Cheap, used car purchase, aiming to achieve cheapest motoring

motorguy

anewman wrote: »

My understanding was the Irish tended to come over here to buy cars as it was cheaper to travel here and ferry a car back than to buy one in Ireland. That makes the above examples all the more impressive.

Yes, cars tend to be cheaper on the mainland. A friend of mine buys all his cars over there, and simply drives them home.

All of them needed a really good clean up (about half a day), usually consisting of wash, polish, hoover out, give the seats a quick rub, clean the glass inside and out, and slick the tyres. I also tend to buy a new set of genuine trims (£40 on ebay), new mats (£7.99 in Argos) and a new set of number plates as they are invariably grotty looking at that age (£10)

Any of those cars will manage another three years if looked after.

motorguy

Inactive wrote: »

Well my dear old Dad, a car retailer, always said to me;

Never buy a car when it is wet.

Never buy a car in the dark.

...and most importantly, never buy a car with a Z or I in the number plate.

( I know things have changed with the new number plates. )

I wouldnt seriously propose that anyone travels from the UK to buy a £300 car here. BUT, as i've shown, and as others here have said, there are plenty of viable cars about - whether that be checking with friends or family, checking gumtree (a personal favourite), ebay (another personal favourite) or keeping an eye out in local papers.

Would you not agree?

Inactive

pgilc1 wrote: »

I wouldnt seriously propose that anyone travels from the UK to buy a £300 car here. BUT, as i've shown, and as others here have said, there are plenty of viable cars about - whether that be checking with friends or family, checking gumtree (a personal favourite), ebay (another personal favourite) or keeping an eye out in local papers.

Would you not agree?

Yes, I agree with all of that.

I think at the time my dear old Dad said that, driving standards and vehicle maintenance was deemed to be below par in Northern Ireland, hence his advice.

Kilty_2

Cheap elderly cars are plentiful, but someone who's having to use an overdraft to buy said cheap car probably isn't going to be able spend the money needed to keep it on the road - so I stand by my original statement that expecting 3 years out of it is optimistic.

Inactive

Kilty wrote: »

Cheap elderly cars are plentiful, but someone who's having to use an overdraft to buy said cheap car probably isn't going to be able spend the money needed to keep it on the road - so I stand by my original statement that expecting 3 years out of it is optimistic.

Agreed, especially an overdraft, that as I have said before, can be called in at a moments notice.

blue_haddock

i would not recommend a £650 ford Ka as it WILL be full of rust plus lots of other problems such as worn steering.

A peugeot 106 would be a lot better as they do not rust.

But as others have said if you can only afford the car via an overdraft you probably cant afford to run it. How will you pay for insurance? what happens if a stone goes through the radiator and it needs replacing? or it needs a new pair of tyres?

motorguy

blue_haddock wrote: »

i would not recommend a £650 ford Ka as it WILL be full of rust plus lots of other problems such as worn steering.

A peugeot 106 would be a lot better as they do not rust.

But as others have said if you can only afford the car via an overdraft you probably cant afford to run it. How will you pay for insurance? what happens if a stone goes through the radiator and it needs replacing? or it needs a new pair of tyres?

Just bought a £650 Ford Ka (well £680). No rust. Full Years MOT, and worn steering would be picked up during the MOT.

Heres a pic taken there now (albeit a very dirty Ka)



I guess its best not to 'assume'

Agree on the 106 - good cars, though £500 will tend to buy you an older Peugeot with possibly higher miles than the equivalent Ka.

motorguy

Inactive wrote: »

Well my dear old Dad, a car retailer, always said to me;

Never buy a car when it is wet.

Never buy a car in the dark.

...and most importantly, never buy a car with a Z or I in the number plate.

( I know things have changed with the new number plates. )

Actually i do remember when i was selling cars as a full time occupation there was a guy who came in about once a month and bought up a lot of our trade ins and shipped them via one transporter load over to the mainland. I remember him saying that he had to reregister all the cars when they went over otherwise they wouldnt sell.

So there was probably a lot of truth in what your dad was saying at the time. It might be why we've government run MOT centres here now, so that no corners can be cut nowadays.

Flying-High_2

106 Diesel excellent choice... Corsa Diesel or I'd be looking at a Citroen ZX 1.9D... 306 underpinnings but cheaper.. Simple to work on and cheap to run.... I had one years ago as a company motor which was abused up and down country for 12months and whilst I had it and it did nothing but impress... Not the nicest thing to look at but as a budget cheap motor you wouldn't go far wrong...