Gransport advice.

[whereskeith]

Hi.
Need some advice please.
I live in Spain and have been looking at buying a GS.
I have seen lots of cars that can only be described as dogs.
The thing is here, service history is not done in the same way... i.e lots of cars don't have it..even tho for me it was a requirement.
Anyway, eventually came across this car... its extremely clean, has the original plastic on the carpets and supposedly the km's are correct.
I was told it has full service history and he has 10k euros worth or receipts from Maserati for work carried out from 2010.
So agreed a price , went to pay and guess.. no service history... I then contacted Maserati who conformed the car had never had a Main dealer service until 2014 (which i made him so , and also put new p zeros on). So i walked away.
so conundrum on.... Great car condition wise... i know its has just been serviced and i know its had some maintainance... yet only one official service since 2006 which was carried out in 2014 .
I have been back with a greatly reduced offer, which was refused...
Anyway.. Have a look and see if u think.

http://www.cohencunild.com/listing/maserati-gransport/

 

[safrane]

Walk away...catch a plane to Germany or Switzerland and buy one there. It will be LHD and looked after far better from what you describe.

 

[conaero]

Yes agree with Peter.

Maybe speak to our sister forum in France, www.maseratitude.com and source one from them with known providence.

Good luck!

 

[Fangio63]

I disagree, by the look of the condition in the pics it doesn't look like a Dog to me... .. I'd invest a bit more time with it and dig through the details..

Any receipts ? From who ?
Any paper trail on previous owners ?...

Internet a wonderful thing, anyone who's owned or worked on the car can probably be contacted and give you comfort / or not..

To my mind - and inspection / full service by recognised independent would be enough for me --- so long as the price is right...

 

[jluis]

When I was looking for my car, I used autoscout24.com to search for cars within driving distance from me (Germany, Netherlands, France and Belgium)
Before booking any visits I always asked for copies of the service history and how many owners it had and sometimes even some more detailed pictures.

It took me a long time but I ended up buying a 3200 Asseto corsa from 2001 with 54.000km on the clock from it's first owner, well, their heirs as the first owner had died
The car had full service history until 2004 when it had the engine destroyed due to endfloat.
Maserati dealer rebuilt the engine replacing everything except the heads and the car has been garaged almost ever since.
I was able to verify this information via the Maserati main dealer directly and also noticed the tires year was from 2003 or 2004

The point is, it's difficult but you can try to get as much information as possible from cars abroad before getting on a plane to do visits.

 

[outrun]

I disagree, by the look of the condition in the pics it doesn't look like a Dog to me... .. I'd invest a bit more time with it and dig through the details..

Any receipts ? From who ?
Any paper trail on previous owners ?...

Internet a wonderful thing, anyone who's owned or worked on the car can probably be contacted and give you comfort / or not..

To my mind - and inspection / full service by recognised independent would be enough for me --- so long as the price is right...

I agree. It looks very nice in the photos. No wear on bolsters, plenty of disc left. I think it could well be genuine mileage. I also agree that putting the work in to build a paper trail of history could be worth it. Also, if the price if right. Which it's not with that history.

 

[safrane]

Unless I am reading this wrong the seller said full service history from Maserati and recieps for the same valued at ten grand. On checking the OP finds no history or reciepts indicating it has not been touched by a mechanic until this last/only service?

If this is correct the price is way off...however if its been done by Mr Spanners at the local corner workshop again it needs to be reflected in the price and you would want to know whats been done.

 

[whereskeith]

Thanks for your replies.. appreciate it.
All the work since 2010 has been carried out as Maserati Marbella,..So far no details on previous owner.. I had been told this guy was the second owner.
Paperwork , apart from the 5 invoices from Maserati Marbella and recent 1500euro complete service, there are none.
The guy is a doctor ( I have met him) and he says he has 6 cars... of course there is nothing to back this up.
When I called Maserati direct they checked the chassis on their database and found zero history apart from what I have seen.
he silly really... for the sake of a few services and stamps in a book, he lost a sale.
the only reason I went back with another lowball offer is that these cars are not selling over here and I at least know it has had some maintenance rather than others which were none.

 

[whereskeith]

i did see another good looking car in Madrid... but the owner was hard to deal with, would not show me the history unless i was there in person and when i asked if i could get the car inspected at Maserati at my cost , he wanted a 3500 euro deposit first... erm..no... that was the end of that one. lol
some people are just hard to deal with..

 

[jluis]

Deposit for what?!
Did you ask to sleep with his wife?

 

[T-axle]

Hi whereskeith,

I am looking for a GS myself. Here are my 2 cent...
Prices in CH are far from appealing (new exchange rates, import duties). But a nice pool to go fishing, if you intend to leave the car in CH.
Germany has not much to offer right now, especially if your choice of color goes away from typical "leasing pattern". (off season?)

Btw., my search crossed that dealer a few times. I think he sold two within the last few weeks since Xmas.
But your experience makes me wonder...
Guess what, went to the Barcelona Area before Xmas to check out a blue GS, that was parked for ages at Porsche Center in Salt. A huge price drop at a new dealer as well as a beautiful color combo made me fly there.
In short: Seeing it in flesh was a shocker! Never seen such an unloved luxury car, ever! Banged up all around (paint, metal, weels, tires, mesh grill destroyed), last (only) service in 2007 or so. After calculating a five digit investment on top I stopped thinking and went to the beach with my family, instead.

If there is any other offer, that you have been (unhappily) checking, let me know. (The one in Madrid was black, about 27kEUR, right?)

Good luck for you!

 

[hodroyd]

So it was a 2006 GS with 8,000 miles and he wanted £27K for it. That would have had maybe 2 services including the initial short service, unless the owner had an anuual oil change. That does not sound unusual, if the car was in top condition. It would need an inspection by a good independent Maserati engineer, or a Maserati dealer clean bill of health, which the seller should pay for..!!