Second hand car with small rusts (Phuket)

[villageidiotY2K]

Hey, I saw this car with small rusts that seems to be below the market price. Around 30K baht below.

It's a 2011 hatchback with mileage of 30k km, and it's edges of the door have some rusts.

Also ive googled around, and seems its very easy to wind down the digital odometer...

Do thai traders do that? The dealer is a tent, and they would let me test drive, but with a deposit of 5000thb,

which my understanding is, they wont return if i dont buy. (Is that common with tent traders?)

Also there is no warranty after the purchase. Other deals ive checked offered at least one month warranty.

But if i would buy from a person directly, they wouldnt offer the warranty as well right?

Is that a warning sign? As it's a phuket car, maybe the sea water have caused the damage and Im worried about rust on chassis and new ones popping up.

[JamieP]

They want to charge you ฿5000 just to test drive it?

I wouldn't entertain setting foot in that particular business again.

[JamieP]

I just got a car.

I looked at a couple of cars at dealers, all were happy to let me test drive for free. They wanted to photocopy my licence but that's fair enough. They were offering 3 month warranties.

In the end I bought privately so there's no warrantIy but that's the gamble I took to get what I saw as a fair deal.

Edited October 28, 2015 by JamieP

[VocalNeal]

Do thai traders do that?

Do you have a pet bear? Take him for a walk in the woods!

..and they remove the airbags..

Edited October 28, 2015 by VocalNeal

[WarpSpeed]

2011 with rust spots already? Be very weary, 2011 was the year of the floods, no idea why else it should be rusting already? And if they want to charge for a test drive? Like some have said, don't walk away, run! Not worth the 30,000 b discount IMO. BTW I'd be more weary that it was a northern car that was bought and shipped to Phuket away from the flooding area to sell. The minimal salt spray from the ocean does not effect cars of today like they used to, it should still be years away from any rusting of any consequence..

Edited October 28, 2015 by WarpSpeed

[steelepulse]

There's a local phuket facebook group with lots of used cars for sale, mostly from expat owners. Do a search and you'll probably find what you're looking for.

[Alration]

Do thai traders do that?

..and they remove the airbags..

Do they? That doesn't make any sense, why would a dealer do that?

How would you know about that practice unless you had an accident?

Edited October 28, 2015 by Alration

[Alration]

They want to charge you ฿5000 just to test drive it?

I wouldn't entertain setting foot in that particular business again.

It's not nice but it's not unusual for tents to do that. There are 2 main reasons, first, it gets the dealer that much nearer a sale if the prospect will commit something at that stage and, secondly, it discourages those that they see as tyre kickers just there to fill in a few hours.

Most of them will back down if you can convince them that you are genuinely interested. The first time I bought a used car from a Ratchada tent in 1997 I was initially asked for a 25,000 baht deposit but eventually got a proper test drive with no deposit. I bought the car.

[villageidiotY2K]

yes i totally agreeee.

btw this car is at bkk tent, but has phuket reg.

On other note, i would like the second hand to be as original/stock as it is.

but bafoons modify the interior stereo (adding new speakers on the dash, door (drilled))

and some crappy mags as well as those plastic? chrome shites that they attach with a very sticky double sided tape on the door handles, side lamps....

And some shitty stickers...

Are these plastic/chromes thingy easy to remove? Seems been attached with a very strong adhesive tape...

Also the mags, i asked the tent dealer if they can change bk to the originals, but NO.

[Alration]

yes i totally agreeee.

btw this car is at bkk tent, but has phuket reg.

On other note, i would like the second hand to be as original/stock as it is.

but bafoons modify the interior stereo (adding new speakers on the dash, door (drilled))

and some crappy mags as well as those plastic? chrome shites that they attach with a very sticky double sided tape on the door handles, side lamps....

And some shitty stickers...

Are these plastic/chromes thingy easy to remove? Seems been attached with a very strong adhesive tape...

Also the mags, i asked the tent dealer if they can change bk to the originals, but NO.

If the car has very small rust spots on the edges of the door it is most likely to have been caused by careless door opening onto other vehicles or walls and nothing much to be concerned about. Exposure to Phuket's atmosphere, or being flooded, would not just show as rusty chips on the door edges. They should be easily repaired.

The floods of 4 years ago would not cause that kind of minor damage although there seems to be some people on here who are obsessed with the floods and will needlessly blame as many faults as possible on them as though almost every car in Thailand was affected.

The chrome stick-ons will come off but will probably need some gentle heat such as from a hairdryer to soften the adhesive.

A dealer selling a used car with aftermarket alloys is very unlikely to have the original wheels so it's not surprising that he wouldn't change them. There's no reason to involve himself in that kind of expense considering how popular alloys generally are in Thailand. If the wheels are so distasteful you could order standard wheels from a dealer and sell the alloys to defer some of the cost after you've bought the car.

Unless this car is a rare or unusual model it sounds as though it's not the car for you, discount or not. If it's a common car keep looking until you find a rust-free example with standard wheels and no flamboyant embellishments, you'll be much happier.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Alration

[IMHO]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that wasn't drowned at some time in it's life.

[dageurreotype]

I'd figured the OP for Phuket or Pattaya, guess I was right ..

[IMHO]

I'd figured the OP for Phuket or Pattaya, guess I was right ..

Maybe the subliminal message in the top title helped?

[Alration]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that wasn't drowned at some time in it's life.

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently isn't a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It doesn't take a flood.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Alration

[IMHO]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that was not drowned at some time in it's life.

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently is not a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It does not take a flood.

