Best way to pay for a used car?

PicklePickle

I'm hoping to upgrade to a slightly bigger and newer car fairly soon. I've never bought a car before and am wondering what is the safest way to pay when buying from a trader?

The new used car could be in the region of £6K. Is there any advantage to paying the deposit by credit card, does it offer any protection? I will be paying the balance straight off.

vaio

certainly try and pay some on a credit card as you will then get s75 protection

Delivery_Driver

They will likely pass on the credit card charge to you though which could be a few %.
You have to decide if the cover is worth the extra on the price of the car.

Premier_2

However, there is usually no charge for debit cards ... and traders tend to prefer this over cash as it is less of a security risk.

pinkteapot

Aside from payment method, check that the dealer gives a 90 day warranty (main dealers usually give longer) and get a receipt with the car paperwork.

Try to get recommendations from friends/family for dealers they've used. There's one local to us where I always look first as my family has had several cars from him over about 20 years and I know he always buys in decent stock.

vaio

Delivery_Driver wrote: »

They will likely pass on the credit card charge to you though which could be a few %.
You have to decide if the cover is worth the extra on the price of the car.

yep, but the trick is to pay only the £100 or £200 deposit on credit card, then the card charges are insignificant compared to the s75 protection benefits

PicklePickle

Thank you for the replies. It sounds like I should try and pay a smallish deposit on a credit card, don't mind paying a bit extra for the added security and then the rest by debit card if possible.

Lets just hope I actually like the car I've seen after I've test driven it!