Advice on buying a first car (2nd hand)

misskool

I've been offered a job for 3 years (it's a fixed term contract) and the commute will be 10 miles each way. We already have his car so I would just like a small little runaround that will survive 3 years.

I'm not car savvy but we went to a dealership today and there's a nissan micra (05 reg), 20k miles for £3500. I'm sure there's an added premium to buying from a dealership, but is that a reasonable price? And what's the resell after 3 years?

The question is whether if I buy a banger for less than £1000, will it last the three years? If so, what sort of car should I be looking for?

I guess it would need to be cheap to insure and easy to maintain as I don't have a no claims discount and would be rubbish with actual maintenance (but not driving it very much).

Any advice would be useful

hartcjhart

the nissan is a lovelly little car,very economical,BUT has a major problem with the timing chain 'stretching' when this happens it is £500 plus to fix,
the price is OK ish if the chain has been done(get it in writing) and they give you a 3 year warranty

having said that,it is possible to buy a cheapo for a grand IF you get it checked over by a PROPER mechanic(not a kwik fit chappie)

Inactive

hartcjhart wrote: »

the nissan is a lovelly little car,very economical,BUT has a major problem with the timing chain 'stretching' when this happens it is £500 plus to fix,
the price is OK ish if the chain has been done(get it in writing) and they give you a 3 year warranty

having said that,it is possible to buy a cheapo for a grand IF you get it checked over by a PROPER mechanic(not a kwik fit chappie)

Shouldn't need doing at " 20,000 " miles.;)

epz_2

On a rough calc you will be doing at least 5k miles a year in the commute so thats a fair amount.

Bangernomics makes sense for some people, my pal does it but he is pretty technical and is constantly changing his cars as one fails an MOT or dies and he has to go find another at short notice.

Personally im of the opinion that the cost in time and hassle for me coupled with the fact interest i can afford it means i would prefer to spend my time in a nice safe car rather than a old dog thats about to die.

cant comment on the micra other than the fact i learnt to drive in one and much prefer it over corsas etc, a quick ebay search seems to sudgest that would be a pretty good price for that low milleage a car.

hartcjhart

Inactive wrote: »

Shouldn't need doing at " 20,000 " miles.;)

we just had to do one at 30k:o

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

For a 10 mile commute I'd cycle that.

misskool

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

For a 10 mile commute I'd cycle that.

I did say that but 8 miles of it is on an A road.

I would also take the train but it's 40 minutes for a 10 mile journey as i would have to change.

Not big fan of being a 2 car household too

La-Cara

I got a 2nd hand micra for my first car, still got it 3 years later and still love it Had no real problems with it so far despite it taking a battering by me driving on roads that are probably only meant for 4x4s! Quite cheap to run and easy to drive, so I'd definitely recommend it as a first car.

Rossy.

epz wrote: »

On a rough calc you will be doing at least 5k miles a year in the commute so thats a fair amount.

Bangernomics makes sense for some people, my pal does it but he is pretty technical and is constantly changing his cars as one fails an MOT or dies and he has to go find another at short notice.

Personally im of the opinion that the cost in time and hassle for me coupled with the fact interest i can afford it means i would prefer to spend my time in a nice safe car rather than a old dog thats about to die.

cant comment on the micra other than the fact i learnt to drive in one and much prefer it over corsas etc, a quick ebay search seems to sudgest that would be a pretty good price for that low milleage a car.

I've got a diesel. Extremely economical. Reliable and is NCAP 5*. I paid £1495 for it. Not everyone needs to spend 15k on a car for it to be safe and reliable in all fairness.

The op is driving 10-20 miles a day. I do a 40 mile round trip everyday and i use £60-80 in diesel for the MONTH. That includes taking my son out and about and the missus shopping etc. Tax is cheap and also insurance is low

They already have a car so if it was me i'd buy a car that costs 1-1.5k and save some money rather than spend 3 times that on a car.

Just my two pence worth

misskool

Would a cheap car at around the £1k mark last 3 years (minimum)? That's the bit we're not sure about, I don't want to be continously looking for another car.

Gene_Hunt_2

misskool wrote: »

Would a cheap car at around the £1k mark last 3 years (minimum)? That's the bit we're not sure about, I don't want to be continously looking for another car.

Risky, you pays your money and takes a chance.