[kingpin]

Hi Everyone,

I've lurked on this site for some time now and think the community here is fantastic and full of great information and love for an awesome marque.

I may be close to purchasing an Elise and I have noticed several dealers still have "brand new" 2007 Elises in stock. These cars only have the delivery miles. Are there any particular concerns I should be worried about on a car that has been sitting on a dealer lot for ~2 years? I would assume new fluids and battery would be a given upon sale. Anything else in particular with the Elise to consider?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[fishguy]

if it has the AO48 the tires may be flatspotted from sitting stationary for so long.
also maybe request a new battery.

 

[Green Ghost]

Brake/clutch fluid, tires, and the battery. I can’t think of any thing else off hand to look at or have replaced.

 

[tesprit]

New tires for sure. No matter what is currently on the car, they will be flat spotted by now. Also a new battery and wiper blade refills and don't assume they are going to change the fluids, make sure they get changed especially the brake fluid. Inspect all the paint and bodywork carefully too to make sure it is not scratched, water spotted or dull. Cars that sit on a dealer lot for a long time tend to pick up some paint damage when they get shuffled about and/or sit outside. If anything isn't right with the paint, insist on a full detail job and make sure any faults are corrected before you take delivery. If the car has been sitting outside, be sure to inspect all the rubber door/trunk/top seals for hardening and decay as well the interior, especially any parts exposed to direct sunlight day after day like the dash top. Last but not least, make sure the warranty is activated the day you take delivery and not at some earlier date. You are entitled to the entire warranty period from the date of delivery if the car is new. This will ensure that Lotus picks up the tab on anything that goes wrong or was wrong with the car when you took delivery. Good luck with your purchase!

 

[Mao]

Hi kingpin,

I just bought a left over 07 in March. I now have about 3.5 K miles on it. Only issue I had so far was a coil pack needed to be replaced at about 2-2.5k. Which as far as I can tell had nothing to do with it sitting. I am about to do a 1.8k mile road trip (each way) next month, so we'll see. testprint's advice is basically what you want to look at.

 

[bueno]

New tires for sure. No matter what is currently on the car, they will be flat spotted by now. Also a new battery and wiper blade refills and don't assume they are going to change the fluids, make sure they get changed especially the brake fluid. Inspect all the paint and bodywork carefully too to make sure it is not scratched, water spotted or dull. Cars that sit on a dealer lot for a long time tend to pick up some paint damage when they get shuffled about and/or sit outside. If anything isn't right with the paint, insist on a full detail job and make sure any faults are corrected before you take delivery. If the car has been sitting outside, be sure to inspect all the rubber door/trunk/top seals for hardening and decay as well the interior, especially any parts exposed to direct sunlight day after day like the dash top. Last but not least, make sure the warranty is activated the day you take delivery and not at some earlier date. You are entitled to the entire warranty period from the date of delivery if the car is new. This will ensure that Lotus picks up the tab on anything that goes wrong or was wrong with the car when you took delivery. Good luck with your purchase!

I'm willing to bet the warranty has already started on this car. I forget where I heard it from but technically, if a vehicle has been sitting on the dealers lot for 1 whole year, the manufacturer can and will start the warranty. Also, there may have been some incentives on that MY that ran out unless the dealer "punched" the vehicle (started the warranty).

For the OP, never assume anything and ask many questions. I'm sure the dealer wants to get rid of the vehicle at all cost but definitely do inquire about the warranty.

PS-what's the name of the dealer you're buying from?

 

[Mao]

You should make sure the warranty starts with you. In my case that was the first question I asked. My warranty started with me.

 

[ewalberg]

I can guaranttee that that cars warranttee is well started. it's warranttee is probably at least 1.5 years old already. It could be 2 years old depending when it was delivered. Contact lotus directly, (DO NOT BELIEVE THE DEALER, even though they may be honestly telling you what the believe to be true).

Get lotus to send you when the warranttee started in writing.

They automatically start 6 months after the dealer takes delivery (not 1 year... 6 months) and they often also start after there are 50 miles on the car. The dealer can help out buyers and fudge the warranttee start date for mileage by not punching it in when it hits 50 miles, but they can't fudge the delivery date becuase lotus records that and the dealers have no access to change that.

