And another one - again!

[Peter.N.]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-CITROEN-XM-S ... 45f401f458

[XMX]

This car was listed a month ago and the buyer has failed to complete on the sale . This XM Turbo has been my daily driver for 10 years and is for sale as I had the opportunity to buy a bargain 5 series from a friend.

E-Bay all over when it comes to selling vehicles and motor-bikes

[messerschmitt owner]

not MoT'd for a year - so it has st and not been used. It's at the mileage that the HG will fail, it is a low spec, sitting about won't have done the tyres, brakes or exhaust any good.

It's worth scrap unfortunately.

Why, when people are selling cars on Ebay, don't they bother to put their telephone number on?

If it was closer, or I thought I could buy it for £50, I'd have it though.

[robert_e_smart]

I wouldn't be that hard on it. Its a good straight looking car.

Its a pity the MOT has lapsed etc etc. But its not a scrapper. I think the £575 that it sold for previously was a bit on the high side. Now I would value it around £400 mark now that the MOT info has been clarified. No doubt it will sell for more than that.

[messerschmitt owner]

I wouldn't be that hard on it. Its a good straight looking car.

Its a pity the MOT has lapsed etc etc. But its not a scrapper. I think the £575 that it sold for previously was a bit on the high side. Now I would value it around £400 mark now that the MOT info has been clarified. No doubt it will sell for more than that.

I wonder why he hasn't mot'd it then - it's only £50 and if the car is that good it'll fly through!

I once bought a PA Cresta that wasn't MoT'd - I took it for an MoT before buying it just to check what it needed to be road legal - surprisingly little, thankfully. I doubt the XM would be so forgiving.

I'd still expect it to need a good few hundred spent on it to make it roadworthy and then it is worth about £600-1200, which in my eyes does not make it worth £400 now as it stands - unless you are going to break it for bits.

[robert_e_smart]

Fair comments Campbell.

But there are a lot of tits on e-bay who haven't got a clue about selling cars. The ones who don't MOT a car that will fly through, those who fail to wash or vaccum a car etc etc. The usual crap we see on e-bay.

I bought a TCT manual last year, The MOT had lapsed on it for a year, all it got for the MOT was an engine service, new brake pads, and 2 new tyres, and it passed first time.

Some of the hard work has been done on this car, new clutch recently, timing belt as well.

[messerschmitt owner]

Robert

you just demonstrated the point

DIY engine service - £15 oil, £15 filters (air, fuel, oil)
tyres - £100 fitted
DIY brake pads - £20

That's £150 already ...

It is also in carlisle - the *rs* end of anywhere!

Factor £200 for sphere changes, and a few other bits and I'm getting close to thinking it's a £200 car ...

... Oh Hell!!!! I've just realised I should be bumming it up to keep the value of mine at a higher level

[Peter.N.]

My white estate looked like a builders truck when I bought it, but it had a new clutch, two new front tyres and was taxed and MOTd, I thought for £150.00 it was worth a gamble That's how things have changed in the last few years

Peter

[robert_e_smart]

You can very easily get up to the value of the car when you have to do some work to it. Your own 2.1 td was technically an un economic repair, but you got it repaired, and it should give you years more trouble free service for very little outlay.

The same TCT that I mentioned earlier had a gas conversion carried out on it as well. Its a cracking car now.

What else can you get for the money that is as good as these cars. C5s can be got for Xm money, and I wouldn't bother with the C5 personally.

Look at it from the point of view that £ X will enable you to have so much motoring over a certain period of time to come, and it doesn't matter that you spend more than the value of the car.

I can only speculate that this black 2.1 is a reasonable buy, going and seeing it would answer that question. I thought your white Xm was cheap when it was for sale. I'm surprised it wasn't being sold for more.

[messerschmitt owner]

Robert

mine was indeed an uneconomic repair, but I also take the point about a lifetime ahead of it. I hadn't intended to buy an XM this time, it just kind of happened. Now, of course, I am having a fleet change and thinking, if I make space in the carport, I could acquire one for spares! God knows, I'll need them.

It was very tempting to scrap mine and buy another but I thought - good shell, tidy condition, low miles, reasonable service history, and all the electrics working. It made sense not to scrap it but it was simply too good not to. I still spent £300 in its first four weks with me on new tyres and new spheres.

I realised it was cheap-ish when I bought it but it did only have a month of tax and MoT on it and the £300 I spent brought it up to what I would reckon is normal money, expecially as I knew then it would need at least a timing belt. Of course, the HGF was just an extra expense - which thankfully I could afford just now.

However, mine all polished up, with new HG, timing belt, spheres, full MoT and long tax, and tyres is in theory worth £1,500-1,800 now and that is still less than it now owes me - however, will it drop below that now and the answer is probably not. I think it'll still be alive with me at least for the next five years or even more, still being worth £1500, and every month that passes after my horrendous bill (£1,336)makes it a little cheaper - on a cost per use basis, I get real value for money in say three years. A bit like my Messerschmitt, the cost of purchase and owning it is immaterial until the day I decide to sell it. My Messerschmitt owes me £2500 (purchase, maintenance and parts) and is worth £15-20,000 so it is all swings and roundabouts, as they say where I come from.Some you win, etc.

Back to the black one - if it was £200 I think I'd have it at home in the carport now as a source of bits - unless it was too good for that ...