Where do car dealers get their cars from? And where can I get a half decent one?!

aliasojo

I've spent the last week or so trying to find a decent used car to buy.

I've been round the main dealers (Arnold Clark, Macrae & !!!!!! and all the other usual suspects) and I'm pretty fed up with their offerings in my price range.

Where do they source the main bulk of their stocks? Are they ex rental cars?

I'd expect the odd scratch or scuff but I've seen dents, ripped seat fabric, badly stained seats, cracks in bodywork and all manner of deep and hugely noticeable scratches. I don't remember things being as bad when we last bought.

It seems the stocks priced above £8k ish are reasonable but £5k/£6k are often not.

I'm also really surprised at the poor level of valeting before the car is put out for sale. I queried it at one dealer and he just shrugged and said often people like to clean the car out themselves anyway.:rotfl:

I lost track at how many we've been round now. Where am I going to find something preferably sub £5k (but could go a little higher) but is clean, tidy, reasonable mileage and economical? Both OH and I are losing the will to live now.

I'd consider going anywhere from Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh (ish).

Neither of us know enough about cars to buy privately. I'll admit to being a bit paranoid at the moment about car safety as I've just been in quite a bad car accident (my car was written off) so I'm more worried than usual about what we're buying, hence being concerned about buying a lemon privately.

I need another car asap, any ideas?

artbaron

You don't need to know anything more about cars buying privately that you do with a dealer. If you're really stuck just get an AA / RAC inspection. Most warranties are worth nothing when it comes down to it, far better get the car for £X000 less in the first place and if the worst comes to the worst you can use some of the money you saved to pay for repairs.

aliasojo

Portly_Pig wrote: »

Have you been to the auctions?

I wouldn't dare, they'd see me coming a mile off.

aliasojo

artbaron wrote: »

You don't need to know anything more about cars buying privately that you do with a dealer.

But you'd have some sort of comeback with a dealer, you've got no comeback privately.

GJ_WRX

Most main dealers get their used stock from either part exchanges from customers buying new cars, from other dealers, from manufacturers, from auctions, from hire/fleet companies incl motability. The more canny dealers will even trawl ebay and the classifieds to buy stock.

Do you know what car you want?

If I was you I would look at Autotrader, motors and ebay and see if there is anything that meats your requirements in your budget. As mentioned above if you like one get an AA type check.

adonis

I know what you mean, I have looked at cars with fag burns in the seats, bald tyres and in a filthy state,

I have asked about a cam belt change that was due before I buy the car and was told I would have to take it to the main dealer up the road and pay for it myself after I bought the car.

aliasojo

GJ_WRX wrote: »

Do you know what car you want?

If I was you I would look at Autotrader, motors and ebay and see if there is anything that meats your requirements in your budget. As mentioned above if you like one get an AA type check.

I don't have any set ideas, I'd consider anything small(ish) as long as it was reasonable in tax and insurance terms. We saw some nice cars that would have been fine if they'd been in better condition. Some were only a couple of years old but had shoddy/badly stained seats or had big bodywork issues. I was really surprised.

Considered so far : Corsa, Fiesta, Micra, Seat Leon/Ibiza, i20, Chevrolet Spark (but boot seriously non existent), Nissan Note (but road tax dear). Can't think what else we looked at.

aliasojo

adonis wrote: »

I know what you mean, I have looked at cars with fag burns in the seats, bald tyres and in a filthy state,

Surprising isn't it? You don't expect a used car to be pristine but a lot of them are just ridiculous.

sillygoose

Presume most the ratty ones are ex rentals (usually identifiable by low spec or basic model, no extras) or private owned trade in's.

Many ex-company cars should be in really good nick as the driver that had it gets hammered with penalty charges if its handed back with the slightest scratch on it so usually you put in an insurance claim just before and get it all fixed up. Also the servicing should be up to date as many companies have duty of care policies that require this. Problem is a 3-4 year old car with reasonable mileage is going to be more than £5K, you only looking at the 'return trip to Mars' ones or cars that someone has owned in between and probably not cared for.

As you say the better ones are nearer £8K, ones just handed in by company drivers. Do you have time to save hard some more or is it urgent?

reeac

aliasojo wrote: »

I've spent the last week or so trying to find a decent used car to buy.

I've been round the main dealers (Arnold Clark, Macrae & !!!!!! and all the other usual suspects) and I'm pretty fed up with their offerings in my price range.

Where do they source the main bulk of their stocks? Are they ex rental cars?

I'd expect the odd scratch or scuff but I've seen dents, ripped seat fabric, badly stained seats, cracks in bodywork and all manner of deep and hugely noticeable scratches. I don't remember things being as bad when we last bought.

It seems the stocks priced above £8k ish are reasonable but £5k/£6k are often not.

I'm also really surprised at the poor level of valeting before the car is put out for sale. I queried it at one dealer and he just shrugged and said often people like to clean the car out themselves anyway.:rotfl:

I lost track at how many we've been round now. Where am I going to find something preferably sub £5k (but could go a little higher) but is clean, tidy, reasonable mileage and economical? Both OH and I are losing the will to live now.

I'd consider going anywhere from Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh (ish).

Neither of us know enough about cars to buy privately. I'll admit to being a bit paranoid at the moment about car safety as I've just been in quite a bad car accident (my car was written off) so I'm more worried than usual about what we're buying, hence being concerned about buying a lemon privately.

I need another car asap, any ideas?

A good gambit, if it's possible, is to make friends with a small "neighbourhood" garage. We are fortunate enough to have one only 2 miles away and they keep up with who's thinking of selling a car or wants to buy one [they don't deal in cars themselves] and pass the word on. There must be careful owners out there, just a matter of finding them.

bigjl

Possibly try one of the large car supermarkets.

Perhaps Motorpoint or Fords of Winsford would be worth a journey.

Dealers get their stock by underwriting the trade-ins from big main dealer groups, buying them from other dealer when they stay in stock more than a set period of time, through specific deals with the big leasing companies, such as CarGiant that seem to get the pick of the ex Motability cars over the last few years, or from a car auction.

If you know nothing about cars you have no choice but to buy from a dealer.

Perfection will only come from buying new.

And there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Though any dealer that puts stock on the front with fag burns is obviously hoping to sell it without fixing that issue, which isn't that expensive for a decent dealer, they usually have a couple of SMART repairers on speed dial.

Your best bet is as I said a Car Supermarket, but a proper one like those I mentioned, not one of the dodgy little dealers that calls himself a "Car Supermarket" to try and improve is image.

Motorpoint is likely to be your best bet, avoid CarCraft unless you want to be charged £2k or so over the odds and end up with a car that has come via WeBuyAnyCar which is were a lot of CarCraft stock comes from, the real pups are sold through various auctions as CC Trade Sales.