Tips for buying a used car

becky170

I want to buy my first car and to be honest I'm feeling rather clueless. I was planning on buying a car from a dealer. Has anyone got any tips for things I should ask or check? I'm probably looking to spend 4-5K and I'm hoping to get something under 5 years old with no more than 30,000 miles (don't know how reasonable this is although I have been looking online and there are cars I'm interested in which are just above the price I'm looking to pay). I'm probably looking to get either a vauxhall corsa, VW Fox, or a Ford fiesta.

Also how flexible are dealers on negotitating prices? If there's a car advertised for £5500 is it reasonable that as a cash buyer I might be able to get it for £5000? I know that depends on the type of car but just wanted to see what type of price people think you should go in with!

Thanks

Hintza

Wait until scrappage is over if you fancy something new..

Buy something that is probably about 1 year old (or pre-reg) with a couple of years warranty still intact.

Research prices online until you have a decent feel for a bargain.

Boycott Ford for moving out of the UK and ramping prices 3/4 times in the past 12 months!!

rictus123

Can i ask where in Scotland you are? Could reccomened somewhere...

gilbert_and_sullivan

When you go to view a car (if you can zoom in on the net you can sometimes see from pics) first thing to check is the tyres.

Get to know decent makes, if you find cheap Chinese ditchfinders on the car walk away...if someone is prepared to go dirt cheap on the most important part of the car it gives a clue to the likely standard of maintenance or other care that the cars had eg quality of oil if anyone's been bothered.

becky170

Has anyone else got any helpful suggestions....thinking about braving the used car lots this weekend

mark5

I'm guessing you dont have any NCD, if so get insurance quotes for the cars you are interested in.

mrscb

Please take someone with you that knows about cars so they can check the cars out for and do all the checks before you do the deal.
You dont want to be one of the many that post on here after buying a lemon:)

Inactive

mrscb wrote: »

Please take someone with you that knows about cars so they can check the cars out for and do all the checks before you do the deal.
You dont want to be one of the many that post on here after buying a lemon:)

Well said, good advice.;)

corsavan

becky170 wrote: »

If there's a car advertised for £5500 is it reasonable that as a cash buyer I might be able to get it for £5000? I know that depends on the type of car but just wanted to see what type of price people think you should go in with!

Thanks

Sounds reasonable to me... I got £400 off a car with sticker price off £5500 last month. Ebay is good for comparing pricing. I find whatcar price guides way off the mark but wisebuyers.co.uk seems pretty helpful for a rough idea.

petrolhead69

do not ever reply to cars in the autotrader that ask you to email instead of phoning. pretend they dont exist, because they dont really. always take a car savvy friend. for what your after ex motability cars are a good buy.

Eric_Pisch

if you buy from a dealer you will pay more, however you are protected under the law if the car is stolen or has a fault, also a good dealer (and there are some) will offer a warranty and possibly finance (being a good money saver you should check around)

as said, get an insurance quote before hand and take someone who knows what they are doing.

As a general rule I would offer them 10% less than there price and agree on 7.5-5% less.


If you buy private always take someone who knows what they are doing (you do have some legal comeback if there's a fault, but the owner must know theres a fault and not tell you and it gets messy) and only EVER go to an owners own house where you can confirm the landline number, never meet in car parks etc or where you cant see the owner come out of the house. I always go inside there house to exchange the money and i ring there landline (opps i pressed the wrong button on my phone) to check. Otherwise you risk being scammed.