Car Yards dodgy - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

66_mustang · 02-16-2003, 21:01

Hi guys,

Just a quick little story and warning for those out there buying a second hand car from a yard.

Last thursday the Mrs and I traded out EB 200,000 odd K wagon in on a 92 EB XR8 with 128,000K on the clock.

She drives great and felt good, up until satuday night.

We were driving up to our block of land at Bowen Mountain (Kurragong) and the brake pedal went straight to the floor. The car had a new brake booster, with old looking fluid. Seem to save a few bucks on fluid they took the reservoir off and blocked it so no exessive fluid could escape and put the new booster on. Well as we found out sunday morning they were too lazy to bleed the brake lines, thus was full of air.

Problem was fixed on Sunday with an hour spent, putting new fluid in and bleeding the brakes correctly.

Just because they give you a pink slip, it does not mean the car is road worthy, get someone out to check every little detail out, before buying.

Overall we are very happy with the car. It came with a Chiptorqure chip, aftermark headers and 2 1/2 system, near new Koni's all round with King Springs, and new bushes.

She is very clean and goes very well. We are looking now at a cold air box to gain a few more Kw's.

Cheers
Mark

PHoeNiX_EB · 02-16-2003, 21:37

As with everything theres ya good and ya bad ones.
My missus bought a car from a yard about 2 years ago now and when we went to pick it up there was no1 there. Not having seen the car yet (and havin paid for it) i went over to have a look at the car. On first inspection it looked fine but as soon as i opened the door i knew somthing was wrong.
For a start we didnt have the keys yet and yet i opened the door. ANY KEY opened it actually. Also ANY KEY could start it. There were no seatbelts in the back, the Horn didnt work, the rear and wipers didnt work! This was just the start! When the salesman finally turned up (looking stoned) I went off at him. He started feeding me excuses all over the joint. The Missus had already signed the form saying she could no longer change her mind. FARK!!! The only thing i could do was take the car to my Mechanic and get a Roadworthy Check on it! So i did, the list I got back was rediculious! From memory there was 38 items that failed! The guy had to use an extra sheet!
So I photo copied the the papers and drove the thing back to the Yard! This time i copped a rude arse salesman trying to tell me that the car DIDNT come with a Roadie (when i had a copy of the RWC he gave us with me) saying some other young salesman who he had to FIRE for making shonky deals promised the RWC and put it in. Eventually I snapped, I grabed the Prick by his shirt and pinned him against the wall of his office! I told him i wanted the car Roadworthy within a week or else I would be reporting his arse to the authorities! His tune changed pretty quickly. He was willing to do everything nessecary to make me a happy customer. So the following night I took the car to his mate "Mohammed" (sounds shonky already) to fix the car, borrowed there Magan Loan Car (also a shitbox). I picked the car up 4 days later, took it back to the mechanic and had it checked over. Only failed on 2 things. Wheels too wide and Exhaust sticking out the back about 10mm too far. I could live with that!
Now the car is ready for the Grave yard. Within 2 months on all this the engine started playing up. Stalling all the time, running rough, Conking out and not being abel to b started again for a few hours! What was the Problem?? EVERYTHING. Everytime we fix one problem we encountered another. In the end, i bought another wreck of the same car and swapped the engines over! It kinda goes ok now but the gearbox needs changing too!
Ended up just buying a new car for her. (EB) Interestingly we got it from the lot next door to where we got the old one. Guess what, Me Old mate Harry (the salesman) has gone outa business!! Horray!!!
For the new car I took no chances. I went with her too find and pick it. The dealer we got this time seemed to be a good one. I got an RACV test and the Caryard was nice enough to give the car to me for the day to get my mate the mechanic to go over it thoroughly. We got the thumbs up all round and the car hasnt given us trouble! (touch wood)

Sorry to crap on but yer, as i said there Good and Bad but in the end its up to you to do what you can to not get ripped off!

carazy · 02-16-2003, 22:48

dude why the hell did you let your missus put dollars down on a car you hadn't seen yet???? I'd only ever do that on a brand spanking new car. Never a second handy.

PHoeNiX_EB · 02-16-2003, 23:43

I didnt let her, she just did it on the way home from work one day, About 2 days after smashing her Torana! I guess it was a cross between desperation to get to and from work so u she wouldnt loose job, without having to catch 2 trains walk a few ks and get up a 4:00am to get there on time. Shock and a dam dodgy Con artist Salesman!

carazy · 02-17-2003, 04:33

fair enough I know what it's like to be under pressure to buy a car thats for sure.
The one thing I learned from it though was that pressure buys are always the worst way to go.
I ended up borrowing a total shiter from one of my mates for 4 weeks while I looked for a good enough car for the money I had.