I'm looking at buying an Octavia scout.

One is a 2010 model costing £5500 with nearly 100k miles on the clock. It's very tidy and straight.

The other is an ex NHS doctor car on a 19 plate with 46k miles on the clock costing £9999. As it has been effectively an emergency car, it has a few holes in panels where a radio has been and other holes in the boot panels for heaven knows what.

Which one would you buy?

I think I'm going to toss a coin.

hi there regarding the drs car does it have holes drilled in the exterior body panels etc like a emergency response vehicle roof mounted lights etc ? if so i would stay away . You usually find that half a dozen electricians have been at it will god knows what ever wiring .. The other car maybe older but hasnt been messed about with

I’ve moved this to mk3, as I think the questions are mostly about the 2019 car.

Is there a proper full Service History for the Ex NHS car? At least 2 Haldex Services, Annual or sooner oil changes, brake fluid done at least twice etc etc.

If the electrics haven't been too molested I'd go for the 2019 car. It'll have been regularly serviced and the mileage will be low enough such that there are unlikely to be issues such as prop shaft doughnuts on the way out etc.

6 hours ago, cwt said:

I'm looking at buying an Octavia scout.

One is a 2010 model costing £5500 with nearly 100k miles on the clock. It's very tidy and straight.

The other is an ex NHS doctor car on a 19 plate with 46k miles on the clock costing £9999. As it has been effectively an emergency car, it has a few holes in panels where a radio has been and other holes in the boot panels for heaven knows what.

Which one would you buy?

I think I'm going to toss a coin.

Any sort of emergency vehicle is floored from the moment it is started, be it in summer or winter, left idling for hours and, as has been said, likely to have been messed with. No ex-emergency car is a 'good' buy, compared to anything else. Yes, they have been serviced properly and maintained, but they have had hard lives.

That being said, is the 2010 car a TDI or TSI? I'd take the 2019 car any day over a TDI that has done 6k miles a year. On paper, at least, a 2019 car on 46k miles is very attractive.

For everyone's viewing pleasure -

2010 Scout

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608125020633?sort=relevance&twcs=true&searchId=f0d3de8b-2669-43ae-a4e8-fb63584a45c2&aggregatedTrim=Scout&make=Skoda&model=Octavia&page=1&postcode=cr08pn&year-from=2010&year-to=2011&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra=&backLinkQueryParams=aggregatedTrim%3DScout%26channel%3Dcars%26make%3DSkoda%26model%3DOctavia%26postcode%3Dcr08pn%26sort%3Drelevance%26year-from%3D2010%26year-to%3D2011%26flrfc%3D1&calc-deposit=550&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=PCP

2019 Scout

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608064875987?sort=relevance&searchId=19d5eb1f-705c-4820-b878-5feb912bb3f5&aggregatedTrim=Scout&make=Skoda&model=Octavia&page=1&postcode=cr08pn&year-from=2019&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra=&backLinkQueryParams=aggregatedTrim%3DScout%26channel%3Dcars%26make%3DSkoda%26model%3DOctavia%26postcode%3Dcr08pn%26sort%3Drelevance%26year-from%3D2019%26flrfc%3D1&calc-deposit=1000&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=HP

Here is the 2019 car dressed up -

Edited yesterday at 21:561 day by OccyVRS

Here's a video of its twin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jYDqM6RaQ

And potentially it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Mw3axLEcs

I mean... at least you don't have to worry about the DPF.

Edited yesterday at 22:101 day by OccyVRS

15 hours ago, scoutabout1 said:

hi there regarding the drs car does it have holes drilled in the exterior body panels etc like a emergency response vehicle roof mounted lights etc ? if so i would stay away . You usually find that half a dozen electricians have been at it will god knows what ever wiring .. The other car maybe older but hasnt been messed about with

No in answer to your question about body work holes. There is a missing grommet in the boot and the spare is sitting in the wheel well untethered. No jack or wheel brace.

15 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

Is there a proper full Service History for the Ex NHS car? At least 2 Haldex Services, Annual or sooner oil changes, brake fluid done at least twice etc etc.

I gather it's had one haldex service.

10 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

Here's a video of its twin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jYDqM6RaQ

And potentially it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Mw3axLEcs

I mean... at least you don't have to worry about the DPF.

I just zoomed in on the photo and saw the reg of the 2019 one.

11 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

Any sort of emergency vehicle is floored from the moment it is started, be it in summer or winter, left idling for hours and, as has been said, likely to have been messed with.No ex-emergency car is a 'good' buy, compared to anything else. Yes, they have been serviced properly and maintained, but they have had hard lives.

That being said, is the 2010 car a TDI or TSI? I'd take the 2019 car any day over a TDI that has done 6k miles a year. On paper, at least, a 2019 car on 46k miles is very attractive.

