second hand nightmares

[slow coach]

Whats your opinions on buying second hand, any horror stories looked good but when it arrived didnt look so hot, I have had some good but also some bad second hand buys, also sold a fair few bits as well which i havent had much come back on so maybe a good seller .

my most recent purchase was for a TC looked really nice told by the seller it was a spare car ready to go hardly raced, what a load of bull it was a spare car but it was full of the bits which were worn out from his race car, no grub screws in the rear cvd's so when i turned the wheels the pins fell out, suspension arms were all worn and sloppy, rear diff was so worn i fitted new 1/8th diff balls in and when i got round to buying a new pulley found they wouldnt fit cause the original diff uses 3mm balls , the diff outdrives front and rear were badly grooved and needed replacing, there were a few other gripes but wont mention them, I still wonder if it would of actually been cheaper to buy new.

no names please its not for getting revenge just to make people aware of whats out there.

cheers

[Steve.T]

As with most things, if you buy second hand you take your chances.
Its a pity that this happens within this sport where 99.9% of the people who participate are honest.
Sorry it happened to you though.

[Chrislong]

Second hand cars should only really be bought from people you know - so can trust the car, or from someone you don't know only if you can go and inspect the car.

I sell all my second hand cars, but rarely (only once) through ebay, as I wouldn't personally buy a car from ebay for use... as there is high chance of getting crap. And I know my own cars are good, if they were crap id put them on ebay and not care if I get low selling price and hope to not know who buys it but they aren't. So if others think like me, that must mean majority of cars on ebay will be crap... I could be wrong.

I did once buy a XX4 through ebay for spares, it was cheap, but it was never going to be useable. It got turned in to a box of spares for my X-5, which is what I bought it for. Then I sold the ancient Tekin 411G which was in it for more than I paid!!!

My theory came true this week although not on a model car. I bought a pair of car seats for a real car im working on, new but had been old stock at larkspeed leeds, advertised as dusty but otherwise perfect and they had 3 of them in stock. When they arrived one had a 2inch tear in the rear. I know what happened - they thought "this sucker didn't choose these in person, send him the crap so if someone comes in store we have a good one left". So im getting it replaced, if it isn't right they will refund both, if it is right, they're still getting nasty feedback.

Hang on, you didn't mention ebay. Oh well. Perhaps what im getting at is to trust the seller and inspect the car, don't use ebay unless its either a bargain or you know the seller or/and inspect the car..

[Huckster522]

Had it not been for second hand cars, i would not have been racing now, all three of mine were bought off flea-bay and all three only had minor issues which was not to costly to sort out.
I must admit these problems were not told to me or listed before purchase so was mildly annoying.


xx4we with electrics, radio, battery's and charger £80
xxx4g+ with hugh box of new and used spares £90
xxxcr rolling chassis £50

the last two would have cost over £400 new alone so factoring in a few extra quid for parts was not an issue.

[Scoobster]

It wouldn’t be so bad if the sellers were honest with their description! I have just bought a car from a forum member who said it was in great condition, diff just rebuilt etc but when it turned up it was far from great condition. I contacted the seller and asked for my money back as it wasn’t as described but he said he’s spent the money! You wouldn’t mind having to do some work on a car if you got it for a good price but when you pay the going rate for somethine that’s said to be in great condition only to find out its not as good as they say it is, that’s what gets me wound up

[Big G]

My b44 came with a screw with the remains of the last 1/16th hex driver in it. shame really because it only took me minutes to actually remove. otherwise the car was in really good condition.

My B4 was sloppy everywhere, but was advertised as spares/repair so I replaced the arms and hubs and it's like a new car now

[bodgit]

The old saying "buy it cheap buy it twice" comes true more often than not. Thinking you save £20-30 whatever costs you much more in the long run.

