Ariel.Club Forum

cutch wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 11:14 am Hi there, the car above is mine actually.

. . . . . . . . The date of first registration is 27th Nov 2009.

Hi,

That date does fit in with what's on DVLA "Date of first registration November 2009", but the details for your Atom are the first time I've seen two dates for when a car is registered, as it also says "Date first registered with DVLA June 2010".

So my query is:

Where was it first registered, if not with DVLA, as there's a seven Month gap in between?

I'm just curious that's all, as I use the DVLA online searches quite a lot.

Hi there, the car above is mine actually.

When I sourced the car I phoned the factory and had the boys check it up for me, so please do the same. The guys at the factory have been great over the years. Cant fault them, best customer service you will find anywhere. They have sorted an issue with me over the phone before, took the time to walk me through the steps with a multimeter to diagnose and eventually found the pressure sensor on brake had failed and that was why brake light didn't come on. I had the new one in my hand the next morning. Like I say, perfect guys. They have even sent stickers for the kids before!

The mileage was entered as 9950 miles on the website but it automatically rounded it to 9k as far as I know, the mileage is now just over 10k from going to the MOT station which is the same specialist. (10,001 miles on its MOT). The specialist is AG Motorsport, Andrew was the Scottish rally champion last year (or year before) and is probably the best person I could get to look after the car near Glasgow, he really knows his stuff and I'm sure he will talk you through it if you wish to call him at his garage. (He's on facebook too if you fancy a nosey - some really nice cars in there just now). Jon Seal Lotus is dealing with the advertising for me as he has a wealth of knowledge with these cars and from past experience I knew that he would do a better job of selling it for me. The date of first registration is 27th Nov 2009.

I have every single MOT its ever had in its folder and the only one it failed was because it did not have a parking brake fitted at the time, which was subsequently fitted by the factory (I have receipt).

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I have plenty of pics etc too.

Any way, it's only failed its MOT once, along with a couple of Advisories, which you can look at here if you're interested:
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

It's advertised as a 2010 Atom with 9K miles on it, but it's actually a 2009 Atom which has just topped 10K miles.
For some reason, it wasn't registered with DVLA for 7 months after it was completed, which I think is unusual as most purchasers want to get their hands on their Atom ASAP due to the lengthy waiting list time, so it wasn't a Factory Demo Car by any chance was it, before being sold on?

Thanks for your prompt replies

Jon Seal is a good guy and posts on here and the club Facebook page and has bought snd sold a few Atoms. Give him a ring, he will answer any questions you have. As said, contact the factory and find out the last time they saw it.

Yep - check with factory.

It also worth following up the "specialist" servicing - in my search for a good atom, the number of "specialists" that googled to a remote farm in Yorkshire was amazing.

The k20 reliability is sensitive to regular oil changes - so ringing up a landlined garage to confirm said servicing never fails to weed out the chaff. Usually the mechanic will give you an idea of condition and usage.

Also worth noting it is easy to clock so MOTs, receipts and condition need to match. I saw at least one atom whose age and mileage didnt match condition and further confirmed by the factory.

The paint on the atom on the frame is excellent from the factory, so a £50 electronic paint depth tool soon spots accident damage. If the frames been changed, the factory will tell you and again condition usually weeds this one out.

Finally on this age, I'd be carefully checking the engine for strange sounds - easy to do with such an open engine design. One I looked at had rattle from the clutch release - that's a 11 hour engine out/in according the factory

Anyway looks good ;-)

1) call the factory. They'll tell you all you need to know.
2) see previous point

Looks nice though!

Cheers,
Hedge