Occasional musings from a Left-coast Canadian ExPat in Oxford.
Posted on
Inspector Gadget
3 thoughts on “Inspector Gadget”
Er, what are some of the car issues?
There are various and sundry unimportant bolts missing. And a few regular maintenance-y things that I’d expect to have to deal with anyway (wiper blades, battery, timing belt coming up for change, etc.)
The biggies are the Air Bag light being on – which indicates a potential problem with the system (that I knew about, and am waiting for answers on), as well as a “knocking” from the engine that is either very minor or very major that I do not recall hearing before, which needs to be looked into.
I am sure that everyone is giving you advice on this one… but what the hell, here’s mine.
Unless you are desperate for a car and want to use these issues to drive the price (way) down, I would not even bother haggling and walk away from this car.
As a general rule, when buying used cars, unless you are buying for collector or sentimental reasons, you should not bother with any car that does not check out beyond normal maintenance issues. If you can’t emotionally divest yourself from the vehicle, then you should try to be realistic with yourself about the total expense. Say, 5,000 dollars for the car off the lot and then x * 1000 to fix exhaust, suspension, whatever.
Er, what are some of the car issues?
There are various and sundry unimportant bolts missing. And a few regular maintenance-y things that I’d expect to have to deal with anyway (wiper blades, battery, timing belt coming up for change, etc.)
The biggies are the Air Bag light being on – which indicates a potential problem with the system (that I knew about, and am waiting for answers on), as well as a “knocking” from the engine that is either very minor or very major that I do not recall hearing before, which needs to be looked into.
I am sure that everyone is giving you advice on this one… but what the hell, here’s mine.
Unless you are desperate for a car and want to use these issues to drive the price (way) down, I would not even bother haggling and walk away from this car.
As a general rule, when buying used cars, unless you are buying for collector or sentimental reasons, you should not bother with any car that does not check out beyond normal maintenance issues. If you can’t emotionally divest yourself from the vehicle, then you should try to be realistic with yourself about the total expense. Say, 5,000 dollars for the car off the lot and then x * 1000 to fix exhaust, suspension, whatever.
Good luck.