Max Bradley - A Good Used Car Dealer I've Found in Essex

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Chrishazle

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
5,419
Location
Nr Ashford, Kent
Car
2008 S204 C220CDI Elegance Estate Auto, 2008 R171 facelift SLK280 Auto.
Users on here will know of Jaymanek on Mercland, who has a well earned and excellent reputation - but in Nuneaton, which may be a bit away for some. I'm just buying a 2008 SLK280 and saw a S204 C250 being delivered to new owner while I was there, both of which were mint, and was very pleasantly surprised about dealing with Max Bradley at Used Cars and Vans Maldon,, Used Car and Van Dealer in Essex | Max Bradley Cars. I've bought and sold many cars over the years, main dealer, smaller dealer and private, and dealing with Max has been excellent (so far anyway, don't collect the car for a week). I'd certainly recommend him as a place to look if you're a fter a second hand car, he specialises in MB but also has others, and as a result of taking my 968 tip cab in PX is now 2branching out" into classics!
 
Bought our SLK280 from him. Car was well presented & he was good to deal with.
Subsequently found that car has previously been minor accident repaired - front drivers side wing & drivers door.
Did he know??
 
Perhaps not - the 280 I'm buying failed MoT in 2014 on brake lines corroded - 3 out of 4 badly enough to be a fail, the 4th well on its way. He did not know, but one of the service invoices shows them being replaced for MoT failure! Although he's a good guy to deal with, you still have to do your own "due diligence"!!
 
Perhaps not - the 280 I'm buying failed MoT in 2014 on brake lines corroded - 3 out of 4 badly enough to be a fail, the 4th well on its way. He did not know, but one of the service invoices shows them being replaced for MoT failure! Although he's a good guy to deal with, you still have to do your own "due diligence"!!


Are you expecting a 2008 slk to be in "As new" condition ?
 
No, but it is in very good condition! He'd also overlooked that the MoT ran out the day we were viewing, but after we left he immediately took it for MoT and it passed. plus he added some fuel - and put 99RON in rather than cheaper 95RON, I'll be doing the same as that's what I run my 968 on. My point was that you need to do your own due diligence before viewing - which I had done so had a list of questions and things to look at.
 
I'm reconsidering my view on Mr Bradley and for now withdraw my "recommendation"!!

I knew the car had not been serviced to MB standard, and having gone through the provided history and service invoices knew it was due a B service plus plugs, combination filter and brake fluid change, so booked it in to MTA (formerly Mastertech) who are German car specialists and look after the C220 for us - and happen to now be a mile away at the bottom of our village! Took it to them this morning, less than an hour later get a phone call "you need to come down and see this". Cue palpitations!

Car on ramp with under engine covers off. Double oil hose leaking and close to failure. Oil leak from a rear of engine cover that's obviously been off before (no mention in supplied history) as 2 bolts had not been replaced. Signs of front NS damage repair. Front NS shock and top mount corroded and leaking. Rust patch on front OS chassis rail "hidden" with waxoyl of similar. All suspension bushes twisting and buggered. Rear barke pads 3mm but falling apart, discs look skimmed and questionable (front pads OK). Geometry way out so car pulls right. all this made Ben abort his test drive as he thought something was broken in the steering/suspension!

Now awaiting Ben's report, photos and price to fix, and already know that the £4-500 I was expecting for the service etc will be £1500-2000! Once I have Ben's report and quote I will be contacting Mr Bradley, wonder how I stand in law about getting him to contribute towards the additional costs. Also wonder what SWMBO will say when I give her the news - she was here when the phone call came but out when I came back from seeing the car.
 
Car is a couple of weeks 'old' to you so the usual trader responsibilities stand. Whether he is willing to pay ball is another thing.
 
I would push to reject it. You're within 30 days?
 
Don't want to reject it, took long enough to find an R171 SLK280-350 not black not silver and all the right toys (200+ SLK's up to 3.5L on Autotrader ATM, only 1 comes anywhere close but not close enough!). Not sure if it was this thread or the matching one on t'other side, but someone flagged it to Max and he phoned me, I have forwarded to him MTA's report and quote and a suggested reasonable way forward (called him contributing 1/2 the cost of the additional unexpected items) and will see what happens. He talks af getting the car back to him for his mechanic to do things, but I've specified I want any work done to be at MTA, known and close by rather than unknown (to me) and 2 hours away.
 
Reject it and get an AMG :D
 
The first thing that struck me was that this recommendation was made before the OP even had the car. Sure he was pleasant to deal with but anyone selling you a car would be. The proof of the pudding is how the car is and how he deals with problems.

On what basis did you decide the car was “mint” ?

Far too early to be posting a recommendation on a forum in my opinion.
 
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, thankyou for that Slimjim:rolleyes::rolleyes:. Externally and internally the car appeared really good, checking underneath, especially on a ramp after removing the undertrays, was not an option - I have enough problems standing these days, hands and knees or crawling under a car is a no no. Test drive appeared OK, but I knew it needed a B service so had built that into the negotiations (the car I was PX'ing also needed the 968 equivalent!). I also knew that I would swiftly get it to my local good MB indie for full inspection and service, not expecting anything like what he found especially as it was MoT'd the afternoon that we saw it, and passed with no advisories. I'm pretty sure Max is also surprised, which is why he is calling MTA tomorrow morning so after seeing their report and quote he can ask questions himself - and see if through his contact at his local MB main dealer he can better MTA's parts prices, then possibly send them to MTA for fitting as he is 2 hours drive from me.

So far Max's reaction - after someone alerted him to my first post today on here or t'other side - has been pretty good, so I'm hopeful of an acceptable outcome.
 
Car dealers hey, little tinkers.

BMW I bought from an independent dealer was MOT’d the day I picked it up, no advisories, straight through.

On the way home I realised the windscreen washers didn’t work, turned out they were full of algae and completely blocked, how odd the mot station hadn’t picked that up, along with the rear tyre tread which was pretty close to having come completely detached from the carcass on the inner edge.

Don’t believe these dealers don’t notice these faults, they have a nose for it when buying the car, just that it always seems to slip through the net and that of their tame mot station, who are under extreme pressure to give no advisories on mots to dealers.

Of course now they will be oh so sorry, how did this happen, etc etc, because they have been caught out and don’t want a bad review online.

This also applies to franchised dealers, our Discovery 4 was supplied to us having had just one set of rear pads changed, you’ve guessed it, the side with the brake wear sensor on it, other side down to the metal
 
The saga continues! Max is collecting the car either today or tomorrow to take it back and have his mechanic sort out all the additional items that MTA have identified as needing rectification (at his cost!) and will then deliver the car back to me. He also offered to do the B service etc that I had booked the car into MTA for, at a price he said would be cheaper than MTA, but I declined and will take the car straight back to MTA once it's returned to me. MTA will of course re-inspect the car and confirm that all is well! Thinking positive, the outcome could be better (read - much cheaper for me!!) than expected, but it will be at least another week before we know.

Edit - he is collecting the car from MTA today.
 
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Fingers crossed for a successful outcome.

Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Ian, I'll keep the thread updated as/when I know more.
 

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