2nd Car- is it worth it?

burbs_2

Get yourself along to the auction and get a little bargain. You dont need a C1, although if you really do i have 1 for sale on my forecourt at the moment!!!!

You say that you worry about buying second hand with regard to the safety aspect and the repair bills. Trust me if you buy new cars things can still go wrong and when they do your wallet will know about it. Just because a car has been "used" does not make it any less safe for the kids.

You could pick up a peach of a little motor to do what you need for a grand or less and then you are away. If you can afford extra loans etc then by all means get the new C1 but if its going to make things a struggle bite the bullet and think cheaper

swizzle_2

burbs, it`s ok you saying go to the auction an get a car for a grand, but you know about cars- and what to look for, we don`t.

Knowing my luck i would come away with a car made out of 2 differant one`s and that would not be safe for the children would it?

I Don`t know anyone who knows anything about cars, so scared of being ripped off.

If I bought a new car- they come with a 3 year warranty-so no bills or mot`s for 3 years. Some i have looked at the warrenty even covers the exhaust!

Lady_S

Not true about the warranty, there will be things which aren't covered. I had a car which had the engine go at 3 years 1 month and there was nothing I could do about it.

Buy private, and buy sensible. I have had two cars privately both for under 2k and we have been fine with them. I know nothing about cars, but I just used my common sense.

Spendless

How many miles would you be doing p.a swizzle? I bought my car 2nd hand from a garage 3 years ago for £1k. It is/has been used for taking me to part-time job, to college and back, running DD to playgroups and nursery and taking DS to swimming lessons. Occassional trips into town and for shopping. I'd say I average less than 3,000 a year so even though the car is old it isn't get a great deal of wear and tear and so far (fingers crossed) repair bills have been low. It is now 12 years old and passed MOT 1st time this year :j Do you have any family/friends/work-mates/neighbours who do know something about cars you could take with you to look at some.

ArsenalFC

swizzle wrote:

If I bought a new car- they come with a 3 year warranty-so no bills or mot`s for 3 years. Some i have looked at the warrenty even covers the exhaust!

Servicing still cost you £150-£200 a year though. As you will be doing low mileage it's best to get a 2nd hand car, you will not need to give it a full service every year because of your mileage. Oil and filter change will do.
Depreciation will be high on a new car, after 3 years it'll lose 40-60% of its value.

The toyota yaris is a very reliable car, £3-£4k can get you a fine example.

burbs_2

swizzle wrote:

burbs, it`s ok you saying go to the auction an get a car for a grand, but you know about cars- and what to look for, we don`t.

Knowing my luck i would come away with a car made out of 2 differant one`s and that would not be safe for the children would it?

I Don`t know anyone who knows anything about cars, so scared of being ripped off.

If I bought a new car- they come with a 3 year warranty-so no bills or mot`s for 3 years. Some i have looked at the warrenty even covers the exhaust!

Im not going to give away any major details here as i dont want to shoot myself in the foot but i assure you that a warranty is not worth the paper they its written on. I have dealt sports and performance cars for a number of years now and anyone in the business will know that a warranty in the whole scheme of things is pretty useless. There are a couple of exceptions to the rule but rare as rocking horse s##t.

Everyone seems to beleive that every car going through the auctions these days is a welded affair, simply not true. Dealers buy the majority of their cars at auction, whip it into the workshop for a quick check over, give it a polish and the next day its on the forecourt at 100% mark up. Then you come along and hand over your hard earned to the dealer as his showroom is "safer" than a auction hall.

If you dont know anything about cars and have nobody who does then perhaps this isnt the route for you then.

The other thing you could do is ask local dealers whether they have taken any cars in part exchange they can let you have on the cheap. They usually send them off to the auction which is a pain to say the least. They would be much happier to seel to you for a quick sale.

These are just options. I can tell from your posts that you seem to have your heart set on the more expensive option and if thats what you want go for it. You only live once!!