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

bigjl

A quick check of Motorpoint has shown several 11 plate Fiestas with around 20k for £7k.

A 61 plate Hyundai i20 for £6599.

A 60 plate Seat Ibiza for £6599.

You will get a more for your money if you venture further afield, small cars are more expensive than some think as many people are looking for a small car to improve the mpg they get and to generally reduce costs.

Took me 5 mins to find those cars.

I personally wouldn't buy from Arnold Clark they are not cheap.

bigjl

Sorry forgot to mention your nearest Motorpoint is Glasgow but be prepared to drive to a different branch if you need to.

Though they will likely move the car from one depot to another to make a sale.

John_Jizzle

is motorpoint good (compared to the usual lot carcraft etc.)

wba31

Auto trader it up! obviously be careful on any car you look at, get a HPI check and double check the chassis numbers and engine numbers with the paperworks, but i have bought 4 great cars under £6k from used car traders (I avoid big dealers with second hand cars on the front).
Bought my last car for £6k and it was pristine on viewing and collecting, and although the dealer was a bit of pr1ck once i got the car home and found a minor fault, knowing the law on my rights he soon got me the new part needed and since then the car has been tiptop!

aliasojo

sillygoose wrote: »

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

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?

It's urgent now tbh. I'm driving a top spec rented car right now but it has to go back shortly, I've already extended the hire and can't keep doing so. This thing has loads of gadgets and top trim etc so definitely not a base model.

jaydeeuk1

Neighbour across from the in laws cleans his 6 year old 207 car religiously every weekend, rain or shine. And I mean properly cleans, number plate off, wheels off, engine cleaned, sometimes seats taken out(!), oil changed what seems like every month. If theres one man I'd buy a car off its him.

aliasojo

reeac wrote: »

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.

Done that already, on good terms with chap. They thought they'd found me one but it had gone by the time I'd found out.

Running out of time to wait and see what comes up now unfortunately.

aliasojo

wba31 wrote: »

Auto trader it up! obviously be careful on any car you look at, get a HPI check and double check the chassis numbers and engine numbers with the paperworks, but i have bought 4 great cars under £6k from used car traders (I avoid big dealers with second hand cars on the front).
Bought my last car for £6k and it was pristine on viewing and collecting, and although the dealer was a bit of pr1ck once i got the car home and found a minor fault, knowing the law on my rights he soon got me the new part needed and since then the car has been tiptop!

I'm just back from driving to 2 smaller dealers I found on AutoTrader that had a couple of potential cars listed. The reality was nothing like the adverts for them. One of them had a crack running the length of the bumper that they'd tried to disguise and the other had a disgusting interior again.

Also I was warned off one trader as apparently the family own a salvage company and a lot of their cars are dodgy.

This is where I'd come unstuck I think, simply because I don't know enough about cars to make good decisions. I'm better sticking to well known bigger dealers.

I think I'll try get to Motorpoint as suggested above.

Appreciate all your help.

System

if you know what kind of car you want (or a few options) - join an enthusiast forum and find out the potential issues etc, might give you more confidence for looking at private sales... and usually they have classifieds on them too, so you might get one which has been well looked after there.
alternatively, no relatives that could help you out with viewings?

(or ask on here about particular models, plenty of helpful knowledgeable folks in here)

aliasojo

Another quick question....can you haggle with Motorpoint or is it strict fixed pricing?