Where to buy used car?

Yazmina

I need a used super mini/small hatchback. 3-5 years old for going to the supermarket and socialising. What are the pros and cons of a big and national dealer:

http://https://www.petervardy.com/item/73863/VAUXHALL/CORSA-HATCHBACK-SPECIAL-E.html

versus small and local?
http://https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201709239589044?fuel-type=Petrol&radius=50&maximum-badge-engine-size=1.4&seller-type=trade&postcode=sm14eq&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&maximum-mileage=50000&sort=price-asc&price-from=3000&year-from=2011&price-to=5000&transmission=Manual&advertising-location=at_cars&page=1

Thanks.

System

More likely to get joy getting faults fixed with large dealer than someone who trades from their drive.

wgl2014

Why do you go to the supermarket to socialise?

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

knightstyle

But neither of those cars is within your brief!
For an under 5 year old car I would go for local garage, just make sure you see an HPI check and go to the MOT website to see milage history and any advisories.

House_Martin

Personally I can recommend ex motobility motors. They all nearly are super low mileages for three year old cars. Mine had less than 3000 miles and was around half price of new. CEJ3000 is a website of a motobility dealer in Doncaster who has a good reputation.

Yazmina

knightstyle wrote: »

But neither of those cars is within your brief!

The links were meant to be examples of different types of dealers, sorry for any confusion.

I guess I'd pay more at one of the big dealerships for the after care, but as long as I do the online checks and AA/RAC mechanical check I could get something decent elsewhere. Will check out ex motobility vehicles as well.

Cheers.

DoaM

House_Martin wrote: »

Personally I can recommend ex motobility motors. They all nearly are super low mileages for three year old cars. Mine had less than 3000 miles and was around half price of new.

That's not always a good thing ... depending on the car it could be a very bad thing.

Yazmina

Just bumping my own thread as I'm still on where to go for a 3-5 year old Corsa for no more than £4500, max 40,000 miles. There are loads out there but when I look closer at the dealer I'm finding:

> no landline, on a mobile number and a hotmail address.
> dealer doesn't exist on Companies House online
> dealer is over 100 miles away
> dealer nowhere to be found on Google Street view or is there but looks odd
> dealer appears to be selling from the driveway of a large house.

My hubby says that selling card from a driveway is legit, but I'm not comfortable with it.

If I go to Car Giant, Peter Vardy Car World or even some local (Greater London) dealers I'm looking at spending £1000-1500 more than I want to spend for a car that will spend most of it's time sitting outside the house.

Any (more) advice please? Ta.

BeenThroughItAll

Yazmina wrote: »

Just bumping my own thread as I'm still on where to go for a 3-5 year old Corsa for no more than £4500. There are loads out there but when I look closer at the dealer I'm finding:

> no landline, on a mobile number and a hotmail address.
> dealer doesn't exist on Companies House online
> dealer is over 100 miles away
> dealer nowhere to be found on Google Street view or is there but looks odd
> dealer appears to be selling from the driveway of a large house.

My hubby says that selling card from a driveway is legit, but I'm not comfortable with it.

If I go to Car Giant, Peter Vardy Car World or even some local (Greater London) dealers I'm looking at spending £1000-1500 more than I want to spend for a car that will spend most of it's time sitting outside the house.

Any (more) advice please? Ta.

Forget dealers, and buy privately.

Yazmina

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Forget dealers, and buy privately.

Isn't that an even bigger can of worms?

jblessing

You'll probably pay £1k less privately. Put the difference towards a mechanic inspection before sale and/or a warranty (though I have no idea if they are worth the paper they are printed on), or towards any repairs. You may have more protection buying from a legitimate dealer but getting anything resolved if there is an issue is another matter entirely