Buying a used car for £1000. Don't want to be ripped off.

27col

A lot of sweeping statements about French cars on here. The most reliable car I ever had was a Citroen ZX estate. It never missed a beat and only required tyres in over 50,000 miles.

jaydeeuk1

27col wrote: »

A lot of sweeping statements about French cars on here. The most reliable car I ever had was a Citroen ZX estate. It never missed a beat and only required tyres in over 50,000 miles.

ZX was one of the better cars they made imo, the diesel version was bullet proof. Xsara was crap by comparison.

techspec

StrongWork wrote: »

You can't expect to spend £1000 on a car and be surprised that issues do come up.

Why not - Escort Diesel £800 from Auction - 8 years trouble free - sold on.

Mondeo - £900 from Ebay - 5 years trouble free - sold on.

Elantra - £500 from Ebay - 2.5 years trouble free - still going strong.

Try Ebay , but local(ish) - in case there are problems. Carefully check feedback. Get more car for your buck. My Elantra finished at 5.30 am - so no other bidders. Seller turned out to be a main dealer and the car still had £1995 on windscreen when i got there. They threw in a free service and valet too :-) I wudn't normally have dreamed of buying an Huyundai - but £500 quid with less than 55,000 on clock? It would have been rude not to.

If it had lasted a year - £10 per week! If you spend £1000, and it lasts a year - £20 per week. Thats how i look at it. All the extra miles i got, were a bonus. My 6 month old car that cost £7500 (in 1995) spent more time in the garage than at my house. My luck will no doubt run out at the auctions - but hey, for the money spent, and as long as its safe - who cares!

jaydeeuk1

techspec wrote: »

Why not - Escort Diesel £800 from Auction - 8 years trouble free - sold on.

Mondeo - £900 from Ebay - 5 years trouble free - sold on.

Elantra - £500 from Ebay - 2.5 years trouble free - still going strong.

Try Ebay , but local(ish) - in case there are problems. Carefully check feedback. Get more car for your buck. My Elantra finished at 5.30 am - so no other bidders. Seller turned out to be a main dealer and the car still had £1995 on windscreen when i got there. They threw in a free service and valet too :-) I wudn't normally have dreamed of buying an Huyundai - but £500 quid with less than 55,000 on clock? It would have been rude not to.

The elantra is exactly the sort of car I'd be looking for if I only had £1000. Or a daewoo nubira, lanos, lacetti, kia magentis, rio etc.

mrcol1000

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

ZX was one of the better cars they made imo, the diesel version was bullet proof. Xsara was crap by comparison.

First time I learnt to drive was in a ZX. It was only 14 years ago and didn't have power steering. My next instructor (who had a Micra with PAS) kept telling me off for moving off before I started to steer!

mrcol1000

We are looking at a Hyundai Matrix. £1500 so slightly above our budget. However 1.6. Two owners. 110K on the clock and only 7 years old. Looks well kept

James_Lahey

It's always a gamble in that sort of price bracket (I usually buy lower than 1k myself.) I've had good bangernomics from many types of cars (including many mentioned as poor above) my best tip is regardless of make/milage/history of car talk to the person selling and determine if they have a genuine reason to sell (or if they are offloading a money pit.)

My latest buy came from a chap who inherited the car after a death in the family - the make of car is renowned for having issues (it's a rover - think head gasket!) However it has been really well looked after and had a good quality reconditioned engine dropped in about 40k ago - no problems at all in 6 months of ownership. Already a worthy buy considering (price paid - 6 months tax supplied - scrap value)/6 = ~£20 per month so far and dropping with every days use.

Best of luck avoiding those lemons!

skivenov

Either buy the most basic vehicle you can find (less to go wrong, more chance of fixing it yourself), or do the left brain one, which is what I used to do a lot:

Buy a big, premium car that's been looked after it's whole life, and now no one wants because they think it's going to be expensive to run.

Hoof_Hearted

Personally, I would go for an unpopular model from a good maker, such as the Nissan Almera. They are ugly and unloved but there is not a lot wrong with them. 2002, 57K and full history in your price bracket here

mkirkby

mrcol1000 wrote: »

We are looking at a Hyundai Matrix. £1500 so slightly above our budget. However 1.6. Two owners. 110K on the clock and only 7 years old. Looks well kept

Does it have history though?