Bazzle218
28th March 2019, 12:17 PM
This week I flew from Townsville to Brisbane to purchase and pick up a 1996 defender 300 tdi Wagon advertised on Gumtree for sale by a Person who works for a Land Rover specialist at Deception Bay . This person works for them and no comments are directed at the business itself.
The vehicle was given a glowing report as to condition, including recently painted, air conditioning working a treat, recently rebuilt gearbox, new clutch and timing belt kit and rust free supplied with roadworthy condition by seller. (I recently I had a couple of forum members inspect a vehicle for me, but I decided the one advertised suited my needs better ( lesson learnt). Any way on arrival at business location . I Inspect vehicle and requested it to be started. Leaking Turbo Horn, Turn aircon on. no fan to position 3 and compressor worked for 30 seconds then stopped. I got the old, it was working fine. I questioned where the thermostat control was for the aircon and was advised to be told that this model did not have one ( the switch was three position and did not have thermostat control fitted as per some) and no blower fan at the front of the vehicle. The look on the sellers face when I pulled out aircon vent and removed the disconnected thermostat switch and also pointed out the fan on the front of the radiator. Rust free, drivers floor pan looked magnificent as per photo supplied by seller. I crawled under the vehicle and shock horror there was enough sika flex to re float the Titanic on the drivers side floor pan. Leaking swivel hubs. Checked coolant bottle and was surprised to see that it was filled with the new coolant that looks just like muddy water. It was at this time I realized that I had just wasted my time and I walked away and flew back to Townsville $800 dollars poorer. Moral of the story, members will check vehicles' out for you if asked. Use this option before you travel. As a follow up, tried to message seller and address matters civilly. Message blocked and add was removed from gumtree the same day. Keep your eyes out . Happy to answer PMs. [bigsad][bigsad][bigsad] Baz
The vehicle was given a glowing report as to condition, including recently painted, air conditioning working a treat, recently rebuilt gearbox, new clutch and timing belt kit and rust free supplied with roadworthy condition by seller. (I recently I had a couple of forum members inspect a vehicle for me, but I decided the one advertised suited my needs better ( lesson learnt). Any way on arrival at business location . I Inspect vehicle and requested it to be started. Leaking Turbo Horn, Turn aircon on. no fan to position 3 and compressor worked for 30 seconds then stopped. I got the old, it was working fine. I questioned where the thermostat control was for the aircon and was advised to be told that this model did not have one ( the switch was three position and did not have thermostat control fitted as per some) and no blower fan at the front of the vehicle. The look on the sellers face when I pulled out aircon vent and removed the disconnected thermostat switch and also pointed out the fan on the front of the radiator. Rust free, drivers floor pan looked magnificent as per photo supplied by seller. I crawled under the vehicle and shock horror there was enough sika flex to re float the Titanic on the drivers side floor pan. Leaking swivel hubs. Checked coolant bottle and was surprised to see that it was filled with the new coolant that looks just like muddy water. It was at this time I realized that I had just wasted my time and I walked away and flew back to Townsville $800 dollars poorer. Moral of the story, members will check vehicles' out for you if asked. Use this option before you travel. As a follow up, tried to message seller and address matters civilly. Message blocked and add was removed from gumtree the same day. Keep your eyes out . Happy to answer PMs. [bigsad][bigsad][bigsad] Baz