A black XJR just arrived at S-type Forum Headquarters

[J44EAG]

Some slight recompense from the previous owner now. £500 in cash just given to me.

Thanks for your advice, Paul. Probably financially the best way to go or ebay as individual parts, buy it now complete or auction with reserve. I believe it is a free weekend next week. . I need to recover £1700 to get even stevens.

As you say, VOSA will probably not be interested. I`ll contact them anyway as I cannot believe this car only had an MOT eleven months ago. This sort of rot out does not happen to this extent in less than a year. The previous owner says he wants to contact the MOT station. He certainly wasn`t happy when I showed him pictures just when I saw him.

So the car is available and could be a reparable project. As I say, I need £1700 to get square again. If I can recover that, then I`ve promised myself a new set of high powered specs!

Pics in my original post. Black, sundim, Minilite type wheels. 245/45/18 tyres, two of them brand new, £2400 gas conversion, supercharger, smooth steel lined engine, gearbox good, mesh grills, usual XJR stuff. Tax to end of August, MOT to 21 August 2013.As tested, seen and approved and with no warranty or comebacks.

Not out of the cacypoo yet.

Mie

[J44EAG]

Black Saturday here today. Still, all is not lost.

Now on ebay. Such a shame as the car ticked the boxes for me. Take a look.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271243213346? ... 1555.l2649

Not dead yet. The fat lady hasn`t sung yet.

Bring on more iced beer.....It eases the pain.

Mike

[giblet]

Sorry to hear about the state of your car. I ended up in a similar situation last year when I purchased a modified Mitsubishi Galant VR4 which turned out to be an absolute rotbox. The seller however didn't care so I ended up out of pocket by a silly amount. If the car doesn't sell on ebay then breaking it might be the best option as Paul has suggested.

The LPG kit would probably sell quite quickly to an enthusiast. If the wings are in good condition and the paint code is PED then I would be interested in buying them, possibly the bonnet too.

Best of luck with the sale

[J44EAG]

The paint is indeed PED.

The bonnet has had some paint. It is a little flat and scatchy but would probably buff up.

The wings are in seriously nice condition with no rust at all.

Darkened glass has a Hampshire Police Certificate.

Gas equipment is BRC and was installed in September 2006. That is also certificated.

I`ve now had one offer near the asking price. How serious that is, time will tell.

Mike

[J44EAG]

Things are rather brighter now.

The eBay advert produced a very keen if rather unintelligible inquiry from a man in Poland. Conversations were very hard work. After several further phone calls the man managed to ping £1650 into my Pay Pal account. I was astonished that the sale completed as the fellow at one point said he could only pay in Polish Zloties. A fat lot of good that would have been to me. So the car became his immediately and I quickly transferred GB Pounds to my bank account.

The next hurdle was considerably eased by a phone call to the DVLA when I explained my urgent need for the return of the V5C. The DVLA said four to six weeks at the earliest. Not good as the car is to be exported to Poland and the form will be needed by the buyer to import the car. The DVLA explained I could let the car go and forward the V5C to the buyer once it arrives with me. One problem solved as the buyer agreed and thanked me.

The next issue concerns any possible further use of the car n UK roads whilst the car is effectively still on my slop chit. ie the ever present problem of this car flashing speed cameras, incurring parking fines or being involved in criminal activities or simply collapsing in a pile of rust on the street or worse.

The DVLA have asked me to write to them explaining that I relinquished command of this evil car on Monday and to substantiate this by enclosing a copy of a signed Bill of Sale together with a copy of the eBay documents which show that the car was bought via eBay. It might also be worth sending an edited copy of the Pay Pal transaction as belt and braces proof.

So this very sad car will be gone on Friday afternoon on the back of a lorry. I`ve learned a salutary lesson on the vital importance of underside inspection for X300/308 models and many issues surrounding details when placing an eBay posting

I must thank both Paul Sinnott and Rob Jenner for their more than helpful advice. Rob in particular expanded my vision on where I had made errors setting up perimeters ie automatic acceptance of offers. where I should have perhaps limited my posting to only allow UK purchasers. Still, one has to admit that had I done that, I might never have found a buyer for the car. This Eastern European transaction in this case did come good.

The end result when eBay fees, my own expenditure and insurance costs are totted up, means I have made a small "negative profit" of £158. You win some and loose others. The outcome could have been much, much worse.

One option that was available to me was to break the car. A time consuming and messy business not to mention delays and frustrations of further eBay selling. I managed to escape that also although I might have come in a few quid up if some of the major and desirable components could have been sold. That matter is now purely academic.

So the black heap is nearly gone. I want to kick it each time I go past it. My error of judgement, my problem. I will never ever buy a car again without getting that car up in the air for inspection.

My little workshop yacht is called "Piecapoo". The guys in the yard here have called this XJR "Piecapoo Too" most appropriate I think you might agree.

Here endith my biggest lesson mucking about with cars.

Mike

[ptjs1]

Mike,

IMO, a really good result to an unfortunate situation. It could have been so much worse; I think you've done really well to clear it at that money.

Don't beat yourself up, we've all bought the wrong car at some time - some of us have done it more than once! And don't feel too bad about x308s. The right car is still great value.

We all live and learn! Have a beer and put it all down to experience.

Paul

[robv12]

Mike , all came good then, I'm pleased for you and was glad to be of help

I have bought and sold hundreds of cars, taught by some of the best, one of which was a guy in Orkney, a chap called Harry Kerr, what a character, Harry taught me the rule of "you will not make money on all of them" so get out quick while you can, job done as you have done

[giblet]

Congratulations on the sale. Funnily enough my rusty Mitsubishi was sold to a foreign buyer, however in my case he sent someone to collect it all the way from Hungary. It's an odd experience handing over a car to someone who doesn't speak any english but at the end of the day if the money is right (and kosher) then you can't really complain.

Best of luck with the hunt for another X308 XJR, there seem to be a few out there on eBay etc.

[J44EAG]

Taking a deep breath and break from car buying at present!

Twenty five hours after and agreed pick up time, the black pile is still with me. I`ve texted the buyer asking him if there is a problem but no reply received yet.

Perhaps a military half track towing a tank transporter will turn up here soon.

All a bit strange. if this car hangs around here much longer, I fear the thing will collapse onto the ground!

I want this heap gone!!

Mike

[J44EAG]

Just collected on the back of a lorry and bound for Poland.

Gone and never to be forgotten.

The driver said he does 3 or 4 trips per month to collect UK cars. Quite an industry operating.

Mike

[GordonJ]

Mike,
X300 and X308's fetch big money in Germany and Poland. When I went to Essen in 2011 I saw a black 1999 X308 for sale at €9000
There is a big market for these cars in Germany, just look on Ebay.de

Gordon

[J44EAG]

They will have to go hard to polish this turd!

Just confirmed with the buyer that the car has left my charge.

A lucky escape indeed. They will need a few washing machine cases and oxy sets to get this one right. I described the car as needing a new A frame and needing multiple point welding and being as only suitable for spares or repair.

A terrible shame that such a fine looking car has left these shores.

As an aside, I`ve heard that RHD cars become unusable in Poland after one month. Anyone know more about this?

Mike