I got screwed out of 9 months of my warranttee by the dealer and lotus and Ron Mann at Lotus warranttee could care less to solve an issue in good faith that the car had for the whole time i owned it, (my alarm goes off in the rain, but my living situation made me not aware of the problem until recently)... so i thought no problem well under warranty, i found the problem under warrantte, but boy was a wrong... screw me... no service, and unless your service manager loves you all he has to do is back stab you and say, "mehh, he never mentioned the problem before, why cover it?" and you get no service. And i've made a concerted effort to be very nice and understanding with everyone during my ownership , and would hope to be treated fairly in return. i got screwed, and gave people plenty of patience and kind words while they thought about it and talked amoungst themselves... expecting to be taken car of and i got screwed. so i have no reason to be forgiving now... especially when it's an issue that could get you a brick in your windshield.

As far as i can tell, Lotus is doing a poor job of educating the dealers about the warranttee terms and when they're started becuase i've got the wrong answers from every dealer i talked to when i was looking to buy. Whether it's lotus' bad training or the dealer at fault, Do NOT trust what the dealer says. Get the info directly, in writing, from lotus.

here's the contact info. You have to punch through to get warranttee, then you have to leave a message. he never answers. Ever.
(800) 245-6887
[email protected]

To be honest, i say buy a nice used car without a warranttee, then you wont be pissed when they deny you something that they really ought to take care of. Lame Ron. Lame.

 

[Mao]

Wow that sucks. Did you talk to a lawyer? I think, if that happen too me I would. Where did you buy?

 

[RoadDad]

to solve an issue in good faith that the car had for the whole time i owned it, (my alarm goes off in the rain, but my living situation made me not aware of the problem until recently)...

Dude,

That's not a warranty issue. That's an adjust your microwave sensor sensitivity issue (see your alarm manual). You can do it in about an hour, if that, at home with minimal tools. You can even drill a small hole into the rear bulkhead trim panel directly over the adjustment screw (there are diagrams/templates here that show you exactly where to drill it) so you can adjust the sensitivity at will without having to take off the trim panel in the future (or take off the trim panel at all).

EDIT: The rain is triggering your interior motion detector as it rolls down the windshield. The microwave sensor is just set "too sensitive."

 

[tesprit]

I bought my '05 new in '06 and the warranty started the day I took delivery. It had been shuffled through two different dealers by the time I bought it so it was sitting around a long time (the warranty just expired about a month ago). As long as you are the first registered owner and the car was not used a a demo or such by the dealer and still has low miles, you are entitled to the entire new car warranty period.

If the dealer claims the warranty is already running on the car, make sure you are compensated for the lost warranty time and pay much less for the car then what they are asking.

 

[SirLotus]

Even a correctly adjusted microwave will trigger in a heavy downpour. Pressing remote button "B" twice within 20 secs after arming, bypasses the Microwave. I have the template for accessing the adjustment screw by drilling a hole in the rear bulkhead panel, if needed.
Cheers,
Michael

Dude,

That's not a warranty issue. That's an adjust your microwave sensor sensitivity issue (see your alarm manual). You can do it in about an hour, if that, at home with minimal tools. You can even drill a small hole into the rear bulkhead trim panel directly over the adjustment screw (there are diagrams/templates here that show you exactly where to drill it) so you can adjust the sensitivity at will without having to take off the trim panel in the future (or take off the trim panel at all).

EDIT: The rain is triggering your interior motion detector as it rolls down the windshield. The microwave sensor is just set "too sensitive."

 

[ewalberg]

There is a TSB out for this and it's an aliminum foil part that sits behind the sensor that requires removal of the rear panal trim behind the seats and is at least party associated with rain hitting tha BACK window as well. it's often NOT associated with heavy rain but light rain instead

Just decreasing the sensitivity is not an appropriate fix if you want your alarm to function as intended. If you can't set it off in any other fashion when you're outside the car (like by fluttering a car cover or slapping windows and stuff) then you're alarm is NOT set too sensitively, so rain shouldn't set it off. The TSB that's out for the issue is the appropriate fix for the problem. Does it surprise anyone that most people don't seem to know about a known fix for the problem?

