Bangeromics or New?

Catbells

Am a novice at car buying but prefer the idea of bangeromics over buying a new car. Am about to divest of a troublesome BMW and get a smaller, cheaper, more economic car. Don't know where to start. Any suggestions please. And how do you go about getting a good deal on a used car? How do you bargain? Also will part exchange - are there any do's and don'ts? Thanks.

worried_jim

Work out a budget then do a 10 mile radius search (to begin with) of your post code on autotrader to see what sort of vehicles are available that fit your budget. This will give you an indication of value and will be an excellent starting point.
Japanese cars consistently win satisfaction sureveys, for more info look at the JD Power survey-
http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/jd-power-survey-2011/the-best-and-worst/257096

Good luck!


Best Manufacturer
Lexus
Another year, another victory for Lexus, which has taken the top spot in JD Power every year it has featured. Its cause is helped by the fact that only two of its cars, the IS and RX, are included (not enough people rated Lexus’s other cars for them to appear in the survey). Nevertheless, the praise is unstinting, highlighting brilliant quality, fantastic reliability and outstanding customer service.

Worst manufacturer
Vauxhall
After years of hanging around in the lower third of results, Vauxhall has hit rock bottom. No wonder, when you consider it hasn’t got a single car in the survey that rates above the industry average score. Poor dealer service is noted by owners of all models, too.

Vauxhall’s newest car is its best-performing model: the Insignia is in 69th= place out of 108 cars. The worst individual result was for the Corsa, which came in a very poor 106th.

Buying A Car - New or Used?- http://www.whatcar.com/car-advice/buying/

Catbells

Thank you very, very much Jim.

jase1

Depends on what you are using the car for.

Much as older cars have been reliable for me over many thousands of miles, I'm not sure I'd be using a very cheap car for regular long commutes, for example.

That doesn't mean you need to spend £20k on a car though -- £5k is quite enough.

Notmyrealname

worried_jim wrote: »

Work out a budget then do a 10 mile radius search (to begin with) of your post code on autotrader to see what sort of vehicles are available that fit your budget.

Increase that to 60 miles. In many places, 10 miles just gets you your local town whereas 60 miles includes nearby cities where they tend to be £100's or £1000's cheaper.

forgotmyname

£2000...eromics, Can i invent that word?

I find that figure enough to get me a decent car, I do a low mileage so always look for
high mileage one or two owner cars, 5 years or less old.

I will get 5 years out of it and sell for half what i paid.

property.advert

What you need to do is broaden your research distance to national because you need to work out whether your area is higher or lower than those around you. When I bought my last car I took a train about 60 miles to pick up a car which was saving me between £750 and £1000 from the local figure. Not a bad hourly rate !

Hintza

jase1 wrote: »

Depends on what you are using the car for.

Some good advice on this thread but Jase highlights where you need to concentrate your thoughts. If a banger breaks down how will that affect your job? And/or how capable are you at doing basic servicing and repairs?

If you are comfortable rolling up your sleeves then it could wok ot well for you.

Bangers are just not really sutable for everyone.

Catbells

jase1 wrote: »

Depends on what you are using the car for.

Much as older cars have been reliable for me over many thousands of miles, I'm not sure I'd be using a very cheap car for regular long commutes, for example.

That doesn't mean you need to spend £20k on a car though -- £5k is quite enough.

I don't use the car for work. Its mainly in the local area for town driving with a long journey once or twice a year. £5k sounds good to my purse with a part exchange thrown in from the BMW.

Catbells

Hintza wrote: »

Some good advice on this thread but Jase highlights where you need to concentrate your thoughts. If a banger breaks down how will that affect your job? And/or how capable are you at doing basic servicing and repairs?

If you are comfortable rolling up your sleeves then it could wok ot well for you.

Bangers are just not really sutable for everyone.

NO GOOD AT DOING MY OWN REPAIRS. Thats the starting point for me on buying a car. However, it won't affect my job as I don't use it for that but for local driving and a few long journeys each year. Annual mileage is about 10,000 per annum.

mikey72

jase1 wrote: »

Depends on what you are using the car for.

Much as older cars have been reliable for me over many thousands of miles, I'm not sure I'd be using a very cheap car for regular long commutes, for example.

That doesn't mean you need to spend £20k on a car though -- £5k is quite enough.

I don't know if age makes a car any less unreliable.

I think it's more maintenance.

Our last £450 peugeot one was doing 15K a year, motorway and town traffic.
It suffered maybe two unforseen "problems", the indicator stalk wouldn't stay in the turn position, and the gear linkage bush went sloppy. Not show stoppers, but awkward to drive for a couple of days until I fixed it.

A much newer car we had ruptured the fuel return line, and had to be recovered home pouring fuel out.

Everything else we've fixed before it's been a problem, or the mot has spotted it and it's been sorted then.

If you don't diy, I think the reluctance to pay the service cost on a £250 car is what kills it, whereas most people wouldn't hesitate to pay on a £10,000 car.

At the end of the day though, it's the servicing that keeps them going, and it's a lot less than depriciation on a £10,000 car.

You just need to find a good garage that understands a £250 car only needs to be kept reliable, not rebuilt back to new.

So maybe not quite bangernomics, if you don't want to buy a banger and run it into the ground, as you will have a nasty shock one day when you're stranded miles from home needing a car for work tomorrow.
But close enough, if you buy a halfway decent banger, and keep it in a reasonable condition, and you also save on buying non-dealer parts.