Buying a second hand car

catoutthebag

Please do not pay asking price. Get minimum 10 points off listed price even if accurate.

macman

To state the obvious, there are an awful lot of Focuses/Focii about, so you can afford to be choosy. The time to inspect a car and ask questions about it's condition is before you buy it, not after.

BeenThroughItAll

catoutthebag wrote: »

Please do not pay asking price. Get minimum 10 points off listed price even if accurate.

Points? This isn't University Challenge.

Hoof_Hearted

I have a bad feeling about this.....

bakepot

Don't worry, I didn't buy it! The car seemed ok I suppose. The engine looked immaculate. Engine started fine and sounded good. Thought I felt a bit of a judder when it was coming down from revs but don't know if that meant anything. Didn't get the hard sell either.

Thought it was showing it's age a bit more than i expected which put me off. Alloys didn't look good and break discs looked rusty. Think I'm going to need to stretch my budget a bit and find something a bit newer.

bakepot

Back again with another focus for consideretion:

http://www.hazelmotorcompany.co.uk/used-cars/ford-focus-1-8-ghia-5dr-glasgow-201511078514899

Low miles, but for car this age I think this may not necessarily be a good thing? Thoughts anyone??

Hoof_Hearted

Fancy website but a very backstreet dealer -- check Google Earth -- it looks like they are operating from a single garage.

The MoT database doesn't think the car exists: "No vehicle that matched the data you entered could be found". Ask why. However, the plates definitely match the car.

The car looks nice and it is well up the range. The company has seven cars for sale, so a small operation. It looks like they buy decent FSH cars from auction and sell them on.

bakepot

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Fancy website but a very backstreet dealer -- check Google Earth -- it looks like they are operating from a single garage.

The MoT database doesn't think the car exists: "No vehicle that matched the data you entered could be found". Ask why. However, the plates definitely match the car.

The car looks nice and it is well up the range. The company has seven cars for sale, so a small operation. It looks like they buy decent FSH cars from auction and sell them on.

Yeah I'd noticed that about mot database but the Dvla say it definitely has a valid mot. Which is odd.

The place was actually recommended to me so hopefully the car checks. Going to try go view it tomorrow.

jaydeeuk1

bakepot wrote: »

Don't worry, I didn't buy it! The car seemed ok I suppose. The engine looked immaculate. Engine started fine and sounded good. Thought I felt a bit of a judder when it was coming down from revs but don't know if that meant anything. Didn't get the hard sell either.

Thought it was showing it's age a bit more than i expected which put me off. Alloys didn't look good and break discs looked rusty. Think I'm going to need to stretch my budget a bit and find something a bit newer.

Rusty discs doesn't mean much. The ones on wife mr2 look like were taken from a lancia, but they're fine inside.

peter12345678910

I would only buy Ford focus 2008 onwards. As they improved their emmisions to £30 annual tax and they have decent mpg, from 2007 to 2008 they seemed to have taken a leap forward.

Add an extra year and you may get cheaper insurance, though Ford focus is cheap to repair, but parts may be a little easier to find.