second hand nightmares

[slow coach]

Whats your opinions on buying second hand, any horror stories looked good but when it arrived didnt look so hot, I have had some good but also some bad second hand buys, also sold a fair few bits as well which i havent had much come back on so maybe a good seller .

my most recent purchase was for a TC looked really nice told by the seller it was a spare car ready to go hardly raced, what a load of bull it was a spare car but it was full of the bits which were worn out from his race car, no grub screws in the rear cvd's so when i turned the wheels the pins fell out, suspension arms were all worn and sloppy, rear diff was so worn i fitted new 1/8th diff balls in and when i got round to buying a new pulley found they wouldnt fit cause the original diff uses 3mm balls , the diff outdrives front and rear were badly grooved and needed replacing, there were a few other gripes but wont mention them, I still wonder if it would of actually been cheaper to buy new.

no names please its not for getting revenge just to make people aware of whats out there.

cheers

[Steve.T]

As with most things, if you buy second hand you take your chances.
Its a pity that this happens within this sport where 99.9% of the people who participate are honest.
Sorry it happened to you though.

[Chrislong]

Second hand cars should only really be bought from people you know - so can trust the car, or from someone you don't know only if you can go and inspect the car.

I sell all my second hand cars, but rarely (only once) through ebay, as I wouldn't personally buy a car from ebay for use... as there is high chance of getting crap. And I know my own cars are good, if they were crap id put them on ebay and not care if I get low selling price and hope to not know who buys it but they aren't. So if others think like me, that must mean majority of cars on ebay will be crap... I could be wrong.

I did once buy a XX4 through ebay for spares, it was cheap, but it was never going to be useable. It got turned in to a box of spares for my X-5, which is what I bought it for. Then I sold the ancient Tekin 411G which was in it for more than I paid!!!

My theory came true this week although not on a model car. I bought a pair of car seats for a real car im working on, new but had been old stock at larkspeed leeds, advertised as dusty but otherwise perfect and they had 3 of them in stock. When they arrived one had a 2inch tear in the rear. I know what happened - they thought "this sucker didn't choose these in person, send him the crap so if someone comes in store we have a good one left". So im getting it replaced, if it isn't right they will refund both, if it is right, they're still getting nasty feedback.

Hang on, you didn't mention ebay. Oh well. Perhaps what im getting at is to trust the seller and inspect the car, don't use ebay unless its either a bargain or you know the seller or/and inspect the car..

[Huckster522]

Had it not been for second hand cars, i would not have been racing now, all three of mine were bought off flea-bay and all three only had minor issues which was not to costly to sort out.
I must admit these problems were not told to me or listed before purchase so was mildly annoying.


xx4we with electrics, radio, battery's and charger £80
xxx4g+ with hugh box of new and used spares £90
xxxcr rolling chassis £50

the last two would have cost over £400 new alone so factoring in a few extra quid for parts was not an issue.

[Scoobster]

It wouldn’t be so bad if the sellers were honest with their description! I have just bought a car from a forum member who said it was in great condition, diff just rebuilt etc but when it turned up it was far from great condition. I contacted the seller and asked for my money back as it wasn’t as described but he said he’s spent the money! You wouldn’t mind having to do some work on a car if you got it for a good price but when you pay the going rate for somethine that’s said to be in great condition only to find out its not as good as they say it is, that’s what gets me wound up

[Big G]

My b44 came with a screw with the remains of the last 1/16th hex driver in it. shame really because it only took me minutes to actually remove. otherwise the car was in really good condition.

My B4 was sloppy everywhere, but was advertised as spares/repair so I replaced the arms and hubs and it's like a new car now

[bodgit]

The old saying "buy it cheap buy it twice" comes true more often than not. Thinking you save £20-30 whatever costs you much more in the long run.