old.user4556
Has a sexy sister. I am also a Bodhi wannabee.
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 16,163
Freds,
I had a most shite weekend where my Fiesta (well, the wife's Fiesta) got written off because a dick in a Range Rover reversed into it and bent the steering rack (his tow bar smashed into the wheel) amongst other things, so we're now on the look for another car.
She's paying for it and wants a similar car without paying fortunes; she wants a cheap to run and insure run-about that's not a complete banger.
We spotted a 2003 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec with 45k miles on the clock, full non-Ford service history, leccy windows, 1 year MOT (no advisaries), 6 months tax - asking price is £2850 ONO. A look on Parker's suggests the following for the same car with 70k miles:
Private Good £2,500
Private Poor £2,030
We went out and had a look at the car tonight and I made the following general observations:
- car has been smoked in at some point (I noticed, gf didn't), but interior generally pretty clean
- four alloys are in good nick, very minor scuffs on a couple
- four tyres are on the tread wear indicator, so it needs 4 tyres very soon
- there is a scrape up the side (minus dent, not down to primer) covering both doors low down, could mitigate this with some T cut
- there are general nicks on the paint to be expected on a car of 7 years
- suspension feels fine, brake discs look quite clean, very slight lip
- didn't drive it this time, but started perfectly, sounded good and the woman took us out for a drive - no clunks, noises or anything to worry about
- all electrics worked ok (lights, windows, fan, CD player etc.)
- spare wheel there and intact
- minor corrosion inside the doors on the sills, I've seen this on most Fords of this age
- several stamps in the book at non-Ford garages, but I'd heard of them as they aren't far from me
- MOT document does indeed clear it for a year, no orange paper for warnings
Now - in terms of price, the guide price is for a mileage that's nearly double the car we looked at, but given that it needs four tyres and the several nicks in the paint (including a sizeable one up the side), how much room for negotiation is there? I was going to make them an offer no more than £2500?
What do you think?
I had a most shite weekend where my Fiesta (well, the wife's Fiesta) got written off because a dick in a Range Rover reversed into it and bent the steering rack (his tow bar smashed into the wheel) amongst other things, so we're now on the look for another car.
She's paying for it and wants a similar car without paying fortunes; she wants a cheap to run and insure run-about that's not a complete banger.
We spotted a 2003 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec with 45k miles on the clock, full non-Ford service history, leccy windows, 1 year MOT (no advisaries), 6 months tax - asking price is £2850 ONO. A look on Parker's suggests the following for the same car with 70k miles:
Private Good £2,500
Private Poor £2,030
We went out and had a look at the car tonight and I made the following general observations:
- car has been smoked in at some point (I noticed, gf didn't), but interior generally pretty clean
- four alloys are in good nick, very minor scuffs on a couple
- four tyres are on the tread wear indicator, so it needs 4 tyres very soon
- there is a scrape up the side (minus dent, not down to primer) covering both doors low down, could mitigate this with some T cut
- there are general nicks on the paint to be expected on a car of 7 years
- suspension feels fine, brake discs look quite clean, very slight lip
- didn't drive it this time, but started perfectly, sounded good and the woman took us out for a drive - no clunks, noises or anything to worry about
- all electrics worked ok (lights, windows, fan, CD player etc.)
- spare wheel there and intact
- minor corrosion inside the doors on the sills, I've seen this on most Fords of this age
- several stamps in the book at non-Ford garages, but I'd heard of them as they aren't far from me
- MOT document does indeed clear it for a year, no orange paper for warnings
Now - in terms of price, the guide price is for a mileage that's nearly double the car we looked at, but given that it needs four tyres and the several nicks in the paint (including a sizeable one up the side), how much room for negotiation is there? I was going to make them an offer no more than £2500?
What do you think?