For everyone's viewing pleasure -

2010 Scout

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608125020633?sort=relevance&twcs=true&searchId=f0d3de8b-2669-43ae-a4e8-fb63584a45c2&aggregatedTrim=Scout&make=Skoda&model=Octavia&page=1&postcode=cr08pn&year-from=2010&year-to=2011&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra=&backLinkQueryParams=aggregatedTrim%3DScout%26channel%3Dcars%26make%3DSkoda%26model%3DOctavia%26postcode%3Dcr08pn%26sort%3Drelevance%26year-from%3D2010%26year-to%3D2011%26flrfc%3D1&calc-deposit=550&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=PCP

2019 Scout

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608064875987?sort=relevance&searchId=19d5eb1f-705c-4820-b878-5feb912bb3f5&aggregatedTrim=Scout&make=Skoda&model=Octavia&page=1&postcode=cr08pn&year-from=2019&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra=&backLinkQueryParams=aggregatedTrim%3DScout%26channel%3Dcars%26make%3DSkoda%26model%3DOctavia%26postcode%3Dcr08pn%26sort%3Drelevance%26year-from%3D2019%26flrfc%3D1&calc-deposit=1000&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=HP

Here is the 2019 car dressed up -

That may be the case... But I know from someone who used to service NHS car like this that they are generally very well looked after despite potentially having a hard life... which counts for a lot too.

16 minutes ago, cwt said:

I just zoomed in on the photo and saw the reg of the 2019 one.

I know, that’s why I attached the photos!

They are of the exact car you are looking at, East Midlands Ambulance Service 3633 - FB19OHP.

Hopefully the rear passenger door has been thoroughly cleaned.

13 minutes ago, skomaz said:

That may be the case... But I know from someone who used to service NHS car like this that they are generally very well looked after despite potentially having a hard life... which counts for a lot too.

Oh, I completely agree. I’d rather buy a car that has had a hard life, but been taken care of, than one seldom used and seldom serviced.

Frankly, the only issue with emergency service vehicles is that they are often floored from cold, potentially left idling for a while, and take flight over speed bumps. Police cars are a different story - you won’t find a matching body panel.

11 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

I know, that’s why I attached the photos!

They are of the exact car you are looking at, East Midlands Ambulance Service 3633 - FB19OHP.

Hopefully the rear passenger door has been thoroughly cleaned.

I take it you have knowledge of the rear passenger door. I'll not ask why unless you want to share the reason ;-)

Cheers by the way

11 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

I mean... at least you don't have to worry about the DPF.

Haha, I know what you mean. You don't need to elaborate. If I buy that one, it might get used hard but maybe not that hard as I'm always running late at times. 😉

1 hour ago, cwt said:

I take it you have knowledge of the rear passenger door. I'll not ask why unless you want to share the reason ;-)

Cheers by the way

Check out the photo of the open rear door - that’s a sharps bin! Looks to be a fully custom interior.

Either way, I wouldn’t discount it. At least you have photos of exactly what was where, should you go to view it.

Out of interest, are these the only cars you’re looking at for a reason? I saw a few on there that sit on the middle ground.

11 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

Check out the photo of the open rear door - that’s a sharps bin! Looks to be a fully custom interior.

Either way, I wouldn’t discount it. At least you have photos of exactly what was where, should you go to view it.

Out of interest, are these the only cars you’re looking at for a reason? I saw a few on there that sit on the middle ground.

I honestly can't remember whether the doors had standard door cards in them. I have to assume they would.

I've looked at other cars and keep coming back to the scout.

The reason is that I do some work with Forestry England in Kielder Forest and my poor 2014 Focus doesn't have a huge amount of ground clearance. I've had to reattach the exhaust heat shields a couple of times. I looked at having the suspension raised but I don't like to modify the car and the insurance company weren't too impressed when I told them even though they cover me to compete in clubman status rallies. Haha. As I'm involved in rallying, I know exactly what is required, and my little old diesel Focus wouldn't really be the car for it, even if I wanted to, cage, extinguishers, etc.

9 hours ago, cwt said:

I honestly can't remember whether the doors had standard door cards in them. I have to assume they would.

I've looked at other cars and keep coming back to the scout.

The reason is that I do some work with Forestry England in Kielder Forest and my poor 2014 Focus doesn't have a huge amount of ground clearance. I've had to reattach the exhaust heat shields a couple of times. I looked at having the suspension raised but I don't like to modify the car and the insurance company weren't too impressed when I told them even though they cover me to compete in clubman status rallies. Haha. As I'm involved in rallying, I know exactly what is required, and my little old diesel Focus wouldn't really be the car for it, even if I wanted to, cage, extinguishers, etc.

I’d imagine the original cards were back in.

I meant why those two cars specifically?

1 hour ago, OccyVRS said:

I’d imagine the original cards were back in.

I meant why those two cars specifically?

To be honest, I don't know. I think I'll end up chasing the ex NHS car just because it is newer. I like the 60 plate one but it's older than the car I'm selling. And it's much closer to home.