I looked at a blue 348 yesterday in London (round trip of 300 miles). The guy selling it had described it as the best 348 available.
On my way down I had a friend HPI check it and he told me it was a two owner car with no outstanding finance or recorded damage.
When I got there I was very disappointed. The service history was fully stamped with a gap from 1997 to a service in April this year. Under the stamp for the most recent service was written "Cambelt Service" in black biro but there was no invoice to support this so I was dubious. The car seemed to have covered 15,000 miles during this gap in the history and there were no invoices to support any of the other services either.
The car really was very shoddy and without going into full details I noticed the following:
1. 3 tyres bald
2. damage to the fins on the drivers door where it had been opened in a tight garage
3. several areas needing paint ie rusty wheel arches, door bottoms and various scratches
4. neither the bonnet nor boot would stay open on their own
5. kerbing damage to some of the wheels along with corrosion showing under the silver finish and corroded centre badges
6. the removable roof was very shoddy with two large scratches down it
7. the interior was awful, it was cream but was cracked, worn and dirty. Also someone seemed to have tried sticking something over the airvents (maybe carbon fibre style finish?) and they were covered in some kind of horrible black sticky stuff
8. In fact, every time I started looking at any single part of the car there seemed to be something not right with it and this was all before getting QV to check it over mechanically.
The owner seemed surprised when I didn't even try to make an offer but decided to leave it well alone.
Before I waste any more time or fuel going to see another one I'm going to make an exhaustive list of questions to ask the vendor and not just rely on their opinion that its a fantastic car!
Oh well, I'm sure the right car will turn up eventually.
Justyn.
On my way down I had a friend HPI check it and he told me it was a two owner car with no outstanding finance or recorded damage.
When I got there I was very disappointed. The service history was fully stamped with a gap from 1997 to a service in April this year. Under the stamp for the most recent service was written "Cambelt Service" in black biro but there was no invoice to support this so I was dubious. The car seemed to have covered 15,000 miles during this gap in the history and there were no invoices to support any of the other services either.
The car really was very shoddy and without going into full details I noticed the following:
1. 3 tyres bald
2. damage to the fins on the drivers door where it had been opened in a tight garage
3. several areas needing paint ie rusty wheel arches, door bottoms and various scratches
4. neither the bonnet nor boot would stay open on their own
5. kerbing damage to some of the wheels along with corrosion showing under the silver finish and corroded centre badges
6. the removable roof was very shoddy with two large scratches down it
7. the interior was awful, it was cream but was cracked, worn and dirty. Also someone seemed to have tried sticking something over the airvents (maybe carbon fibre style finish?) and they were covered in some kind of horrible black sticky stuff
8. In fact, every time I started looking at any single part of the car there seemed to be something not right with it and this was all before getting QV to check it over mechanically.
The owner seemed surprised when I didn't even try to make an offer but decided to leave it well alone.
Before I waste any more time or fuel going to see another one I'm going to make an exhaustive list of questions to ask the vendor and not just rely on their opinion that its a fantastic car!
Oh well, I'm sure the right car will turn up eventually.
Justyn.
