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Bought a 2 year old Mondeo tdci from a garage in April, and from marks that I've discovered on the interior tim and bumper panels I'm strongly suspicious that it may be an ex-taxi (and subsequently a clocked one!). Does anyone know of any vehicle checks (hpi etc) that would confirm if a car has been previously registered as having a private hire license??????
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Taxis and private hires are licenced by district councils. You'd have to search the DC's register (by hand I guess) to see if it had been on their list. If you've got the V5, why not doorstep the previous owner and ask?
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Or talk to the people who serviced it.
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Difficult to check mileage, as there's no legal obligation to record it anywhere.
As Optimist said, the service history is your best bet. If it's main dealer based, you can get a complete printout from the Ford dealer database if you ask nicely. I did this with Renault before I bought the Scenic, and they were happy to oblige.
What are the marks or other signs that lead you to believe it's an ex-taxi?
Cheers
DP
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What are the marks or other signs that lead you to believe it's an ex-taxi?
The meter on the dash, the headboard on the top, the two drunks in the back seat etc...
Sorry I couldn't resist.;0)
Edited by kith on 13/06/2008 at 15:41
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The previous owner had the car for only 10 months, the garage that sold me the car said.... he had bought he car off them having traded in his old 7 seater but had come back to them 10 months later wanting another 7 seater, after buying the car i sent him a letter asking wether or not he had any technical issues with the car. He telephoned me the day he received the letter saying the car was fine and he had no problems with it but then went on to say he had bought the car from a different garage and had traded it in for a Passat as he wanted a smaller car!!!!!! at this point I quizzed him as to which garage he had bought the car from originally and he got very cagey saying " a garage in Yorkshire" before ending the call abruptly. at this point alarm bells were beginning to ring so I inspected the interior a lot closer and found small sucker pad rings on the courtesy lamp area (just back from the rear view mirror) and both the clutch and accelerator pedals are very smooth on their inside edges, more than i would expect from the displayed 31000 miles on the clock which is accompanied by a suspicious faint black mark next to the trip meter (more visible with the LCD backlight on). The bumper has marks adjacent to both the front and rear license plate which could have been created by a private hire license plate.
According to its service log book the car was serviced by the original owner (coincidently the chain of garages that i had bought it from) who had stamps for 12k and 24k services and the previous owner had a interim service (oil and filter change) at National Autocare carried out 3 weeks before he traded it in. My suspiscion is that he clocked up high miles during the time he had owned it and for reasons unknown needed to get rid, so has had it clocked (apparently very easy on Mondeos) and traded it in. Since having the car It suffers from black smoke on hard acceleration, the local Ford franchise garage replaced the EGR valve under warranty but this didn't make any difference , to which point they've shrugged their shoulders saying "These type of Mondeos are known for it"!!.
One of the reasons I bought the car inthe first place was that I thought the Garage was a reputable one, turns out they have a terrible reputation as Arthur Daley types who will shift just about anything to unsuspecting dohnuts like myself!!.
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Two things.
1) Trading Standards for private punters is now Consumer Direct, a web and telephone based advice service run by a private company.
2) You've got a lot of suspicion but not much in the way of facts. But you do know the previous owner's name and address and the vehicle details. If he's a hackney/private hire driver he will be licenced as will the vehicle. I guess (but don't know) you can ask your local council. Their records on vehicles are quite detailed but what they'll tell you I don't know.
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On the other hand, if the car drives well (the black smoke IS common on MK3 Mondeos, see www.fordmondeo.org for more details) and doesn't ring any alarms when you do a National Mileage Register check then you have effectively got a decent enough car that you can still sell on when you're done with it and no one will be any the wiser. :-)
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Also, taxis are subjected to a very rigorous inspection - a sort of 'super MOT' if you like - so apart from the possible clocking issue they can be a good purchase.
