Funny things you hear when buying a car

stipey

Anyone who takes good care of their car from new, should have no scratches or blemishes

... and should never have parked it in busy car parks where people open their car doors without ensuring they don't hit the vehicle beside them.

... and should never have driven on roads used by other drivers, particularly those luanatics :rolleyes: who drive at more that 20km/h on roads with loose chippings in case a small stone is propelled upwards scratching the paintwork or chipping the windscreen

prospect

I would understand the term "Like New" to mean that the car is in really good condition.
Obviously it is impossibe for a car that has been driven at all to be 'Like New'. You show me any car that has been driven for a week or two and I will show you blemishes on it.

I would rate them as follows:

1. Good
2. Very Good
3. Excellent
4. Immaculate
5. Like New
6. Concours

Anan1

In my experience, the use of the term "Like new" in an advertisment tells you more about the seller than the car.

MercMad

I spent a good few years selling cars for a living. It was very hard to come up with new ways to describe each car, especially in a block ad. Things like mint, pristine, excellent, showroom, perfect...............are all subjective. It depends on what an individuals standards are !

Around the same time I went looking for a mk2 Escort 2 door, for a 1600/2000 conversion. I used to scour all the papers, mk2's werent common in 1987/88, especially in 2dr form. Anyway all the adds I found had cars described as above having established the usual things like colour, mileage, number of owners, engine smokey, L/GL blah blah and I had to ask very specific questions,
"Does the car have any rust?"

"No"

"ANY rust"

"Not really"

"Okay..............WHERE is the rust exactly"

"Ahhh just along the sill and suspension turrets, you know yourself ! "

"Thanks but ..............no thanks ! "

This happened many times over a period of some months and despite restricting my search to about a 50 mile radius eventually I decided not to bother asking the regular questions and I simply asked "Where exactly is the rust on this car, because I'm looking forward to getting stuck in and repairing it perfectly " Most of the time the car that was described as "mint, perfect, spotless" or whatever was suddenly " Ahh sure this is the perfect one for you...........she's in bits...............but she's a lovely yoke !"

Someone even tried to spoof me that the car they had was a 2 door when it was a 4 door ! I had asked the question as it wasn't mentioned in the ad. The guy asks me which I prefered and I knew that whatever I said, he was going to tell me he had it and basically try to get me out there so he could close the deal, hoping that I would prefer to buy than waste my journey !

We heard some funny stories in the garage, you'll have heard them all,

"How many miles are on it ?"

"How many miles do you want on it !!"

.....and,

"Does she use much oil ? "

"She would if she got it !! "

mloc123

MercMad wrote:

"Does she use much oil ? "

"She would if she got it !! "

lol

Do-more

Ahh sorry I missed the debate...

I was just making a counterpoint to cantdecides experience of being dragged the length of the country to view a car that wasn't honestly described.

As has been pointed out, any car that has 33,000 miles on the clock could never honestly be described as being "like new" at least not in the literal sense anyway.

Perhaps the term has crept into peoples understanding as being similar to immaculate.

My memory also let me down in the first post, the car was in fact 4 years old!

Kashkai

Just reading through these posts has made me feel old (but I'm only 37). All this talk of looking at Beemers, Mercs etc and expecting cars to be "like new". Jebus, when I went looking for my first cars, if the engine started, if it drove in a straight line and if the brakes worked, that was all I wanted in a car. I expected rust, no service history, scratches, dents and broken bits.

Then the Celtic Tiger kicked in and now we all want coupes, convertibles, yada, yada, yada. Listen up peeps, a car is not new once it leaves the forecourt. It will probably have a stone chip in the bonnet inside a week and a dent in the side from a shopping trolley inside a month. You can wash it and wax it every week if you want, but its beauty fades and you'll end up replacing it (now am I thinking about the car or the wife???:D )

Back to the OP, I once travelled from Dublin down to Wexford to check out a Peugeot 405 that was (you've guessed it!!) in "immaculate condition". However, it had a cracked windscreen, broken ariel, no wing mirrors, boot lock broken and boot tied closed with string. The headlamp had enough water in it to have an aquarium and that was just the outside. The interior reeked of cats piss and was filthy beyond belief. When I turned to go without even driving it, the owner shouted after me that I was just wasting his time. "Wasting his time" I almost screamed back at him after driving down from Dublin with the ex girlfriend (she was from Wexford and knew the area) and putting up with her ravings for the trip. I just about managed to walk away without wanting to drown the bozo in the pool of water in the headlight of his "immaculate" car.

cantdecide

i wouldn't be able to hack that.
i hate people who toss superlatives around like they're going out of fashion. they've lost all meaning at this stage. i usually make my own up for my car ads. i described my last car as exceptional, which it was.