Warning - Peteborough Car Centre http://www.peterboroughcarcentre.co.uk Review

[IanA2]

And with your car being heavily modded and the risk of paying insurance through the nose for all the mods (and criminal offence and void insurance if they are not declared)

Not sure it's a criminal offence.....

 

[Stocho]

Not sure it's a criminal offence.....

Apart from the usual route of: failure to disclose ----> invalid insurance ----> driving without insurance which in itself is a route to a crimina conviction there is also S16 of the Theft Act 1968 Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Fo relatively minor transgressions I can not see S16 of the Theft Act 1968 bing used. So with minor mods th mosre likely result is just insurance poicy bein cancelled and possible conviction for driving with no insurance. This course of events will see insurance premium skyrocketing but at least might not damage job prospects for most people.

With major mods being not declared S16 of the Theft Act 1968 is the possibility and that would see insurance sky rocket and career trashed for most professionals.

And if you declae all thse mods prmiums go up a lot. May be still affordable if license is clean, nor accidnts in the last five years, no leaner / older drivers to add. But as soon as you have more adverse factors you might find that not too many insurers are actually quoting for you and you have not much choice with all premiums very high.

So yeah that £8k car wise I would price it based on standard full spec Merc of that age / mileage LESS the cost to reverse all the mods that would have to be disclosed to insurers.

 

[Watchcame430]

As has been pointed out, it was a reply to another member's post - nothing to do with your post so I don't see your issue?

Fact is - you were comparing apples with oranges. As a W210 owner who has looked at loads as well, I can honestly say that the very vast majority of these cars have rust - it's what you should expect to find and not be surprised about

I think the point is he OP is making is he asked the question and was told it didnt. Therefore he travelled to see it wasting his time as it turns out.
I have to sympathise ... I have bought three cars this week on ebay and all three been duffers when I picked them up. This was not because of higher expectations but because I had been lied to by sellers. One had the wrong engine in it for goodness sake.
Some may disagree but that 320 doesnt sound to me like its worth 1200 let alone 2200.

 

[DSM10000]

I have bought three cars this week on ebay and all three been duffers when I picked them up. This was not because of higher expectations but because I had been lied to by sellers. One had the wrong engine in it for goodness sake.

So why did you buy 3 "duffers" that you had been lied about??

 

[Spin_bowler]

^^

I think he meant we won the auction or offered the BIN/price on an ad but when he got there they weren't as described.

I assume he didn't still honour the purchase.

 

[mct_cars]

I think it's a pretty standard car sales trick, especially at the lower end of the market to cover over the cracks on the phone. If the dealer was truthful on the phone, you probably wouldn't have travelled. As you did and you're actually there, there is a greater chance you will actually buy a car. Even if he snares 1 out of a hundred people by doing this, it's one more sale than he would've had.

 

[IanA2]

Not sure it's a criminal offence.....

Sorry, I still don't think it's a criminal offence. I think you're mixing civil and criminal law. Might be wrong, but if a Ins Co tried decided you had not declared a mod, it would most likely not affect any third party claim. I'm not an expert.

 

[Lxb3]

Not that this thread really needs any more posts - but Stocho's point is a fair one; the dealer / seller wasn't honest about it when they should have been.

BUT - an honest used car salesman is up there with Santa, the Easter Bunny, and a non-self-serving politician in the list of fictitious characters. It's a cut-throat market, and if you're being honest when the dealers either side of you are lying through their teeth, you'll be bankrupt in no time.

"Caveat emptor" - buyer beware!

 

[Stocho]

I think it's a pretty standard car sales trick, especially at the lower end of the market to cover over the cracks on the phone. If the dealer was truthful on the phone, you probably wouldn't have travelled. As you did and you're actually there, there is a greater chance you will actually buy a car. Even if he snares 1 out of a hundred people by doing this, it's one more sale than he would've had.

Yes this is eactly what it is.

Actually had the car had a reasonable amount of problems and had they ben disclosed that would not necessarily put me off, but yes, a certain percentage of the buyers would probably fail to notce any faults at all and a certain would notice just one or two perhaps and therefore this tactic most likely works very well for this seller. The only way to fight them back is by leaving reviews online. It might prevent others from becoming victims and actually might help those who do become victims to seek redress. Internet ha made things much mor difficult for such traders - as prior to that the only redress was courts - and their profits would happily cover a tiny fraction of als that would end up in full blown court hearing.

Now I suppose most people on this forum being familiar MB problems would spot these problms and some would spot even more - so little danger of members buying the car. (I suspect even the defenders of this salesman of which there are many here would run away). But they could still waste the time and journey.

Someone less experienced with MB cars could, and probably will, become a full blown victim - i.e. buy the car thinking that there are no faults as per sellers representation.

 

[Lxb3]

PS My latest MB, the SL280, was bought from a dealer in Bournemouth - Cars To Go, on Charminster Road - and they described it as "drives without fault". 1997 Mercedes-Benz SL Class SL 280 AUTO 2.8 2dr | eBay
Oh, so wandering steering, two illegal tyres, no reversing lights, and a partially disassembled roof mechanism aren't faults then?!

...but I still bought it, at a negotiated price. It'd be boring to have a car with nothing to fix on it!!

 

[DSM10000]

I have bought three cars this week on ebay and all three been duffers when I picked them up. .

^^

I think he meant we won the auction or offered the BIN/price on an ad but when he got there they weren't as described.

I assume he didn't still honour the purchase.

He suggested he had bought them as above, I just wondered why?

 

[Stocho]

Sorry, I still don't think it's a criminal offence. I think you're mixing civil and criminal law. Might be wrong, but if a Ins Co tried decided you had not declared a mod, it would most likely not affect any third party claim. I'm not an expert.

Even if you are uninsurd there is a scheme for vctims to claim compenation effectively from insurers.

With the extremely heavily modofied car in question - I mean the 8K W210, the proceedings criminal proceedings could take plase under Theft Act - this is a total career destroyer for almost any professional.

The more benigh route misrepresentation ----> insurance cancellation ----> driving without insuranc conviction. Well the last leg might not occur in many cases. But than once your insurance has been cancelled you have to declare it to insurers and your premiums will sky rocket. If you failt to declare cancellation than with such history of insurance fraud next time could be looking at S16 Theft Act.

 

[IanA2]

Even if you are uninsurd there is a scheme for vctims to claim compenation effectively from insurers.

Different issue completely.

With the extremely heavily modofied car in question - I mean the 8K W210, the proceedings criminal proceedings could take plase under Theft Act - this is a total career destroyer for almost any professional.

Well maybe you're right, I don't know, but I've certainly never heard of any such prosecutions.

more benigh route misrepresentation ----> insurance cancellation ----> driving without insuranc conviction. Well the last leg might not occur in many cases. But than once your insurance has been cancelled you have to declare it to insurers and your premiums will sky rocket. If you failt to declare cancellation than with such history of insurance fraud next time could be looking at S16 Theft Act.

Don't really understand what you are saying here.

 

[DSM10000]

Different issue completely.



Well maybe you're right, I don't know, but I've certainly never heard of any such prosecutions.




Don't really understand what you are saying here.

+1

 

[aka$h]

With the extremely heavily modofied car in question - I mean the 8K W210, the proceedings criminal proceedings could take plase under Theft Act - this is a total career destroyer for almost any professional.

Heavily modified? You should take a look in the projects section, there are some heavily modified cars on there.

That w210 had a lot of OEM upgrades that most insurers won't care about, AMG bumpers, AMG wheels, AMG exhaust. Things like Brabus suspension won't inflate premiums as the car already had sport suspension, even if they did it would be a nominal amount. The only "mod" is the headlights, which lets face it, is not going to increase the risk of theft or change performance of the car!

Not crime of the century or likely to increase premiums by a significant amount. I did declare the things on the car, my premium increased by less than £40 for a year. When I changed insurers the new ones didn't increase loading in anyway.

 

[IanA2]

The only "mod" is the headlights, which lets face it, is not going to increase the risk of theft or change performance of the car!

Really! I should have thought with all your car experience that you would know by now that headlight mods are second only to chequered go faster stripes in boosting performance.........

 

[aka$h]

Really! I should have thought with all your car experience that you would know by now that headlight mods are second only to chequered go faster stripes in boosting performance.........

Must remember the stripes next time!

 

[Spin_bowler]

He suggested he had bought them as above, I just wondered why?

D'oh! I missed the "picked them up" piece. Now I'm interested, that does seem strange.

 

[Stocho]

Don't really understand what you are saying here.

That if you do not declare anything significant like points / accidents / mods the insurer can cancel the policy. ven if no criminal action is taken you will have to disclose the fact that another insurer had cancelled your policy in the past. The effect of that will be that many insurers just will refuse to quote and the ones who will quote will chage accordingly to reflect not only the increased risk but also the fact that no so many insurers compete for your business.

 

[Stocho]

Heavily modified? You should take a look in the projects section, there are some heavily modified cars on there.

That w210 had a lot of OEM upgrades that most insurers won't care about, AMG bumpers, AMG wheels, AMG exhaust. Things like Brabus suspension won't inflate premiums as the car already had sport suspension, even if they did it would be a nominal amount. The only "mod" is the headlights, which lets face it, is not going to increase the risk of theft or change performance of the car!

Not crime of the century or likely to increase premiums by a significant amount. I did declare the things on the car, my premium increased by less than £40 for a year. When I changed insurers the new ones didn't increase loading in anyway.

You might take the view that those mods are minor but they still have to be declared.

Some insurers will not incrase premiums a lot some will. If you are neither too young nor too old, no points, no accidents not in bad area you will still find some great deals on your insurance no doubt....

But than some insurers do not like points, others some ages, some aas of the country and of cause mods. So too many such factors and you will find that the cheapest insurers just will not quote and you are paying through the nose.

That's why I would not consider buyin a moded car unless the price was low enougph to cover reversing the mods.