The largest Civic Type R club forum

[B1scu1T]

Hi All,

I recently joined the forum because its time for me to move on from my insurance friendly 1.6 fiesta and move on to something a bit more fun and a bit more comfortable. I have always been a Honda fan, yet for some reason i spent a long time looking at Audis, VWs, BMWs etc. I eventually thought, 'Why have i not tried a Type-R?' so i drove up to the nearest Honda garage that had a few in stock (Benfield Honda in Stockton) and after looking at a few and then sitting in one i immediately said, 'Can i take one out for a drive'. Well once i had that was it, i wanted an FN2!

The mistake i think i made was not coming and checking on these forums to get some advice first. I got a bit carried away with a deal that was presented to me on the day. Its a 2008 red with only 26k on the clock and the condition of the paintwork is almost immaculate. My uncle who has been in the industry years as a panel beater/sprayer came and looked at it and he couldn't find anything wrong with it either, barely any stone chips and it doesn't look like any part of it has been resprayed, the colour seems to be completely matching. The alloys didn't have a single scuff on them either, completely spotless. Interior was extremely clean, no wear on the peddles or the wheel and the plastic didn't have any noticeable scuffs. The test drive went ok, from my memory i didn't notice any clutch or 3rd gear problems and the VTEC kicked in fine.

The things i'm a bit concerned about after reading the buying guides people have posted on here are the rust on the doors (which i didn't know to check) and the fact that the service history is not 100% Honda. It has had 2 previous owners, the first one took it to Honda and the second one to two different non-Honda garages. There also doesn't seem to be any receipts or bill of materials for the services or any repairs, given that im buying from a Honda Garage and they will do their usual checks on the car to make sure its up to standard, should i be worried about this?

The other thing which is holding me back is the delays. I was supposed to be picking it up on Friday, but apparently they are having issues with the DVLA dragging their heels as the previous owner had previous owner had private plates on it and they need to change it. Given they got the car in last Monday and actually told me the issue would be sorted for Friday, i'm suspicious they might have assumed the deal was done and they have got a bit complacent so my confidence has been a bit knocked. I don't know if anyone can perhaps shed some light on this, maybe i'm just being unnecessarily pessimistic?
Now they hoped it would be set to take away today BUT i don't actually live up here, i live down south and i was just up here working/visiting parents & friends so if the car is not ready today i have the choice of:
1. Driving back down south and looking locally, looking at autotrader and pistonheads there is a few options about. I actually spoke to a dealer who had an 09 with 21k miles and better internal spec, he seemed like he could give me pretty much the same deal on it but from the pictures, the condition doesn't look as clean. If i decide the car up here is the one for me, it means i have to drive all the way back up next weekend for the part ex.
2. Leave my car up here and get the train back down, which would be covered by my company. This restricts any deal i can make while im down south as they wont be able to see my cars condition for part ex.

Sorry for the lengthy post, any help is appreciated,

Thanks!

[CLOVERLEAF159]

so what exactly do you want any help with?

if its the time taken for plate transfers, if they went direct to the dvla office, it should be done straight away, but issues can arise if the previous owner hasnt done the paperwork correctly

[B1scu1T]

I guess i just want to know what you would do in my situation. Walk away from this deal and keep looking or stick with it?
Would the non-full honda service history and lack of receipts bother you given its proper a franchised dealer?

I just had a call from stockton and they said they still haven't had the paperwork though in the post... so i guess they didn't take it direct for some bizzare reason. Im wavering towards probably going to drive back down south and look locally, i told him that and they seemed disappointed but in no way interested in trying to make me feel a bit more comfortable with the deal.

I talked to him about the rust and said i would e-mail him information to look into it on this particular example.
By driving up and down the country all the time im basically spending all the money i managed to bargain them down too.

[CLOVERLEAF159]

god, if they seem not intrested, i wouldnt want to buy a car off them..

when do you have to go back down south. Could you set them a deadline or the deal is off.

has the car been serviced at a honda specialist rather than a dealer or just a standard garage?

to be honest with me, ive always found that a good mechanic can be 100 times better than most dealers whatever the make.

