Help please

I just bought a 98 Discovery 1, from a classified ad from demon bay, i put a deposit on it with paypal of £200 as the guy said when i called that he had quite a few calls and i didn't want to lose it pm me and i'll send the link.

I will put the text from the description below:

landrover 300 discovery tdi gs 7 seater R reg 1998

twin sunroofs, cd changer, mot may20th 2010

1 former keeper,only 70,000 miles from new,all old mot,s

sevice history,in outstanding condition,drives superb,

any trial or inspection welcome

for more information

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When i went to view the car, everything seemed ok, i checked for wet patches on the floor front and back, and boot i checked under the rubber boot liner for wet, there was nothing, the only thing the guy said was wrong with it was the steering wheel had a bit of a gouge in it from one of those wheel things disabled people use.

Everything fine, drove home ok (60 miles) very pleased with it too...then after it had rained a bit the head liner started getting wet, so i read the forums and realised it was maybe the rear sunroof leaking, i then stripped it all out, resealed the frame and the other fixes that needed doing.

Today when i was going to do my stereo install i started taking some of the step trim off, and noticed the carpet in the passenger footwell was wet, i then got a bit worried and took up the carpet which was sodden, and all the foam under it was too, i then got paranoid and checked under the rear carpet, i couldn't do this when i viewed it as it had the screw down step trim in place, and noticed some rust in some places, in one place there is a 1 1/2 inch long thin ( 1cm wide) hole.

I am obviously a bit annoyed, as since i've had the car it's had all the carpets up, the headliner is still off from the sunroof fix too.

I wanted to ask your advice what i should do, i could reject the car, but i have done a few repairs so this might not be an option, or i could what i was thinking is claim through paypal, at least the £200 i made as a deposit, to go towards repairs, as i explained to my wife we could reject the car and have a small claim done in small claims court if the seller was relauctant to give a refund, but to buy another one which has other hidden delights, or claim the £200 back from paypal and use the money to get the other repairs done.

Not sure what to do really it cost £3,200 i have emailed the seller through demon bay to see what he's going to do.

all the best

Rod

If he's not a dealer I think there's little you can do. If he is a dealer I don't think there's a lot you should do either ...

OK, you paid over the odds maybe, but tough .. check things out properly before buying it, then driving it, then fixing it, then deciding you hadn't checked it out properly enough to start with ..

I'd suggest not bother trying to reclaim money, you appear to be in the wrong by not doing your homework properly, not checking it (or having it checked) thoroughly enough and now, dunno how long but obviously time enough for time-consuming repairs, after doing more research deciding there's more to it than you checked!!

Post questions in the Disco section, there's lots been through this sort of thing and can show you how to fix most (probably all) problems you'll encounter.

Have fun, enjoy it ...

The seller was a dealer, to be honest i read the forums for sometime before going to buy one, i didn't obviosly want to be caught out like i have done, i also test drove it.

Like i said all i could do was check for damp/wet on the floor, i think he would of been a bit annoyed if i had started unscrewing trim and checking behind/under it, does anybody do this when they go to view a car, would you strip down the engine to check if there was any scores in the pistons, get a multimeter out to make sure the coils are performing as they should, or output of alternator?

anyway, he said to me there was nothing else wrong with it in person, apart from the steering wheel, so i would say that qaulifies as dishonest, the description also does not mention any other problems either.

I think your:

OK, you paid over the odds maybe, but tough

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answer is a bit harsh...did you **** the bed this morning or something?

I think if the shoe was on the other foot you wouldn't leave it either, i don't have the money to keep spending out on stuff, i don't work as i look after my son who has special needs and registered disable , i saved so long to get this car, and this was a big investment for me.

thanks for that then mate i will remember before asking anything else on this forum

but you did pay WAY too much for it, so you cant complain if someone points it out. As for the rust you should have lifted the carpets, it doesnt take 1 min to unscrew the plastic cover so you can see underneath. My advise is get over it and buy yourself a welder, its a landrover so your going to need it

new2landies said:

I think if the shoe was on the other foot you wouldn't leave it either, i don't have the money to keep spending out on stuff, i don't work as i look after my son who has special needs and registered disable , i saved so long to get this car, and this was a big investment for me.

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Glad you edited the bit out where you posted about the brakes ...

All I'm saying is you didn't check it out enough and it's tough luck. If it's such a big deal why didn't you get someone who knows about Landies to look at it? Or an AA check? Or asked on here if someone local would look at it? So many ways to not get caught out, and a wet boot floor isn't necessarily a 'bad' thing .. I had to remove the sponge in mine, it's a known issue and anyone who had done their homework knows about it (or has checked up what to look for) and does look under the carpet .. if the seller doesn't let you lift the carpet then go elsewhere, or assume it's wet and budget accordingly!

Frankly, as it's a dealer, I wouldn't have repaired anything, I'd have taken it straight back ... because you've already done some repairs then I think you've basically accepted it as fit for purpose and according to description etc.

As I said, post any questions about repairs on the Disco section, or indeed search the forum, and you'll get lots of answers on this and other problems.

Have fun ..

paul you have far too much patience

I like to try to help ...

Some people don't seem to see it as help though.

Thanks, didn't mean to sound off, but i'm feeling a bit sore about it today...it was the most i have ever spent on a car

I have read however the "buying a crock of ****" sticky, and it was interesting

I can weld, and used to have a welder, as i used to own a 2CV at one time, but got tired of keep messing around with cars and just wanted one to get in and drive, and only wanted to do basic maintainence, as i just don't have the time and money to keep paying out for stuff.

