Buying a car from Ritters - sight unseen

[catch-22]

Hi all, seems there are far more trucks (TD5 2003/2004) in Melbourne then there are in Sydney. I was considering buying one from somewhere like Ritters who seem to have a good rep. So I would buy from the hi-res pics sent and the detailed description, then fly down, pick up and drive home.

I figure buying from a Land Rover specialist is better then a wholesaler...

So has anyone done this - bought a truck sight unseen from someone like Ritters? What was the experiance like? Was the description honest and the price resonable for the deliverables?

Cheers
Caine

[rangieman]

ritters =$ all there stuff is overpriced:angel:

[Pedro_The_Swift]

certainly put a deposit on it,,

dunno about that much cash site unseen,,

they are car salesmen.

[rangieman]

i bought my defender in canberra no cash exchaned hands till i saw and drove the car
once all that was done i talked turkey saved 2 grand and then drove it back to vic:D

[LRHybrid100]

I bought a wrecker from Ritters - no problem at all.

We got talking, Craig and I, about doing a TDI Auto Rangie while at the VIC show 2 years ago. On the way home back to Sydney I rang Craig and bought a damage 1998 Disco Tdi Auto over the phone.

Turned out to have a few problems - but all respect to Craig and the other boys at Ritters have all been replaced with like or even new parts.

Total faith in Ritters.

My 10c worth

LRH

[weeds]

i brought my defender site unseen 'private sale', i put a deposit on the rig, brought a one way plane fare and headed off

i was comfortable with effort the owner went to giving me the run down on the rig, sent some receipts for work carried out, gave me a link to a website where the fender in question was a feature artical. he was more than happy to deliver the rig to RACQ for an inspection, fixed everything that was needed for a roadworthy and took some $$$ of for other faults

apart from normal maintenance for a 10+ year old car i have had no failures, touch wood, maybe i got lucky

[Utemad]

I searched the entire East coast for a Disco1. Some of my friends thought I was bonkers for doing that as a 1994 Disco is hardly difficult to come by. However good ones for good prices certainly are.

George130 kindly looked at one in Canberra for me. On his appraisal I was going to buy it as he said it was good for the money. However it sold for less than I was going to offer just before I rang her back :(

The next one was looked at in Sydney by my Dad who just happened to be on a businesstrip down there at the time. I passed on that one.

The next was looked at in Melbourne (perhaps it was just outside of Melbourne?) by Rangieman. However just after he looked at that one I called a guy in Sydney about his Disco he had advertised. It had a lot of 4wd extras and looked to be in perfect condition. When I rang the guy about it we spoke for near 45mins about his Disco. It was obvious he loved it to death and was only selling it because of life circumstances. Very low kms and he was the second owner but had it for quite a while. Two days later I was getting picked up from the Sydney airport by him and he confessed that when I told him on the phone that I was in the Brisbane 4wd Club that he thought he would never hear from me again. After a test drive and a good looking over I was very impressed so I bought it and drove it straight back to Brisbane.

So I didn't buy it sight unseen and I did take ads for other Discos in the area but I did take a big risk flying to Sydney sight unseen.

So far other than a few oil leaks and a vacuum leak I've looked at myself and having a leak in the radiator fixed I haven't had anything go wrong with it in the near 6 months I've had it. I took some spanners with me for the drive back and he laughed and reckoned that I had to ring him when I got home as if I had to use any of the spanners on it to get it home he would be very surprised.

So after that long and boring to everyone but me post, why don't you have a forum member to check out any prospective vehicles for you. In my experience people are very willing to help out (Thanks again George130 and Rangieman).

Good luck with your search.

[Captain_Rightfoot]

I do know that mob have a very good rep. You'll probably pay a bit more but it's probably more likely to be a good one.

[feral]

You will not any problem with buying a vehicle from Ritters. The problem you will have is that at Ritters you would most likely be up to $2000 more for the same thing if bought elsewhere.

