Money savvy or stupid?

never_again_2

My husband was offered the chance to buy a car from a guy from work a couple of days ago. He wanted £1,500 for it but my husband haggled to £1,200. Once the M.O.T is done I was assured we could sell it for £3,500 - £4,000 (guy was selling it because he bought a new one and was too lazy to get the M.O.T done himself and sell it for the higher amount). So I've taken out a HSBC flexi loan for £1,500. The APR is quite high; 14.8%, but I can repay as soon as I like with no penalties, so it seamed like the best option.
Anyway we overlooked all the extra costs, like Tax and car insurance (can't get the Tax without it) which have all had to go on a 0% purchases C/C. Plus today it failed the M.O.T and we will have to pay another couple of hundred on that.
At the time I thought it was a good idea; we could pay of the remainder of the CC with the profit and start the battle with the loans, but now it just seams like so much effort.

Does anyone else do this sort of thing to make extra cash?
We both already work full time and both have a part time job with a catering company, so this is a quick way to earn extra cash; I’m just worried about it backfiring and leaving us another couple of grand in debt.

jessicamb

Hi

Personally I wouldnt do this but I have zero knowledge of cars - I know a mechanic though who does this on a regular basis and makes a few bob.

Hope it works out ok though in the end

mrcow

never_again wrote:

Once the M.O.T is done I was assured we could sell it for £3,500 - £4,000

This sounds unlikely to me. The guy being too "lazy" sounds a convienient excuse (but I'm an old cynic!) Have you done your homework on this and looked at what similar cars are going for?

What car is it? Age etc?

I'm worried as you have tied up some short term credit solutions into this that will need a quick sale to clear them.

CLAPTON

you might get an idea of the car's value from here

http://www.parkers.co.uk/pricing/?frommenu=true

never_again_2

It’s a W reg (2000) Ford Focus, 100k miles on the clock. It got brand new alloy wheels (which I was told cost £500 new a few months ago, CD player, full leather interior electric windows, metallic paint, etc. I've checked the auto trader and some sell for a bit less, some for a bit more, but I don't really know what the important things for a car to have are and therefore what make some worth more than others.

I'm really concerned that this is going to go wrong. We really can't afford another £3K+ debt!!

never_again_2

CLAPTON wrote:

you might get an idea of the car's value from here

http://www.parkers.co.uk/pricing/?frommenu=true

thanks for the tip i'll look it up now.