Buying my very first car (used)

[Deleted User]

You can often tell as much about the car from it's home as the car itself, does it look like a reputable area? A wifes shopping car is a better bet than a boy racers first car. Ask how long they've had the car, and be suspicious if it's not long. Steer well clear of the "amateur traders" who work from home, they'll just buy cheap and bodge it up to sell. Ask "Is the car still for sale?" and if they say "what car" put the phone down. Be suspicious about anything that's been professionally valeted, you're looking for enough dirt to show that it hasn't just been steam cleaned yesterday. Above all, try and be patient if you can, you'll soon learn to recognise the good from the bad if you give yourself enough time to view as many as possible.

BeenThroughItAll

brungle wrote: »

Thanks all - I'll try to increase this to £2000 - would that be any good? Also, for a first car, is there anything you would recommend in regards to what to look for when buying a car - lowest mileage possible aside, Full Service History?...I'm just not very good at this sort of thing!

A very low mileage car is often not necessarily better than one with average miles – a car which isn’t used much will deteriorate and wear much more quickly sitting around doing nothing than if it’s used regularly. Also, cars that only do very short runs to the shops and back are often not a great buy; because they never get properly warmed up engine and gearbox wear are very high for the mileage. If a car’s been used for mainly under 5 mile journeys the wear rate is likely to be around 5 or 6 times that on a car used for greater than 5 miles at a time. Personally, I’d suggest looking around at ‘low-average’ miles rather than ‘exceptionally low’. Personally, (and I know everyone has an opinion and won't necessarily agree with me) I would recommend looking at anything from the VW group (Audi, Seat, Skoda, VW), anything from Honda, Toyota, Kia, or Hyundai. I would steer clear of Fiats and Renaults under all circumstances (again, I know others will disagree).


I’d tend to steer clear of anything that’s done less than 4,000 miles a year. It’s less important for cars with tiny engines (1.3 or below) as they warm up much more rapidly (within a mile or two), but move up to a 1.6 and you’ll find it takes much longer (as much as twice as long) for them to get properly warm. In that ‘cold’ period, the wear on the engine and gearbox is huge. If a car’s done less than 4000 miles a year, it’s likely it’s been a second car and has done shorter trips; even if it were used every day it’d only be doing ten miles a day (probably two 5 mile trips) which means it’ll be ‘cold’ for probably 70+% of the time. That is not good news at all for wear and general reliability, especially on a modern engine.


A more powerful car will be less stressed on longer higher speed runs; that translates into all sorts of benefits including lower wear rates on components, less noise, vibration and harshness in the cabin, and can sometimes mean better fuel economy as you’re using less of the available power to reach and maintain the same speed, whereas in a lower powered car you’ll be using all of its power output to keep up.


When you’re buying a used car, the general condition and evidence of being looked after are vastly more important than mileage. Age is a big factor – although a car might be ten years old with 10,000 miles on, the bodywork, plastics, interior, tyres, brakes etc (which almost certainly will still be the ones it came out of the showroom with) will all also be 10 years old; and things like tyres degrade rapidly when not used (and should be changed on age irrespective of wear). I’d always say buy newer with higher miles if the condition is good; buying a car is always a compromise, whether on mileage, age, make and model, gadgets fitted, etc.


There’s not a car been built in the last ten-fifteen years that isn’t more than capable of over 100,000 miles easily if serviced regularly (at least annually or often every 10-12,000 miles - but it's often said that oil is the cheapest mechanic, which is why my fleet has oil changes every 6K miles). I know of a car almost identical to mine (Skoda Superb 1.9TDI PD130 auto) which was sold recently having done ~420,000 miles with nothing more than routine servicing. You’ll find there are way more options to consider if you work to your maximum budget rather than a particular mileage.

DKLS

A good indicator of what the previous owner is like is tyres, if the car is shod with 4 kinds of Chinese ditch finders, run away as if the owner has scrimped on tyres its a good indicator they have scrimped on servicing.

arcon5

Our current car was £350 at auction. Replaced clutch £250. Own repairs £50. Total £650. 10 month mot left.

Last car a fiesta for £300. SORNed now but could scrap for £135. Did 4 months in it. Real good engine but not a family car. No other repairs. Bought at auction.

Car before £1200 + £200 initial repairs. Plus about £300 maintenance over 1 1/2 years covering 40k miles. Bought from guy down pub.

You can get some reasonable cars for cheap if you don't mind treating them as disposable goods. Don't rule out auction. At least with a £1k budget you can get it wrong a couple of times and still be in the game.

£2k is a dangerous price range if you ask me. Usually 80k mile ish cars. At this sort of mileage your getting close to DMF and clutch issues. 80-100k miles timing belt and water pump.
Sometimes getting a car with higher mileage isn't a bad thing. At least if its done 110-120k miles its highly likely clutch and belt been done long before.

Stooby2

AdrianC wrote: »

Old-shape Ka? <wince> Make sure you check VERY carefully for structural rot. They don't get nicked for bits primarily because there's so many rotten ones about.

I'd already heard about that so I'm very careful about checking - people get very surprised when I get my trolley jack out to have a look underneath.

misiek404

arcon5 wrote: »

£2k is a dangerous price range if you ask me. Usually 80k mile ish cars. At this sort of mileage your getting close to DMF and clutch issues. 80-100k miles timing belt and water pump.
Sometimes getting a car with higher mileage isn't a bad thing. At least if its done 110-120k miles its highly likely clutch and belt been done long before.

True. You'll be buying from the dodgy 80k mileage. Lots of things at the end of their lifetime. As my trusted mechanic once said: second hand car? - go for 20k or 120k miles, avoid the middle mileage

brungle

Thanks all for the input. I've narrowed it down to try to stick to my price range (saving some money aside for possible repairs) - take a mechanic friend with me and looking towards a VW Polo, a Ford Fiesta or a Corsa for now!

Thanks all for your help - much appreciated.

brungle

...most likely in the range of 120k+ mileage as well

jimjames

brungle wrote: »

...most likely in the range of 120k+ mileage as well

I've always found high mileage cars to be the best ones. Generally seems that someone else has found the problems and got them fixed first!

silverwhistle

If it's any consolation I didn't pass my test (first time after 6 hours of lessons) until I was 28. This was some time ago, and I got a £100 Marina which I sold for £70 to my next door neighbour after 10 months. As Arcon5 says above, regard cheap cars as disposable. My friend who helped me buy it and service it (a very easy/cheap job in those days) rightly argued that going for less popular models was a lot cheaper.

Ignore the temptation for add-ons as they cost and don't add much to the motoring experience. You'll just be happy to be mobile, and being such a late starter myself I'm still not much bothered about such extras. The ones I do get are things like snow tyres to get my little s/h Hyundai i20 safely to my favourite ski resorts, but that's an expense you won't have to worry about yet!