Hi Guys, talk me out of this. I'm itching to buy one and I've seen this one for a while but it's a cat s. I have the money to buy it, would you buy this?

 

44 000 mile 4 owners

Looks like it has a sunroof, so after a shunt like that I guess it's even more likely to leak?

Walk away VERY quickly!

Run away - walking not quick enough!

 

There are some very good Yeti’s out there. I just traded my 2017 1.2 TSI DSG with all the toys (except sunroof) for new car in York. Keep looking, you will find a good one..

Edited 22 November, 20241 yr by Expatman

But why run away? If it's been repaired and passed MOT?

£13,600 for a 2015 repaired cat S? No way.

He wants 7k

It would have been helpful to mention asking price in OP.

Still too much for a repaired cat S IMO, my very low miles, non-cat MY16 Octavia is supposedly worth less than £8k

@Bertie90 If you are really keen then offer to pay to have the MOT carried out again at another test centre before buying.

I'd be more than a little concerned about the short time the 4th owner kept this vehicle after the presumed post repair sale early this year.

He said he buys and sells only yeties privately 

Edited 22 November, 20241 yr by Bertie90

49 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

It would have been helpful to mention asking price in OP.

Still too much for a repaired cat S IMO, my very low miles, non-cat MY16 Octavia is supposedly worth less than £8k

If you look on autotrader there's only 3 for sale that are 1.4 tsi 4wd

Edited 22 November, 20241 yr by Bertie90

2 hours ago, Bertie90 said:

But why run away? If it's been repaired and passed MOT?

Well the first, most obvious reason is that it is far too expensive for a Cat S.
Secondly, it's got a sunroof and they leak.

 

2 hours ago, Bertie90 said:

He said he buys and sells only yeties privately 

Yes, and I believe in unicorns!
If he does that he's a TRADER.

 

Buying a “repaired” damaged car is always a lottery. If you are determined to proceed then get a full mechanical review by a qualified motor engineer, don’t rely on MOT which is simply looking for pass on certain attributes.

But personally I wouldn’t touch it - there are better cars out there if you keep looking. Its just not worth the risk and the sun roof WILL leak!!

..I have a bargepole you can borrow??

Are people missing that the price is £7,000. ?   That is not over priced if the repairs are done properly.

The White Yeti might be better than some of the Cars that have had Zinc Inclusion issues and had dodgy refinishing with filler and a spray over.

 

It is certainly worth having it inspected and if not at a MOT then with a Mechanic or a person that knows cars / 4x4,s.

 

The body is one things, and that the airbags are installed, and the engine & Haldex is all well. 

He sent me invoices for haldex, gearbox and engine service. I'll have a look at the legs and engine bay, I'm somewhat familiar with these small VW tsi engines. If I can get it for £5.5k or even £6k I'm happy. In all fairness he's got few more cars cat s yetis 1.2 for sale so he is doing something with these, private or trader. In all fairness what is putting me off is the sunroof. I read and viewed a lot of the videos and I reckon if it's not soaked inside I could probably save it, if it is, I don't have the energy to remove the interior. Thing is, I want the AWD petrol versions and I can either have the 1.8 which again, the bargepole argument, or the newer 1.4 which comes with sunroof only. I could probably afford a clean one next year with higher miles for £13k or gamble on this one for less than half the price. Wish me luck, I'm seeing it today at 10am

Back to basics. Buy it cheap, take the normal gamble on a cat S, and permanently seal the sunroof.

 

 

Expatman gives excellent advice - get a second opinion from a trustworthy third party. At least then you will be buying with your eyes open, if the report is generally positive. As regards the sunroof there are lots of reports on this forum (and presumably elsewhere) of problems so its not something to be lightly discounted but I have a sunroof in my now 11 year old Yeti and on only two occassions, both in extreme weather conditions) have I had any water getting into the car and I can't be sure whether that was sunroof related, getting round the edge of the replacmeent windscreen or surcharging the scuttle drains all of which have been been blamed/found guilty for water getting into the footwells in posts on this forum over the years. As regards the fourth onwer selling the car shortly after the repair I think if I'd had a fairly serious accident in a car no matter how well it was repaired I'd still want to sell and move on. I know that's not logical but much about owning cars isn't.

My Greenline 1.6rdi was a category car, I forget which but it was the one for non structural damage. 

 

What a nightmare, from insurance quibbles to wheel alignment issues, trim not replaced correctly, bits of windscreen found everywhere up to 3 years later, never again.   

Lots of people are driving cars that were never Written off by insurers,

but were crashed or flood damaged and no insurance claim ever made, just repaired.

Repaired well or not. 

Never ended up seeing it because I broke down on the way there, bad alternator. I will still see it tomorrow 

1 hour ago, Bertie90 said:

Never ended up seeing it because I broke down on the way there, bad alternator. I will still see it tomorrow 

 

It's an omen....... you should reread Expatman's post. 

 

20 hours ago, Expatman said:

Run away - walking not quick enough!

 

 

There's two ways of looking at the whole Omen and Fate dilemma. 

 

1) Thank goodness you had an issue, and another Yeti came available a day later, that was better.

Or

2) It turns out to be an absolute 'belter of a car' and was worth sticking at getting it.

 

I've had both scenarios more than once. I've had true bargains despite 7 hour train journeys, and absolutely lying sons of their fathers despite asking all the right questions and doing all the checks.

 

Good luck either way !

I simply missed the info on the checks I'd paid for, and on page 1 of the V5 - massive own goal.