Also, considering you can't truly predict when it's going to rain, nor do i think it's appropriate for owners to have to "remember" to hit a funny key sequence when they "think" it's going to rain to turn off their alarm, i don't think it's asking too much to have them fix a known issue with the car even if it IS barely out of warrantte if it's been happening while it was under warranttee... and i found the problem while i thought it was under warranttee. I can put up with all kinds of wiggles and niggles in the car, but an alarm going off in the middle of the night is not acceptable when you park in very public densely populated areas.

Just to reiterate. You are not entitled to a full warranntee when you buy a new car according to Lotus policy, regardless of whether it's new or you're the first owner... Unless Ron Mann was just lying to me, the warranttee starts when the dealer has had it for 6 months (which lotus has record of), when it has more than 50 miles (which requires the dealer to punch in so you may be okay). If the car sat at port the whole time you may be okay. If they juggle the car between dealers every 5 months, maybe you okay.

I also imagine they can make exceptions and adjust the warrantty accordingly, so it DOES start when you buy, but that is NOT their policy, and it's pretty obviously not well advertised either.

I have not contacted a lawyer yet... i should have seen the writing on the wall when the sales manager made me sign an arbitration agreement.

I'm willing to contact the dealer and see if we can come to an agreement before bothering getting lawyers involved. I'm going to leave their name out of it right now until i see how they respond... but i have either Lotus or the Dealer on the hook for generating false documents so it could get interesting. I've got paperwork with the purchase that says the dealer received the car months after they actually took delivery.

The one other thing i haven't looked into yet is statute of limitations... I had a warranttee claim denied much earlier in my ownership for paint defects, and i have a funny feeling everyone involved figured out some of the "problems" in my paperwork (ie. I bought a used car, not a new car) that i only figured out recently and they must have used that as rationale for denial of fixing the paint problem becasue i never got a rationale for denial, not from my current dealer who didn't support me, not from the dealer i purchased it from, nor from lotus... it's all finally added up. I wouldn't be surprised if they said, hey, if we just deny it and keep quite on this it'll all be too late by the time he figures it out since he wasn't careful enough to go through his paperwork with a fine toothed comb, and he didn't think to get everything in writing.

I have to say, buying my g500 without a warranttee and knowing i'm on the hook to fix any problems has been a LOT more satisfying that realizing you've been circled jerked a few times.

 

[SirLotus]

I respectfully disagree, it is quite normal for very heavy rain to be detected by a Microwave sensor, it's just the nature of microwave energy, which is how doppler weather radar operates to detect rain. My alarms microwave is occasionally triggered by the heavy rains, (not light) we get here in Florida and no rain comes into contact with the rear window. This happens mainly with the soft top on, and is reduced when I install the hardtop. And, incidentally, the detection patten does not extend behind the unit.
Cheers,
Michael

There is a TSB out for this and it's an aliminum foil part that sits behind the sensor that requires removal of the rear panal trim behind the seats and is at least party associated with rain hitting tha BACK window as well. it's often NOT associated with heavy rain but light rain instead
Just decreasing the sensitivity is not an appropriate fix if you want your alarm to function as intended. If you can't set it off in any other fashion when you're outside the car (like by fluttering a car cover or slapping windows and stuff) then you're alarm is NOT set too sensitively, so rain shouldn't set it off. The TSB that's out for the issue is the appropriate fix for the problem. Does it surprise anyone that most people don't seem to know about a known fix for the problem?
Also, considering you can't truly predict when it's going to rain, nor do i think it's appropriate for owners to have to "remember" to hit a funny key sequence when they "think" it's going to rain to turn off their alarm, i don't think it's asking too much to have them fix a known issue with the car even if it IS barely out of warrantte if it's been happening while it was under warranttee... and i found the problem while i thought it was under warranttee. I can put up with all kinds of wiggles and niggles in the car, but an alarm going off in the middle of the night is not acceptable when you park in very public densely populated areas.

