new on here, would love some advice on buying a used car

colino

You'll find cheapskates do not go to the bother of getting low grade servicing to fill the service book. They buy service books pre-stamped, or dodgy stamps from ebay instead. Much cheaper!

DKLS

OddballJamie wrote: »

I second that about the tyres, four different brands can also mean part worns have been used.

If it has FSH, ask to see receipts of work undertaken when serviced and the type of service. Some cheap skates opt for the cheapest interim service just to get stamps in the book.

Last car I bought the seller made it an easy decision to buy from him. He had prepared an A4 file full of invoices/mots relating to the car, all backed up by the Dealer history, which they quickly confirmed.

funkycoldribena

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Don't waste your time and that of the salesman by going through finance offers you have no intention of taking. It's pointless. The dealer factoring in the margin of the finance deal on the sale price is not some dodgy business practice but basic economics. All that ultimately matters to them is the profit they will make on the sale, wherever that comes from.

I would suggest that you are best off using the cash purchase to your advantage by using it to (hopefully) convince a salesman that you are a serious potential buyer and that you could easily go elsewhere to buy an alternative car. You will be spending the money on a car in the very near future, and they are going to want it to be with them. Assuming you don't play childish games like pretending to want finance...

Most sensible post yet.....


Just play the dealers off against each other,even if you have to make up fictional cars that are for sale at other dealers,if they wont play ball then walk,plenty of focus's out there.

colino

That was fine up until making up fictional cars. You do know what the response is when a punter says they can buy a better car for less down the road don't you? BUY IT!

funkycoldribena

colino wrote: »

That was fine up until making up fictional cars. You do know what the response is when a punter says they can buy a better car for less down the road don't you? BUY IT!

Worked for me many a time.Never had a dealer say "buy it" yet.
Sometimes they say they cant match it, then ring up a couple of days later.

OddballJamie

funkycoldribena wrote: »

Worked for me many a time.Never had a dealer say "buy it" yet.
Sometimes they say they cant match it, then ring up a couple of days later.

I take it the dealers either have the car over priced in the first place or it's not popular models that you are buying. Otherwise the car would've sold.

kelevraz

yehh im a little bit weary of the idea of saying that theres the same car down the road for cheaper, ill end up looking abit silly if he should just turn around and say go for that one then.

also, if the company that you do the finance with isnt the dealership itself, does that make it harder to give the car back if you say you dont want to continue the finance?

and has anyone ever dealt with cargiant before, ive heard some horror stories about them but thats normally about their customer service and not the quality of the cars themselves, apparently they dont ever budge on price, but they always offer good deals

and if get a car thats still under manufacturers warranty, if i have an issue with the car like a mechanical fault, will the fact i bought it second have any influence on if ford fix the problem for me

funkycoldribena

kelevraz wrote: »

yehh im a little bit weary of the idea of saying that theres the same car down the road for cheaper, ill end up looking abit silly if he should just turn around and say go for that one then.

Why do you care what he thinks? So what if he does? Plenty of Focus's around.

funkycoldribena

OddballJamie wrote: »

I take it the dealers either have the car over priced in the first place or it's not popular models that you are buying. Otherwise the car would've sold.

All sorts-Vectras to C-max to Focus.

kelevraz

funkycoldribena wrote: »

Why do you care what he thinks? So what if he does? Plenty of Focus's around.

true there are, im finding it very hard to find the one that i want though, ive got it all specified down to a tee:

1.8 Litre, 56 plate and above, petrol, up to 60k miles, manual, 5 door, tinted back windows preferably (wont let this be the thing that stops me from buying a car i like), i want a zetec, sport or titanium

i know a titanium would be difficult to achieve, but i missed out on one because i didnt have a cash deposit ON ME, no card or anything, and by the time i had called them back in the same day, the car had a deposit placed on it, and since then i have become slightly obsessed with getting myself a titanium, so yeh

if i find a car i want, and he wont budge on the price initially, then i dont want to say i can go elsewhere, because if i say that, and then i cant, then theyll know for sure i couldnt go anywhere else and he deffo wont budge at all, and i have a time limit too, i have to find a car before september.. and ive been looking for a while, and in the last couple of months, ive only seen very few i was interested in, and they were either taken before i got to them, or they were just too far to go