hi what are your views on buying a motor on e bay, would you chance it if it was with a dealer and vehicle has fsh.

i,m looking a 4x4 octavia and i see a few on it but i,m a bit dubious about shelling out a few grand without actually seeing the car as i,m in n.ireland.

what do you think, thanks

I have brought 3 cars off eBay. None of great value sub £1.5k. Both came from a private seller. Did the normal HPI check. Then good test drive and visual check. Along with looking over paperwork with car.

Maybe ask on here if a member can visit the car if someone is local for beer money. I've done it before on another forum. Provided photos of inside and out along with any damage to the car.

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Edited 17 April, 201610 yr by J306TD

Never buy a used car without viewing.

 

The cost of the £200 flight will soon be appreciated if when you collect the car it looks nothing like it does on the advert (cars always look better in photo's than they do in reality).

 

You need to drive it to test the clutch, DMF, turbo and all mechanical and electrical functions (even more so with a 4x4 and it's Haldex system, a lot are used by paramedics, vets and are worked hard, live off road or tow cows to market every Thursday).

 

There are threads on here every other day from members buying from franchised Skoda main dealers who have (and continue to have) issues after buying unseen, let alone a non-franchised dealer (with a poor 3 month aftermarket warranty) or a private seller (absolutely no come back at all).

 

You might be lucky, for me the potential hassle and stress just isn't worth it.

 

Make a weekend of it, come over here for a bit of sight seeing and take in a few sellers along the way?

Edited 17 April, 201610 yr by silver1011

I bought my current Octavia from Ebay and it's a good one but I went and physically looked at it before buying. It was the second one I looked at at the time. The first one I looked at looked nice in the pictures but in the flesh was a bit of a shed.

So, buying cars on Ebay is absolutely fine, no different to buying off Autotrader, Gumtree etc. Just go and look at them first.

Never buy a used car without viewing.

 

 

This. All too often you get less scrupulous people swapping wheels etc and covering up damage for the pictures.

 

I've friends who regularly source cars on Ebay but they go in with their eyes open and have probably walked away more often than they've bought.

I bought the Octy track car on E-bay, never saw the car in person until it arrived in front of my house one night in the dark, bid right at the last 10 seconds of the auction and won it for £171. If it was a car of any real value I wouldn't chance it without viewing first though, no way!

Apart from the fact that it drove here when he brought it which shows it can at least do a 55 mile trip I've only done 22 miles in it since I bought it so it could blow up on its first day, but it is worthy of an MOT apparently, so that's alright. 

But like I said, if I was after a car that I would need to rely on and use every day I'd go and see it first and give it a good look over.

And remember, wining an E-bay auction contractually obliges you to buy and him to sell, it is not a bid to a viewing.

I bought the Octy track car on E-bay, never saw the car in person until it arrived in front of my house one night in the dark, bid right at the last 10 seconds of the auction and won it for £171. If it was a car of any real value I wouldn't chance it without viewing first though, no way!

Apart from the fact that it drove here when he brought it which shows it can at least do a 55 mile trip I've only done 22 miles in it since I bought it so it could blow up on its first day, but it is worthy of an MOT apparently, so that's alright. 

But like I said, if I was after a car that I would need to rely on and use every day I'd go and see it first and give it a good look over.

And remember, wining an E-bay auction contractually obliges you to buy and him to sell, it is not a bid to a viewing.

 

However, the car must be as described in the advert/listing. If it's been mis sold then you have the right to walk away. Like if the seller states it has full service history and all there is is a couple of stamps from a main dealer in 130k miles, that's not full service history (note that many selllers are now listing "service history" meaning it has some service history).

However, the car must be as described in the advert/listing. If it's been mis sold then you have the right to walk away. Like if the seller states it has full service history and all there is is a couple of stamps from a main dealer in 130k miles, that's not full service history (note that many selllers are now listing "service history" meaning it has some service history).

Yes, absolutely right.

I have brought 3 cars off eBay. None of great value sub £1.5k. Both came from a private seller. Did the normal HPI check. Then good test drive and visual check. Along with looking over paperwork with car.

Maybe ask on here if a member can visit the car if someone is local for beer money. I've done it before on another forum. Provided photos of inside and out along with any damage to the car.

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thats a good idea to get someone of the forum to check it out, 

there is a clean looking one in felsted essex, i don,t suppose there are any members on here that live near by who would check it out for some beer tokens