I've been to look at a second-hand Seicento today with a view to buying it. It had 26,000 miles on the clock and was mostly in good condition. I didn't buy it because both of the front axle stand/jacking points had gone. One side was rusted away; the other side had been cut off and replaced with what looked like a sheet of plastic glued on.
I am not a mechanic and am self-taught with doing my own repairs, but I am curious about the following:
1. Is it an MOT failure to have no from jacking points?
2. Are there alternative places at the front where axle stands can be positioned to hold a Seicento secure and to enable work on the front wheels to be possible?
3. Is it possible to weld on new jacking points, or is it that once rusted the area becomes inherently weak?
Thanks,
Andrew

For the MOT, rust is an issue if it is within a prescribed distance from a mounting point (including steering, suspension, seats & belts), which in reality doesn't leave much!

A former jacking point covered by a piece of plastic glued on is highly suspect.

I think you probably did the right thing by walking away...!!

i agree with David that you did the right thing leaving it..

but to answer your questions..
1. ive had cars fail on rust around jacking points before so i would say yes, that could fail but depends on how bad it is as with most rusty bits.
2. I always put my axle stands under the control arms, where they meet the body - certain stands wont really work there, depends on the design of the stand whether it would pinch the mount or not.
3. anything is fixable, its whether its worth it or not really, and you often don't know the extent of rust until you start chopping bits away to find how far it goes.

blu73 said:

3. anything is fixable, its whether its worth it or not really, and you often don't know the extent of rust until you start chopping bits away to find how far it goes.

Click to expand...

That is the worry..... how far you end up chopping back before you find something solid enough to weld to... :bang:

well i think the key point here really is if you want to buy a seicento you really shouldnt be needing to deal with rust yet, plenty of good solid sei's around still. I'd rather buy a mechanically buggered car that had a nice clean solid and straight shell than the opposite myself.
This sounds like a perfect example that a low mile, low number of owners is quite often not as good a find as it sounds initially.