Tips for a first time buyer

timberflake

Ok, so I've got my driving test next week and funds for the car and insurance are sorted. Presuming I pass, I'd like to sort a car out ASAP, but obviously want to get the best I can for my money.

I have a budget of £2k, I've checked out insurance premiums and have narrowed it down to 4 makes/models.

My question is, what tips can you give me as a first time buyer? I'm leaning towards buying privately as I believe you get more for your money, but what other tips can you guys offer me?

thefishdude

dont buy with your heart use your head check the car thoroughly make sure its been looked after. check if cambelt been replaced recently. and take someone with you to look at the car for a second set of eyes/slash opinion they will allways spot something you wont.

timberflake

thefishdude wrote: »

dont buy with your heart use your head check the car thoroughly make sure its been looked after. check if cambelt been replaced recently. and take someone with you to look at the car for a second set of eyes/slash opinion they will allways spot something you wont.

Cheers. Are there any golden rules I need to be aware of? What paperwork should the car come with?

Ultrasonic

You might want to do a spot of reading here:

http://www.whatcar.com/car-advice/buying/

Also, if you are thinking of buying privately would you be thinking of test driving the car yourself? You'd have to think about insurance to cover this. You might want to get a more experienced driver to test a car for you as they may be more likely to spot problems? Ideally of course you would drive it too.

forgotmyname

£2k after insurance? You need to check every car with the insurance company.
For some strange reason 2 identical spec cars of the same year came out differently when i did quotes.

Same year, Same spec, Same price. One navy blue one black. So why was one dearer?

When i did quotes for my daughter the cheapest seemed to be £3000.

1st car and knowing nothing about cars, Buy from family/friends or a trusted garage people you know have used.

If you dont buy from a garage, Make sure you get an HPI report. A proper one not a £3 mobile text special that offers no guarantee.

HPI, AA, RAC ...

timberflake

Ultrasonic wrote: »

You might want to do a spot of reading here:

http://www.whatcar.com/car-advice/buying/

Also, if you are thinking of buying privately would you be thinking of test driving the car yourself? You'd have to think about insurance to cover this. You might want to get a more experienced driver to test a car for you as they may be more likely to spot problems? Ideally of course you would drive it too.

I did think about how insurance would work if buying from a private seller, a mate of mine said that the owners policy would cover me for third party, but I'm guessing that would only apply to full comp?

My budget is £2k for the car and I have around £1,200 for insurance which is plenty for the cars I'm looking at.

Ultrasonic

timberflake wrote: »

I did think about how insurance would work if buying from a private seller, a mate of mine said that the owners policy would cover me for third party, but I'm guessing that would only apply to full comp?

I'll try to remember to check my policy when I'm home tonight, but I seriously doubt that my (fully comp.) insurance covers other people to drive my car, even third party only. What fully comp. insurance used to standardly cover (and does less frequently now) is to provide the named driver third party cover on other cars. I slightly wonder if your mate is thinking of that?

As a seperate issue, would you be happy test driving a car with third party cover only? Think what would happen is you were unlucky enough to have an accident that damaged the seller's car.

Ultrasonic

Ultrasonic wrote: »

I'll try to remember to check my policy when I'm home tonight, but I seriously doubt that my (fully comp.) insurance covers other people to drive my car, even third party only.

I've just checked and as I suspected my insurance does not cover other people to drive my car with 3rd party cover.

(There is a a paragraph in the policy booklet to allow for such cover, but only if it is stated on the insurance certificate, which it is not in my case. So it may be some drivers have this, although my gut feeling is that few will as insurers will want to minimise their potential liability and few drivers would actually want this cover on their policies. I for one wouldn't want to be paying extra to have this level of cover.)

iolanthe07

Any driver cover used to be routine back in the sixties, but is rare these days. As you say, it is just too much risk.

tonyf33

As a pointer the co-op are usually cheaper for young/newly passed drivers. We've been using them for the last 3.5 years for my son who shares his car with his mum (Xsara picasso 1.9 HDI, Insurance group stupidly more than it should be!!) fully comp for both of them with 3 yrs NCB was £970. The co-op also offer you the chance to have a gizmo which checks your driving so you can lower your premium further if you're a safe/steady driver. He also accrues his own no claims up to 3 years under this policy for when he gets his own car.

As for buying tips, don't eliminate going further afield from where you live, I bought mine when visiting the folks back home (over 150 miles away) and still drove another 50 miles through snow to the edge of the Yorkshire Moors on 27th December to secure it.
ALWAYS take someone who knows about cars or at least has been driving a while. If you're not full of confidence then having someone familiar will help you not get bullied/intimidated.
Make sure whomever is test driving has insurance
Write out a check sheet (as per the WHAT CAR link above) to take with you, explain to the person that you'll be making full checks so leave plenty of time to do them.
If possible bring ramps so you can check underneath
Basic checks:
V5, no V5 and/or matching VIN on car, WALK AWAY, do not pass go do not collect £200!!!! Check that the person selling the car is the rightful owner and/or registered keeper. ie check their ID. Unless they are a family member, 'selling for a mate' is well suspect, if so walk away.
If there is a service history, look through it thoroughly, ask questions about anything major replaced. I contacted a service centre who actually printed out the old service docs for my car after the owner had lost his.

Check for obvious damage, look down side and for misalignment's in panels which can indicate it being in an accident. Specifically ask if it has been involved in any accident (their response is legally binding in terms of false misrepresentation)
Check the steering (put on full lock when turning)
Check the brakes (& handbrake on a hill), check that the clutch isn't slipping,
look inside the oil cap, nasty gunk can mean a knacked engine,
Floor the accelerator with someone checking the exhaust, a blue haze, is also not a good sign. If a diesel black smoke is fine as it may not have been run very hard.
Does the mileage match the condition of the car, if not why not?
the WHAT CAR stuff covers all this and more.

At the end of the day it is a buyers market, if for whatever reason you feel unsure, walk away. There WILL be another car just around the corner.. oh and haggle hard. Due to the way things are ask them what their best price is, if listed at £2K and they say 1800, don't be afraid to offer less, say £1650. You can only go up from there.
Do your homework on what you think is the true value of the car and point out any flaws that give you leverage to get the price down.
Cash is king however make sure you get a written receipt from the seller (if private).
Something along the lines of.
their name and address, XXXX car sold as described/all good for the sum of £xxxx to [your name]received with thanks (the sellers name) and get them to sign it
This way you cover yourself for pretty much any eventuality. If they have nothing to hide then they won't be any problem doing this, if there is something to hide then they'll be less likely to want to put their signature to a receipt.
HTH

Johnmcl7

timberflake wrote: »

I did think about how insurance would work if buying from a private seller, a mate of mine said that the owners policy would cover me for third party, but I'm guessing that would only apply to full comp?

No, it doesn't usually work that way. A fully comprehensive policy frequently gives the policy holder third party cover on any car but not any unnamed driver on the car. I think you would need to take out short term day insurance or similar to cover yourself while taking a test drive in a private car.

John