Car garage won't allow extended test drive or independent inspection

[MrGreedy]

It's a good point about the warranty; the garage offers 3 monthd RAC gold warranty, which can be extended, but I've only read horror stories about the RAC warranties.

Can anyone suggest a different warranty option with guess on cost?

 

[MrGreedy]

What model of S211 is it out of interest?, I had a W211 E55K a long time ago now and it was pretty solid to be fair, except the SBC pump and rust!.

2008 post facelift E320 CDI. Rust issues should be minimal and no SBC

 

[SW18]

What’s the car’s service history? If it’s patchy then you might be better to walk away. If it’s excellent and recently seen a decent mechanic, do you need a detailed inspection?

 

[MrGreedy]

Apparently, thanks to GDPR, car garages are chucking all receipts away, and Mercedes will no longer let you know what work has been done.
I think it's got 9 mercedes and independent stamps in the book, but what does this mean without the detail?

The seller (who hasn't been ****y throughout this) said he now sees a lot of Main Dealers take the receipts and tear them up and throw them in the bin.

 

[MrGreedy]

if they're like this before you've parted with cash, god knows what they're be like if you get problems.

When buying a second hand car, I treat all purchases like you absolutely cannot rely on the selling garage one little bit, and I expect they view me as a walking pay check. Therefore, I am going to be naturally cautious when buying second hand. In this instance, it's a 250 mile round trip, so I wouldn't be back and forth sorting bits and pieces out.

The only exception to this would be if the right car came up at Mercland, in which case I would be much more assured and is take their 2 year warranty.
I work in the same town, so they will be servicing regardless of where I end up buying from.

 

[MrGreedy]

He’s possibly had his fingers burnt by potential buyers taking it to “their” mechanic who then duly rips the car to shreds, potential buyer takes car back to trader with list a mile long demanding to pay £1.20 for the car.

Yeah, I can appreciate this.
Personally, if it's got more than a couple of cheap things wrong with it, I'd walk and not haggle, but the trader's not to know this. A less wary customer will probably come along and pay at or near ticket price so I can see why it would be better for them to wait. Just a bit less hassle for then.

 

[John]

I'd leave them to it personally.

Last car I bought from an independent trader... they came out with me for a test drive which was fine with me and it was around 30 > 40 minutes.

I then asked if they wouldn't mind driving the car to the place I intended to look after it in future for an inspection.

They happily agreed, they took it there, we agreed on what they would and wouldn't fix and even gave me £500 off and allowed me to view all the history so I could verify it.

I stuck to the commitment I made and happily handed over the cash which to be fair, was over-book but very worth the money.

Any whiff of "Admin fee", "No test drive without deposit", "No test drive without buying the car first", "No inspection" and generally being as unhelpful as possible gets a WTF from me and I will happily allow them to sell it to someone else.

Risk is a personal choice and it cuts both ways... I can well imagine some traders get messed around by the same general public as we do when we sell cars privately so I get it, but I am not interested in spending a lot of money on something I know very little about.

Don't know much about warranties. I prefer to self-warrant a car and keep a slush-fund. I know Quentin Wilson is involved with Warrantywise so I would presume they are good and I've heard good things about Warranty Direct. But I always work on the theory they aren't even worth lining a cat tray with.

 

[Alex225]

He probably thinks that he can sell it to someone less demanding.

I suspect it's nothing more sinister than this. It still amazes me how hesitant and unhelpful some sales people can be when buying a car.

I'd imagine a 15 minute test drive should give you a sign of if the cars decent but if you want an inspection I'd expect to take the mechanic there. I can see why the seller may be slightly hesitant having the car taken off somewhere.

 

[MrGreedy]

I can see why the seller may be slightly hesitant having the car taken off somewhere.

I can too, but I'd happily leave my car, a large (say, £3k security) and my passport if it makes them happy. This in my mind demonstrates I'm serious and not messing them around.

I'll move on to the long (waiting) game. I keep swaying between the saloon and estate.
Interestingly, there are only 3 sport estates on Autotrader at the moment with near 100k mileage, varying from £5.5k, to £6k and then £6.7k.
This is very strong money in my book as the one I wanted was on and went for £5k earlier in January. I was just dithering on the fence and now massively regret it.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

There’s a very strong tendency on motoring forums to think that everyone is as particular about motoring matters as they are when the fact is about 99% of normal folk don’t give a rats ass - they go and look at a car, test drive it, ask how much the monthlies are, sign on the dotted line and then drive off and car traders are used to this.


Certainly asking to lend the car to someone who wants to take it on a 250 round trip so your chosen mechanic can rip it to shreds will not sound particularly enticing to a second hand car dealer...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

So its ok for them to sell you a dog but not ok for your to get a second opinion!

Where did I say that?

I’m giving an alternative opinion to the standard motoring forum expectations and the trader should accommodate every and any request and if they don’t then they’re all rogues and shysters!

 

[MrGreedy]

Certainly asking to lend the car to someone who wants to take it on a 250 round trip so your chosen mechanic can rip it to shreds will not sound particularly enticing to a second hand car dealer...

I totally agree, which is why I wanted to test drive the car and pay for their reasonable costs. I woukd have even paid a deposit subject to satisfactory inspection. Plus, I'd liaised with Paul Evans Merc Indy Specialist in Harlow, who was going to squeeze me in at short notice for an inspection. It's 14 miles each way, which i don't think is unreasonable distance for a test drive.

 

[Dryce]

the fact is about 99% of normal folk don’t give a rats ass - they go and look at a car, test drive it, ask how much the monthlies are, sign on the dotted line and then drive off and car traders are used to this.

AIUI only a minority of buyers test drive.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I totally agree, which is why I wanted to test drive the car and pay for their reasonable costs. I woukd have even paid a deposit subject to satisfactory inspection. Plus, I'd liaised with Paul Evans Merc Indy Specialist in Harlow, who was going to squeeze me in at short notice for an inspection. It's 14 miles each way, which i don't think is unreasonable distance for a test drive.

As I mentioned earlier, they’re so used to folk just turning up and saying “ooh, nice wheels” that when someone like yourself does, they just think it’s too much hassle and go cold (as I assume they’re doing here)

 

[Deleted member 37751]

AIUI only a minority of buyers test drive.

I was being generous.

 

[SW18]

AIUI only a minority of buyers test drive.

I once bought a 2-year-old Toyota from a dealer without a test drive. But I reckoned the risk of it being a dog was very low. I’d always want to test drive an older car especially after the manufacturer’s warranty ends.

 

[Dryce]

I totally agree, which is why I wanted to test drive the car and pay for their reasonable costs. I woukd have even paid a deposit subject to satisfactory inspection. Plus, I'd liaised with Paul Evans Merc Indy Specialist in Harlow, who was going to squeeze me in at short notice for an inspection. It's 14 miles each way, which i don't think is unreasonable distance for a test drive.

As has been said - there is the issue of VED and trade plates.

There is also the issue of trust. There are enough stories of would be buyers getting up to tricks. You know you and trust yourself. The dealer doesn't and will have seen all sorts of game played by people.

So for all of those who advise you to walk because of the dealer's response - there is probably a dealer forum where the dealer could tell his story about a customer wanting the car for several hours and fellow dealers advising how to tell the customer where to go.

 

[MrGreedy]

I was being generous.

brilliant. Had a good chuckle at this

 

[MrGreedy]

I’m giving an alternative opinion to the standard motoring forum expectations and the trader should accommodate every and any request and if they don’t then they’re all rogues and shysters!

As has been said - there is the issue of VED and trade plates.

There is also the issue of trust. There are enough stories of would be buyers getting up to tricks.

So for all of those who advise you to walk because of the dealer's response - there is probably a dealer forum where the dealer could tell his story about a customer wanting the car for several hours and fellow dealers advising how to tell the customer where to go.

I appreciate the input. For my benefit, could you clarify your recommendation(s) and give the benefit of your experience?
I'm not sure if you're recommending walk away and find a more accommodating seller, or I need to modify my buying expectations and take a bigger risk, or something else.

As I said, not really bought many cars so I was just trying to do what I thought was sensible, only to be scoffed at by the seller for potentially living in a dream world (my heavily paraphrased interpretation, rather than what was said politely by the seller).

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I appreciate the input. For my benefit, could you clarify your recommendation(s) and give the benefit of your experience?
I'm not sure if you're recommending walk away and find a more accommodating seller, or I need to modify my buying expectations and take a bigger risk, or something else.

I don’t think there’s any harm in asking what you’ve asked of him, it’s just I would have expected that reaction.

If I really want to be able to have a mechanic look over it, I’d either look a lot nearer to home and try and get it over to him or pay said mechanic to come with me to view.

Having said that, you do sound savvy so I doubt there’ll be much that gets past you anyway but if it does - and it’s major - at least you’ve got some sort of fallback with buying from a trader via the warranty.