Hot to buy a Used Car

DavidJonas

Our car is on it's last legs. So we need to buy a car. A used car, given our financial situation.

But it's been a while. Over a decade in fact and we are not up to speed on it at all!

How is this done nowadays? Are any of those internet companies any good? Cargiant etc..

Or is it best to just cruise about the dealerships, which is what we did back then?

Don't need finance. Don't want it. Will pay from savings. Trade in not an issue as current car - an 04 Ford C-Max with 100,000 miles and a degrading gearbox- is (surely) worthless.

BeenThroughItAll

eBay, Autotrader, Gumtree.


An idea of what you're looking for, budget, and usage might help us give some suggestions.

mvteng

Go on the last weekend of the month. Even better if its the last weekend of the quarter.


Do research before you go


Be fair & truthful with the salesman & if you're not happy, walk away.

worried_jim

Find the model you want, get on auto trader and select the distance you are prepared to travel and this should give you a great idea of prices and availability.

DavidJonas

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

eBay, Autotrader, Gumtree.

An idea of what you're looking for, budget, and usage might help us give some suggestions.

Got 2 kids and a dog so another MPV I suppose.

Usage is school runs, holidays to cornwall, shopping, running things to the dump. Not commuting.

Budget, under £6000 I hope. Manual.

Chief need is reliability, childlocks.

Which suggests Toyota Verso but got used to the Ford heated windscreen and the autotrader models in that price range are all 1.6. Bit of a come down, but I guess you get what you pay for.

I'm tempted to say another C-Max, but actually this car has been a bit of a pain, eccentric computer, handbrake, brakes seem to wear a lot. Maybe that is me! Good boot space though.

pinkteapot

You can still get it sorted with local dealers, but they almost all list on Autotrader so you can save time visiting by looking on there, and finding the dealers that have the sort of thing you want. You can search by distance from you, budget, fuel type, number of doors, style etc etc to narrow it down.

I'm currently in the same boat as you. Looking for a new car. Love our Mondeo in theory (and the heated windscreen and magic MAX button are awesome) but have had far too many niggly and phantom faults (the type that happen three times then refuse to repeat at the garage) to ever want a Ford again.

Sosumi

Does it have to be an MPV or would a decent estate car meet your criteria?

arcon5

mvteng wrote: »

Go on the last weekend of the month. Even better if its the last weekend of the quarter.


Do research before you go


Be fair & truthful with the salesman & if you're not happy, walk away.

Ye! Be truthful with the dealer! Because as we all know they are all truthful with us as consumers!

mark5

The c-max sounds ideal for you, for the price and relative reliability I think Ford build as good a car as any in the same price range.

DavidJonas

Sosumi wrote: »

Does it have to be an MPV or would a decent estate car meet your criteria?

I fear an estate. Not something I want to try parking in the local Aldi. Also, it would probably overhang the drive.

An SUV is pretty much the same as an MPV, though, right? Wife says why not a Lexus RX400H. Seems reliable from reviews, etc. My concern would be having to fill it up a lot! 3.3 engine seems like overkill for pottering about.

DavidJonas

pinkteapot wrote: »

I'm currently in the same boat as you. Looking for a new car. Love our Mondeo in theory (and the heated windscreen and magic MAX button are awesome) but have had far too many niggly and phantom faults (the type that happen three times then refuse to repeat at the garage) to ever want a Ford again.

Exactly. There is a bit of the devil you know, but given the amount of niggly things that have gone wrong with this Ford, I just want something more reliable. Don't have the patience for constant trips to the garage any more. For the forseeable future I want to go once a year, for the MOT.