I wonder what the previous owner discovered?

Belfry

Member
Messages
184

This lovely looking 4200 was bought in May 2020 and re-sold for a loss one month later through the same auction method following a visit to a Maserati specialist. A new clutch was fitted during the month long ownership. I liked the look of this car but the strange recent history spooked me too much!

What do you think the specialist could have discovered to put the owner off keeping the car, particularly after they paid for a replacement clutch?

72519
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
It might not be anything suspicious. It could be buyers remorse. May just be the realisation that they could afford to buy a £9k car, but not to run/repair/service it. Just that clutch/service/inspection bill would have been around a quarter of the price of the car.
 

hashluck

Member
Messages
1,515
Looks like there is a reason above in this case but you can never assume a car that is 'sold' at auction is actually sold. All sorts of shenanigans can occur. In this case could also have been the clutch failed right and the point of sale and had to be repaired and re-offered. But per DIcky this is also often the case.
 

rs48635

Member
Messages
3,181
caveat emptor.
^^^ as above lots of reasons a buyer might dislike or take fear with used Maserati. Unless you have prior experience a paid for PPI looks expensive in advance and just part of running costs in retrospect.
I entered this world "hoping to be canny enough to run the car on goodwill and buttons". I stayed after the first decent sized bill and have accepted it now. Maybe many take flight at the first hurdle. I am not complaining as that is par of the reason deprecation opened the door for me.
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,796
I heard on the grapevine his wife wasn’t a fan.

Yeah, I think this is a common problem. Bit of an impulse buy, without a chitty from the wife, followed by a big row!

But, having said that, I met someone while ago who made his living buying cars at auction, buffing them up a bit and then selling them 'privately' off his drive, even though he knew almost nothing about cars. I asked what happened if he bought a really bad car, and he said he just put it back into another auction, on the basis that he would be fine as long as there was someone out there who knew less about cars than him.
 

Doohickey

Velociraptor
Messages
2,496
When I bought mine, it had been for sale at JCT about 6 weeks earlier and I'd missed it. The purchaser sold it back because he had a 'change in financial circumstances' and needed the cash in the car back out so you can't always assume it's about the car itself.
 

Belfry

Member
Messages
184
An expensive month for the vendor!

Paid £11k in May (£10,361 plus 6% commission), replaced the clutch, sells for £8.5k

Poor guy
 

Belfry

Member
Messages
184
Yeah, I think this is a common problem. Bit of an impulse buy, without a chitty from the wife, followed by a big row!
I have been in that position! Either silent fury or (worse) "if you can afford that car then you can afford to buy ... (insert expensive item here)