What do you make of this reponse....

py2006

Well I dont know the history, I am going to try and arrange a viewing for tommorrow evening. Hopefully I will have somebody with me who will be able to ask all the right questions as I really wouldn't have a clue.

He did say that it will be fully NCT'd before sale.

seamus

vector wrote:

While the sellers story of having it in his garage is probably true, the fact remains that the seller doesn't own the vehicle, thus he cannot sell it and you cannot buy it from him.

If you hand over the dosh and take it away the actual owner could materialise anytime.

Not true. As Bond says, the cert doesn't confer right of ownership anymore than having a key proves you own the house.
Property law isn't that simple.

causal

py2006 wrote:

He did say that it will be fully NCT'd before sale.

Take anything that involves the future tense with a large grain of salt.

Examples:
Yeah, that'll be fixed when you collect it.
Oh we'll have it fully valeted for you.
It will definitely be here tomorrow.

You're right to bring someone who knows what to ask, and what to look for and what it should look like - preferably someone who is a mechanic or familiar with that specific model of car.

causal

Duckjob

Personally, I'd walk away from a car that wasn't registered in the name of the person standing in front of me, or wasn't registered to the address to which I had traveled to see it.

If somebody is on the level, they shouldn't have any problem with you confirming that they are, and there's always another car...

Hash Boy

Bottom Line: He does not have the right to sell this car to you, as he is not the registered owner.

FuzzyZoeller

Went with a friend to see an astra last year, and faced the same setup. Seller was not the registered owner, even though he had the car for over a year. His excuse was that his brother owned a garage and gave the car to him to see if he'd like to buy it. He decided not to, and bought a Saab instead??!!

Anyway, while snooping around, found the cert in the owners manual, and the car was owned by a sales company. However, also found a receipt from an auction house, stating the milage to be 20K more then the clock was showing now!

Moral of the story? We got lucky, the seller was new to the con business, but up to that point the car looked like a bargin.

py2006

Hmmmm interesting, I am a bit nervous now about it. I am emailing him now to arrange to view the car later today

py2006

Just contacted to tell him I was popping over to view the car. He claims he got a deposit on it and now its no longer available

Damn I liked that car

seamus

Yep, age-old trick.

Ring the original owner and ask him how many miles were on it when he sold it.

causal

py2006 wrote:

Just contacted to tell him I was popping over to view the car. He claims he got a deposit on it and now its no longer available

Damn I liked that car

Maybe it was a con and he reads boards.
Console yourself with an old saying: "if it's too good to be true - then it isn't true"
Like others said, there are other cars so don't fret too much

causal

py2006

not for such a good price
Looks like I will have to pay closer to 15,000 now

Eoin

What spec are you looking for?

edit:

Check out carzone.ie, there are a few 1998 ones for around 12,000. Just saw the one you were looking at there as well which is strange as Carzone rarely has private sales on it AFAIK (there is no option to advertise a car privately there anyway)

py2006

eoin_s wrote:

What spec are you looking for?

edit:

Check out carzone.ie, there are a few 1998 ones for around 12,000. Just saw the one you were looking at there as well which is strange as Carzone rarely has private sales on it AFAIK (there is no option to advertise a car privately there anyway)

Yea I have been checking carzone.ie, cbg.ie and autotrader.ie daily for the past couple weeks.

I believe I have come accross a few private sales there alright.

I am basically looking for an MX 5 Roadster 1.8. Black, blue, silver.

Seth Brundle

1. check with the gardai to see if the car has no illegal history
2. ask the owned how many times exactly the car was driven in the two years he has owned it? (I know they already said never)
3. ask a mechanic how much it will cost to get the car roadworthy again - it will need a full service [oils, fluids, brakes, new tyres...] as sitting there for two years is not good for the car! Was it garaged all the time?

JohnBoy

I gave up reading, but just a few points.

you can declare a car as having been off the road, I only did it once, but It involved me walking into the garda station (across from the tax office) and telling em "the tax people said ye have to stamp this" job done, car off road no 12 months back tax to be paid.

you can insure a car without tax, but it's not supposed to be possible to tax a car without insurance

you can get a car NCTd without any documentation whatsoever. I've done it where I wanted to get a test done before the vlc got back from shannon, also know people who've used a tax renewal notification as ownership documentation.

sorry if this has been said

py2006

JohnBoy wrote:

I gave up reading, but just a few points.

you can declare a car as having been off the road, I only did it once, but It involved me walking into the garda station (across from the tax office) and telling em "the tax people said ye have to stamp this" job done, car off road no 12 months back tax to be paid.

you can insure a car without tax, but it's not supposed to be possible to tax a car without insurance

you can get a car NCTd without any documentation whatsoever. I've done it where I wanted to get a test done before the vlc got back from shannon, also know people who've used a tax renewal notification as ownership documentation.

sorry if this has been said

Good advice!
The car in question is actually no longer available now. So I am still on the look out for a nice MX5 and I am also starting to look at MR2's (see other thread)