 

[ewalberg]

do some more research on the forum here on the TSB for the issue. My point is that there is a REAL solution developed by Lotus which largely fixes the problem. I don't see how there can be any disagreement with that... the details sure there can be some discrepancy on how it happens becuase sometimes the root cause is never truly known, but there is a fix, it's posted, it includes parts and labor. it is NOT an adjustment to the sensor. Maybe you could use the fix so you don't have to disable your motion sensor? is that such a terrible idea?

Anyway, if you look into it more on this forum you'll find is a component installed behind the sensor as part of the fix, and it's generally agreed to be associated with rain hitting the back window, and people reported duplicating the problem by applying rain to the back window. Rain doesn't hit the back window directly but it most definitely does splash on it, and the issue that is addressed by the TSB is not necessarily associated with heavy rain. Whether that's exactly what always causes the problem? I don't care. My car has been in heavy rain without issue, and all the times i've witnessed it exhibit the problem it was somewhere between a drizzle a normal rain... granted our downpours are probably still mild compared to florida, but the fact remains the problem can and does occur with very light rain, and there is a REAL fix for it that doesn't change the sensitivity of the sensor nor require hitting special key sequences.

 

[SirLotus]

All I can say is that what you state has not been my experience .
Good luck in your endeavor .
Cheers,
Michael

do some more research on the forum here on the TSB for the issue. My point is that there is a REAL solution developed by Lotus which largely fixes the problem. I don't see how there can be any disagreement with that... the details sure there can be some discrepancy on how it happens becuase sometimes the root cause is never truly known, but there is a fix, it's posted, it includes parts and labor. it is NOT an adjustment to the sensor. Maybe you could use the fix so you don't have to disable your motion sensor? is that such a terrible idea?

Anyway, if you look into it more on this forum you'll find is a component installed behind the sensor as part of the fix, and it's generally agreed to be associated with rain hitting the back window, and people reported duplicating the problem by applying rain to the back window. Rain doesn't hit the back window directly but it most definitely does splash on it, and the issue that is addressed by the TSB is not necessarily associated with heavy rain. Whether that's exactly what always causes the problem? I don't care. My car has been in heavy rain without issue, and all the times i've witnessed it exhibit the problem it was somewhere between a drizzle a normal rain... granted our downpours are probably still mild compared to florida, but the fact remains the problem can and does occur with very light rain, and there is a REAL fix for it that doesn't change the sensitivity of the sensor nor require hitting special key sequences.

 

[ewalberg]

Thanks for the vote. Unfortunately i don't think my usual good luck is going to do me much good here. :wallbang:

 

[kingpin]

What the thread-jack just kidding!

Thanks for all the feedback and info. I'm going to check the car out on Saturday. Spoke to the dealer on the phone and they told me all the fluids (engine oil, break fluid etc.) are "fine" and don't need replacement since they periodically start and move the car around the lot. Sound reasonable?

They were very straight forward regarding the warranty and honestly told me that it had started about 6 months ago (actual date upon purchase) and I appreciate them being forthcoming.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[bueno]

What the thread-jack just kidding!

Thanks for all the feedback and info. I'm going to check the car out on Saturday. Spoke to the dealer on the phone and they told me all the fluids (engine oil, break fluid etc.) are "fine" and don't need replacement since they periodically start and move the car around the lot. Sound reasonable?

They were very straight forward regarding the warranty and honestly told me that it had started about 6 months ago (actual date upon purchase) and I appreciate them being forthcoming.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

If the dealer starts and moves the car periodically which sounds totally reasonable to me, you should be fine.

 

[Aedo]

What the thread-jack just kidding!

Thanks for all the feedback and info. I'm going to check the car out on Saturday. Spoke to the dealer on the phone and they told me all the fluids (engine oil, break fluid etc.) are "fine" and don't need replacement since they periodically start and move the car around the lot. Sound reasonable?

They were very straight forward regarding the warranty and honestly told me that it had started about 6 months ago (actual date upon purchase) and I appreciate them being forthcoming.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

I wouldn't be too worried about the oils as you will get them changed at the 1000m service, however the service interval for brake fluid is 12months regardless of mileage so I would have them change that for you.

And have fun checking it out!!