Used Ford S-Max, Which Is Not Buy: About What Not Says The Seller

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 02:36

Auto.ru offers used cars for every taste - from sports cars and SUVs to minibuses and pickups. Some cars are sold in the thousands, while others are not popular, there are dozens, or even just a few, ads. Owners of rare cars are usually fans of a particular model, so the descriptions of the copies sold are full of rave reviews. But are they really that good? Were they really exploited and lovingly maintained? And why are they suddenly selling - maybe because of serious problems?

Once a week, we find advertisements for the sale of cars that have dark pages in the past. ProAvto reports help us to bring them to light, information for which Auto.ru collects from many sources.

Today in our heading - a family Ford S-Max 2012 release. Fans loved this minivan for its spacious and comfortable interior, excellent chassis and bright, even by today's standards, appearance.

The specimen we found looks calmer because of its strict color, but among other "es-maxes" sold on Avto.ru, it stands out with a small mileage of 68,000 km - most other cars of this generation have two or three times more mileage. At the same time, the price of the car is the average for the market. And the owner claims this S-Max is "in excellent condition."

Seller comment

“Everything is in excellent condition, does not require investment. All MOTs have been completed. Not purchased on credit. Salons and outbids, please do not disturb."

In the photos in the ad, the car really looks good, although some moments upon close examination are still confusing. Firstly, there is not a single shot from the back - except for the open trunk. Secondly, the car does not have very even gaps between the bumper and the headlights. Finally, a rather shabby steering wheel - is the mileage really twisted?

We look into the ProAuto report. There are no disturbing records in the free version: three owners, each immediately registered the car and used it for a relatively long time. Legal problems with the purchase are also not expected.

The full version of the report shows that the car's mileage is likely true. It's just that the first of the three owners traveled rarely or over short distances. The steering wheel in this case is not an indicator: on Ford cars of those years, it quickly begins to shine, although in general the skin on it is resistant.

The first owner drove carefully, as befits a family man. For more than 50 thousand keme, he has only a minor accident with damage to the rear wing and bumper - according to the calculations made by the insurance company back in 2013.

But just a few months after the sale to the second owner, the S-Max again has an accident, with damage to the front bumper, right fender and headlight. A year later, a very serious accident happens: the list of what needs to be replaced or repaired in a car after an accident takes several pages from insurers! The total cost of restoration is 800 thousand rubles.

Either this money was not enough to bring the S-Max back to life, or there were problems with their payment. Or simply the owner did not want to get involved with a difficult and long repair - but in the end decided to sell the minivan as it is. Thanks to this, we now know what the consequences of that accident were. And they were serious: there was a broken suspension, and deployed airbags, and a body on which there was almost no living space.

However, the third (he is, most likely, the current) owner did not think so: the broken car was bought quickly. And it was restored in a few months. But how high is the quality? After all, now they sell it for only a little more than the eight hundred thousand that were required for repairs according to the calculations of the insurance company. And they have been selling for a long time - more than six months. Even for cars with initially low demand, which include a Ford minivan, this is a very long time.

Of course, not all cars on Automotive News in their lives necessarily got into serious accidents or even minor accidents. However, the buyer, when deciding to buy a car, should have as much information as possible about his past, no matter how difficult or, on the contrary, cloudless. You can get this information using the ProAuto service - a detailed report will not only help you save time, but also save you from money losses in the future.