First Car: 1k budget, no idea about cars

mkdm

I've just passed my driving test today! I'm on the hunt to by my first car, I don't have that much knowledge when it comes to cars. Is 1k decent budget for a 2nd hand car. I work in film, so I will driving a lot.... what mileage shall I look for? and what year?

Thanks

worried_jim

mkdm wrote: »

I've just passed my driving test today! I'm on the hunt to by my first car, I don't have that much knowledge when it comes to cars. Is 1k decent budget for a 2nd hand car. I work in film, so I will driving a lot.... what mileage shall I look for? and what year?

Thanks

Buy on condition and service history. Japanese for reliability.

How much have you set aside for insurance?

SandraX

Dont forget when you have decided which car before you buy, check out insurance costs as they cn be vast.

Ant555

When my son passed his test and we were looking for a car we hit the Autotrader to do a few loose searches - the obvious 10 year old Toyota Aygo, Ford Ka etc Not paying too much attention at this stage to spec, colour or distance away.

Autotrader will show you the registration number of the car so you can do a quote on the comparison web sites to give you an idea of insurance (it will be a lot - minimum £100/month I would guess IF you are a young driver) I typically did the online quote clicking the option for YES I owned the vehicle so it was a true to life check.

We did this over a few days with a throw-away gmail email address and got a feel for what the insurance would be for certain cars - we found, for instance that a Corsa of whatever spec or value was almost always more expensive than expected so quickly stopped looking for Corsas.

So, my experience is check the insurance first and then settle on a couple of makes and models that you would be able to afford to insure.
THEN, start looking for the car itself - if we had gone for a cheap Corsa then we would have paid more overall in the first year as the insurance would have been so high for us.

Hope this helps.

AdrianC

A grand is getting firmly towards last-knockings territory, especially if you're thinking of buying from a trader.

Don't get hung up on anything in particular - buy based solely on condition. Do you have car-savvy friends?

Arklight

Agree with Adrian, for a grand definitely try and get one privately. A dealer will pay £400 - £500 and then you'll pay them £1000 to take it off their hands.

For what you want I would just buy on size and reliability, which would be a Japanese brand of some sort. Suzuki Swift, Nissan Micra, Toyota Aygo etc.

missile

mkdm wrote: »

I've just passed my driving test today! …. I will driving a lot....

You could be buying a lot of trouble. You might be better renting or leasing?

Arklight

In your place I would be very interested in this tasty number.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201811052139303?advertising-location=at_cars&price-to=1000&radius=1500&sort=sponsored&price-from=500&postcode=bt622hb&make=NISSAN&model=ALMERA&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&page=1

jimbo6977

usual suspects include:

suzuki alto

chevrolet/daewoo matix

kia picanto

citroen c1 / toyota aygo / peugeot107
(all of these are the same car made in the same factory with different badges stuck on at the end of the producion line.)

vw lupo/seat arosa

jimbo6977

"other" options include

honda logo
vw fox
anything made by perodua
proton savvy
subaru vivio
mazda 121 (especially the version that looks like a bowler hat)

edde

Look at cars no one has ever wanted to buy they often depreciate a lot.

1k is cheap car teriatory your buying a reasonable risk of failures its not much over bangernomics.