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Did you get a V5 with it - did it have "hackney" as a taxation class. Not sure whether these tax checking websites tell you the class ??? DVLA or LVLO jay tell you any previous taxation classes....
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Further checks to make:
When you go for a 2 mile drive to Tesco, does the car veer off on a diversion of about 10 extra miles? Is the indicator stalk unduly stiff (owing to infrequent use?) And does the car disappear off all by itself on a Friday and Saturday night, only to turn up suddenly with six of its mates?
(Note: checks above only apply to suspected minicabs: taxis are a different kettle fo fish altogether....
:-)
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If the previous owner is local to you, why don't you do a drive by and see if there is a cab parked outside?
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Most taxis would be wired for a two-way radio or tracking device which would leave a trace - screw holes/aerial/wiring/disturbed trim.
And if there's a couple of pound coins under the back seat, you've nailed it.
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You can do an NMR check via HPI although as it has had no MOT's it will only really show anything if the dealers who did the servicing subscribe to the NMR scheme and/or the mileage was recorded on the V5 at change of owner.
Cars can and do get incredibly tatty in 2 years and 36k with some owners - you only need to look at some fleet stuff at auction to see it. Many of those with a genuine 30k look like they've done 130k but haven't so don't immediately assume the worst. Loads of cars also get passed through the trade 3 or 4 or more times before finding a home even if they are an original px it is rarely with the dealer who actually sells it.
The things you mention give reason for further investigation but are by no means conclusive.
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>>And if there's a couple of pound coins under the back seat, you've nailed it.
I found nearly forty quid under a seat once, one of the previous owners was a curate!
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I found a 9 year old Kit-Kat under the seat once. It made me ill. :-(
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I found a couple of smarties, rather faded, and a pulped cheese biscuit among other carp under my back seat the other day when giving the car its three-yearly vacuum.
I may still have them in the bag of debris in the car. Would you like to try them DH (at your own risk of course, I wouldn't recommend it)?
Have you ever toyed with the idea of eating scorpions and so on in one of those reality TV programmes?
:o{/
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My brother failed to notice a tray of mince which fell out of the shopping in the boot of his Cortina.
Must have been well wrapped because there was no smell, he found the blackened meat a few weeks later.
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I'll just take the Smarties, please.
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's nothing wrong with a well hung piece of meat, it adds to the flavour.
They don't put best before dates on 'em when they're still breathing ;>)
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Friend of mine discovered a haggis which had long previously managed to roll behind the vertically positioned spare wheel in the boot. His car had been whiffy for a long time but the cause was until then unknown. He figured out that it had been there for about 18 months when it came to light. He was a Scotsman who lived in London and had bought the haggis on a trip to Edinburgh the year before and presumably assumed he had mislaid it. Actually now I come to remember, it wasn't he who found the haggis but the police who had stopped him and searched his car because they thought he looked dodgy or something. In fact he was a very decent guy who just looked a bit dodgy sometimes. Can't remember what happened to the haggis.
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A mate of mine spilt a bottle of milk into the back seat of his Hillman Avenger company car. S'funny - noone ever wanted to go out for a drive with him after that! He was really pleased to get rid of it after the 2 years were up.
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I used to be very partial to salmon and brocolli quiche. Could have sworn I'd bought some for dinner one day. Couldn't find it in the bags.
On cleaning the car for sale some time later it turned up under the front passenger seat.
Have to say I didn't dare open the box.
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Just for the record, white vinegar solution kills the sour milk niff. You need to repeat the clean about three times then it's fine. I certainly could not put up with that for more than two minutes let alone two whole years. Or 11 years old thread.
Edited by Ethan Edwards on 29/09/2019 at 01:42
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I bought a Mk2 2 litre Capri in the 1970's - under the back seat squab I found 2 double cupped handfuls of assorted self-tappers, trim clips, spire nuts and those peculiar grey wiring clips that Ford used on their cars. I'm still using the odd screw from that cache today!
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