Buying a banger, what should I be looking at?

fivetide

Toyota Starlet isn't a bad shout at this price.

With all cars though - check tyres, does it need them?

Is is cold when you get there? If it's been run then why? (Might not start from cold or been jump started to get some power into the battery)

Take the oil cap off, is it clean? Any mayo looking stuff walk away.

Do all the lights/electrics work?

Let it idle, does the temp gauge go up to normal and stay there? Does the fan cut in?

Drive it. Do all the gears engage? Does it stop in a striaght line? Do the panels look straight? (big gaps can mean crash damage) does the exhaust look alright?

Any history/old MOTs?

Finally off the top of my head how old is the MOT? If 12 months then you shouldn't be too bad. You'll get 12 months use with any luck and £200 back in scrap (recently scrapped a Starlet and got £175 for it)

5t.

s_b

if some of you posters even bothered to read the original post you would have noted the following sentance

I want a small engine for economy and don't need more than 3 doors.

all some of you seem to have done is cut my post down to encompass your own opinions on what thisa lady requires
if i took the same attitude with my customers and told them they want a great big lump of a car rather than a small economical 3 door i would be sitting in my office with bulrushes blowing by

seriously read what people ask not what you want to spout

oh and thank you Poosmate a proper sensible reply and you hit the nail on the head

i quite clearly said big cars are available at £500 that might be alright but they are not whats wanted here

it seems to be the new malaise on here a la la la im not listening but hear me

vax2002

If you can find a friend that knows their stuff £500 at an auction buys you a £1200 forecourt car.
The bonus areas on corsas is the Y plate and a 51 can be a couple of weeks in manufacture but a price of A thousand less, thats the cost of the newer plate.

fivetide

s_b wrote: »

if some of you posters even bothered to read the original post

Is that the one that said budget £500?

all some of you seem to have done is cut my post down to encompass your own opinions on what thisa lady requires
if i took the same attitude with my customers and told them they want a great big lump of a car rather than a small economical 3 door i would be sitting in my office with bulrushes blowing by

so hang on.. you said "most £500 cars are hand grenades with the pin removed
personally for what you are wanting the car to do and be you wont do it for £500 "

So how is that you:

a. Recommending what she said she needed?
b. Not telling her to spend double on the car?
c. being misquoted by other people?

Very dealer focused doubling her budget!

i quite clearly said big cars are available at £500 that might be alright but they are not whats wanted here

No you didn't. you said:

"a £500 car is one step from the crusher so you have to ask yourself why is it for sale and the usual answer is because it has major concerns somewhere in it"

Which again told the OP to spend more although others have come in and said that they have had lots of life from a £500 car.

You then said: "if you picked say a mondeo then you might find something decent because most housholds are downsizing to save money on fuel ,tax and insurance money and want to get rid of their big cars"

Which clearly reads like a recommendation of a big car. If as you say she doesn't want or need a big car, why bring it up?

it seems to be the new malaise on here a la la la im not listening but hear me

Seems to be a lot of dishing it out but not taking it in that post as well chap.

5t.

Limey

To answer the OPs question I'd go with Fivetides suggestion of a Starlet.:D There are a couple on Autotrader at the moment for around £500 and with sub 100,000 miles on the clock (one with 60k ish).

They're not a hugely common car so the insurance on them is lower than most other 3 door small engined cars.

s_b

fivetide wrote: »

Is that the one that said budget £500?



so hang on.. you said "most £500 cars are hand grenades with the pin removed
personally for what you are wanting the car to do and be you wont do it for £500 "

So how is that you:

a. Recommending what she said she needed?
b. Not telling her to spend double on the car?
c. being misquoted by other people?

Very dealer focused doubling her budget!



No you didn't. you said:

"a £500 car is one step from the crusher so you have to ask yourself why is it for sale and the usual answer is because it has major concerns somewhere in it"

Which again told the OP to spend more although others have come in and said that they have had lots of life from a £500 car.

You then said: "if you picked say a mondeo then you might find something decent because most housholds are downsizing to save money on fuel ,tax and insurance money and want to get rid of their big cars"

Which clearly reads like a recommendation of a big car. If as you say she doesn't want or need a big car, why bring it up?



Seems to be a lot of dishing it out but not taking it in that post as well chap.

5t.

if you bothered to read the original post and then read my post i did indeed tell barbie what type of car to look for for her £500
she understood exactly
you obviously have a problem

charlearose

my ss just bought a corsa however within a 2 weeks or so the head gasket blew , along with a new water pump and a few other things it cost him over 400 to get it fixed + its costing him 2k in insurance

there is a guide ( just google buying old cars what to look for ect ) which give you a guide to what to look for and also what to avoid when buying second hand cars

with the head gasket i think it was checking if the oil /water was mixing and was a funny colour or something and often there is a sludge around where the oil is or something like this

if you use something like auto trader you can put in your specifics ie find a corsa/ micra ect 500popunds along with the postcode and milage ect and how far you want to travel to narrow it down a bit

barbiedoll

Many thanks to all who replied.....s b, your insight is always valued.
fivetide...that's exactly what I wanted, a checklist of things to look at when viewing a car.
Poos....thanks for sharing, it's a minefield out there, isn't it!


We've recently replaced a headgasket on our Astra so we know what the warning signs can be. I wouldn't have thought of checking that the car was cold on viewing, thanks for the tip!

I like the idea of the auction but as vax says, I'll need someone who knows what they're looking at. I know a few people who SAY that they know cars but personally, looking at the problems they've had with their motors, I have my doubts!

A Toyota Starlet....thanks for that suggestion, I wouldn't have thought of looking at that car.

I'm checking out Autotrader, Gumtree and ebay, all with a 10 mile radius so if I find anything promising, I'll post it up and if anyone has any comments/suggestions, again, all are welcome.

I love this site!

jaydeeuk1

Scrappage scheme 3 years ago took a lot of candidate cars out - ones with larger engines where tax costs 50% of the cars value.

You and half a million other people also want a £500 reliable, small engined, 3 door car.

If it was me, I'd be looking for something bigger with a whacking great petrol engine (every mug wants a deezel 'cos its "fuel efficient"), something that costs a bomb to run but will be almost free to buy because of it.

Thinking vauxhall omega/calbre v6, saab 9-5, ford probe, jag xj, volvo 440/850

Look at this for example...http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201213459190273/sort/priceasc/usedcars/fuel-type/petrol/price-to/500/make/volvo/radius/1501/postcode/de560ha/page/1?logcode=p

Thats 50 tonne of metal for little over £400!

£300-400 should get you any of the above no prob, leaving £200 or so for oil/filters/plugs and other maintenance.

AA inspection not worth it on a banger as it will go wrong sooner rather than later

jase1

Daewoo Lanos -- and be prepared to chuck it if anything major fails, but then that applies to any cheap car.

Reliable enough, don't rot, dirt cheap (£500 will get you a 2002 car quite easily -- that's all they're worth).