"Rear sub frame corroded but not seriously weakened".

[davidmiller]

I'm seeing this quite a lot on MOTs. Often you don't see it again on the years to follow.
Would anyone stay away from buying a car like that even if it says not seriously weakened? And even if it didn't show up again the following years?

 

[johnny2007]

It depends how old it is and what your expectations are.
If it's a 20 year old cheap car and you intend to run it into the ground, go for it.
If it's a 5 year old car, run away.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Would anyone stay away from buying a car like that even if it says not seriously weakened?

Some opinion is involved in doing an MOT, and inspectors do need to put a in a few advisories, just to prove they are doing their job. If the advisory disappears on following years, it could mean it has been replaced, or maybe was not so bad, after all. I treat them as a warning, to take a look myself, just in case I missed something, then decide.

 

[Mottie]

A tester advised that my head bearings were stiff and Notchy on my motorbike. The following two years, same test station, same tester, he didn’t mention it.

 

[Avocet]

I'm seeing this quite a lot on MOTs. Often you don't see it again on the years to follow.
Would anyone stay away from buying a car like that even if it says not seriously weakened? And even if it didn't show up again the following years?

I've got one on my old Freelander right now, in fact1 To be honest, I thought he'd fail it, but was obviously in a benevolent mood. I'm suer it'll be a fail next time!

Manufacturers are now really good at protecting the main bodyshell from rust, but subframes are still quite poorly protected, which is a shame. I can get a good second-hand subframe for the Landy for about £80, but there's a fair bit of work involved in replacing it, so I'm not sure I'll bother, to be honest. Just scrap the car.