Girlfriend Bought A Yaris - I'm Feeling Crappy About It.

[JoeyJoe]

My girlfriend wanted a Yaris, so we looked for some online. We found one on Gumtree that seemed to be OK, She was getting desperate to drive again, so she arranged to see it with her dad. I wanted to see it before she paid anything but felt OK as her dad went instead.

It's a 2002 model with 67k on the clock, advertised for £1275.

She saw it and immediately put down a deposit on it, collected it the next day and paid the FULL asking price. The guy even gave her back £25, i guess he was extra happy her or her dad didn't even haggle.

Now she brought it round today. Now, shes absolutely fallen in love with it, named the car and all sorts, so i really had to bite my tounge when I saw the state of it. Both doors have loads of small dents, some large ones, one even cracked the paint. The front bumper has had a wack and can see its come away slightly, there is some black crap on the back, like some sort of mortar. Interior stinks of dog and cigarettes, roof is smokey on drivers side.

Most worryingly, the oil stinks of fuel. Its darker than normal too. I mentioned this to her, and she said she will take it to the garage. I'm desperately telling her not to take it anywhere until we've had a good look at it.

Any ideas on what we should look at first? Is this a common problem? We own 6 other toyotas, not had engine problems on any of them before.

Thanks and sorry for the rant. I just feel so angry that I didn't go with her.

[CPN]

You're covered by the law on this... Can't remember what the timespan is but think it's 14 days isn't it? Get her to take it back and demand her money back...

[JoeyJoe]

You're covered by the law on this... Can't remember what the timespan is but think it's 14 days isn't it? Get her to take it back and demand her money back...

It was a private seller. So no rights unless the advertisement is wrong. They will argue that they inspected it and decided it was satisfactory enough.

14 days is the distance selling regulations which this wouldn't be covered. If it were trade, then the sales of good act would apply which says it must be of satisfactory conditon and last a reasonable length of time. Ive helped others that have been done, but with private sellers, no chance.

Anyway her dad said it was fine so she won't go against him and take it back. I've convinced her there is an issue, going to try put it right. £250ish for new engine if I have to.

[Madasafish]

It's amazing how an abused Yaris can drive for thousands of miles - reliably.

Dings and dents are irrelevant.. The oil/petrol issue sounds like overfuelling.. Check the air filter first.. It's probably blocked and the MAF dirty..

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Probably just needs a good service.

[Cyker]

Yeah; We love them because they still work even if they've not been looked after that well. Any car can be reliable if it's looked after but the bulletproof rep the Yaris has is precisely because it can keep going even when the previous owner hasn't looked after it all that well.

Just give her a good service (The car, not your GF ) and it should be solid

Change of oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin/air-con filter if it has one, and if it's a diesel changing the fuel filter and giving the throttle body a clean.

If the oil is contaminated, listen for some chain rattle just in case, but at that sort of mileage I'd be surprised if the chain needs replacing.

It'll still look 'well used' but you won't need to worry about anything mechanically.

Bumpers can be re-seated if the mountings aren't bent; Haynes manual can be helpful there to find all the bolts (I remember having a bugger of a time with the back one because I missed two bolts )

How does it sound when it's running?

[JoeyJoe]

Thanks Cyker! I'll do a service on tge car, and if I'm feeling lucky....

Might have to hold off for a week or so, ripped my arm out of the socket while trying to remove one of the exhaust sensors on my Celica last night, couldn't move for an hour, the pain is still unreal! To top it off, the new exhaust was the wrong one!!

We (my family) have several toyotas, they are bullet proof motors.

Her yaris does sound alright though.

[Cyker]

Owwwwwwww

Hope you get well soon!!

Once nice thing about the Yaris is the bits you normally need to get to are pretty accessible so you don't have to reach into the arm-slicing depths of the engine bay.

(The problem is the bits you don't normally access; I sheared the anti-rollbar mount on mine a few weeks back (!Removed! speed cushions and pot holes!!) and the driver's side bracket is a massive PITA to replace. I should have bribed a small child to do it for me in hindsight!!! )