Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?
Tks............

Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?
Tks............

As ever I think it is a bit of a lucky dip.

My father (and his father to an extent) has always purchased cars from my
fathers employers pool cars / fleet once they are no longer required.

Most have been fine, the odd one has given greif, but then thats just the
way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Many people will tell you to stay away from ex-police cars whereas many
people will tell you they have owned them and never had a problem.



Tom

"Tom Burton" wrote in message
...
Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?
Tks............

As ever I think it is a bit of a lucky dip.


If it is a manual then it's been thrashed. Auto offers more protection.

My father (and his father to an extent) has always purchased cars from my
fathers employers pool cars / fleet once they are no longer required.

Most have been fine, the odd one has given greif, but then thats just the
way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

So that means they have not been serviced correctly in accordance
with the manufacturers guidelines. Are the service books a work of
fiction or "missing".

Many people will tell you to stay away from ex-police cars whereas many
people will tell you they have owned them and never had a problem.


They do have their advantages. Most have uprated suspension and
brakes, HID lights, steel wheels and ride higher than normal. That means
they handle far better and can take speed humps no problem. Base models
also have aircon, bigger batteries and alternators etc. They are a base
model
loaded with extras and have modified engine management so are faster than
their normal equivalents. You will also find traction control, ABS etc.
Be sure to tell your insurers it is a modified base model or your insurance
will be void.
Most police cars are thrashed, not serviced regularly and DO NOT require
any MOT until sold on. Watch out for bearings, engine and gearbox
failures. The interiors are also quite worn.






Tom

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Clive" saying
something like:


"Tom Burton" wrote in message
...
Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?
Tks............

As ever I think it is a bit of a lucky dip.


If it is a manual then it's been thrashed. Auto offers more protection.

My father (and his father to an extent) has always purchased cars from my
fathers employers pool cars / fleet once they are no longer required.

Most have been fine, the odd one has given greif, but then thats just the
way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

So that means they have not been serviced correctly in accordance
with the manufacturers guidelines. Are the service books a work of
fiction or "missing".

Many people will tell you to stay away from ex-police cars whereas many
people will tell you they have owned them and never had a problem.


They do have their advantages. Most have uprated suspension and
brakes, HID lights, steel wheels and ride higher than normal. That means
they handle far better and can take speed humps no problem. Base models
also have aircon, bigger batteries and alternators etc. They are a base
model
loaded with extras and have modified engine management so are faster than
their normal equivalents. You will also find traction control, ABS etc.
Be sure to tell your insurers it is a modified base model or your insurance
will be void.
Most police cars are thrashed, not serviced regularly and DO NOT require
any MOT until sold on. Watch out for bearings, engine and gearbox
failures. The interiors are also quite worn.






Tom


Why is nearly everything you write a work of fiction?

In article
,
Tim wrote:
Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?

I've bought two high mileage ex lease BMWs in the past - although I'd
guess they had only the one driver (each ;-)). Both were 'as is' - not
even valeted. Both were very well maintained - so you could easily see
what might be needed done just by looking. My present one was bought
retail some 10 years ago - purely because they were hard to come by at
auction then. But if I ever decide to replace it I'd go down the ex lease
car route again happily. After all, where do you think most dealers get
their 3 year old plus stock from?

--
*If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 10 May 2009 23:53:22 +0100, Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:

In article
,
Tim wrote:
Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?

I've bought two high mileage ex lease BMWs in the past - although I'd
guess they had only the one driver (each ;-)). Both were 'as is' - not
even valeted. Both were very well maintained - so you could easily see
what might be needed done just by looking. My present one was bought
retail some 10 years ago - purely because they were hard to come by at
auction then. But if I ever decide to replace it I'd go down the ex lease
car route again happily. After all, where do you think most dealers get
their 3 year old plus stock from?



Yup, I've had two ex lease A6s with over 150K on, absolute bargains & 6
years of FSH with receipts.

"Tim" wrote in message
...
Trying to find a Galaxy/Sharan/Seat tdi auto with no luck.Second hand
car market very low on stock and prices high.On searching have found
Fleet Cars sales in Leicester who have a load of Sharans.Assuming they
are Addison Lee cars (taxis) or similar , not sure many reps etc would
have a mpv, would these be a disaster to buy. All are under 100k by a
small margin and are 05/06 for roughly 6K. If they have been serviced
properly which a big company is likely to do onw would hope they are
in reasonable condition. Any ideas / experience?
Tks............

Quite a few company car drivers have picked this sort of vehicle, too, so
they may not be from a taxi.

My Mondeo was an ex-fleet machine. Sure, I was the assistant fleet manager
;-) so I knew their history. Most of the company car drivers were driven in
an unsympathetic manner to be honest *but* the difference between a
knuckle-dragging private motorist and a knuckle-dragging company car
motorist is that the private guy usually doesn't have some annoying irk
insisting that they check their vehicle's fluid levels and tyres on a
regular basis...

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com