Advice needed buying a car

superhez

I have always had old bangers of cars, in recent years I have manged to save some cash and as my K reg micra is on it's last legs I am looking to replace it.

I have a couple of questions.

1. Can you always expect a garage to lower the marked price they have on a car and if so by roughly how much?

2. Does it make more sense to buy an old car (was thinking of spending about £3,000 - so maybe 04/05) and own outright or to take finance so you can effectively lease car and get a new one every few years not pay mot's etc.

May sound stupid I have always just bought cars before as I don't like having debt but wondered if this is always the best option, advice please?

forgotmyname

Finance the only thing that lasts forever on your car.

04/05 I would be looking at £1500 for that sort of age. I paid just over £2000 for my 2004 mondeo estate in Dec 2009. Hatchbacks were cheaper.

Lease. If you like paying a lot of money for something you probably wont ever own.

For the cost of 1 years lease i would get 4 or 5 years motoring. If that suits you its your money.

Tremour-88

Sorry but you won't find a 04/05 car for £1,500.

I recently brought a newer car and I was looking for months, for a 04/05 car you're looking at £2,500+
I got a 2003 Ford Focus 1.6 for £1,500 and that was the lowest price decent one I could find.

Most garages will usually knock off 10-20% of the price depending on how well you haggle and if you find faults / scratches etc. on the paintwork

rev_henry

Tremour-88 wrote: »

Sorry but you won't find a 04/05 car for £1,500.

I recently brought a newer car and I was looking for months, for a 04/05 car you're looking at £2,500+
I got a 2003 Ford Focus 1.6 for £1,500 and that was the lowest price decent one I could find.

Most garages will usually knock off 10-20% of the price depending on how well you haggle and if you find faults / scratches etc. on the paintwork

Nonsense - depends what car it is. I bought my 03 Rover 25 for £900 almost a year ago, which is obviously the same as 04 now.

s_b

The only advice i can give OP is do your homework make sure seller is established has back up repair facilities rather than a portacabin and flags and doesnt overprice his stock to begin with
also local as possible in case you have problems with car and his personal warranty rather than a bog paper one
autotrader is a good leveller even though the posh traders dont like it because they overpay at auction for stock because they are using the finance check book to pay for it and dont see a cash buyer as any good to them

Jamie1981

It all depends on what you use your car for?

If you feel you want a newish one and you take finance the biggest expenditures you face are the depreciation and the cost to borrow.

Leasing you will never own the vehicle and should you commit to a lease and your finances dont hold for whatever reason you are tied in for the duration.

You can buy a solid 04/05 plate car that will do the job. At least you will own it outright and depreciation wont be to much of a factor at this age of vehicle.

Just make sure you take the time to weigh up what you need the car for and what it is YOU want.

property.advert

2009 Astra estate auto £3694 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201151437101379/sort/priceasc/usedcars/maximum-age/up_to_3_years_old/model/astra/make/vauxhall/postcode/sw25hd/page/1/radius/1500?logcode=p

2008 Astra Club 1.8vvti £2950 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201205445919876/sort/priceasc/usedcars/maximum-age/up_to_4_years_old/model/astra/make/vauxhall/radius/1500/postcode/sw25hd/page/1?logcode=p

2007 Focus Ghia £2295 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201202441233222/sort/priceasc/usedcars/maximum-age/up_to_5_years_old/model/focus/make/ford/postcode/sw25hd/page/1/radius/1500?logcode=p

Why get an 8 year old ?

cb1979

You can get bargans but beware there are loads of cat C & D cars for sale so do a proper HPI check as sometimes this is not made clear in the advert

If you look carefully at the 2007 Focus Ghia the back is smashed in ,that why its cheap at £2295,will need that much spending to put it right

Normally if a late model car is cheap there is something wrong with it ,Dealers do not give anybody a bargain

bigbulldog

You wont get an 03/04 car unless it's done moon mileage or a cat c/d or a brand/model that nobody wants.

Hintza

Don't buy a write-off as that just pushes up the price when I come to buy mine and I have enough trouble beating off the Eastern Europeans.

bungle4by4

personally, id be buying a car for about 3 or 4 grand outright, shoot through autotrader and find a nice low mileage example of something you like, its a buyers market, so make sure your getting the best example of what ever car you like.