MSE Rules for car buying.

Hoof_Hearted

I have updated this, incorporating some of your excellent suggestions:

1) Never buy a French car.
2) Sub £2,000 cars are better than £10,000 cars.
3) Mileage is irrelevant, other than high mileage is better.
4) Old Ford Mondeos are the best cars on the road.
5) Never buy a new car.
6) Japanese cars are "well put together".
7) A MoT guarantees that the car is in perfect condition.
8) Never check a car out before you buy it as it is preferable to discover the faults later (e.g. it's only got three doors, not five).
9) When you buy a car, always let the seller deal with all the paperwork.
10) There are some outstanding bargains on Gumtree and Ebay.
11) If your current petrol car costs £50 a week in fuel, spending £13k on a new diesel car to reduce your fuel bill to £40 a week is a great money saving decision (Apples2).
12) Always make sure you pay a deposit before seeing the car (Jaydeek1).
13) SOGA will protect you if your £500, 12-year-old Ford Ka develops a fault after 8 months of ownership (Jaydeek1).
14) Warranties are always worth the paper they are written on and cover everything except tyres, so don't bother reading the small print as the dealer will tell you they are "comprehensive".
15) Dealers will always quote you the best price for a new car, so don't bother checking prices with other dealers or the internet.
16) If you know nothing about cars and only have a screwdriver in your toolkit, bangernomics is for you (Richard734).
17) If you fancy a new car, look for ex-demos as they are always cheaper than a new car (Chieffy72).
18) If you have fully comp insurance on your old car, don't worry about insuring the new one as you'll be covered to drive it by your old policy (Aretnap).
19) When the dealer tells you he has someone else coming to see it in fifteen minutes and they sounded very keen on the phone, he's bound to be telling the truth (Aretnap).
20) Full Service History guarantees the car has been immaculately cared for and won't develop any faults for the next 10 years (ChopinonaBudget).
21) If car dealers are hell bent on making a profit, they are scam artists of the first order.
22) Buying a £300 Corsa and fitting it with £500 worth of lights, hi-tech stereo gear and tinted windows will definitely enhance the resale value should you decide to sell at a later date (Barbiedoll).
23) It's better to rent for the rest of your life as long as you have a large expensive car outside.
24) Don't worry about meeting a private seller at his house. If he's selling an expensive car you can meet him anywhere as he's bound to be an honest chap (Addyboy1982)
25) Everything you buy auto related has a 10 day cooling off period (worried jim)

harveybobbles

forgot to mention that old failthful... Parkers Guide.

We once sold a £5000 Megane to someone who only bought it for the sole reason that it was £30 per yer to tax..

but they didnt see that they had to spend £5000 first as aproblem..

oldagetraveller

"Japanese cars are "well put together"."
Not so the Toyota Yaris - it's French built though which could explain a lot! Don't know if they've improved with the Mk 3 but the Mk 2's interior is very poorly assembled. I know because I have one and need to turn up the radio volume to reduce the impact of the rattling and creaking!

OddballJamie

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

11) If your current petrol car costs £50 a week in fuel, spending £13k on a new diesel car to reduce your fuel bill to £40 a week is a great money saving decision (Apples2).

22) If your current petrol car costs £50 a week in fuel, spending £13k on a new diesel car to reduce your fuel bill to £40 a week is a great money saving decision (Apples2)

It's that important, it's needs mentioning twice

alastairq

24) It's better to rent for the rest of your life as long as you have a large expensive car outside.

well yes, I could happily agree with that one!

seeing as renting really isn't the pits people think it is?

Ask the guy who owned the north-east's biggest property rental company...he couldn't see the sense in tying up capital, then having to pay through the nose to maintain the asset?


I rent...now.

I pay for a service!

I make sure I get the better deal.

sadly, I don't have an expensive car outside....probably because I don't feel I want one.

[Deleted User]

I stopped reading at the first "rule"

My car is french and I've not had any problems out of the norm that you would have with any other car at the same age.

Hoof_Hearted

OddballJamie wrote: »

It's that important, it's needs mentioning twice

Corrected...

Chickabiddybex

I live my life by rule 16. Great list!

worried_jim

Made me smile reading them all, again. I love rules 1 and 11.

I would also add that everything you buy auto related has a 10 day cooling off period.

alastairq

I would also add that everything you buy auto related has a 10 day cooling off period.

I've found they cool off after an hour or so........................

addyboy1982

24) Don't worry about meeting a private seller at his house, if he's selling an expensive car you can meet him anywhere as he's bound to be an honest chap