What's the secret?

[Soupasam]

I feel I must be missing something?

For the past 4 months I have been trying to buy another MK1 MR2 and have had absolutely no luck.I've placed wanted ads, I check all the owners clubs, autotrader, ebay, trade-it etc daily and still havn't found anything.

The only criteria I have are:
1. It must be in good drivable conditionwith reasonable mileage.
2. It must be Blue, Black, Silver or at a push Red.
3. Not too far away (anywhere near the South West)
4. Seller isn't dodgy.

I must have made around 30 phone calls to different adverts and have talked to countless numbers of dodgy sellers. Even the bloke who realised an MR2 wouldnt be practical for his two large dogs after a week of ownership.

It seems that all the nice MR2's have migrated north for the winter


Any advice will be much appreciated, I am getting a bit fustrated with all the time I spend searching.

Cheers

[HT]

Hmm - have you tried placing a wanted ad on IMOC? There is a nice blue one for sale in the for sale section presently (two actually one mica & one light blue).

My current one was bought off flea bay (off-site as well), and paid for in full via paypal before even seeing it!! Turned out to have full toyota service history (inc cambelt done 5k miles previous), and flew through its mot a month later (a bulb, rear silencer just like the seller said) - drove it back the 100 mile journey home without issue,and I'm now enjoying restoring it over this winter for next summer, with no surprises so far Bargains do exist, as do genuine sellers, just got to keep hunting and I'm sure one (probably two at the same time ) will appear!! HTH

[The TVIS Kid]

Change your criteria on No. 2 and i've one for sale at the mo, check the for sale section if your interested.

[Soupasam]

Cheers for your relpies.

The MK1 you have for sale looks really nice, but white isnt really my colour.
Reconsidering the Mica Blue one tho...

[Lauren]

Change criteria 3. I've driven 300miles to pick up an MR2 before.

It doesn't matter if you only have to make the trip once or at worst twice.

[Soupasam]

I've gotta convince my dad to come up though! I don't have fully comprehensive insurance at the moment so I would be unable to test drive the car. Also arranging insurance for the drive back may be difficult as i'd have to tell my insurers before i go.

[crazylegs]

you are looking at the best time to get a bargain.
any decent/honest seller will take you out for a test drive and let you do any checks you want.
you can get insurance just for a day if you need it, its not that expensive. if you buy from a non club member you can always ask if anyone is local to give a second opinion.
if the seller is not helpful then steer clear.as a seller you should be trying your hardest to accomodate the buyer. a frosty response from a seller would ring very loud alarm bells in my head.

[cartledge_uk]

And also as unfortunate as it is, you may have to be willing to travel. Just make sure you have up todate photos first.

I did a 400+mile round trip to view white over silver that the person sent me "up to date" pictures for, and i decidede i didnt want it within 10seconds of looking at the car, the pics were clearly at least 2 years old.


my current car was a 300mile trip to view.

[Soupasam]

I agree, I thought i'd be able to get a good deal as it's nearly christmas. Last one I looked at was from a nice enough dealer, but the clutch was going, had lots of miles and a fair bit of rust and the leather seats were disintergrating. Isuring myself for a day may be a bit tricky as i'm only 18

[Soupasam]

I will be able to travel as long as i'm 99% sure i'll buy that car. So far I've only seen one car that looked perfect but it was on eBay end I was outbid in the last few seconds

[johnp]

unless i'm missing something here neither you or all the people replying have mentioned the obvious --HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO PAY?
i find it difficult to believe you can't find one if you are prepared to pay the market rate .
what do you expect ,condition wise, and what factors do you use to value the cars you have seen?

[Soupasam]

Well I am willing to spend up to around £1500 for the right car. For this price the car must be either blue or black, have a large amount of service history and have little or no rust. The engine must have done less than 100k. Preferably someone who has owned the car for a while and has looked after it. I am willing to travel if I can find a decent example.

I'm happy to buy a car for around £700 with a small amount of treatable rust, mileage under 125k and with a resonable abount of service history. A car for this amount of money must be pretty close as I would need to inspect it. It also would need to have Tax and over 4 Months MOT.

[kevin..in]

Change criteria 3. I've driven 300miles to pick up an MR2 before.

It doesn't matter if you only have to make the trip once or at worst twice.

I was awake for a straight 26 hours including a 10 hour night shift, to collect my current car
I have driven hundreds of miles to view poo
better half spent three days in hospital and now has plates and pins in her wrist (fell over on a crap drive) after a 200 mile round trip to look at a minter (turned out to be a scrapper)
there are good cars out there just got to be persistant and a bit lucky

[johnp]

i do hope you can find what you are looking for at £1500.
BUT i think your main point of difficulty is 'little or no rust' ----any car in this price range may have significant rust if it has good mechanics and a similar car with the body restored to a good standard....well,i would want more.
the cheaper option is a possibility but have you got the required tools,garage facility,helpful friends,ability to weld......the list goes on, if you see what i mean.
i think the best advice is not what you want to hear....save ,beg or borrow another £1k----the truly decent cars are £2500 +.....but will work out cheaper in the long run.
good luck in your continuing search.

[Soupasam]

Cheers for the advice guys. Looks like i'm going to have to wait some more, or travel. I really want to make sure i've found the right car before i buy one because i know once i've bought an ok one, lots of nice ones will come up.

[kevin..in]

No. 4 will be the real sticking point
it's totally impossable to sell anything let alone a car without your latent Arthur Daley sneaking out to play

[kevin..in]

Cheers for the advice guys. Looks like i'm going to have to wait some more, or travel. I really want to make sure i've found the right car before i buy one because i know once i've bought an ok one, lots of nice ones will come up.

easy then to sell up and upgrade
one is never enough
I'm planning many many more

[Soupasam]

Haha, It's amazing how much some peoples adverts bend the truth. One guy said he'd owned the car for over 2 years, spoke to him on the phone and he said it was more like 1 year and then said it was about 7 months!

[kevin..in]

Haha, It's amazing how much some peoples adverts bend the truth. One guy said he'd owned the car for over 2 years, spoke to him on the phone and he said it was more like 1 year and then said it was about 7 months!

wait till you turn up to the one that says lovely condition and has a pic of the owner with the car
when you get there you say to the old guy I'm here to see your sons car he say I don't have a son the cars mine
the pic is 15 years old
this has happened more than once

no need to be polite it's called lying

[Soupasam]

My dad keeps ranting on about "immaculate" cars he's been to see before. One time he travelled 300 miles to see an "immaculate" car and it turns out it had been rolled down a ditch a couple of weeks before! - This is why it may be hard to convince my dad to travel far.