[JonyNitro]

buy from some one you know, I am in to naming and shamingIts not fair really, I have had one dodgy deal, but had money knocked for it

[TheReferee]

i have 2 b4's which were used to make an X6 and an S2, the other day whilst sorting out the racing bits i decided to rebuild the b4's, i now have an immaculate b4 with all new bits and no slop, not sure of the second hand value of a roller probably around £50-£60?, cleared up and added up all the parts i had put on £80!! so if i sold it someone gets a bargain, however the other b4 was built using all the old bits i took off the first one, it looks ok but anyone buying it would have the sloppiest b4 out there, probably go for the same price though.

[Urzrkymn]

I end up with a dog every time I buy second hand, each time I say I'll never do it again. I'm currently on the look out for an MI4.

[Garry]

I had a beautiful custom painted TC body about 5 years ago. Bought it trackside, painted but not cutout as ''it was a custom order, but the guy backed out of it''. It was offered to me for £30 which is fairly cheap for a custom painted TC body.

Cut it, mounted it and ran it for the finals that day....and prompty saw 75% of the paintwork flake off. It turned out the ''custom painter'' had decided to experiement with acrylic paint and it didn't stick.

Also I've purchased various chassis with hidden horrors like ball diffs with just 3 or 4 balls in, a TC where every screw was threadlocked in and rounded off when tried to be unscrewed, and a Tamiya Mini that didn't have any bearings OR bushings in it!

Oh, and a classic one for me at Worksop in 2001/02 when they ran TC. I bought a Schumacher Axis 2 complete with body and wheels/tyres secondhand trackside. My Yokomo YR4 was a bit old and tired, and I was too tempted to run the Axis 2, so after the first round of qually I'd swapped over the electrics and made sure the tyres were legal. After putting the car down and going round the first corner, I should have checked the tyres were actually glued on....

[simoncrabb]

Originally Posted by Garry

a TC where every screw was threadlocked in and rounded off when tried to be unscrewed

( Ouch, I think that was mine... I still say (blue) threadlocking screws into alloy is just fine with a high quality hex driver... )

I've had some horrors, cars with bits missing, but on the other hand cars that were just excellent, and really nicely built.

[racingdwarf]

Never bothered me buying cars on here, so far I have always got what I expected good for oople, ebay ...well like most auctions, you just have to take the chance, but saying that I paid 50quid for a losi xxxT on ebay, when it came it was MINT not even a mark on the chassis or shell was well chuffed.

I think the thing is if you were to want to pay £150ish for a second hand B4 you would expect mint with some brass etc, BUT if your sub £100 you wouldn't expect a dog, but don't expect a tight everywere minter

I have not bought a new car since 2003 ( Mugen MBX) All my cars are good quality second hand, as are most of my esc's and some servos my lipos and a few motors,It is the only way I can afford to race with the best equipment
My rallyx is a second hand car from a team driver, BUT with rallyx all my electrics and engine are new, as with rallyx things get a hard life

In short...Go for it, just be prepared to spend a reasonable amount of money, and ask lots of questions and look hard at the photos, little things soon show how well the car has been looked after...

The only thing I hate is offers (closed bid auction) most people on here should have a fair idea of price, ono if you think it may be over the top, most will soon tell you

[Pablo668]

I bought a B4 on Ebay and it was pretty darn good. It also came with just enough essential spares to go racing. The price was right too.

I also bought an RB5 roller on ebay (no body or electrics) for a good price but I have no idea if it was good or not as it never got to me.
I'm such a nice guy (fool) I decided to be patient and completely forgot about the time-limit on feedback and complaint resolutions.
So I self sodomised myself there.
I still notified Ebay and Paypal, just for the record.

Oh I picked up a really good condition Ultima RB TypeR and an old Ultima pro.

So the majority of the time I've done ok on ebay.

[lochness42]

I've spent quite long time with most of my equipment bought second hand and while it wasn't scam, cars were in good condition or they had plenty spares. I've also spent last few seasons with second hand cars and still managed to become national champion however I fought against people with brand new cars