I'm in the market for a used Octavia Estate.  I'm interested in 2006 onwards (need ISOFix), petrol engine (we don't do diesel milages), and the Elegance or L&K trim.  I've been to see a few examples, and most of what I'm seeing on eBay and AutoTrader is around the £4500 mark for something with up to 100k miles and with full service history.

 

I recently found what looked like a good deal on eBay: a 2006 Elegance with around 70k miles on the clock for just £3000.  I called the dealer to ask why it's so cheap and he told me he's really a van trader (his website backs this up) and that when he gets a car part-exchanged for a van he either auctions them or sticks them on eBay - he just wants to shift them.

 

I went to have a look at the car, and it looks like it's had a fairly hard life: the exterior is a bit scraped and scratched, its tires are nearly gone (and of three different makes), and the interior needs a good valet.  It's also showing the brake-pad warning light on the dash.  Based on my (decidedly non-expert) inspection, it didn't look like it'd been in a prang, everything seemed to be in working order, and it drove smoothly and well.  It has no service history, just a couple of previous MOTs which align with the milage and show advisories for the low-tread tires.

 

At this point, I was ambivalent, thinking: if I bought it I'd need to get a new set of tires, have a major service done (and probably do the cambelt for peace of mind), replace the brake pads, and have it valeted.  It might end up costing in the region of £1000, at which point I'd have a clean but scratched motor with no service history for £4000 -- not such a great deal!

Now, the dealer called me back this morning and I relayed all this to him, and he offered to drop the price to £2600 if that might help swing it.  At that price point it starts to look much more convincing, especially if we hold onto it for a bit.

So -- I've got two questions...

 

First, is this scenario ringing alarm bells for anyone?  Would you take it any further or run a mile?

 

Second, I'm not a mechanic, but from reading on the Internet I know to look for signs of oil or coolant getting into the engine (mayo on oil filler cap, smoking exhaust, black engine oil).  When I looked at the filler cap there was a very slight smear of a yellowy-white deposit.  The car didn't smoke on startup or normal driving, but when booting it a bit on the motorway on the testdrive I noticed white smoke in the rearview which dissipated quickly.  I'm not sure whether this is just condensation, or whether it's a sign of something more ominous.  Any thoughts on this?

I would personally steer clear of a car with no history but it may have some if you ring Skoda? Also get a hpi check to make sure its not clocked or stolen as it is pretty cheap.

Thanks, adamal.

 

In the end I decided I might be better steering clear of this one.  The price was nice, but it's a bit more of a gamble than I'm looking for.