What small car - 5k to spend

spookylukey

I need to replace my ageing (52 reg) car, it's MOT & service are due in the next few weeks and the exhaust is noisy so I'm probably looking at at least £400 to get it through it's MOT including the service - that's without problems that are currently unknown to me that might mean an MOT failure. The car is probably worth £1000 on a good day so firstly what sort of part-exchange figure could I expect. I know it would vary according to the car they are trying to sell but a ballpark figure would be good.

So, my criteria are:

As new as possible (to take advantage of remaining warranty)
As low emissions as possible - for cheap car tax and cheaper council parking permit (must be below 120g CO2 for permit).

My maximum budget is 5k. The cars in the running so far are: Toyato Aygo, Citroen C1, Peugeot 107 (have read that those three are essentially the same car) and old shape Kia Picanto. Any other suggestions?

I would prefer to part-exchange my old car so probably looking at dealers rather than private sales although if a private sale would be a better deal I could look into selling mine privately although not sure how attractive it would be to buyers with only 6 weeks MOT left and with a service due!

Any thoughts welcomed

Ghostrider

spookylukey wrote: »

so firstly what sort of part-exchange figure could I expect.

It would help if we knew what kind of car it was...

If you want ball park figures, on the information you've told us, i'd say anywhere up to a £1,000.

Going4TheDream

What about a Suzuki Alto, 6th cheapest car to run, very low emission, 103. if it s was under 100 there would be no road tax, but as it is over 100 it is £20 a year does about 60 odd to the gallon. cheap to insure, cheap to run and has five doors...I found the spec was better than the other small city cars for the same money when I was looking....

Matt1977

I would also consider the Fiat Panda as well. Seem to be extremely nippy things too. :cool:

spookylukey

Thanks all - will look at the Suzuki Alto. I've ruled out the Panda though, I'm not that hung up on looks in general but the Panda is extremely ugly!

Ghostrider wrote: »

It would help if we knew what kind of car it was...

If you want ball park figures, on the information you've told us, i'd say anywhere up to a £1,000.

Thanks, I didn't know if there was a 'formula' eg expect 50% of the true value if it was a banger!

It's a 1.6 'active' 5 door 52 reg Fiat Stilo - 42,000 miles, full service history, 2 owners from new (me for last 7 years and I'm a lady ). Bad points - aircon needs regassing, a few car park dings and scratches, noisy exhaust.

Ghostrider

spookylukey wrote: »

Thanks all - will look at the Suzuki Alto. I've ruled out the Panda though, I'm not that hung up on looks in general but the Panda is extremely ugly!



Thanks, I didn't know if there was a 'formula' eg expect 50% of the true value if it was a banger!

It's a 1.6 'active' 5 door 52 reg Fiat Stilo - 42,000 miles, full service history, 2 owners from new (me for last 7 years and I'm a lady ). Bad points - aircon needs regassing, a few car park dings and scratches, noisy exhaust.

That doesn't sound too bad to me, aircon re-gas is about £25-50 and the exhaust won't be that expensive. Its fairly low miles and a service history.

Have you considered selling privately you'd probably double your money over trade-in value

spookylukey

Ghostrider wrote: »

That doesn't sound too bad to me, aircon re-gas is about £25-50 and the exhaust won't be that expensive. Its fairly low miles and a service history.

Have you considered selling privately you'd probably double your money over trade-in value

If it had a longer MOT I think I would sell it privately but I'm not sure who would buy a 9 year old unpopular car with 6 weeks MOT left! I might ask my garage how much it might cost to get it through the MOT without doing a service. Where is the best place to sell, autotrader or ebay?

Ghostrider

spookylukey wrote: »

If it had a longer MOT I think I would sell it privately but I'm not sure who would buy a 9 year old unpopular car with 6 weeks MOT left! I might ask my garage how much it might cost to get it through the MOT without doing a service. Where is the best place to sell, autotrader or ebay?

Well no harm in asking about an MOT, if it goes through with just the exhaust to fix then thats not too bad really.

I'd consider selling like that on ebay, if you set the reserve correctly you're pretty much guaranteed to sell it. If you don' then consider trading it in. Some will tell you that you're more likely to get "scammed" on ebay but I don't but that. Scammers will get you on auto trader just as much. So don't be scared but just use common sense and you'll be fine.

The trick to selling a car is a good, well written informative advert and decent looking photographs.

getmore4less

You could just MOT and keep.

Ignore the aircon, mine went years ago, miss it some times,


Exhaust depends, what has gone might be patchable, get someone to have a look.

Service how many miles since the last one?

What have you changed over the last few years, tyres brakes anything else.

If nothing due this car should have a couple of years at least left in it for basic cost MOT + a bit sameas anything else you get.

mancitychick

getmore4less wrote: »

You could just MOT and keep.

Ignore the aircon, mine went years ago, miss it some times,


Exhaust depends, what has gone might be patchable, get someone to have a look.

Service how many miles since the last one?

What have you changed over the last few years, tyres brakes anything else.

If nothing due this car should have a couple of years at least left in it for basic cost MOT + a bit sameas anything else you get.

I agree with the above, your current car has very low mileage for its age. Just as a comparison my car is 05 plate (6.5 yrs old) and I am it's only owner, I have put 95,000 miles on it in that time!

fatbelly

spookylukey wrote: »

If it had a longer MOT I think I would sell it privately but I'm not sure who would buy a 9 year old unpopular car with 6 weeks MOT left! I might ask my garage how much it might cost to get it through the MOT without doing a service. Where is the best place to sell, autotrader or ebay?

You're right - the MOT is important if you're selling privately. But in under 2 weeks you can MOT and if it passes you can sell a car with 13 months MOT! Worth a punt - the exhaust might just be an advisory note. Mine just surprised me by passing and my garage charges £40 for MOT. Got to add more than £40 to te resale value.