Best way to buy a used car ??

bluedrop

Now that we've nearly finalized the make and model. Im looking at the next steps. DH and I have no clue about cars yet, so

I can see 3 options:

Option 1 - Buy from the dealer : Expensive, cars come with 1yr warranty but does it guarantee peace of mind?

Option 2 - Buy from Cargiant : Reputed trader. cars come with 1yr warranty

Option3: Buy from Autotrader, gum tree, ebay. Get RAC inspection done.

Which of the above options is preffered and why?

Am I doing it all wrong? whats the best way to buy a car and be sure you didnt get a car with lots of probs?

bluedrop

anyone?????

Ebe_Scrooge

To answer your last question first - there's no way to guarantee no problems.

Have a look on the WhatCar website, that'll give you an idea of the "target" price, i.e. what you should realistically expect to pay.

Private or dealer ? Entirely up to you. You'll pay more at a dealer - he has to make a profit, as well as covering his expenses. E.G. he should have put right any known defects before selling the car, as well as covering himself for any problems that show up during the warranty period. Private sale, it's sold as seen, any problems from the moment you drive away are yours to fix ( broadly speaking ). If buying privately, definitely get an HPI check done, and an AA/RAC mechanical inspection can be a good idea though not cheap. Make sure you do the usual checks - meet the seller at their home address, make sure the V5 tallies with the address, engine numbers / VIN match up with V5, etc. etc. Again, sites like WhatCar, Parkers, AutoTrader have good guides on things to check.

I've bought both privately and from dealers over the years. As I said, pro's and con's. One way of thinking about it - say the private sale is £1000 cheaper than the equivalent dealership. If you find out the car needs £500 of repairs within the first year, you've still saved £500 overall.

Or if you really want peace of mind, you can buy "after-market warranties", but do make sure you read the small print very carefully to see what they do and - more importantly don't - cover.

Hope this helps.

deanos

depends on how much you are spending, buying private 2nd hand 2yr old car will still have a years warranty as long its been serviced correctly and will be cheaper than a dealer

londonTiger

Anything of value buy from a dealer. Sub 2 grand cars buy private (dealer premium will be too high a percentage of the cost).

If you're completely clueless about cars and dont have anyone to help with viewing. Go to a respectable dealer regardless of cost.

smssms

bluedrop wrote: »

whats the best way to buy a car and be sure you didnt get a car with lots of probs?

Unfortunately there is virtually no way of getting a car with no problems guaranteed - there is ALWAYS a fair degree of luck in buying cars (even new ones).

Doing lots of research that combines know-how from existing owners (specialist forums) with independent reliability figures (e.g. JD Power of Folksam) will put the odds in your favour.

forgotmyname

Spend £30 - £60k on a brand new car and it may have issues.

With so many moving parts there are bound to be some that have issues. Think of those that dont as lucky rather than those that do are unlucky.

Cars can breakdown. Its life.

Knowing your vehicle and having it serviced properly is one way to keep it reliable. But between those services you need to keep an eye on things.

I think most cars never see the bonnet open between the services. So no checks on the oils and other essential fluids.

This is when lots have issues. Well serviced engines that are checked for oil level often dont normally blow up or seize. Fail to check the oil and it gets low then carry on driving when the oil light comes on or flashes away and things dont last long.

Blue264

Which cars have you shortlisted and what are the ages of the main drivers?
It might help us if we have a better idea of the type of car you are hoping to buy and what it may be used for?

For example..
When my commute was under 7 miles, I was happy with my little Renault Clio bought on Ebay. Now I'm doing the motorway commute again, I swear buy my Mazda (the second one I've had) which I found in a car dealers ad on the Autotrader website.

bluedrop

Blue264 wrote: »

Which cars have you shortlisted and what are the ages of the main drivers?
It might help us if we have a better idea of the type of car you are hoping to buy and what it may be used for?

For example..
When my commute was under 7 miles, I was happy with my little Renault Clio bought on Ebay. Now I'm doing the motorway commute again, I swear buy my Mazda (the second one I've had) which I found in a car dealers ad on the Autotrader website.

Thank you. We've shortlisted VW Golf and Ford focus - Petrol & Automatic.

My husband (33) will be the main driver. Im learning to drive and hopefully will start to drive in a few months. Im 31.

We both take the train to London for work. So, the car is only for rare evenings out, weekends and holidays. Our annual usage will be 3000 miles MAX.

Budget is £10k, but I dont want to spend unnecessarily...want to keep the costs low since we wont be using the car much...

On Cargiant - its £9.5k for a 2010 VW Golf and £6.5k for a 2010 Ford Focus. I am unable to decide between the two though!

gilbert_and_sullivan

Won't a 2010 Golf have the DSG gerabox...do lots of research before buying one of these contraptions...or any other modern autobox not of the torque converter type.

Both of you appear to know little about cars, nothing wrong with that, but you are far safer buying a car still under makers warranty, most aftermarket warranties are not worth the paper they are printed on, the exception to this is ''approved used'' cars supplied by a main dealer, those warranties are normally as good as the new car ones.

Given your budget you could buy a very good Kia Ceed/Hyundai i30 that will still have lots of makers warranty left (and proper auto boxes)...indeed given your expected mileage a Ceed will be under warranty for its full 7 years so long as you keep the correct service regime up.

Neither of the two cars you have short listed will be warranted by the maker (and you should ask yourself why those makers have such little faith in their own product) so the only guarantee will be SOGA and a worthless aftermarket warranty.

londonTiger

bluedrop wrote: »

Thank you. We've shortlisted VW Golf and Ford focus - Petrol & Automatic.

My husband (33) will be the main driver. Im learning to drive and hopefully will start to drive in a few months. Im 31.

We both take the train to London for work. So, the car is only for rare evenings out, weekends and holidays. Our annual usage will be 3000 miles MAX.

Budget is £10k, but I dont want to spend unnecessarily...want to keep the costs low since we wont be using the car much...

On Cargiant - its £9.5k for a 2010 VW Golf and £6.5k for a 2010 Ford Focus. I am unable to decide between the two though!

A manual is more engaging to drive, especially for a short mileage like yours it's probably better to buy a manual because a manual gearbox is one less mechanism to go wrong in the car compared to an automatic.

Also if you want to take lessons in your car it's probably best to have a manual around as it will be handier for learning.