[B1scu1T]

god, if they seem not intrested, i wouldnt want to buy a car off them..

when do you have to go back down south. Could you set them a deadline or the deal is off.

has the car been serviced at a honda specialist rather than a dealer or just a standard garage?

to be honest with me, ive always found that a good mechanic can be 100 times better than most dealers whatever the make.

Its not that they are not interested, its that they are not interested in doing me any favours for 'compensation' for making me wait and spending all the additional petrol money on going up and down the country.

I need to go back down today, and i already do know the car will be ready by next weekend without a doubt so any other deadline is kinda irrelevant. I think the main thing is, i liked the dealer, i liked the salesmen and i felt like they were interested in making me happy rather than just selling a damn car, after all this im not sure anymore.

Im going to try and get him to send me the details of the Garages that the previous owners took it too so i can see if they specialize in anything.

[CLOVERLEAF159]

yeah i can see your problem, but at the end of the day, if you love the car and you feel its the right car for you, go with your instinct.

i strongly believe its worth travelling for the right car.

so yeah it may cost you more but if its for you, its meant to be

[B1scu1T]

yeah i can see your problem, but at the end of the day, if you love the car and you feel its the right car for you, go with your instinct.

i strongly believe its worth travelling for the right car.

so yeah it may cost you more but if its for you, its meant to be

Yeah perhaps you are right, i guess i just doubt myself in a way

Im going to see if i get a response from the dealer on the questions i have asked regarding the rust and service history, but i think the only sensible way to approach this from now is to be 100% sure this is a really good deal by looking at the other cars that are available locally. Il try and squeeze in a visit to one of the local Honda dealers and see what they have to offer, it shouldn't make much more than comparing one or two other examples to know.

[Cockpiss Analfist]

Lol, I wouldnt have my car serviced by honda if it was free.

[B1scu1T]

Lol, I wouldnt have my car serviced by honda if it was free.

I find it Bizarre that this actually re-assures me.

[Cockpiss Analfist]

the horro stories are enough to make me never trust a a dealer.

dont get me wrong im sure there are a few out there that do a good job but the rest let them down.

much rathertake it to a trusted garage under the good garage scheme.

[B1scu1T]

I have had a reply from the dealer. Apparently the Civic i am looking at has no rust, only some discolouration on the top of the door, so with some preventative measures and frequent observation i should be able to deal with that.

They are denying that they ever said the car would be ready for me to take away this weekend however in the purposes of goodwill they are offering me a full tank of petrol, which i guess is pretty decent and covers at least some of the petrol costs.

The garages that it was serviced at were 2 honda garages, then a quick fit and a fast fit... so nothing particualy fancy will have been done i guess just your basic oil and filter changes.

[CLOVERLEAF159]

dont forget, the rest of the body is good.

every ctr ive seen has had a badly stonechipped bonnet, adding £200 approx to fix it over any buying price where as the car you saw was perfect

[Cockpiss Analfist]

Sevice it for peace of mind when you get it.

[Shappers]

This, get it taken to TDI or one of the other specialists.

When I bought my CTR I had my private plates transferred across, which you can do at a DVLA office straight away... but then they need to wait for the V5 to come back, which can take upto 3 weeks.

[FireBIade2]

Yeah as said I'm sure there are delays involved with changing plates so I wouldn't panic over this.

Normally you would expect the first 2-3 services to be done by the dealer the car was bought from, some people have had some real probelms with dealers but likewise some haven't and personally I haven't had much if anything to complain about so far.

I think everyone goes through that cold feet period and start thinking 'Feck! how much did I just spend!' but once you get it and start to enjoy then those thoughts dissappear.

[B1scu1T]

Cheers chaps. After looking at a few others my mind was made up, so I'm picking it up tomorrow. I will post up what pictures I can, weather isn't doing me any favours though.