Buying a Second Hand Car

lynseydee

I need to replace my car and have been looking to see how much it will cost to get a car I want. I have found a couple that I like the look of but they are slightly out of my price range (£200.00 - £300.00). Is it too cheeky to phone up the garages and see if there is any movement on the price before I go and look at them? I don't want to traipse around garages looking at cars I can't really afford if they don't want to drop their prices slightly.

jd82

If you make your situation very clear, say you only have xx and and would that be an ok offer then they will ever say yes or not. They would rather you were honest from the outset than have you waste hours of their time only to say you can't afford it.

Empty_pockets

Out of your price range by £200-300 or is that what you want to buy for?

Inactive

Empty_pockets wrote: »

Out of your price range by £200-300 or is that what you want to buy for?

Good question.;)

lynseydee

Sorry should have said my maximun budget is about £1,300.00 (although would have preferred it to be closer to £1,000.00) and the maximum I've seen two cars for is just over £1,600.00. Unfortunately I've not been able to find the car I want at much lower than this price.

Inactive

lynseydee wrote: »

Sorry should have said my maximun budget is about £1,300.00 (although would have preferred it to be closer to £1,000.00) and the maximum I've seen two cars for is just over £1,600.00. Unfortunately I've not been able to find the car I want at much lower than this price.

Just make a low offer, they can only say no, but remember it is a buyers market.

You have a choice of hundreds of dealers, they are 2 a penny.;)

newbie007_2

You said garage prices, they are higher than private sale. If you would state which car and model you're looking for then
members on here can have a quick browse and advise on what price you should be paying for them.

lynseydee

Thanks newbie. I am aware that trade is slightly more expensive but my husband would prefer me to buy from a garage as he thinks we will have more comeback if we find something wrong at the beginning.

I'm looking to buy a Ford Focus 1.6 LX. The models I've been looking at are only Y regs and it seems I'll be lucky to get anything under £1,500.00. I did find a garage selling a W reg and they're asking nearly £2,000.00 for it when I know the book price shows it's only worth about £1,500.00.

I know garages have their mark up but do they think we're all stupid :rotfl:

newbie007_2

A quick browse on autotrader found a few W reg for £1k. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/ford/focus/postcode/se155dz/radius/1500/keywords/1.6%20lx/sort/priceasc/body-type/hatchback/price-from/500/engine-size-cars/1-4l_to_1-6l/price-to/2000

There's even a 51 reg for £1250 from a trader.

Garages have overheads/wages and profit to make so its no surprise they are a lot higher in price than private sale.

If you and OH learns the basic things to look for when viewing/test driving a car then the private route is the best for your budget. Find a good example and even spend a few £££ on repairs buying a £1k is best as you'll know you now have the car in good condition. You already done your research on garage prices so it doesnt look like you are getting anything below £1.6k.

Empty_pockets

Focus is a cheap car. Consider private with RAC examination or similar.

Saw one at the top of my road, not sure what model but tidy bodywork...£800.

lynseydee

newbie007 wrote: »

A quick browse on autotrader found a few W reg for £1k. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/ford/focus/postcode/se155dz/radius/1500/keywords/1.6%20lx/sort/priceasc/body-type/hatchback/price-from/500/engine-size-cars/1-4l_to_1-6l/price-to/2000

There's even a 51 reg for £1250 from a trader.

Garages have overheads/wages and profit to make so its no surprise they are a lot higher in price than private sale.

If you and OH learns the basic things to look for when viewing/test driving a car then the private route is the best for your budget. Find a good example and even spend a few £££ on repairs buying a £1k is best as you'll know you now have the car in good condition. You already done your research on garage prices so it doesnt look like you are getting anything below £1.6k.

That 51 reg you've found may be the same one I was hoping to view this weekend. When I phoned him it had already been sold and it's no wonder at that price.