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Mon 8 Nov 2004 16:47
autotrader ad - patp
Does this look like a good buy?

2001 CITROEN XSARA PICASSO 1.8i 16V SX 5dr Estate
51 Plate, Black with Grey Velour, One Owner, Air Con, ABS, CD, Driver/Passenger Airbags, Anti theft system, CDL, Twin Glass Sunroofs, New Front Tyres, 6 months Tax, 12 months MOT. 39800 miles. £5550.

Had a couple of emails from the guy, he says it's his gf's car, she bought it from new.

He's sent me pictures and it looks pretty tidy, though it has a few minor scuffs and a couple of dents from other parked cars' doors. Service history up to 3 services which is what it should be. However the interval for these is 12000 and he says the last one was done june 03 at 25.5k, which is not right, should be at 12k, 24k and then a recent one at 36k. He's not averse to HPI / RAC checks. AA website suggests it's priced halfway between forecourt and trade-in(good) but clearly it would need some mild bodywork and a service to be considered "good."

Any thoughts from the back room? To me it looks like a straight-up private car with wear in line with its mileage. Now I have to decide whether to schlepp an hour out the other side of London to have a look at it.

Cheers,

pp
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Mon 8 Nov 2004 16:55
autotrader ad - Mike H
The service discrepancy that you are worried about could be easily explainable, perhaps a typo even (35.5k not 25.5k in June, which then fully ties in with the manufacturers schedule.

Can't comment on whether it's good value, but the bodywork imperfections might be a good bargaining point - then again, bear in mind that good bodywork repairs are expensive. At least they aren't so bad you couldn't live with them. You could consider a cheaper Chips Away type repair instead of the full monty bodyshop?
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Mon 8 Nov 2004 17:29
autotrader ad - patp
Yes, I thought the service mught be a typo. Would the garage be able to check that?

A picture of the scratch: www.aboleth.org/scratch.jpg - it looks like it might largely polish out.

Also there seems some dodgy black touch-up on there or something?

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Mon 8 Nov 2004 18:41
autotrader ad - Nsar
That's a finger mark on a dirty car. Check that wheel arch hasn't been dented by the scrape
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Mon 8 Nov 2004 20:27
autotrader ad - patp
That's a finger mark on a dirty car. Check that wheel
arch hasn't been dented by the scrape


LOL. Think you're right. He says the scratches are from hedges on narrow lanes.

I'm more concerned about the weird service record, which is now confirmed. But he's prepared to negotiate on the basis it will need to have a service.

I think I'll go and see it. Any tips as to what I should look out for?
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Thu 11 Nov 2004 16:33
autotrader ad - David Horn
Also looks like it needs new rear tyres, but that's just my personal opinion - it's very difficult to tell from the picture.
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Thu 11 Nov 2004 16:43
autotrader ad - patp
I stepped away. He said he'd get it serviced, but even then I think it's quite overpriced.
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