I hear you - and I agree you could be absolutely right too. I try to guess what people really mean by the words they type - the fact that the title and message both contain references to rust lead me to assume that it's more than just trivial stone chips that have surface oxidization. I am always willing to admit I'm wrong though - when I'm making assumptions, that is, 555

In any case, it would seem the OP is just trolling / having fun with us all anyway - so I'll just play along

[JAS21]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that was not drowned at some time in it's life.

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently is not a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It does not take a flood.

I hear you - and I agree you could be absolutely right too. I try to guess what people really mean by the words they type - the fact that the title and message both contain references to rust lead me to assume that it's more than just trivial stone chips that have surface oxidization. I am always willing to admit I'm wrong though - when I'm making assumptions, that is, 555

In any case, it would seem the OP is just trolling / having fun with us all anyway - so I'll just play along

Aptly named ... that's for sure ... woops here's a holiday coming

[WarpSpeed]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that wasn't drowned at some time in it's life.

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently isn't a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It doesn't take a flood.

You mean someone with a higher education about cars and dealers then you? Yes I agree as well, there is EVERY reason to be cautious and not get yourself into that trouble, I was in those floods and there was thousands of cars flooded even the ones they got out on floats and the like still got flooded to some extent. People come on here for advice and points of view they hadn't considered and sometimes contrary to what you believe and you go off and attack them and their advice as being nonsense when you sound more clueless and more a special spy of some sort holding up the Thai flag no matter what as if there's NOTHING to be weary of when there is plenty to be weary of including you and your advice.

He had never specified nor shown any pictures regarding the rust spots, but at any rate as IMHO said the likelihood of any rust (even on door edges) is highly unlikely if the car hasn't been wet, I have 2 cars along with hundreds of others over time that are much older, in a very similar climate to Thailand and Phuket specifically, with oceans on all sides, lakes in the middle and masses of seasonal rain and both cars have been here their entire life and neither of them have ANY rust, not even small spots on the door edges. I rightfully cautioned the OP and from there it's up to him to make his decision, and presumably that's why he asked the question, so stuff it!

Argue these pics, taken by me personally and there is thousands more like these that are still in the market there and being tossed around between dealers and owners, I was buying cars at the time and found many of them, even my 2 young boys got so good at finding them they'd point out signs of flooding, there was one car that was bought and resold at least 5 times in a short period on Taladrod that I noticed from day one had been flooded.

.. This car was partially underwater before it was removed and for several days, look at the algae line almost mid door that doesn't happen quickly it takes days of immersion to grow and there were thousands just like it, people who waited but just enough damage not OTT so the car was trashed, these cars are just NOW hitting the market after years of their owners not being able to get out from under them and or just now beginning to show real problems due to the flood damage, unless it goes completely under water damage doesn't occur over night, in these cases it happens slowly over years..

These were taken from my car as I was towed out on the back of slide on before the waters got too high, the water came up another couple of feet shortly after this, all of the bushes in the background went under including the one's on the wall, just a few more yards up the road the water was over the pickups hood (or bonnet) just to the bottom of the tow truck bed and even that truck can be considered flooded even though it's still running it was in waist deep water many times back and forth obviously getting water in all of it's parts that's the military base BTW and then only boats were used a day or 2 later.

There is plenty more where these came from, so in spite of your snide remarks there is still very good reason to be weary and cautious. And NO sensible reason for a 4 year old car to have ANY rusting.. OP do what you will people like this poster have nothing to lose for being wrong, neither do I but you do, but my advice is based on years of real experience and not just some idiocy others spew. Take it or leave it..

The few that got out then had no place to park them including us and they just towed them randomly, which was nonsense since the highways in most of these areas were also closed so little to no traffic and the drivers also knew and respected that and traffic flowed just fine..

Edited October 28, 2015 by WarpSpeed

[Alration]

I've never seen a 4yo car with rust, that wasn't drowned at some time in it's life.

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently isn't a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It doesn't take a flood.

You mean someone with a higher education about cars and dealers then you?

You seem to think I was referring to you, don't flatter yourself so much, you're not the only person on this forum. I'm not going to be drawn into a discussion about whose education was the best.

To quote you, "the likelihood of any rust (even on door edges) is highly unlikely if the car hasn't been wet"

Any exposed bare metal such as chips on the door edges will rust if exposed to the normal atmosphere regardless of whether the car has been allowed to get wet as you describe it, or not. It's an electrochemical reaction involving steel and oxygen from the atmosphere that we all live in.

The only reason that your hundreds of cars have never had any rust as you claim can only be because none of your car's bare metalwork has ever been exposed to the atmosphere long enough for that natural chemical reaction to occur. The car that the OP was referring to clearly has had that exposure. If it hadn't it would have been as perfect as your cars.

You must be so weary of being weary about cars and floods. I'd be wary of that if I were you. Just a little joke, I'm sure all your wearys were typos.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Alration

[WarpSpeed]

You're starting to sound like someone else now.

This apparently isn't a rusty car as you're suggesting, it's a car with some small areas of rust on the door edges, there's a difference. Have you never heard of rust forming following chips in a car's paint not being treated? It doesn't take a flood.

You mean someone with a higher education about cars and dealers then you?

You seem to think I was referring to you, don't flatter yourself so much, you're not the only person on this forum. I'm not going to be drawn into a discussion about whose education was the best.

No of course you weren't, especially when I was the only one in this thread that brought up the flooding AND your original post I responded to was directed at IMHO saying that he was starting to sound like "someONE else now" ..But don't delude yourself about my being at all flattered..

The car that the OP was referring to clearly has had that exposure.

Now you're catching on, it takes a while but you do manage to catch up..

The rest of your post is well................................................Not worthy...