Should I? Should I Not?

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Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 04:33 am: Edit

I've seen a cheap 99(T) Discovery TDi Safari quite local to me.

Thing is. It's been stolen & recovered, and the insurance say that it was classed as a write-off in March 01, as the declined to have it fixed.

This is all I know if it's history, however it has been put back together almost complete, and looks/drives well.

Should I go for it? It's in my budget. Or should I opt for an older one without the shadey past?

All opinions/experiences are appreciated.

Thanks
Horness

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 07:18 am: Edit

I'd definitely have a qualified mechanic go over the vehicle (official Land Rover mechanic if possible). Lots of vehicles can be "put back together almost complete, and looks/drives well." Who did the work? Was work done for insurance company, or for someone who really cared and wanted a good vehicle? If work was done for the insurance company, then they probably did as little as possible, just the bare minimum to make it look good and not fall apart right away. You could easily buy your way into a nightmare, and selling it to someone else would be that much harder.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Steve (Steve2) on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 07:30 am: Edit

honress

so the safari is a 'salvage'? it would be cheaper to get into -but also worth less when it comes time to sell. i would find out what kind of damage it sustained whilst in the clutches of the scoundrels. simply parts removed or was the car pranged into trees?

also ask yourself how long do i plan to keep the car and what kind of mileage are you going to be driving - perhaps a contract hire would be the way to go????

what budget are you looking at? - have you thought freelander also?

a 5 door tdi could be quite nice and they do well greenlaning....just a thought

steve

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 10:59 pm: Edit

Steve,

The Safari showed up on a HPi report I had done.

The report says Class-C, which means that there was enough damage and/or missing parts to make the insurance co. decline to put it right.

The work as far as I know has NOT been done by LR, or any LR dealer.

Drives/looks okay, however I did not want to spend £200 on an engineers report to find out it was wasted. However if the report is okay, it can be taken off the HPi report, and released "into the wild" again. :)

My budget is £10-11K. Freelanders are a no go. Not enough space in the boot. Have kids! Disco is ideal solution.

Horness

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Steve (Steve2) on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 07:12 am: Edit

horness -

now it's gettng dicey - 200 quid is a lot of dosh - assuming the car would not be on a dealer's forecourt without an mot? hmmm, that's a tough call.... perhaps the seller will go halves with you on the car for the report? too bad you can't source the repair shop to find out if it is a reputable company. is the seller a reputable company? do you have a friend in the motor trade?, maybe he can go with you to have a look at it, and buy him lunch in return?

in my experience a salvage (unless purely theft items) the car never seems quite right again - have you driven it and compared it to another like year and model? but i can see the alure of saving the 3-5000 pounds over a non class c.

i paid more for mine than i wanted to. i had a mental budget of $20k ended up spending $24k - but the car cannot be told from new, even with 16,000 miles on it (now i have 36k in 11 months!) - i'd go with my gut. if all feels right and good - then have the report done. if you have ths slightest doubt - then pass and wait for the next one. perhaps a nice 'n' reg with fsh will turn up for a steal, or have you looked at rhd uk spec private imports? they are supposed to be had for a good price...

steve

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 09:44 pm: Edit

Steve,

Dealer is sticking to the price I offered (which is £1750 less than advertised!), so I don't think he's will to share the cost. May give it a go though, have left it a couple of days now, he may be desperate for a sale!

Have also found a nice Y(01) Disco import from a place in London. Price is good (higher than I wanted to pay, but hey, it's a new one!) and I'm just waiting for the spec to come through.

Unless this dealer with the Class-C will either pay for the check, or go halves, then I think I will give it a miss. I have to carry my family in this vehicle, and I don't want it to come appart on me while I'm sat on the motorway!

Thanks Steve.

Horness.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Steve (Steve2) on Wednesday, August 01, 2001 - 05:51 am: Edit

horness

the more i thought of the t reg safari - the more i felt you should pass - especially since you cannot source the repair facility - the y reg (td5?) sounds good and as always we end up spending more that we really want to! but you'll have a stonking new one and that will be nice, and your little monkies will be safe and sound.

what colour did you deciede? metallic blue is a standout on the series II

steve
ps - is the lro show still on in stoneliegh for 7-9 september? - i'm tempted to run out for that one. since the foot and mouth is on the rise again was wondering on the show being cancelled.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Sunday, August 05, 2001 - 10:48 pm: Edit

Steve

I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!

Found a Disco 98-R' TDi GS. Manual, FLRSH, 47K Miles, 5 door, 7 seats, Oxford Blue, v.good condition. FROM A DEALER!

Should be picking it up tomorrow night.

Paid £13k including 4 years warrenty. A little higher than I wanted to pay, but with the LRSH, and 4 years warrenty, I did not mind finding the extra.

Many thanks for helping me out, and for all you support (and patience!). I should have a piccie online by the end of the week. Pre-mods of course :)

Horness.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 02:07 am: Edit

Have a look at

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/horness/disco.htm

Anyone welcome, just don't take the pi$$ out of my web site, okay?

;-p

Horness

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By DougC on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 03:00 am: Edit

Congratulations! Great looking truck...DougC

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Jeff Bieler (Mrbieler) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 03:19 am: Edit

Looks good. I like the Oxford Blue.

I would have been surprised if you had gotten the theft recovery truck. It sounded dicey and if you're that concerned, sometimes it's best to walk away. Spending a little more on the front end can make things easier, especially when you can sleep at night without worrying about your purchase. The warranty is nice security as well.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 03:40 am: Edit

Jeff,
After a few checks on the Safari, it turned out that not only had it been written off, but the people who had rebuilt it had done a terrible job of it. Panels being held on by body filler etc.

Glad I waited.

Horness

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Jeff Bieler (Mrbieler) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 03:48 am: Edit

Any time I part with a chunk of cash, I hem and haw over the purchase and try to check things out as best I can. Sometimes the deal you see isn't the deal you want.

I'm glad you talked yourself out of it. It didn't sound positive from my side of the computer screen. Sounds like there was a good reason he was desperate to get rid of it.

Enjoy, take pics off road, and send them to DiscoWeb.

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Steve (Steve2) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 06:51 am: Edit

horness!

i see that you learned to make web sites from zibedie on the magic round about (sorry, not that i can do any better but when you only have one opportunity for a shot you have to take it!), aside from that all looks fine! i was hoping your relative silence was that you were in labour!

the car looks the business - now the madness begins. your life will never be the same again. so what's first on the 'to do list'?

steve

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Horness Spencer (Horness) on Monday, August 06, 2001 - 09:49 pm: Edit

Steve,

Magic Round About?

I make sure I leave things like labour to my wife, she handles it so well! :)

First on the mod list... Dif guards. Then maybe rock sliders.
Oh, and I need a brush bar for the front, and a couple of spots/fogs. Any recommendations?

I plan to order the dif guards from MJ Lee (www.mjloffroad.co.uk), are they any good?

On a non-off-road note, I also plan to have a Clifford alarm fitted in the near future too.

:) :) :) :) :)

Horness

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of pageLink to this message   By Steve (Steve2) on Tuesday, August 07, 2001 - 08:21 am: Edit

horness-

re the brush bar - you've got the advantage of a full range of them over there. i personally like the full wrap soft nugde bar as it reminds one of the one on the rangie. on mine i got the factory a bar with a pair of ipf spot lamps and fitted a safari snorkel as i wanted the car to look like the 'calvert centinary expedition' vehicles.

re good lamps -
ipf are top notch but $$
hella are nice and they are coming out with a FF variant of their ever popular 1000 series.

steve


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