible to access and tamper with?. As far as I know, the mileage is recorded in more than one place in the Mercedes?

 

[runju26]

Check the MOT history on the gov.uk website, taxi or private hire vehicles are checked / MOT’d every 6 months....

 

[John]

Yes,but I think that in a car as complicated as this, there has to be some place in the electronics, where the true mileage would be stored, a place which would be impossible to access and tamper with?. As far as I know, the mileage is recorded in more than one place in the Mercedes?

I think that too but the majority of people won't be able to access and who selling the car will have any interested in finding that out...

Scary really.