If someone is selling...

If someone is selling a nice looking car with no MOT, but have dropped the price several times to over £1000 off the original, why shouldn't I buy the car?

I think I already know, but I need to hear other people say it :tongue:

To spice it, they claim they converted it to track use, never used it, then converted it back again :colonhash:

Reply 1

Muttley79

20

Original post by StriderHort

If someone is selling a nice looking car with no MOT, but have dropped the price several times to over £1000 off the original, why shouldn't I buy the car?

I think I already know, but I need to hear other people say it :tongue:

To spice it, they claim they converted it to track use, never used it, then converted it back again :colonhash:

No MOT is a red flag to me

Reply 2

StriderHort

OP

21

Original post by Muttley79

No MOT is a red flag to me

Yea it's an obvious one overall...

..but if it was intended for track use, it's plausible It wasn't needed?. It didn't fail last one 2019, it just didn't get a new one.

But if they've knocked money off a few times over the course of a fortnight to the tune of £1000... you'd need to assume the work they think it will need to pass an MOT will cost more? If I was selling a car I'd want to MOT it if possible as a selling point.

It's a wee 97 Boxter I'm looking at, was hoping to maybe enjoy it for a year, do a little work and sell it on at near what I paid, but there is a fair few non-beer internal voices telling me it's a suckers buy. I suspect it's easier to prep a car for track than it is to restore it to full spec :/ .

Reply 3

Muttley79

20

Original post by StriderHort

Yea it's an obvious one overall...

..but if it was intended for track use, it's plausible It wasn't needed?. It didn't fail last one 2019, it just didn't get a new one.

But if they've knocked money off a few times over the course of a fortnight to the tune of £1000... you'd need to assume the work they think it will need to pass an MOT will cost more? If I was selling a car I'd want to MOT it if possible as a selling point.

It's a wee 97 Boxter I'm looking at, was hoping to maybe enjoy it for a year, do a little work and sell it on at near what I paid, but there is a fair few non-beer internal voices telling me it's a suckers buy. I suspect it's easier to prep a car for track than it is to restore it to full spec :/ .

Personally I'd run a mile .... why does the seller not get an MOT? Must know it will fail and the work done may well be dodgy.

Reply 4

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by StriderHort

If someone is selling a nice looking car with no MOT, but have dropped the price several times to over £1000 off the original, why shouldn't I buy the car?

I think I already know, but I need to hear other people say it :tongue:

To spice it, they claim they converted it to track use, never used it, then converted it back again :colonhash:

I wouldn’t trust anyone who’s done a dodgy track conversion. Would terrify me they’ve tried a terrible ECU mod, or if they’ve ragged the breaks and transmission within an inch of failure.

Reply 5

StriderHort

OP

21

Original post by Muttley79

Personally I'd run a mile .... why does the seller not get an MOT? Must know it will fail and the work done may well be dodgy.

Yea, that's the jump out thing to me too.. if I had an otherwise nice car I wanted to sell, I'd prefer to MOT it and sell, rather than keep knocking 'X' off the price...

Original post by mnot

I wouldn’t trust anyone who’s done a dodgy track conversion. Would terrify me they’ve tried a terrible ECU mod, or if they’ve ragged the breaks and transmission within an inch of failure.

Same, I worry about why it was never track used, and how well/if it was put back to spec... it seems to have a hardtop for track use, so I cynically assume the soft top & motors have been gutted for a start. I saw they had 2 other 'messed with' cars for sale... so God know what they've actually done here :colonhash:

It does have the somewhat model tied reg P2 BXT which could maybe offset some of the cost.... but 'meh' (Someone really keen on Phase 2 fd Brexit would likely go nuts for it though)

It's the cheap white Boxter on FB Marketplace Glasgow if anyone's curious

Reply 6

TheDE

13

My guess is the IMS bearing has failed or is super close to failure which is relatively common in early boxters, and can send metal shavings throughout the engine. No other reason for it to be so cheap excepting terminal rust issues

Reply 7

StriderHort

OP

21

Original post by TheDE

My guess is the IMS bearing has failed or is super close to failure which is relatively common in early boxters, and can send metal shavings throughout the engine. No other reason for it to be so cheap excepting terminal rust issues

Very possible as well, I'm told the pre facelift ones aren't quite as prone to it as they use a double design rather than the single of 2002+, but still a fail point and not one I want to inherit. (It did get a adv for an oil leak on last MOT)

My other main suspicion is they've simply ripped too much out of it and can't/don't know how to put it back :tongue:

, esp as they keep drip feeding new bits of red flag info to the advert, they've slyly added "Carpets are not in car, but will be supplied" overnight :rolleyes:

they're being v cagey with photos too and only showing one angle.

Def worth missing I think, I can do without a project like that and esp one that's got an awkward engine to work on. I get the feeling the seller has for whatever reason gave up and is desperate to get whatever they can hoping the price reductions will cloud peoples judgement.

Reply 8

TheDE

13

Original post by StriderHort

Very possible as well, I'm told the pre facelift ones aren't quite as prone to it as they use a double design rather than the single of 2002+, but still a fail point and not one I want to inherit. (It did get a adv for an oil leak on last MOT)

My other main suspicion is they've simply ripped too much out of it and can't/don't know how to put it back :tongue:

, esp as they keep drip feeding new bits of red flag info to the advert, they've slyly added "Carpets are not in car, but will be supplied" overnight :rolleyes:

they're being v cagey with photos too and only showing one angle.

Def worth missing I think, I can do without a project like that and esp one that's got an awkward engine to work on. I get the feeling the seller has for whatever reason gave up and is desperate to get whatever they can hoping the price reductions will cloud peoples judgement.