Tips for buying a used car

mrscb

If you see a car for £5500 i would offer about £4700 to start negotiations...you can slowly go up to your £5000 limit but you cant come down IYKWIM. Walk away and dont be pressurised into paying more than you want.(more often than not they will come back to you;))Good Luck

Kylie

Pick a car you like (after some research) and then send an AA guy in to do all the checks etc. He will give you a complete report and then call you with some personal advice.

becky170

Kylie wrote: »

Pick a car you like (after some research) and then send an AA guy in to do all the checks etc. He will give you a complete report and then call you with some personal advice.

As none of my friends are that car savvy I might look into getting an AA vehicle inspection. Does anyone know how much they cost? Thanks!

Inactive

It obviously isn't, it has been for sale since 21st January ( or earlier ).:(:(

No mention of any service history, so assume it hasn't any.


No mention of V5, so assume it doesn't have one available.

I could go on...

crystals2632

Dont buy one, they are a big black hole sucking money at every turn, learned the hard way.

Eric_Pisch

Angelic wrote: »

Why are some cars cheaper than they should be? This looks nice but i've seen the same stats elsewhere (on free sites) yet it costs much more.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2003-53-REG-TOYOTA-YARIS-T3-3DR-LOOK-2999-MAY-PX_W0QQitemZ250567419033QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item3a56fb6499

places like ebay and auctions are for people who know what they are doing, there nature allows unscrupulous people to "loose" crap boxes, there are some bargains there but also a lot of rubbish so not a place for the inexperienced.

remember the old say "if it looks to good to be true it probably is"

Just as an example, if you buy a stolen car under UK law the police will take the car and they only way to get your money back is to sue the seller which will cost you money and that's if they have not spent it or are in prison, if you buy from a dealer (main dealer or long term specialist, ie an honest dealer) they have to give you your money back if they sell you a stolen car.

Kylie

becky170 wrote: »

As none of my friends are that car savvy I might look into getting an AA vehicle inspection. Does anyone know how much they cost? Thanks!

Just google AA Inspections. You probably can pick up a promo code as well. Also check RAC.

Pincher

petrolhead69 wrote: »

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.

I bought an ex-Motability Mitsubishi COLT from British Car Auction in January. My previous COLT was written off, so I was looking around for another one. There seems to be a flood of COLTs coming through right now.

I like http://www.parkers.co.uk/ for doing comparison with.

Have a look at the COLT, the 1.5 DI-D diesels, made by Mercedes, are very economical, the road tax will be £90 from April. Insurance group 5E and lower. The five door has removable back seats, so it's really flexible for moving stuff. 50% component share with the Smart. It's a poor man's Mercedes A-class.

Eric_Pisch

Kylie wrote: »

Just google AA Inspections. You probably can pick up a promo code as well. Also check RAC.

there not infallible thou, but then i guess nothing is

Kilty_2

becky170 wrote: »

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

I'd say it was feasible - I got £200 off a £6000 car and I was part exchanging my old car. Small (Corsa sized) cars are pretty desireable though due to the wide market they appeal to and the low running costs involved.

Look for approved used cars, you pay slightly more but the warranty and aftersales usually outweighs this.

Since you're in Scotland I've sent you a PM with details of a dealer to avoid