I went to view a 280 L&K some 90 miles from my home 5 days ago. It had 6K on the clock and £11K off the new OTR price. Basically it was a bargain and in pretty good condition. However it would not start. The salesman's explanation was that someone had left something "on" and it had drained the battery. Is this feasible? I know I would have 2 years and a bit of warranty but I would prefer be spared the inconvenience of having to sort any problems out. It was a very bright day and I noticed abundant scratch marks in the black plastic inserts between the doors . Is this the result of Auto car washers ? I was advised on the phone that the car was "probably one of our demonstrators" but when I got there it was " an ex Skoda management vehicle". In reality are these cars actually ex hire cars ? Am I asking for new car perfection from a used model?

I wouldn’t be worried about the flat battery, it’s probably because it hasn’t had a decent run lately, cars used to need around 5 miles of driving just to replenish the power that was used to start the car, this figure is probably well out of date now but it still stands that the car needs to be given a decent run rather than just being moved around the dealership.

 

The door plastics are really soft and do mark easily... most if not all of them will polish out (get them to do it as part of the deal), I doubt it would have been cared for but thats the gamble with any used car especially when the owner hasn’t paid for it.

2 hours ago, Robbydazzler said:

It was a very bright day and I noticed abundant scratch marks in the black plastic inserts between the doors . Is this the result of Auto car washers ?

 

They scratch ridiculously easily - mine are covered in fine scratches at less than 3k miles from new, having never been through an auto carwash. I blame the hand car wash guys I used a couple of times a while ago. Good to hear from @Gizmo68 that they should polish out. My valet guy is coming tomorrow so I'll see if he's got time to take a look...

 

Edited 14 April, 20179 yr by CheshireBumpkin

18 hours ago, Robbydazzler said:

but when I got there it was " an ex Skoda management vehicle". In reality are these cars actually ex hire cars ?

Hi Robbydazler,

 

Ask to see the V5c (Registration doc) & 1st page of the "Service Plan book", if its too far for you to go back to them for this, ask them to scan & email you the second page of the V5 (if they're reluctant to do this ask them to blanc out everything under the line V.7 (left hand side of the page)) that'll show you the reg number, current owner (it won't be the dealer) & model details.

 

If it's a Skoda owned car (they don't have a car rental side, but they do sell directly to car rental company's) the V5c owner should read "Skoda Auto. PO Box 76, 125 Heyford Park, Camp road, Bicester, OX25 5YL" & the 1st page of the Service plan book, the dealer stamp should be a Skoda stamp with the dealer details "Paragon Fleet Solutions ( Paragon Fleet Solutions is under contract to carry out all the passenger car PDI's for the group & also services them if required, in premises supplied & rented to them by VAG UK), 125 Heyford Park, Upper Heyford OX25 5YL" if it's anything else it isn't a Skoda staff car!

 

VAG group usually de-fleet their staff & press (cars supplied to the motoring press for evaluation) cars at 6 months/6k miles & these are auctioned off to the dealer network for re-sale. Cars that have had a "hard" life (read driven by Jeremy Clarkson & the like) are sent to open auction.

 

23 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

 

They scratch ridiculously easily - mine are covered in fine scratches at less than 3k miles from new, having never been through an auto carwash. I blame the hand car wash guys I used a couple of times a while ago. Good to hear from @Gizmo68 that they should polish out. My valet guy is coming tomorrow so I'll see if he's got time to take a look...

 

 

He didn't have time to try to fully polish the door pillar scratches out today (and wants to use a small head he didn't have with him), but he did treat the whole car with Fusso 99 (?), including the pillar sections, which has already reduced the fine scratches considerably. It looks very smart today - I'll probably find my neighbouring farmer is muck-spreading the lane in the morning... :-)

 

16 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

 

He didn't have time to try to fully polish the door pillar scratches out today (and wants to use a small head he didn't have with him), but he did treat the whole car with Fusso 99 (?), including the pillar sections, which has already reduced the fine scratches considerably. It looks very smart today - I'll probably find my neighbouring farmer is muck-spreading the lane in the morning... :-)

 

RE: the scratches on the B pillar gloss plastics. 

Scratches polish out incredibly easily even by hand. (the car pictured is the old now gone Mk2 estate). 

If you or your guy/gal treat the plastic with a ceramic sealant such as Gtechniq C4 or similar which will offer a degree of scratch protection. 

 

 

 

Edited 16 April, 20179 yr by Svend

1 hour ago, Svend said:

RE: the scratches on the B pillar gloss plastics. 

Scratches polish out incredibly easily even by hand. (the car pictured is the old now gone Mk2 estate). 

If you or your guy/gal treat the plastic with a ceramic sealant such as Gtechniq C4 or similar which will offer a degree of scratch protection. 

 

 

 

What did you use to get rid of that scratch?

4 minutes ago, tigermad said:

What did you use to get rid of that scratch?

I used Gtechniq P1 polish and a trifoam pad. The polish is a water based, pad dependant non diminishing polish. 

This is the polish being used on car paint. 

 

5 minutes ago, Svend said:

I used Gtechniq P1 polish and a trifoam pad. The polish is a water based, pad dependant non diminishing polish. 

This is the polish being used on car paint. 

 

That's amazing stuff thanks. Pity those shiny b pillars always get surface scratches even from a gentle wash. 

1 minute ago, tigermad said:

That's amazing stuff thanks. Pity those shiny b pillars always get surface scratches even from a gentle wash. 

I've used it for years. It can be used from compounding (with a wool pad) to finishing (with a soft foam pad). 

That scratch on the pillar came with the car new. Took just a few minutes to polish and seal all the exterior gloss plastics on the B and C pillars of the Mk2, took longer to tape up the car then to polish. 

But the ceramic coating stood the test of time in the three years we had her.