Need to buy a car, know nothing about them, help!

onomatopoeia99

Chris_121 wrote: »

The MOT history seems okay on this one, but if it´s already about 10 years old would that mean i would have to look for another car in about 5 years time?

My car will be 20 years old in a few months and coming up on 140k miles. I've owned it for 15 of those years and it's my daily driver, currently parked in the office car park as like usual I drove it in this morning. It has never in those 15 years failed to get me where I'm going and I have no intention of replacing it.

So no, you won't necessarily need to replace a car when it gets to 15 years old.

GunJack

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Also bear in mind that a 207vti sport will be a fair price to insure with such a new driver. Consider the other cars mentioned above, some will also have free or very cheap tax.

Absolutely this...... wouldn't surprise me if the insurance alone took all your budget. My oldest spent his first 3 years after passing in a 2000 suzuki wagonR+ (cost £450, 16 yrs old at the time) as the insurance, car cost and a year's road tax was still lower than just the insurance on all your corsas, saxos, etc..now got 3 yrs NCD and getting shut of the suzi

Bigphil1474

OP, also worth considering if any friends or family or work colleagues are selling their motors. More likely to be honest about any issues the car has, if any, and private sales tend to be cheaper - although risks can be higher. We have an internal classifieds section at work where people often sell cars, and it's useful to know who you are buying off.

Chris_121

Yeah i looked into the insurance and was not expecting it to be so high, it was about 1k a year. Struggling to find a car, but then again I think I am just overly picky.

I have seen one other that is a bit more affordable for me, however, in it´s MOT history it has one that says "both front wish bone arm bush cracking" as an advisory, then it was not MOT´d for 2 years what does that even mean? it was fixed on the later ones, it´s plate was LM54 WMZ and it´s a Nissan Micra 1.2 16v URBIS 3dr. Is buying a car always so stressful? or am i just overthinking everything?

AdrianC

The bushes are rubber in the suspension joints - in this case, where the front bottom suspension arms hinge against the body. The rubber's there to quieten it all down and try to remove harshness. Over time, it deteriorates, and replacement on an older car is to be expected.

mollycat

Chris_121 wrote: »

Yeah i looked into the insurance and was not expecting it to be so high, it was about 1k a year. Struggling to find a car, but then again I think I am just overly picky.

I have seen one other that is a bit more affordable for me, however, in it´s MOT history it has one that says "both front wish bone arm bush cracking" as an advisory, then it was not MOT´d for 2 years what does that even mean? it was fixed on the later ones, it´s plate was LM54 WMZ and it´s a Nissan Micra 1.2 16v URBIS 3dr. Is buying a car always so stressful? or am i just overthinking everything?

There is a danager of overthinking it!!

Every single car in your price/age range will have (to the uninitiated) a scary sounding fail/repair.....google and You tube are your friend here.

Old cars need repaired/parts replaced, then they arre good to go again, usually!!

The Micra you linked to has nothing scary in it's MOT....other than it's mileage....under 30K in 15 years; that alone would make me walk away. Cars, like everything with precision moving parts benefit not suffer from regular use.....2K a year is numerous short journeys where the car wont warm up, or lengthy periods of non use standing on someone's drive.

Bizzarely, some sellers think this type of mileage on an old car is a positive and expect the buyer to pay a premium over the "usual" price.

Also, try and assess the seller....honest or shifty? How long has he owned the car; is he just flipping something he has recently boughtand found a problem with? Why is he selling, plausble reason or not? Is he a trader? Etc, etc, ect....you get the idea.

Yes, it's a minefield. Good luck.

chelseablue

I've got a 13 year old Nissan Note, its done just under 60,000 miles. It's only not started once when it needed a new battery. Great car!

I would certainly recommend Japanese cars. I had a Toyota Yaris before, 2001 plate. I bet it would still be going if my husband didn't have an accident in it and wrote it off :mad: