sub £1000 car - cambelt

catoutthebag

Going to hopefully check some cheap cars today. Mk4 golf and a3. Obviously older petrol cars with 80 to 120k on clock with varying amounts of history.

Would you touch these if there was no cambelt done or receipt showing it was not present because there isn't really a guarantee way of verifying especially if you didn't want to pay extra?

Or take the plunge because it's cheap and you need a car ASAP?

joeblags

well overdue if it hasn't been done, its not a cheap job either unless you do it yourself. its not a new car so a back street garage would be just as good as any ( some people love main dealing service )


check it has dry carpets as the door seals leak
make sure it doesn't drive like crap , laggy driving. MAF sensors arnt to cheap


other common faults on these cars
coolant temp sensor
crank sensor
coil packs

EdGasket

...or get a Toyota Corolla which has a chain. Also be careful to double check everything if you pay a premium for a car where the cambelt has been changed. Receipts are easily forged. My son-in-law bought an A4 which had supposedly had a timing belt changed; it hadn't!
We recently got a Honda Civic with a stamped up service book (by non-Honda garage). The cambelt should have been changed every 5 years but when I rang up the garage that did the servicing, they said it was last changed in March 2007 !

catoutthebag

Going to check mk4 golf s-reg 2 owners petrol 105k stamps til 07/08...with mot. Looks immaculate example. 895 but says he won't accept anything silly like 500. Hoping for around 600 as he conceded no road tax and cambelt evidence.

Anything else to look for ..

Marktheshark

ALL cars have No road tax.
Anyone telling you different is lying.
You have to Tax the car the same day you sign the Logbook or you get a penalty charge in the post.
There is no "leeway"

EdGasket

catoutthebag wrote: »

Going to check mk4 golf s-reg 2 owners petrol 105k stamps til 07/08...with mot. Looks immaculate example. 895 but says he won't accept anything silly like 500. Hoping for around 600 as he conceded no road tax and cambelt evidence.

Anything else to look for ..

Check the insurance cost; I always found Golf's to be high insurance.

catoutthebag

It's a 1.6 and think insurance group must be only 5 or 6

DominicH

Marktheshark wrote: »

ALL cars have No road tax.
Anyone telling you different is lying.

I'm not sure about "lying" (a lot of people seem to be unaware of or confused by the rule change) but you do still see quite a few ads saying things like "6 months' tax." If they're trade then sure, they should know, but some of those guys are barely literate so it wouldn't surprise me.

catoutthebag

So what's the rule change ? Electric road tax is non transferable?

andyfr_2

See here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency

EdGasket

catoutthebag wrote: »

It's a 1.6 and think insurance group must be only 5 or 6

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insurance-groups/volkswagen/golf/hatchback-1997/

Says it is group 11. You really need to get a dummy insurance quote though to check the actual cost otherwise you might find it way exceeds the cost of the car.

Ah, I think that site is using groups 0-40 whereas other sites are using 0-20; confusing !