How old dare you go?

anewman

In small cars, a Nissan Micra or Toyota Starlet might be a better option than a Corsa IMO.

Don't look primarily at the age of the car. Factors such as service history (i.e. how well the car has been looked after) and the brand and model often indicate how decent a car is. Don't be lured in by low mileage either. A well looked after high mileage example is usually a better buy than a low mileage badly looked after example.

Yet another factor to consider is insurance cost. You'll find insurance will probably cost more than the car, and cost can vary greatly between cars! Go to a site like confused.com and type in a few different cars of the types that may interest her. All you have to do is modify the quote changing the car each time. You can take reg numbers off sites like autotrader and put them in confused.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Condition is far more important than age.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i would go to local auction house with daughter (not to buy but to look) at what types go through and to what prices, go early to look around them and view service books and condition ive been going for years and see some real bargains regular and for 1000 you could pick a mk2 corsa up on a v.w.y 51 year reasonable mileage and serviceing but go for a couple of weeks to view and listen if you get confident enought to bid keep in mind that you have to pay auction fee these days about £110 ontop of price of car and they offer a weeks warrenty if you find any major mechanical failure during that time that wasnt listed in auction you take it back and have money back. also a tip on insurance is to do pass plus course that bring policy down ad also be a named driver on her policy that also brings things down.

angeltreats

I've just bought a T reg Micra. I was quite happy to buy something older with a higher mileage (there's 100K on the clock) as long as it had obviously been looked after, had a service history and receipts for work that had been done, and I could have a look and a tinker to satisfy myself that it was in good shape. Saying that though, I do know a bit about cars thanks to my dad so have a good idea what to look out for and would be happy to tackle minor repairs myself.

Any older car is going to need a bit of work now and then, you have to factor that in. Parts do wear out eventually.

tescodave

Yes I think used cars are much better value these days, you get much more reliable ones for your money. I'd say for a grand you'll get something pretty decent if you're careful.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Corsas aren't a bad bet, they tend to be cheap to repair and easy to get parts for as they are soooooooooo common. The down side is that due to their popularity with boy racers insurance can be more expensive.

Look at older japanese cars for ultimite reliability in an older car. The Micra was great, my mum's ran well until about 12 years old. But Hondas, Toyotas, etc are good too.

VWs tend to be reliable but parts and servicing can be more expensive.

I'd avoid older french cars, parts and servicing can be very expensive, without the reliability of a VW, I know quite a few people who have problems with minor electrics, stereo, windows, central locking etc. An expensive nuisence.

Purpletopaz

Hi I really dont know much about corsas but what I can say is if you buy a car thats pretty decent and keep it serviced it can be as reliable as any car. I bought my Ford Escort in 2002 when it was 8 years old and had done 92,000 miles, and a full service history, I had a new clutch fitted initially, apart from the on going wear and tear, like tyres, brakes, wipers etc, I had one no start due to the alternater!

I have been very happy with it. Have had it serviced every year with MOT and now its up to 142,000, not bad, It cost me £1400.00 and approx £200-300, service and MOT a year. Cheap to run too. its now nearly 16 years old!!! its never let me down.

Ideally something with less electrics is a better bet, as Katp states expensive repairs, My friends electric window has broken in her 2 year old megane and due to the cost to repair she has just left it!

I agree with the posts here, a service history is important. one of the reason I bought mine was it had been a company car with higher milage, but had been looked after.


My first car a Mini clubman ( 20 years ago!) was an OLD R reg and hand painted, looked the pits went like a bomb!

Good idea to look on the internet and try pick up some tips, like looking for crash damage, can be as simple as seeing if there is pieces of glass in the car. Checking doors, lights and things are lined up and look symetrical.

Good luck how exciting for her, !!!!!!

cyclonebri1

There are some cracking cars to be had at 1o years old and at 500 to 1K

A good unspoilt example of many cars will go on for year with little maintenance.


Look at a nice Nissan Almera sort of thing, Astras,Seats, vinfact most cars of nthat age.


The single or even double reason that cars hit the grave yard, excluding scrappage, (that I find personally disgusting), is that they get written 'orf, or sufferb a complete engine failure.
Long gone are the times when cars rotted their way to the grave,

Methusela

purpletopaz wrote: »

My first car a Mini clubman ( 20 years ago!) was an OLD R reg and hand painted, looked the pits went like a bomb!

Hope no passers-by were injured in the explosion !

easilydistracted

I have a 12 year old corsa thats probably worth less than £1000 now. The recommendation used to be that the cam belts were done at 80,000 miles but now vauxhall recommend 40,000 (though I'd take that with a pince of salt). I had mine done a few thousand miles ago (not been driving for long) as there was no point paying to get the car on the road then the cam belt going and ruining the whole car. So factor that into the costs or check its on the service history. I've recently had to replace a couple of essential parts (one that runs the speedo and one that stops my headlights going on full beam all the time!). Luckily I booked on a car maintenance class and have a very helpful tutor. This means I can keep it going not to expensively. With that age of car you ideally need to have some idea of what might go wrong and how to do the servicing. I'd check out the insurances prices for her too- I'm 27 and female and mine was still pretty expensive. Good luck!