Car very comptetively priced

w00519772

I have found a car, which is one year old and has done about 12K miles I like at a local garage (franchised garage). It seems to be very competitively priced (with one years warranty).

I am wandering why it is competitively priced (according to Parkers'). Maybe it was a hire car? The salesman said that the customer who part exchanged it buys a new car every year.

Could there be any other negative reasons? If it was a hire car then would you avoid it?

EssexExile

I've bought an ex-hire car & an ex-hire van, both about a year old with about 10k on the clock. I kept the car for 10 years with no problems & I still have the van 14 years later & it's been fine.

facade

There is always something wrong with a second hand car, that is why they get traded in. If you are lucky, and the salesman is right, all that is wrong with this one is the registration is last years.

I've bought 12 month old high mileage vehicles, they offer a massive saving over new, and you get a virtually brand new vehicle, the 1st owner took the biggest depreciation hit. (What was wrong with them is the mileage is high, 20-30,000, and another year will see a car with 60,000 plus to sell, and needing cambelts and major services.
If you do a below average mileage, a high initial mileage soon evens out over time though, after 5 years, I have a 6 year old car with 50,000 on the clock = below average mileage!

Just check it for signs of wear to the upholstery, scratches to the sills, damage to the boot trim, respray to bumpers etc.

foxy-stoat

How much cheaper is it compared to others of similar age/mileage/spec?

Is it HPI clear? Any damage or wear and tear?

WellKnownSid

Just a year's warranty? Most manufacturers offer three or more years, so you'd expect the balance of almost two years on a car just over 12 months old. A one year 'supadoopa' warranty isn't worth the same as a manufacturer's warranty.

Service - make sure it's been done, if it's mileage based then you could be in for the first service in a couple of months.

Ask to see the documentation. If it's a local customer with genuine reasons to change each year, they'll have the documentation and you can rule out hire car / etc. That's not to say hire cars are bad - just that the salesman has lied so you need to walk away.

Tyres - some cars wear them more than others, although harder Eco compounds seem to last better these days (crap in snow, though). You could be 70% through your first set so inspect away.

It could be cheap because they'll have cheap 'pre-reg' models on the forecourt with zero miles which makes it harder to shift only slightly older cars with actual usage.

agrinnall

Like Sid I'd also query the 1 year warranty, most manufacturers selling in the UK offer at least 3 years, the only one of my experience that has a 2 year warranty is Porsche. If there is really only 1 more year of manufacturer warranty might that suggest that the car is an import (the car I imported back in 2000 when it was often worth doing only had the European 2 year warranty)?

lincroft1710

Could be a driving school car.


They're changed on a regular basis.

gibby9

I bought an ex rental car at one year old. No issues at the time or 5 years later.

macman

Agreed, the OP needs to clarify the warranty, since it should have a minimum 2 years manufacturer's warranty remaining. Paperwork will show if it was registered to a private name or a company name-why didn't you ask to see this at the outset? For such a new vehicle I would expect to have the full owner and service history available-no need to take anything on trust.

CHR15

Maybe he just wants to be competitive!

You could ask to look at all the documents and see who the last owner was and go round and ask.
I didn't do that when I bought my car but I did carry out a Google Earth street view to see what kind of house it lived outside.

Ectophile

Several years ago, I bought a Mazda from a main dealer. Some time later, out of curiosity, I paid the DVLA for a copy of the history of the car.

The first owner was a hire company. The second and third were the garage I bought it from (they had changed the company name). They must have been using it as a loan car/runabout.

The car served me fine for many years with nothing but regular maintenance and a few brake repairs. When I sold it on 10 years later it was still running fine.