Buying a used car in Aberdeen

ptkloon

Hi guys, my wide is after buying a used car in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire area. I have been told that this area can be more expensive than others and that the further I travel the better deal we'll get. Any truth in this?
If not can anyone recommend a garage that she could buy a reliable car, probably about 3 years old, 5 door around the size of a fiesta (corsa/clio size) Looking to spend around £5000

Thanks for any help!!

:beer:

seafarers_wife

We bought from Toyota on Wellington road. The car was reasonably priced for what it was but customer service and aftercare from that branch was useless. Tyres barely legal, no service book provided, kept trying to put the date we got the car back etc.

It was 4.5 years ago so they may have changed, if I were still in Aberdeen I'd buy from then again but i would ensure before signing to buy the car it was perfect with no issues like the tyres or service book missing.

agrinnall

I doubt whether car prices will be significantly different in Aberdeen to anywhere else. Dealers know that people use the internet to research prices and will travel elsewhere if their prices are too high. I would imagine that a car priced at £5K in Aberdeen would be on sale for a similar price in other parts of the UK. What there will be in Aberdeen is a greater number of higher priced cars, because of the number of high earners living there, but there are a lot of people who don't earn vast amounts who will be buying and selling normal cars like anywhere else. Have you picked a few likely vehicles and checked on Autotrader to see what is available (and compared the prices in Aberdeen and other places)?

ptkloon

Yeah we've had a look on auto trader. She quite likes the idea of a red one (!) so you can understand that the make/model doesn't really matter too much!!
I bought my last car from town and county (ford focus) and the car had no problems with it since so didn't really require any after sales from them
I know guys from work have travelled to Dundee and further afield to save over £1000, but that would have been for higher priced cars.
Is it worth considering private? I've never bought private before as I like knowing that I can take it back to the dealer if there are any complaints.

macman

At that price point you might go further afield to a car supermarket-there's a big one near Glasgow called Motorpoint, (claim to have stock of 3,000 cars). Not sure what is available nearer to you.
A private sale will of course be cheaper, but you need to do your research and of course there are no comebacks with a private sale-and you'll need to sort your own finance..

ptkloon

Do the car supermarkets take trade ins? Her old car is probably only worth £500 so could just scrap it if it was too much hassle. I know that garages do better prices if there are no-trade in involved

macman

Motorpoint do, but if it's a banger you'd do better selling privately.

scotsbob

ptkloon wrote: »

I have been told that this area can be more expensive than others and that the further I travel the better deal we'll get. Any truth in this?

Yes and if anyone doubts it a quick check and comparison of prices on Autotrader, Gumtree and Ebay will confirm this.

I spend most of the year in Scotland and belong to 2 car owners clubs. Members throughout the UK compare prices all the time and the majority of Scottish owners travel down to England to buy their cars.

ptkloon

I don't really fancy travelling all the way down to England but would be willing to travel 60-70 miles max for a better deal.
Can anyone recommend a used car dealer in north east scotland (Aberdeenshire/Moray/Tayside)

:beer:

sheslookinhot

ptkloon wrote: »

I don't really fancy travelling all the way down to England but would be willing to travel 60-70 miles max for a better deal.
Can anyone recommend a used car dealer in north east scotland (Aberdeenshire/Moray/Tayside)

:beer:

You also need to consider what may happen if you have issues with the car/dealer. It will be much more inconvenient if you need to travel 70 miles or even further afield to have them resolved. For what you are after, I don't think there wil be a significant saving that would offset the hassle factor if you need to return the car to a far away garage for work. Buy locally.

luci

We have always had a good deal and good service from Arnold Clark in Peterhead. They have quite a few used cars in at the moment.

They always give us a good price to change and I do check the value of the one I'm trading in and the one I'm buying before I go in.

I wouldn't recommend Evans Halshaw as their after sales service was abysmal. It took over 3 weeks and 2 visits to fix a broken windscreen wiper.