Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[CitroJim]

Yes I still have it, I thought the gearbox was a gonner recently though, twice! Lots to catch up on indeed. Here's a lightening round...

Gosh Simon, what an adventure!!!

I always thought the ECU was placed in the most stupidest position possible! They could not have failed better if they'd have tried...

And a missing fuse! Amazing!

So delighted all is good and sweet now Simon

[Mandrake]

They say that cars are just inanimate objects which don't know your intentions but I'm not sure it's true!

As some of you know back in February I started actively looking for a Nissan Leaf to replace the Peugeot Ion and at that time the on board charger for the car decided to fail - right around the same time as the Xantia was having difficulties with it's A/C compressor spitting the dummy... I managed to get that repaired (as well as the Xantia A/C) just before the lock down set in and the Leaf hunt was on hold.

Then in the last week or so I'm back on the hunt for a Leaf and yesterday I found one that while not in one of our preferred colours, (unfortunately it's metallic white, but I can live with it) it ticks basically every other box in my wish list. September 2016, 30kWh, Tekna spec with leather seats, upgraded 6kW AC charger, low mileage (23k) good battery state of health (93%, with 12mV cell balance, both very good) and generally excellent condition and at quite a reasonable price for what is basically a top spec 30kWh model, also from a commercial seller that specialises in buying/selling EV's rather than a random autotrader or ebay listing.

So I started liaising with the seller yesterday and guess what happened on the way home from work that very same day - the electric vacuum pump for the brake servo on the Ion failed, and rather abruptly! First a couple of miles away from home an exclamation warning light appeared on the dashboard but with no other symptoms. Unfortunately I had no real clue was the warning was for so I carefully kept driving intending to put Diagbox on the car as soon as I got home and at that point the brakes were still working normally. Then a minute or so later a warning buzzer came on and when I went to pull over the brake pedal was rock hard and basically ineffective. And I mean really ineffective - pushing for all I'm worth would barely slow the car at all even from a low speed.

Luckily the mechanical handbrake still works (yay for good old fashioned mechanical hand brakes!) and so does regenerative braking lifting off the throttle. Regenerative braking is most effective at faster (>10mph) speeds while the handbrake is most effective at low speeds. Between the two of them I had enough braking to creep cautiously the rest of the way home with an extra buffer in front of me, but this car is definitely off the road and unsafe until the vacuum pump is replaced.

When I got home I could hear the vacuum pump running continuously (it normally runs for about 3 seconds after pressing the pedal to top up the vacuum then shuts off) and fluctuating in speeds making some "death throes" noises, eventually it slowed right down and stopped and never made a noise again so from the noises it was making I think it's actually had a bearing failure and seized up completely.

To say I'm a bit miffed is putting it very politely. I'm actually quite livid. These cars had a recall for defective brake vacuum pumps (think I've mentioned it before) around 2015, and according to Peugeot this car was up to date on its recalls when I bought it, however just a few years later (assuming they did really replace it - the one in the car looks very old to me) the pump has failed abruptly and left the car with basically no working foot brake. In theory you can push the pedal really hard and get usable braking with a vacuum failure however this was definitely not the case here - the only usable braking was hand brake and throttle lift off regeneration.

A replacement pump from Peugeot I hear (can't look it up as I no longer have service box access) is around £780 However a couple of speakev forum members who have replaced failing (but not yet fully failed like mine) vacuum pumps have fitted a Hella UP28 with a slight modification to the bracket and splicing the wiring to keep the original connector. A new one of these is around £140 however I've ordered a second hand one on ebay for £35 which will hopefully arrive mid next week. It's in an easily accessible location just under the engine access hatch in the boot so as long as modifying the bracket isn't too difficult it should be a straight forward job. Until then I'm driving the Xantia.

I was already pretty miffed with this car when the charger blew up in February and decided it was time to ditch it before something else went wrong, which was then interrupted by lock down, now it has let me down again in a potentially very dangerous way - I'm quite lucky I was on slow roads and nearly home when it happened otherwise it could have been sticky. (The honeymoon is definitely over with this car!)

This incident has pushed me over the edge and subject to negotiating the details I think I'm going to go ahead with the Leaf and put the Ion up for sale as soon as the vacuum pump issue is repaired. The Leaf seller is a dealer who also buys and would normally take an Ion as a part exchange however as he's 400 miles away and transport costs are high relative to the value of the car he's not sure it's worth it and suggested I'm probably better selling locally to get more money for it. (He hasn't said yet what he might offer for it but I suspect it's going to be a lot lower than what I could get from a private local sale)

Absent corona-virus I would normally agree, however I'm really not sure how a private sale of a car would be handled in the current conditions... also I've never sold a car privately in the UK before (apart from the first Xantia V6 which went for £100 cash as a parts car! ) so I'm unsure of how to go about this from the point of view of protecting both buyer and seller from fraud.

So does anyone have practical experience of trying to sell a car privately in the vicinity of £5000 ? The hurdle I can see is that say someone comes to view the car and wants to take it, that's too much to pay in cash easily so it would have to be a bank transfer, however bank transfers may take a day or more to show up, in the mean time, who holds onto the car and/or the keys to make sure that neither side is ripped off ? What's the safest method of transaction ?

