How far would you travel for a used car

Negotiator

If you found a car that you really liked. Bearing in mind there is a chance the car might be a duffer in real life, how far would you travel to look at it anyway?

Ultrasonic

Private sale or dealer? If dealer a consideration is how far you need to travel to take it back if you have any faults, not just travelling to view it.

How far I'd travel would depend how rare the car is. Travelling 100 miles to look at a Focus would be a bit mad for instance.

Iceweasel

At the beginning of August I went 600 miles from Aberdeen to London on the overnight bus to view a car in Croydon. The fare was only £10.00

I did buy the car, but was I was prepared to return on the bus that night, if it wasn't up to the advert.

It has 12 months warranty at any dealer for that marque anywhere in Europe.

And I saved approx £1000 on Northern Scottish prices.

OddballJamie

Depends on the car, something rare or exotic a couple of hundred miles.
A general few year old family car upto 50.
Banger prices 20 tops.

goRt

Hampshire to Glasgow for mine - although I did get the AA to check it first. Flew up and drove back with it the same day

I was after a very specific car

gilbert_and_sullivan

As above, one particular car i was interested in there were only 3 for sale in the whole country, nearest was 75 miles away.

If i wanted a Fiesta/Corsa/Washing Machine then walking distance.

Rolandtheroadie

Took the overnight sleeper to London, then the underground, then another train to Plymouth to pick up a campervan for sombody.
The drive home (about 480 miles) took ages at around 55 all the way.

For myself it was sleeper to London and pick up a 19 year old Mercedes 250 then a 380 mile drive home.

Coming home without either wasnt really an option, both made it no problem.

scheming_gypsy

Two of my mates went from Preston to London to buy a £1000 MR2 and the next day they went to Wales to get one for me.
I've bought two cars from Northampton (from Preston) and strangely enough they were pretty close to each other. Also bought a car from Scarborough.
A few months ago we went from Preston to Cardiff to pick a car up for a mate.

All depends on what car and how much it costs. The Scarborough one was a mistake though as it was just a cheap winter banger so the petrol costs just bumped the car cost right up.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

depends on the circumstances.

if I were to look for a very specific car, perhaps a classic performance car, with a specific spec interior and exterior, I would put the effort in in looking all round Britain for the right one.

if it were something I could save over £1000 on going from north to south then yes I would travel 600 miles for £20 fair there and back if turned out to be not for me or something wrong with its only £20.00.

webby23

For the right car, distance should be no issue

Where is the hardship in spending a day travelling if the car you are buying is going to provide years of service?

One of the best cars I ever bought I had to travel 540 miles return to view and buy.

agrinnall

In 2000 I sold a car when I was living in Edinburgh to somebody who came up from somewhere in the Home Counties to view - paid that day and drove it home! I thought it was a bit mad, there probably weren't a lot of that particular model available (Seat Ibiza GTi) but he could easily have found a Golf much closer to home.