Buying used car - is it always this hard?

Gavin83

Hudson1984 wrote: »

I sold my car a few months back for 12K and didn't let the proposed owner drive it but that being said I did transfer the warrenty so he did at least get some piece of mind.

I'm quite surprised by that. There isn't any car I'd buy without test driving it first, let alone one with such value. If the owner was funny about me driving it I'd walk away. For the vast majority of cars there are more than enough available for me to do what I want (within reason) as the buyer. I've never been refused a test drive but to be honest I've never been asked to produce insurance info either, although I take it with me.

I can fully understand why sellers wouldn't want people driving the car and the reasons are valid but as a buyer I just wouldn't bother.

artbaron

I'm thinking of selling mine and I won't be letting anyone drive unless they can prove they'd be covered full comp, and since I've never seen a policy with that benefit they won't be driving. It's no use whatsoever if someone is fully comp for their car and third party on yours because when they crash you'll still be left with no car and no money.

mgdavid

mkirkhope wrote: »

.. ......... My girlfriend could do it with me and the owner in the car and she could just let me know if there were any problems etc...........

you may wish to re-phrase that...:D

londonTiger

let someone knowledgable about cars go with you when buying a car. i tried to go buy a car myself - it was confusing and the car delears just saw MUG written all over me. Saying stuff like "that's a good car that, we've had a lot of viewings for it this week", the car was a peugeot 306 for £500 and had dents all over it.

I just bailed after that and nagged my brother to help me buy a car.

Ultrasonic

mkirkhope wrote: »

MrsPBikerChick - thanks for the big response. I had thought about the Seat Leon and should really try one out. The issue for me has been that I'm 6'5" tall and my main critera for the car has been something that I can fit in. The golf was the one I've tried that I felt I could be comfortable behind the wheel hence the decision to go for one, rather than just liking golfs.

The Skoda Octavia uses the same platform as the Golf, Leon and Audi A2 as well. I'm 6'2" tall and drive an Octavia - it's the first car I've had with a properly comfortable driving position. Though if you are going to be driving around London you may consider it too big. Depending what car you passed your test in you may also find it's size intimidating.

Also, as you're newly qualified, I'd be looking closely at the different insurance quotes for these models - the differences might be significant...

What you've found so far is that the cheapest cars of a particular type are always likely to be from less reputable dealers and private sellers. This is not surprising. If you really want a Golf from somewhere that at least seems more trustworthy then you'll need to pay more, or look at older cars.

As for the test drive, what insurance have you been showing private sellers? If it only give you 3rd party cover I'm not surprised they won't let you drive the car. I wouldn't let anyone (newly qualified or otherwise) test drive my car without fully comprehensive insurance on my car.

As others have said, I'd recommend getting a friend with more driving experience to test drive the car for you, as they are far more likely to spot an issue. You can test out the driving position for yourself without actually driving anywhere.

londonTiger

Ultrasonic wrote: »

As for the test drive, what insurance have you been showing private sellers? If it only give you 3rd party cover I'm not surprised they won't let you drive the car. I wouldn't let anyone (newly qualified or otherwise) test drive my car without fully comprehensive insurance on my car.

as a private seller i wouldnt let someone test drive period. wheter they have a piece of paper that says insurance or not.

insurance doesn't cover for situation where you hand over the keys and let someone in your car and they drive off. Like one MSE found out. According to them that's not theft that's fraud because they got into the car under false pretenses and drove off so insurance rub their hands of it.

Ultrasonic

londonTiger wrote: »

insurance doesn't cover for situation where you hand over the keys and let someone in your car and they drive off. Like one MSE found out. According to them that's not theft that's fraud because they got into the car under false pretenses and drove off so insurance rub their hands of it.

I take your point (and have read the thread you refer to), but provided you never leave the other driver alone in the car with the keys I don't think there should be a problem. On the flip-side I would never buy a car privately without being able to test drive the car myself.

hcb42

Currently selling a £5K car privately (getting a co car so cannot trade in, and we buy any car dot com etc are about £1K lower than we want (and we are £1K under the next cheapest on autotrader countrywide.

Having sold before privately, I would normally allow a test drive, although always a bit nervous about it.

What is worrying me is payment. Got a buyer coming tomorrow afternoon from 100 miles away and may buy cash. Paranoid I will get a load of fake notes. it is as stressful for sellers as for buyers.

(there are only 9 examples of this car countrywide on autotrader, so not too worried about the distance he is coming, already checked that out!)

vikingaero

mkirkhope,

Why don't you make a trip to Car Giant near White City and see what is on offer. The you can get an idea of condition, prices and cars that you might not have considered.

Ultrasonic

hcb42 wrote: »

Paranoid I will get a load of fake notes. it is as stressful for sellers as for buyers.

Go to your bank with the buyer to pay the money in and complete the sale.