One thought that occurs to me is that Paypal might be an option, and that transaction occurs immediately even on weekends, and both parties can verify in their email and paypal app that the transaction has occurred which would allow for immediate hand over of the car, however:

1) Not everyone uses Paypal and it's not easy to set up a new Paypal account for large transactions at short notice
2) I believe Paypal take a significant cut on this type transaction - need to look into that
3) Paypal has buyer rights guarantees which allow buyers to get refunds which can sometimes be abused
4) Transferring the money out of your paypal account back into a back account can sometimes be an awkward process

So I'm really not sure what to do. What do you guys do with private car sales of substantial value to unknown people to ensure a safe transaction of money and vehicle so that both seller and buyer can feel safe from possible fraud. (Such as keep the money don't give the car, take the car don't pay or reverse the payment etc)

Am I better off selling through something like autotrader ? Do they offer any protections ? Do they take a cut ? Sorry, complete car selling in the UK newbie here..

I don't really have the room for three cars for any length of time as one would have to live on the road - so the Ion needs to go ASAP after the Leaf arrives, assuming I go ahead with the purchase.

[bobins]

When I bought my hairdryer (MX5) last year, I sat in the seller's kitchen and did a bank transfer on my phone. It was in his account within 30 seconds as he checked with his banking app there and then. I have bought a car for cash in the past that's worth substantially more than £5k with no issues apart from the bank checking why I was withdrawing that amount of money.

[Mandrake]

When I bought my hairdryer (MX5) last year, I sat in the seller's kitchen and did a bank transfer on my phone. It was in his account within 30 seconds as he checked with his banking app there and then. I have bought a car for cash in the past that's worth substantially more than £5k with no issues apart from the bank checking why I was withdrawing that amount of money.

Thanks for that - the bank transfer by phone app probably uses a "Faster" transaction which will go in immediately, not sure if that works immediately outside normal bank hours though. Also it depends on whether the sellers and buyers banks both support "Faster" transactions, if not it will take 2-3 days to clear.

From a bit of reading it looks like Paypal is an unsafe way of accepting payment for a car! Cash or bank transfer seem to be the only ones recommended.

Found a reasonably good article on private sales, selling anything other than a banger to a stranger safely is pretty daunting to be honest:

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/e ... -privately

I'll see what he'll offer as a part trade before making a decision I think.

[mickthemaverick]

I have sold many cars privately from my first Morris Minor to my most recent Mazda 6. I have always dealt in cash including a VW Eos for £11500.00. That was about 6 years ago and the people drew the money from their building society and handed it over. The count was the longest part of the transaction!!
More generally I follow these simple rules:
1. Don't release the car until payment is cleared
2. If they want to leave a deposit and return with the cash ask for a minimum of what you think will hurt them to lose and make it clear it is non refundable if
they do not complete the purchase within the agreed timeframe. If that timeframe expires you are then at liberty to sell the car elsewhere and keep the
deposit.
3. Beware of forgeries especially if £50.00 notes are involved.
4. Do not allow unaccompanied test drives for strangers.
5. Keep the spare keys indoors away from the vehicle until the transaction is completed.
6. Issue a receipt for the cash as payment for the car reg no xxxxxxx and ensure you include the words sold as seen without warranty or guarantee.
7. Bank the cash and have a beer!!

[Zelandeth]

To be honest, old fashioned cash is your friend. £5K isn't a difficult amount to get hold of, just requires the buyer to make a trip to their bank to actually get it.

If a buyer is serious about wanting the car they won't be bothered by that.

Given the amount of scams going around on PayPal these days and that their default position always seems to be to side with the buyer I'd not touch it for something like this.

[white exec]

A UK bank transfer now goes through in 2h, across the EU.
Your online bank website should confirm exact details, and any time-of-day restrictions.

[myglaren]

I regularly make and receive bank transfers and most take only a few minutes. I bought the seats and headlights for my C5 a few years ago, in the eBay seller's premises (a barn) and it went through in a couple of minutes.

A larger amount to a new contact will probably involve more security checks but should only take five minutes. They send a one-time-code to my phone that expires after five minutes.

Bugger about the Ion

[Michel]

I wouldn’t do it any other way than bank transfer. You’ll see when it’s there - usually immediately now, it can’t be counterfeit money, it can’t be taken back like Paypal can, you can’t lose it/get mugged on the way to the bank...

Cash really has nothing at all going for it in comparison, especially with the Covid pandemic - no handling dirty cash, no having to trail to a bank and queue to deposit it, blah blah.

[bobins]

There's always good old 'phone banking' as well so you can check the money has arrived in your account. No need for Apps, but if you're not already set up for it, you might want to set up phone banking pretty quickly so it's all settled in in time. When I bought my hairdryer, I think I transferred £1 or £2 a day or so in advance to check with the seller that it had gone to his account OK. Obviously that won't work for someone who wants to look, buy, and drive away at the same time, but not everyone is in such a hurry so you might get someone who views and agreees to pay a deposit on one weekend and then wants to pay the balance and collect the following weekend.

[white exec]

You could always test the buyer's determination by asking for a cheque (written, of course, on a scrap of paper), and then waiting for it to clear. That would sort the sheep from the goats*.
* Can I say that these days?

[Mandrake]

Replaced in 2016 under the vacuum pump recall ? I don’t think so Peugeot! They really are useless.

No way is that pump only 4 years old.

[white exec]

There might be a date on it somewhere.

[Mandrake]

Hah! If there is it’s totally illegible due to the rust and rot.

[RichardW]

That's an annoyance! The price is ridiculous, but that seems to be the case with many of the parts for this car... At least there appears to be a route to getting it fixed for not too much cash. I would guess the recall was check and test, and only replace if it's really already knackered - yours must have passed!!

I imagine that anyone buying this will be an enthusiast so there should be no real problems - and you can sell up the fact that 2 known major problems are fixed. A bank transfer is the way to go, should arrive more or less instantly these days. Make sure you record the time as well as the date on the receipt, that way if the buyer trips a camera on the way home (unlikely I know!) you will have a defence.