buying car for first time

[silvercar]

Buying a car for new driver. Have narrowed the options to 1 litre toyota Yaris or vauxhall corsa. Both insurance group 1. budget is 3-4k. I'm guessing they will be 3-5 years old to be within budget.

Want to be sure I am getting a reliable car so intend going to a franchised dealer. No-one in family knows one end of a car from the other so need to have some comeback, though I know I'll pay for this.

Intend visiting dealerships today. If anyone has any tips please post.

Thank you.

[goldspanners]

dont buy the first thing you see,have a look around,visit a few dealers,when you find the car and model and level of trim you want play the dealers off against each other to get the best price.never pay the price on the windscreen.

[anewman]

With your budget I would not be accepting anything other than something that seems 100% in every respect - so as goldspanners says, don't rush. If you look on owners forums read through to see if there any common problems on the cars you're interested in, and make a note of checking for these and/or get an independent inspection. I think the Yaris would be a better choice than the Corsa in terms of reliability, and holding its value.

[silvercar]

Visited 2 dealers, both superior attitude, "nothing in your price range..."

[custardy]

dont just go to dealers.
look on ebay,autotrader,gumtree and adtrader etc
many rule out ebay but theres plenty of straight cars on ebay

[anewman]

Visited 2 dealers, both superior attitude, "nothing in your price range..."

I think most main dealers tend to send cars under a certain value to other smaller car sales place. This helps their forecourt looks nicer and means they get to sell the best selection of the cars they get that people trade in.

You might have to look around places that aren't main dealers.

[silvercar]

dont just go to dealers.
look on ebay,autotrader,gumtree and adtrader etc
many rule out ebay but theres plenty of straight cars on ebay

Too afraid of being ripped off.

[silvercar]

You might have to look around places that aren't main dealers.

But how do I sort the good from the cowboys?

Feeling really disheartened, son is now in love with the new AYGO at Toyota which wasn't part of the original plan and there is no way that one is going to appear in our price range 'cos they've only been going 2 years.

[anewman]

The Toyota starlet is another small Toyota which is not a bad car, my girlfriend has one. I think it is probably the earlier version of the Yaris.

As for cowboys unfortunately everyone has to put up with that possibility. If your budget is £3k I would look to get some sort of independent inspection before buying. The AA and RAC provide them I believe. Any genuine seller/dealer should have no problems with such an inspection. Also get a HPI report before agreeing to buy - there should be some discussion on these forums somewhere on how to get those cheap.

[vansboy]

www.honestjohn.co.uk (http://www.honestjohn.co.uk) loads help there - the forum in The Backroom - Discussion is a good place for friendly help.

You'll find more Corsas than Yaris, so better value for £$£$.

Find a local independent ESTABLISHED car sales garage, one with a reputation he doesn't want to spoil, pay a bit more than buying private, but less than main dealer!

Even better is if the garage carries out repairs as well - you'll be able to go back to the same place for service work, too.

VB

[Keith]

Have a look at the Toyota approved vehicles via the toyota website, there is currently 12 Yaris's for sale under 4k, all approved by Toyota. I'd suggest a trip to Mansfield for the a 2001 in Red with only 13k miles for £3999.

Again, try a search on Network Q they have 624 Corsa's listed between £3000 and £6000 so there might be a bargain amongst them.

You'll be paying more than a smaller dealer but they will be backed by normally a comprehensive check/warranty

[goldspanners]

the amount of cash you are going to hand over for a car in a private sale is a bit much unless you really know what you are doing,so the best advice on getting the best price is find the car you want in aprivate sale and get the AA or RAC to check it over for you with the amount you save.
i know someone who paid 6k for a 53 corsa at vauxhall dealer with 50k miles on it,she was offered one by a friend of friend for an 04 plate with 12k miles for 3k,she chose the one at the dealers paid twice as much for an older higher mileage car,what a plonker,she didnt even test drive it!
we have all tried to tell her how stupid she had been but there is no telling some folk is there.

[anewman]

i know someone who paid 6k for a 53 corsa at vauxhall dealer with 50k miles on it,she was offered one by a friend of friend for an 04 plate with 12k miles for 3k,she chose the one at the dealers paid twice as much for an older higher mileage car,what a plonker,she didnt even test drive it!

Does she have another £3k spare? I'm a bit short of cash :D

[goldspanners]

Does she have another £3k spare? I'm a bit short of cash :D


tried that already,she is a total idiot!

[deltic]

Can you stretch to £5k ?

You would be amazed, but you can get new cars for this e.g. I have seen Ford Ka lead in models for £4995 advertised, with a 3 year warranty.

Now is the time to buy new and haggle like crazy, you will be astonished what you can get for £5k new with a bit of looking.

http://www.lookers.co.uk/cars-and-vans/xq/asp/offer_id.3099/qx/special-offers-form.asp

[Jorgan]

Spend some time surfing the web, getting as much information as possible on the cars that interest you. Most makes & models of cars have owners club on line forums which are free to join. This will have a wealth on information on a particular car. Make sure you know when the big service is due, cambelts etc. Many people try to sell cars when they realise they will be looking at a £600 service in a couple of thousand miles.

Try & test drive as many cars as possible before buying, so that you can spot a good one. Is there a local Toyota or Vauxhall independent specialist in your area? Find out if they are able to carry out a pre-purchase inspection, an hour of their time will work out cheaper than a RAC/AA inspection & they will have better knowledge of the marque in question. The only drawback with this is that you will not have the comeback on the garage that you will have with the RAC/AA should a fault later arise.

[silvercar]

To conclude, decided to up the budget and go for nearly new to benefit from manufacturers warranty.

Picked a 10 month old Toyota AYGO; managed to get a good price as dealer desparate to meet end of month target.:)

[jeannieblue]

Brilliant! :j Its very much worthwhile looking around - amazing what is on offer and as lot of folk still bit broke after Christmas, and things not pick up til mid-end February - good time of year to get a bargain.

Very reasonable to run and service is the Aygo and Yaris :D