As I work in the area and have owned a D1 and now the D2, I have dropped in occasionally to compare and check the market. I found they are a little overpriced. On the other hand the vehicles are usually in good condition but the mileage is a bit high for the price.

Don't get me wrong...these guys will look after you with your purchase but you will line someone's pocket.

[ciapek]

Hi all, seems there are far more trucks (TD5 2003/2004) in Melbourne then there are in Sydney. I was considering buying one from somewhere like Ritters who seem to have a good rep. So I would buy from the hi-res pics sent and the detailed description, then fly down, pick up and drive home.

I figure buying from a Land Rover specialist is better then a wholesaler...

So has anyone done this - bought a truck sight unseen from someone like Ritters? What was the experiance like? Was the description honest and the price resonable for the deliverables?

Cheers
Caine

I get my servicing done at Ritter's, no they are not cheap, but their service and attention to detail I would rate highly, I guess it's more reassuring than that compared to the dealers.

I have numerously had a good look at their used vehicles while mine was in and I was killing time, and at first glance I would find it hard to fault them......

But I guess it all comes down to the individual vehicle.....

Personally I would say you can't trust anyone who is trying to make a dollar but that again one would think that they try to uphold a certain level of reputation when it comes to the Marquee......Word spreads around quickly these days...................Good Luck......;)

[waynep]

I work only about 5 clicks from Ritters so if you wanted me to run down and have a squiz at a particular vehicle let me know ( any excuse to shirk off work and look at Landies :D ).

Ritters seem to update their website quite regularly so the stock on there is probably what they actually have in their yard.

If you're looking at buying from a dealer in Melbourne, Range Rove also sell used cars and have a website - they are about as close to me as Ritters. ( the other way )
http://www.range-rov.com.au/
I get my car serviced there, I've had a look at some of their used cars and their prices seem pretty good ( well no worse than Ritters anyway )

[cwebb]

Although this is slightly off-topic, my experience with Ritter (not Ritters incidently) is with their servicing and not their prowess of being used car salesman. It is with regret that I now choose to avoid Ritter.
I bought my Disco (pretty much sight unseen) from Sydney and brought it to Melbourne, and immediately booked it in with them for the 100K service as well as the VIC Roads roadworthy. As it had been a Sydney town car, I wanted it thoroughly checked out.
Upon checking it in in, I was told that the tyres would be unroadworthy in Victoria. This is despite them being legal in NSW and more than the minimum tread depth, even for VIC Roads standards.
Then I get a call saying the rear discs were too thin. To this day, I firmly believe that they were fine, but at the time I just needed the vehicle on the road and registered.
Some time later, by about the 110K service, I had the vehicle at Range-Rov who advised that the gearbox oil was only half full and did not have any leaks. (R380 5 speed). They are adament that it was not topped up or changed at the 100K service, despite me telling Ritter that I was now the brand new owner of this car and I wanted all fluids changed as I was treating this as a major service. There was some evidence of other fluids not being changed as well.
Overall, my experience with Ritter has not been positive and I have found solace in other non-dealer service agents in Melbourne.
Lastly on Ritter, this bloke I know seems to be in love with Ritter who services his vehicle. All I know is they rip him every single time he goes there and he seems happy to keep paying.
Its like "oh, there's a stone chip underneath the body near the diff thats shouldn't be there, so we have to pull the doors off, and re-weld the firewall and change the flux capacitor. Thats $1600 bucks please..."
I suppose what I am elluding to is that if their so called 'servicing' omits critical components of the vehicle, then would you trust a vehicle bought from there? The vehicles they sell are mostly their own clients who have since upgraded.
I personally wouldn't get my services or purchases from them again.

[catch-22]

Thanks all for the replys and a huge thanks to WayneP for offer to go and check our a truck.....one couldn't ask for anything more.

I have previously purchased a number of cars sight unseen. One from Perth which I had shipped across to me here in Sydney and one from Adelaide that I flew down and drove home. But I knew these cars (an r100 and an rx2) and what to look for. A TD5 is a diffrerent game.

Cheers
Caine