LOL, no worries.

Take the carpets up in the boot, remove the sponge, put a camping sleepmat (or similar waterproof/rubber filler) down if you want or don't bother and just replace the carpets .. worked for me ...

Front carpet wet is possibly Air conditioning unit 'weeping' ... or could be a symptom of the sunroofs blocked vents ...

As it happens, I spent 7k on mine, no problems with it, but less than 3 months later the price dropped out of the Disco1 market (D3 launched) and it was worth maybe 4k .. and a lot less now, six years or so on ... ****e happens is all ...

why dont you make a paypal claim item not as described...then his paypal account gets frozen untill claim is sorted...then u might get yr 200 squid back

wiltshire landyman said:

why dont you make a paypal claim item not as described...then his paypal account gets frozen untill claim is sorted...then u might get yr 200 squid back

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I was thinking of that it might help with repairs

maybe before going down the paypal route, contact the seller and see if you can come to some kind of arrangement.

might be worth having the carpet out of the boot first so you can see if the boot floor needs replacing before you speak to him, come up with a list of faults (within reason, the vehicle is 12 years old after all), and then go back to see him. If you have no joy, then maybe you can use the paypal thing.

All I'm thinking is, use the paypal, you'll only get £200 max out of it. Try and resolve it amicably, maybe you'll get a better deal. If not then you still have recourse to paypal. The dealer could probably do without the agro of having his account frozen, and may be more inclined to offer some incentive.

good luck, use the forum. There's all the answers you need on here, along with quite a few people with various skills and equipment, who are more than happy to help, either for a few beer tokens, or not depending on the circumstances.

Consumer Direct

Bit of an update, i contacted the seller, via ebay, he said "sorry i didn't know" but it's still worth a try asking him to cough up a little towards repairs, i'll try the softly softly approach first.

Consumer direct say i am within my rights to do this, but if he's not forthcoming with any money then, i'll just put it down to experience and get on with sorting it out.

Paypal are a bunch of T**sers they said because i didn't get the item delivered i can't claim anything

i have attached a picture of the problem part of the boot floor and would like somebody if they could give me some advice on the best way to sort it out please.

Bloody hell ya worried bout that? Ya should see the state of mine, ya pretty much standing on the fuel tank.
Paypall wont pay out on non delivered items as it's assumed that if ya picking it up ya'd give it a good look over and agree to buy it in the condition its in.
Bit harsh i know but i dont think ya can blame the seller. If you didn't notice it when you were looking then whats to say he knew about it, he may well never had reason to lift the boot carpet. Probably 90% of cars i've owned i never lifted the carpets on and if someone i'd sold one to came back and complained about a small rust hole on a random bit of floor he'd ave got told to bugger off!

Just my opinion and may not be shared by others

EDIT: just noticed it was a dealer but same applies, doubt they check over every inch before selling on.

YORKIE_GAV said:

Bloody hell ya worried bout that? Ya should see the state of mine, ya pretty much standing on the fuel tank.
Paypall wont pay out on non delivered items as it's assumed that if ya picking it up ya'd give it a good look over and agree to buy it in the condition its in.
Bit harsh i know but i dont think ya can blame the seller. If you didn't notice it when you were looking then whats to say he knew about it, he may well never had reason to lift the boot carpet. Probably 90% of cars i've owned i never lifted the carpets on and if someone i'd sold one to came back and complained about a small rust hole on a random bit of floor he'd ave got told to bugger off!

Just my opinion and may not be shared by others

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what i was asking was this please

would like somebody if they could give me some advice on the best way to sort it out please.

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Not what a tw*t i was when i bought it, although it's very tempting, i know...but thats been done to death already thanks

your wet carpet in the front maybe the windscreen leaking , it was on mine , get yer misses to put the hose pipe on it while youre inside to try and see where its coming in , captain tolleys creeping crack cure was recommended to me and has worked for sunroof and windscreen leaks , and look on the bright side at least theres an engine in yours , i bought one with an elastic band powered unit........

since sealing the sunroof frame, drip tray, screws, nothing more has leaked...so far.

The front floors are quite dry now too, even though we have had a week almost of rain

i just want to get rid of all the top rust, remedy it, then seal it all, hopefully it will hold it off for a bit, and i might get a good nights sleep.

I need it all tip top as two of my children (out of four) need running around, as they have special needs, one in particular has to go regular to physio, and other outpatient appointments, so it needs to be sorted, at least for a while.

the whole roof area was completely soaked from back to front when the headliner was removed, but it's like this now

Honestly mate, as long as the rest of the car is good (engine, gearbox, drivetrain, chassis) I would say that you've not done too badly. It's not too much hard work to fix a leak. You could have done a lot worse, especially on eBay!

So what your saying is, you've bought a 12 yr old D1 and the sunroof leaks, and there is a SMALL patch of welding on the boot floor.
if that is all there is wrong you've probably got a good deal.
I think most of us on here with D1 have had leaky sunrooves ( roofs??), i know mine is sealed up with gaffer tape at the moment awaiting a break in the Welsh sunshine. as for the boot floor, if as you say you have welding experience thats only a lttle job, you want to get the plastic sill finishers off and check them out before you get any further, now that is a **** of a job.
but beyond that welcome to landyzone and over time that we're relativly helpful really.

ps you probably did pay over the odds but hey I spent over £5k on mine and if it's worth £1500 now Id be happy