Car for Sale

[deannawol]

Figured I'd give this a go:

My parents want to sell their current car. 

It's a Green Ford Focus, 1.6 Ghia in excellent condition.  They've had it since new and have clocked up 89,000 miles on it. 
Full service history, recently serviced.  NCT up to Feb 2009.  Taxed until August 2008.
It's an excellent car and if I didn't have Sandy (my 1.25 Ford Fiesta), I'd take it off their hands in a heart beat. 

If anyone is interested or you know anyone interested, please don't hesitate to contact me.  Or if you want to ask details, feel free.  You can contact me here or on my mobile if you know it or by email at deannawol [at] yahoo [dot] com.

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Comments

[nubantu.livejournal.com]

Hi Saoili is looking for a car if she hasn't already contacted you I'm going to post on her lj

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you. ^___^

[saoili.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it would suit me. I think the engine is possibly a bit big for a first car, and I kinda had my heart set on a Japanese car. That said, it'd be nice to have something where I know the full service history from someone I could trust. How old is it? Has it ever been in an accident? How much are they hoping to get for it?

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

It's a 99 (Jan that year).

Never been in an accident. Just had the alternator replaced with a brand new one and fully serviced this month.

They're hoping 3,700 but I reckon that they'd be willing to drop it a little.

I will say one thing about it. It's a great drive, really steady on the road and it's been really reliable. The only reason they are changing is that they want to get a new Opel.

[saoili.livejournal.com]

Hm, sounds tempting. Let me sleep on it and I'll consider making a provisional offer in the morning. Might also ask my friends list what they think of Ford Focuses in general.

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's fine. If you want Dad's number to talk to him just ask. Feel free to ask his advice on whether it would make a good first car, fuel efficiency, etc, don't hesitate.

I will say that it was the car that I learned to drive in and I found it reassuringly heavy and really steady on the road.

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

Just browsed to see what people were saying and figured that you could do with some of the following facts.

A Focus has a much bigger engine than a Micra. A Micra is 1.1 litre or 1.2 litre. Whereas a Focus is 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8.
Yeah, this one's a 1.6

How much extra are the maintenance and running costs likely to be?
The car just had the battery, the alternator and the fanbelt replaced in the past three weeks.

The battery is only the second one ever in the car and should be good for another 6 years at least.
The alternator should be good for about the same and is again brand new.
The fanbelt didn't need to be replaced but given that it's connected to the alternator, dad figured that he might as well for completeness sake.

That was a major overhaul, so it was quite expensive. Regular service generally takes less than €200, and this has it in top shape for the NCT. And I doubt that you would need mid NCT services.

Running costs for any car are high these days. Average MPG is 38-43, depending on the journey, which is good for a 1.6 car. Dad works it out after every fill and it's slightly higher now than when he got it, but this is due to tuning the car over it's life and getting the engine run in.

Takes about €45-€48 to fill the tank. Which is about right as well given current prices. 40L tank, as far as I know.

The car is a 4 door saloon, which makes it easier to get into and out of the back seat and believe me that makes a difference if you put things like a child seat in. Drop forward seats and delicate packages don't exactly mix.

Do they wear out faster or is it just that the type of people that drive mid range cars tend to prefer newer ones?
Personally, it's more to do with the culture than the car. Garages find it hard to sell older cars because people don't buy with cash any more, they take out car loans and there isn't that much in the difference if you do a five year vs three year loan. Plus, there is always the possibility that there's been an undisclosed accident or that it's a lemon.

Ford's in the past had been known for loosing accessory body parts like wing mirrors and door handles and for rusting problems... But apparently they are much better these day's.
Japanese imports used to be the worst for that. Toyota's were notorious. But that's 10-15+ years ago.

No car rusts now unless it's been banged and left untreated. If it gets through the paint then you need to get it resprayed fairly quickly or there is the risk of rusting.

We did have a wing replaced but that was due to a crack in the glass and the fact that there are electric mirrors and the whole unit needs to be replaced.

Only thing that I can say is that at times, the driver door handle can be stiff, and there's a little squeak in the back passenger door when you open it.

They are a slow on pick up when dropping gear to overtake which can be annoying at best, dangerous at worst!
Not particularly. That's partially driving style as well. If you drop to appropriate gear, usually fourth unless they're being complete sunday drivers, and then accelerate past, it's back up at the appropriate number of revs/speed to slip it back into fifth. Only time I've found that affects me is when I'm doing really high speeds or I haven't left myself enough time/space to do the manoeuver. And that's in any car.

From the quotes I've gotten the larger engine size only seems to add a couple of hundred a year, not that much once it's spread out.
You could try doing something like putting your mum on as named driver, or main driver and get requoted. Sometimes it can help. But I got quoted a fairly reasonable amount when I started driving. Helps that you're female.

And yeah, sorry, but I kinda had to answer, otherwise, I'd be a bit miffed at myself.

[saoili.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all of this. Do you know if it has front passenger air bags if and if it does if they can be switched off? It's recommended not to get a car with them if they can't for car seats. Where is the car based atm? At the moment I'm basically getting that if I decide I'm happy with the bigger car (and engine) then I'll probably go for this. If I could see the car (and maybe take a short test drive, though I have no idea how insurance'd work on that) I might get a better idea.

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

I'm almost positive that there is a front passenger air bag but honestly, I'm not sure about disabling them. I could try to find out for you.

Currently it's in Cavan at my parents house. Tell you what, if you want to arrange for a test drive, my dad's number is 086 349 6306, although you'll probably get my mum first. Dad's name is John, by the way. Don't hesitate to call him with any other questions that you might have. He knows the service history better than me.

I'll have a look and see about the airbags. Never even considered turning them off to be honest, but I'm sure there is something that can be done.

[saoili.livejournal.com]

BTW, is it petrol or diesel?

[deannawol.livejournal.com]

Petrol