I made the mistake of buying a NC MX5 from Prestige Vehicle Consultants near Stansted without checking the underneath. Although the rest of the car is in very good condition for a 12 year old car, the underneath looks like something dragged out of the sea! I did check the engine bay, which is in amazing condition and so it the bodywork. So I stupidly trusted that the whole car was the same.
Recently i took the car to be checked underneath and was asked if the car had spent a lot of time near the sea…. They had to replace the rear anti-roll bar links immediately because of the rust, a front suspension spring was broken and a brake calliper was seized.
All this has been sorted but i need to get the rust seen to. The garage recommended I get it coated with wax oil or something similar, but before that i should get it steam cleaned at a place near Pitsea.
I bought it last November, so it’s a bit late to take it back i’m afraid. I did have words with Paul at PVC, but he would just keep telling me things like ‘They do that’ and ‘Get it undersealed’.
That’s what i thought and why i didn’t worry about the underside too much.
Paul at PVC claimed they don’t usually check the underside… hmmmm. ?
It’s within his rights to claim ‘Sold as seen and buyer beware’ but I was hoping when i told him about the problem he’d be worried about his company’s reputation and offer to put it right. But no.
There’s a guy in Dartford, BJ Miles, DA1 4AU. Might be a bit far but I’d rather put in some travel time and get it done properly but potentially some equal places more local to you.
He took longer than he said he would but I have been under the car a few times now and it looks like a very good job.
He removed all the arch liners, the braces from underneath the car, electrical wire brush, neutralised any rust etc
He also taped the rear arches up so that underseal would be applied to the very inner arch lip. So any stone strikes would have less chance of chipping the pain there.
NC’s are rusty underneath, its not normally fatal like the previous cars.
You have 30 days to return any vehicle you buy & sold as seen means very little as they are traders.
I too bought a 2014 NC from this Garage too quickly & found faults with the paint once I got it home. He grudgingly gave me £250 back.
It flew through its MOT yesterday & the tester said it was very clean underneath but advised to get it Waxoiled or Dinitroled asap to keep it that way.
Can anyone recommend a garage for this in Yorkshire?
Just an update of my situation. PMW had a look and thought that it was pretty bad for a 12 year old car, although they aren’t MX5 experts, they specialise in BMWs mainly. They said their treatment was for preventing rust, not covering it up. So they can’t do anything for my car.
My local garage are still willing to treat it so all is not lost. But I was still annoyed with PVC, who sold the car. I didn’t think they realised how rusty it actually is, so i sent them some photos (see below). I got a call back and they claimed it was a bit rustier than average but if i took it to them for inspection they’d get me in touch with someone who’s sort it out for not a lot of money.
I thought i’d show you some pictures of the worst bits for some feedback.
Well that’s kind of reassuring, thanks. I guess the garages where i took my car weren’t used to MX5s of that age.
It’s a bit cheeky of Mazda to sell cars in the UK that don’t have the same level of underbody rust protection as is needed. Are all MX5s built in Japan? I guess they must build them in the US as well.
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