Best place to buy a used car with confidence?

bery_451

forgotmyname wrote: »

From dealers that buy them from auctions. Unless you goto the auction yourself of course. But you may end up paying more than buying from a dealer.

Mine came from a small trader that advertised on ebay. Came with a printout of all the work done and it was several pages of A4 paper.

Clutch and flywheel done, Turbo done. Serviced well before the max limit.
Notes for small items like a replaced mirror glass and dash bulbs.
Shows the driver got everything done no matter how minor.

You mean main dealerships like manufacturer dealerships?

nobbysn*ts

Dealers buy from auctions. They're usually ex rental, but at a very good price. Higher mileage, well used, the dealer takes a punt on it not coming back to them. Same with the ebay car above. Well worn, but the usual items already replaced. Its then a chance that they're not replaced on a shoestring. I'd walk away, and find one that hadn't been thrashed so badly half the car had already been replaced.

BeenThroughItAll

roonaldo wrote: »

A good car is going to be one that has full service history, good condition and ideally lower milleage.

Whilst I agree with most of what you say, that statement I have to take issue with.


Lower mileage does not mean better. I'd happily take a higher mileage car with no history which has clearly been well looked after than a low mileage, FSH 'one careful grandmother with a puppy-sitting business' example based purely on condition.


I've had cars with north of 190K on when I've bought them with no issues whatsoever, whereas my wife's 24K from new, full main dealer history, seven year old Almera she bought in 2003 was a gutless shed with worn piston rings, a lazy starter due to being used for a million half mile trips a day and a whole host of bushes perished through lack of use. Looked perfect on the outside.

forgotmyname

I choose cars with around 120,000 miles. Slighty over that and the price seems to drop a fair bit.

The picture of a car being ready for the scrappers after 100,000 miles still seems to put people off.

My last car a petrol one had 150,000 miles when i sold it in 2009 and still taxed today. My current car i have pushed to over 170,000 miles and again its all good.

roonaldo

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Lower mileage does not mean better. I'd happily take a higher mileage car with no history which has clearly been well looked after than a low mileage, FSH 'one careful grandmother with a puppy-sitting business' example based purely on condition.

I agree that high milleage cars can be ok, my last 2 cars I bought being high milleage and very reliable cars. I've done 45k miles in my current car without issues, but its got 150k miles on clock now and orginal turbo and clutch in which seem ok but who's to know when the expensive repairs will arrive.

But to say a high milleage is better than low, behave.

BeenThroughItAll

But to say a high milleage is better than low, behave.

You're twisting words there. I didn't state that categorically, if you read my post I put several conditions on it, including that I would buy 'on condition'.


I'm sorry, but low mileage does not in any way imply being better than high mileage.

bery_451

That's doesn't make sense how does a high mileage car be better than a low mileage car that is same make/model? Low mileage means engine did less work therefore less likely of breakdown.


What do you mean by dealers? Does it mean trade? Like choosing trade or private on autotrader search options?

BeenThroughItAll

bery_451 wrote: »

That's doesn't make sense how does a high mileage car be better than a low mileage car that is same make/model? Low mileage means engine did less work therefore less likely of breakdown.

No, it doesn't. I have written the following previously:

A very low mileage car is often not necessarily better than one with average miles – a car which isn’t used much will deteriorate 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’.

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 (1.2 or below) as they warm up much more rapidly (within a mile or two), but move up to a 1.4-1.6 or larger 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 often can 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. I really wouldn’t worry about mileage too much.

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 five 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 be 5 years old; and things like tyres degrade rapidly when not used (and should be changed on age at 5 years 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 years that isn’t more than capable of well over 100,000 miles easily if serviced regularly (at least annually or every 10-12,000 miles normally). There’s a car almost identical to mine on eBay at the moment which has done 418,000 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.

bery_451

What about buying a used car on a debit card instead of cash? Does the buyer get protection by the card issuer/bank if the worst comes to happen?

what about paying by paypal for cars on ebay? What protection is there available for this and also whats the max you can send on paypal?

[Deleted User]

bery_451 wrote: »

What about buying a used car on a debit card instead of cash? Does the buyer get protection by the card issuer/bank if the worst comes to happen?

what about paying by paypal for cars on ebay? What protection is there available for this and also whats the max you can send on paypal?

When getting a second-hand car privately it is 'buyer beware', and the sellers usually put 'sold-as-seen' on the receipt they give you. There's very little you can do if the worst happens apart from call the seller and ask nicely. If, however you can PROVE they seriously misrepresented the car then you could take them to court.

From an independent dealer you should get a 6 month warranty, but they're usually limited to certain items only, and have maximum caps. Having said that I did buy from an independent dealer once, the head gasket went as I drove home, and the warranty did cover the repair.

Not sure how it would work with paypal/ebay, i'd look on ebay forums for this information.