Need advice buying first car please. No idea what I am doing

mollycat

JP2019 wrote: »

Thanks for this everybody! So nerve wracking buying a first car, feel so out of my comfort zone here.

I am viewing a car on Friday. Can I get some advice on exactly what to ask for from the current owner if I choose to buy and anything to ‘look out for’ ?

Thank you

As well as what AdrianC says, try and suss out the seller as well as the car.

Honest? Lots of info in the advert or very little hoping you don't ask pertinent questions that he is obliged to answer truthfully?

A red flag for me is "sorry mate, don't know about that, I'm not a mechanic", last time I heard this was in response to "any oil or coolant leaks you're aware of"?

Reason for sale? This is a biggie for me; every car at £500-£1000 is being sold, (or traded to a dealer) for a reason.

Some reasons are "good", (company car now being provided, old person retiring from driving, person travelling further due to job change needs a diesel/more motorway friendly car, expanding family needs bigger car etc, etc)

Some reasons are "bad" and seller may be reluctant to disclose, (intermittent fault, expensive bills coming, MOT due, percieved "too high" mileage, bad fuel economy etc, etc)

Not all "bad" reasons are dealbreakers, as long as you are aware of them (eg "high" mileage if you yourself are not going to add much mileage), and can be good negotiating points.

As others have said, doing this for the 1st time will be easier if you take someone along that has even a wee bit of car buying experience.

Do you work? Any colleagues have a partner/friend that could assist? If they like cars it's kind of a fun thing for them to do.

Ramble over

building_with_lego

I found this list useful when buying my car: it explains in the page what to look for, then you can print the ticklist and work through everything.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/buying-and-selling-guides/buying-a-used-car/

And printable ticklist: https://www.rac.co.uk/pdfs/drive/inspection-checklist.pdf

silverwhistle

AdrianC wrote: »

For a grand, you want to be looking at unloved things. Polos, Jazzes and the like have a rep for being good, so are expensive condition-for-condition.

My first car was a £100 banger back in the 80s, and bought on exactly this premise. It didn't have all the benefits even a old car would have today but I had it for 10 months and sold it for £70, so I was happy enough and it was my next door neighbour who bought it!


I've never bought from a dealer, my dad 3 times and the rest privately including in a foreign country. There was a mechanic friend who drank in my regular bar who vetted it and the car was being sold by a barmaid at another of my haunts!



Take someone who knows more than you do, and go with your instincts too, as well as listening, as pointed out above. My current 10 year old car was bought privately from a lass who was off travelling and it's been no problem in the 6 years I've had it.

AdrianC

Motspam.spam wrote: »

MOT history is also useful for getting a sense of how well a vehicle has been treated. There are many about and if you don't mind, I'll shamelessly plug mine

Well, at least you're an honest spammer.

Why would anybody bother to do anything but go straight to the horse's mouth?
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

19lottie82

A very important thing to look for is a service history. A cat should be serviced every 12 months or 10,000 miles (whatever comes first).

The owner should have a book that is stamped by a garage every time the car has been serviced. You should look for a full service history, or as close to it as possible. It shows the car has been taken care of.

If there is no service history (don’t believe a seller if they say there is a history but they’ve lost the book, unless they have receipts), or the car hasn’t been serviced for a few years, then walk away.

LandyAndy

19lottie82 wrote: »

A very important thing to look for is a service history. A cat should be serviced every 12 months or 10,000 miles (whatever comes first).

The owner should have a book that is stamped by a garage every time the car has been serviced. You should look for a full service history, or as close to it as possible. It shows the car has been taken care of.

If there is no service history (don’t believe a seller if they say there is a history but they’ve lost the book, unless they have receipts), or the car hasn’t been serviced for a few years, then walk away.

Depends on the manufacturer.
Mazda (and probably others) don't have service books. The dealer prints out a complete new service history for you from their records every time the vehicle is serviced.

Mojisola

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Whatever you do don’t commit to anything until you get an insurance quote.

This is very important - there's no point buying a car that you can't afford to insure.

gozaimasu

mollycat wrote: »

I prefer Gumtree to Autotrader.

I don't. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8222087.stm

Mistral001

When I look at a car that I am thinking of buying, I take the attitude of "ask no questions and then you will be told no lies".

Asking whether there is this or that problem will give you an answer which might or might not based on reality. Find out for yourself. If you want to know whether the car burns any oil, then get the owner to start the car and look for dark smoke coming out the exhaust pipe. If you want know if the air con or radio works, then switch them and try them out, it only takes a few seconds.

19lottie82

LandyAndy wrote: »

Depends on the manufacturer.
Mazda (and probably others) don't have service books. The dealer prints out a complete new service history for you from their records every time the vehicle is serviced.

That is a relatively new process. For the OPs budget, the car should have a service book.