Hi there. After failing to afford a Polo GTi (MK5) and then a facelift Audi A3, I decided to go for an older A4. I found a good one: 1999 1.8SE Manual, black, computer, all electrics, climate control, 79k, spoiler, fsh by Audi & 17" Audi alloys all for £2600. It looked great on paper!
So, I finish work, mum picks me up and we head on a 2hour journey upto some place near Ealing. Was so long and I worked from 7-3:30pm so I was already sleepless.
Cutting it much shorter, we met the guy outside a tube station, which isn't what I wanted as it's always best to meet them at there address but he said he is at work at the tube station so why not.
Anyway we look at the car and so on. It was very smooth, in good condition, cambelt had changed, which is what I was looking for and all the electrics were working... the usual checks really. One thing I might add, the first with a SMOOTH gearbox. Amazing it was heh.
The documentation seemed fine with VW & Audi stamps plus the MOT was fine. Only thing was, he said his name was "Jack" where as on the logbook it was completely different. He also said he didn't have any ID or proof address at all.
Anyway one thing I picked up when I sold my Polo was that the guy did a HPI check. So I call them as I got there number from 118118 after work and went through the procedure.
Money well spent! Turns out, the actual mileage should be around 130,000 and that the V5 date doesn't match. I asked him about why the Audi stamps were on there and he asked if it was the same one in the whole service booklet and I said yes. He replied it was possibility that it was just a fake stamp.
Well after that you can imagine what happened, we weren't interested. I did confront him and he said they must be drunk and that he'd had the car for 2-3 years so I asked why the change over on the V5 shows it was done in 2005... no reply and that was that.
So I must say to ANYBODY who is going to buy a used car, please please please do a HPI check. It was our first time doing it and it ****** paid off.
Was in shock to hear what was really under the bonnet even though the car was mint! Truely an eye opener, I will ALWAYS do a HPI check from now and definitely recommend it. Didn't think you could clock an electronic mileage system such as the one on the A4 but there you go.
Thanks for listening
So, I finish work, mum picks me up and we head on a 2hour journey upto some place near Ealing. Was so long and I worked from 7-3:30pm so I was already sleepless.
Cutting it much shorter, we met the guy outside a tube station, which isn't what I wanted as it's always best to meet them at there address but he said he is at work at the tube station so why not.
Anyway we look at the car and so on. It was very smooth, in good condition, cambelt had changed, which is what I was looking for and all the electrics were working... the usual checks really. One thing I might add, the first with a SMOOTH gearbox. Amazing it was heh.
The documentation seemed fine with VW & Audi stamps plus the MOT was fine. Only thing was, he said his name was "Jack" where as on the logbook it was completely different. He also said he didn't have any ID or proof address at all.
Anyway one thing I picked up when I sold my Polo was that the guy did a HPI check. So I call them as I got there number from 118118 after work and went through the procedure.
Money well spent! Turns out, the actual mileage should be around 130,000 and that the V5 date doesn't match. I asked him about why the Audi stamps were on there and he asked if it was the same one in the whole service booklet and I said yes. He replied it was possibility that it was just a fake stamp.
Well after that you can imagine what happened, we weren't interested. I did confront him and he said they must be drunk and that he'd had the car for 2-3 years so I asked why the change over on the V5 shows it was done in 2005... no reply and that was that.
So I must say to ANYBODY who is going to buy a used car, please please please do a HPI check. It was our first time doing it and it ****** paid off.
Was in shock to hear what was really under the bonnet even though the car was mint! Truely an eye opener, I will ALWAYS do a HPI check from now and definitely recommend it. Didn't think you could clock an electronic mileage system such as the one on the A4 but there you go.
Thanks for listening
