Why are some cars on Auto Trader so cheap?

NM1984

I'm on the market for a used car and I've been looking on autotrader. Every so often I would come across a really cheap deal ie: Peugeot 207 1.6 VTi Sport [120] 5dr Hatchback 2011 It's selling for £4990! I've checked the valuation and it's closer to £8000. I'm immediately put off because I instinctively assume it's some sort of scam but then I don't want to miss out on a good deal. :embarasse

I know you have to becareful when purchasing a car but are there genuine reasons for it being so cheap?

dominicr

A common reason is that it is some sort of insurance write-off, this doesn't always make it a bad car but it means you have to be very careful and it certainly reduces the value substantially.

Osarkon

That Peugeot is a Category D Write off - hence the price.

tim9966

If it sounds to good to be true it normally is.

As you say it can be a scam where they will use photos copied off the internet and claim they have just moved abroad and need to sell the car quick. They ask you to pay money and you never get the car.

Or it can be a write off, which the car you have linked to is. It's Cat D which means it's had an accident been written off by the insurance, but someone has since decided to repair it. Cat D cars are often worth about 30% less, and will be much harder to sell as lots of people are put off by them.

apesxx

tim9966 wrote: »

If it sounds to good to be true it normally is.

Or it can be a write off, which the car you have linked to is. It's Cat D which means it's had an accident been written off by the insurance, but someone has since decided to repair it. Cat D cars are often worth about 30% less, and will be much harder to sell as lots of people are put off by them.

And not all insurance companies will insure a write off. Im with Axa and it states in my documents that they will not insure them.

Owain_Moneysaver

It's stolen
It's knackered
It's a write-off
It's a cut-n-shut
It's clocked
The seller is waiting for a single young woman to come along and take her for a test drive in Epping Forest
Etc.

forgotmyname

Seller is in spain and will deliver it to your door.

You pay big bob the money 1st and they deliver the car, When your happy with the car big bob gives them the cash.

Big Bob's name changes from paypal finance or yahoo finance and a 1001 other made up names.

You pay and the money vanishes and you never see a car. Until next weeks advert. Where they repeat the scam.

sheslookinhot

tim9966 wrote: »

If it sounds to good to be true it normally is.

^^^^^
This....

worried_jim

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

It's stolen
It's knackered
It's a write-off
It's a cut-n-shut
It's clocked
The seller is waiting for a single young woman to come along and take her for a test drive in Epping Forest
Etc.

It's French.

Strider590

NM1984 wrote: »

I'm on the market for a used car and I've been looking on autotrader. Every so often I would come across a really cheap deal ie: Peugeot 207 1.6 VTi Sport [120] 5dr Hatchback 2011 It's selling for £4990! I've checked the valuation and it's closer to £8000. I'm immediately put off because I instinctively assume it's some sort of scam but then I don't want to miss out on a good deal. :embarasse

I know you have to becareful when purchasing a car but are there genuine reasons for it being so cheap?

Traders put irresistible cars on there to get people to pay them a visit.

You phone them up and arrange to see the car, you travel over and when you get there they say "oh, darn it... we just sold that one, the customer just left 10 minutes ago", but we have lots of other cars for you to look at".

At this point they direct you to the shed they've been trying to shift for 3 months and because you travelled so far to get there, you think "well im not wasting a journey", then they start to give you the sales patter......

The weaker minded will probably end up buying the shed at 2x the cost of the car they went to look at in the first place and end up on some nasty finance deal.

fred7777

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

It's stolen
It's knackered
It's a write-off
It's a cut-n-shut
It's clocked
The seller is waiting for a single young woman to come along and take her for a test drive in Epping Forest
Etc.

Or its a bait and switch as above. I've seen this many times.