Need to buy a reliable car. Where shall I look?

LiveOnce

Hi all,

I want to buy a reliable <7yrs old car. I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to run but also well respected 'image' wise.

My budget is about £5k.

I am preferably looking for VW Golf, Toyota hybrids etc type of cars.

Where shall I look for purchasing cars?

patman99

The reliability bit is purely down to how any previous owner/s looked after it.

If the car hasn't been regularly serviced, then it could well turn out to be a very expensive buy.

From 7 years on, the average car will have reached the end of it's designed life and will require careful ownership. Some people just don't get it and will not bother with looking after it very well.

LiveOnce

Yeah but depends on where I buy it from too no?

I've heard plenty about those knock off car sales companies that sell dodgy cars.

How can I be savvy about purchasing the right car without problems with my budget please?

forgotmyname

Even dodgy car lots get a mint one in sometimes.

Its the service history and condition. If the max service interval is 12000 miles then thats a maximum not a target. Find a car serviced more often and one with receipts for work done.

bigjl

LiveOnce wrote: »

Yeah but depends on where I buy it from too no?

I've heard plenty about those knock off car sales companies that sell dodgy cars.

How can I be savvy about purchasing the right car without problems with my budget please?

How can anybody give a decent recommendation without knowing where you live (town or city is enough) and what you are actually after.

If you only have £5k isn't condition a bit more relevant than something "well respected image wise"

A £30k car new still has £30k new repair bills when it is worth £5k, but the persons pocket tends to be £5k sized.


A Toyota Hybrid for £5k will have an awful lot of miles on it to be honest.

Japanese used imports are good value if you buy them directly from IBC in Japan, you need to register and then your agent bids up to your limit.

Anything older than 10years needs minimal modifications and an MOT, foglight and modify the clocks to read in MPH, you can just use a new face with MPH and KPH marked and leave the odometer in Km, or modify the speedo drive to make it read in MPH, though to be honest some MOT stations might pass it without the speedo reading MPH. It has been over 10 years since I brought in a Jap import but I sold one to a work colleague and he still has it (Honda Odyssey), another was sold to a mates friend and she still has that Odyssey aswell. Another mate at work bought a Toyota MPV (can't remember the name of it, it was small though not a Lucida size) and got himself a Legacy.
A few years before that brought over a Toyota Paseo.

All the cars where in unbelievably good condition, and looked almost new underneath. (Jap cars have no rustproofing usually)

As long as you stick to Condition 4 you should have no problems.

mr_accountant

LiveOnce wrote: »

Hi all,

I want to buy a reliable <7yrs old car. I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to run but also well respected 'image' wise.

My budget is about £5k.

I am preferably looking for VW Golf, Toyota hybrids etc type of cars.

Where shall I look for purchasing cars?

recommend you look to the far east, in particular japan and South Korea, and also a petrol, diesels are to expensive to maintain

mgfvvc

LiveOnce wrote: »

I am looking for something that is cheap and easy to run but also well respected 'image' wise.

Generally you pay for 'image'. If you want image you have to pay more or buy an older car. If you want cheap and easy to run, you probably should be looking at Korean brands, but they aren't 'image' cars.

A nice balance might be a mid market brand, like Ford. Maybe the right Ford Focus, but not check that it's not one of the models with known issues like Diesel Particulate Filters and Dual Mass Flywheels.

Good resources for research are Honest John's car by car guide and the Warranty Direct reliability index.

loskie

Toyota Corrolla/Auris or Avensis

neilmcl

Honda Civic.

The_grey_man_2

Buying a second hand car is obviously a bit of a minefield. A bit of advice that I would suggest is:-
1. Check the service book for a complete history. What you are looking for are stamps at regular intervals with no gaps. You are trying to get a picture of the attitude of the previous owner with regards to how he maintained the car. A complete service history doesn't guarantee the reliability but it certainly goes a long way.
2. Be aware of any upcoming major work and see if it has been done. For example a lot of cars need a new timing belt at around 100,000 miles (though a lot of newer cars are doing this earlier), so if your potential purchase is close to that ask the dealer if it has been done. If not you would be prudent to do it and this obviously incurs a cost to you.
3. Beware of crash damaged/repaired cars. They are often repaired cosmetically which if not done correctly can cover up a multitude of problems waiting to emerge.
4. Get an independent mechanic to inspect the car before you buy it. The independent part is important because any mechanic working for the dealer has less incentive to tell you about any potential problems. For the money you want to spend I would probably suggest you pay the AA or RAC etc to do one of their inspections, it will be worth it in the long run.
5. Finally watch the dealer carefully. I once bought a car from a used car salesman who at the time seemed a little nervous. At the time I didn't think much of it, I just assumed it was his personality but a few weeks later I got a letter from a finance company saying that they legally owned my car, and they were right.

I wish you all the best in your purchase.