Purchase/Advisory help

[TSid]

Hi, I’m interested in buying a Fiesta ( been looking for months 😢).

I have a deposit on one, advisories are:

”near side rear axle swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bushes slightly worn.”

same on offside.

 They’re going to retest but said they won’t automatically don’t advisory repairs. Is this a big job? 

many thanks 

[unofix]

Fairly normal sort of job for your little back street garage. Expect £200 to sort it out.

[TSid]

Would that be for both sides? Bushes and pins? Thank you 

[unofix]

Thats both sides, pins will most probably be fine, it will be the bushes that need replaced.

[isetta]

It might not really NEED doing. Mot testers standards can vary a lot. A car could have that put as an advisory and then still pass the next few years without the mot tester mentioning it. I can’t judge it without seeing it but there’s a good chance it does not need doing. If it really needed doing it would be a fail not an advisory

[TSid]

I think it’s worrying me because it’s a dealership purchase so paying over the odds. There’s a workshop on site but the salesman was ‘people expect new cars’ etc. I get that 100% but I don’t want to pay top price knowing I’ve got to get things done.

I understand there are always unexpected costs but as a cautious person, I’d rather know it’s ok to start with. 
Thanks for your help everyone 👍🏻

[TomsFocus]

Honestly, in my experience (over 60 used cars  ) dealership cars are no better than private sale generally.  

The choice really is spending less on private and having the money spare for if things break unexpectedly.  OR paying from a dealer and having some things fixed free in the first few months...as long as they're ones that are covered.

Apart from finance, I'm really not sure there are any other dealership positives unless the engine explodes a week later.

I'd leave it and buy one privately myself.

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 9/5/2021 at 5:27 PM, TSid said:

I’m interested in buying a Fiesta ( been looking for months 😢).

Not sure what age/ Fiesta model/budget you are looking for here? There are certainly lots around - over 12,900 just on AutoTrader at the moment, for example.

 

 

 

[TSid]

I’m looking to spend up to around 7/8k, ecoboost (pref Titanium), low mileage.  Not many decent private sales, all seem good but then turn out to be Cat S etc.  Not a good time for buying a used car the way prices have gone. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

As Tom mentions above, it's a difficult one choosing between dealer or private - I've had good and bad experiences with both over the years.

Private can be cheaper, but other than blatant misrepresentation you have no legal comeback. At least with a dealer you do have consumer protection plus whatever warranty is offered, and some members on here have had good results by involving local Trading Standards (hopefully it won't come to that!). Some years now since I went buying private but I did used to find a surprising number of small traders masquerading as private sellers to get round consumer protection.

At the price range you mention, there still seem to be a fair number of cars within the Ford dealer network. I found over 70 in that price range within Ford Retail Group (aka TrustFord) at various locations, for instance. Some were 1.25s though, not Ecoboosts.

Some independent used car dealers can be very good. There are a couple near me for example, who are long established, have an excellent reputation and customers who come back time and time again, and will source cars for customers. There might be someone similar near you if you ask around?

On the advisories, as others have mentioned, testers do vary and I have had an advisory one year but not the next, for the same item. Or the garage makes an estimate that an item might need attention before next annual service, which might not be the case for very low mileage drivers. My Mrs (who does very little mileage) had an item flagged up 3 years running on her Ka before it reached the point of really needing doing.

I would have expected a dealer to sort any advisories before passing the car onto a customer, though, and their attitude doesn't sound great. I'd be inclined to ask them to sort the advisories as part of the deal, or walk away as others have suggested.

 

[jace1969]

As for advisories i had my 2011 Titanium from ford 3 years old when i had it, advisory was slight dent in rear alloy inside rim.

7 years down the line never been an advisory since then,there good to know what is not 100% .

I paid just over 8k for mine but your going back a good 7 year plus but i would of thought 7 to 8k would of got a nice one a few years old.

Places like ford or top garages will give you a good 12 months warranty as others its 1 to 3 months so it's best to have a dam good look round and pick stuff wrong as they want the sale more than you want to buy,you can always look other places and they know that,i went back to mine 3 times and picked stupid stuff which they did.

[Splatman]

I've had this advisery rear swivel pin and or Bush slightly worn. I know what a Bush is but what is a swivel pin exactly? Should I get them changed at the same time as the bushes?  Are they expensive?  

(I've been getting creaking noises from the back, thought it was something in the boot but now I'm sure it's the bushes and or pins)