Used Car - "Some History"

happy_money

Hi Everyone!
I'm currently trying to find a decent, reliable cheap used car to last me a couple of years as I try and get out of debt and pull together some savings.
I have literally no experience/knowledge in cars so would really appreciate any advice.
I've seen a car being sold on Facebook that has been listed as having "some early history with it"
What should I be asking the owner about that, if indeed it is anything to be concerned about?
And just in general, what kind of things should I be looking for when buying a used car - pros and cons, i.e., Mileage/years old/etc
Thank you!

Aylesbury_Duck

In the words of Alan Partridge: "That sounds disconcertingly vague."

I'll leave the car experts to provide more detailed advice but I'd be wary of buying from Facebook and "some early history" rings all sorts of alarm bells.  It could mean anything.  Early history of trouble (unlikely), a service record up to a certain point and nothing since (which would be my guess).

What's your budget?  If you're scratching around at the few hundred to couple of grand mark then anything's a gamble if you don't know your way around cars.  Anything more than that and I definitely wouldn't be buying from Facebook.

Goudy

This really is a difficult one, service history, bills for repairs, receipts for parts are all evidence the car may have been cared for, though that isn't the complete story of it, it just helps build up a picture of it's life and if you're familiar with cars and this model you can often use it to see if big jobs like clutches, cam belts etc have had attention when they should/needed it.

With an older car, the more of it the better really.

This "some early history" quote sounds like a dealer, they've bought the car in from perhaps an auction and the only thing with it is the service book with a few stamps in it, the rest of the service paperwork is missing.

Have you someone that can help you that has more knowledge?

Do you have family, friends, colleagues or neighbours that might be selling a car?

Got an idea of what car? Try looking on the owners forums, usually a good place to find a cared for car.

There is an online .Govt site here https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history 

With the reg number you can look back at a lot of it's old MOT tests.

This should give you an idea if it's state when it's turned up for a test.

Apart from looking out for the obvious major problems, cars that tend to repeatedly fail on silly things like worn tyres, blown bulbs etc show the previous onwer/s haven't really been on the ball caring for it as well.

You always expect something in it's MOT history, but this site can give you a feel of the car.

Watch out for rust problems,leaks, brake issues, regular problems with the same parts, advisories that show up again 12 months later.

Quite often with a really cheap car, you might decide to look at it as a disposable tool.

So you could buy something with a lengthy MOT that runs reasonably well, good tyres, brakes, clutch etc for a few hundred and just run it until it goes bang. This might be better than spending more and having so much invested if it does go wrong, you'll feel pressure to spend out and get it fixed.

happy_money

Aylesbury_Duck said:

In the words of Alan Partridge: "That sounds disconcertingly vague."

I'll leave the car experts to provide more detailed advice but I'd be wary of buying from Facebook and "some early history" rings all sorts of alarm bells.  It could mean anything.  Early history of trouble (unlikely), a service record up to a certain point and nothing since (which would be my guess).

What's your budget?  If you're scratching around at the few hundred to couple of grand mark then anything's a gamble if you don't know your way around cars.  Anything more than that and I definitely wouldn't be buying from Facebook.

Thank you! I only have a couple of thousand max for a car at the moment.  I'd rather buy a cheap second hand car outright than to lease a brand new one. I think you are right though - I'll have a look around second hand car dealers in my area instead of Facebook as I son't know much about cars!

happy_money

Goudy said:

This really is a difficult one, service history, bills for repairs, receipts for parts are all evidence the car may have been cared for, though that isn't the complete story of it, it just helps build up a picture of it's life and if you're familiar with cars and this model you can often use it to see if big jobs like clutches, cam belts etc have had attention when they should/needed it.

With an older car, the more of it the better really.

This "some early history" quote sounds like a dealer, they've bought the car in from perhaps an auction and the only thing with it is the service book with a few stamps in it, the rest of the service paperwork is missing.

Have you someone that can help you that has more knowledge?

Do you have family, friends, colleagues or neighbours that might be selling a car?

Got an idea of what car? Try looking on the owners forums, usually a good place to find a cared for car.

There is an online .Govt site here https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history 

With the reg number you can look back at a lot of it's old MOT tests.

This should give you an idea if it's state when it's turned up for a test.

Apart from looking out for the obvious major problems, cars that tend to repeatedly fail on silly things like worn tyres, blown bulbs etc show the previous onwer/s haven't really been on the ball caring for it as well.

You always expect something in it's MOT history, but this site can give you a feel of the car.

Watch out for rust problems,leaks, brake issues, regular problems with the same parts, advisories that show up again 12 months later.

Quite often with a really cheap car, you might decide to look at it as a disposable tool.

So you could buy something with a lengthy MOT that runs reasonably well, good tyres, brakes, clutch etc for a few hundred and just run it until it goes bang. This might be better than spending more and having so much invested if it does go wrong, you'll feel pressure to spend out and get it fixed.

Wow thank you so much for your detailed response - much appreciated!
I had a look on the MOT site and that particular car seemed to fail MOTs regularly over the last few years. Decided to give it a miss!

No one I know really knows much about cars and the advice I was given when I asked those that did was to not buy a cheap second hand car outright but to go down the leasing route.   So left me feeling conflicted about the best way to go about getting a car.

I think I will need to spend the weekend at some car dealerships and getting a feel for what car I would like and rough cost I'm looking at first

AdrianC

happy_money said:

I've seen a car being sold on Facebook that has been listed as having "some early history with it"

They're going to throw in a book on the Bronze Age.

alan_d

OP, I've never bought a car on finance or had a lease, and managed 27 years reliable motoring so far, so don't feel you NEED to go new to get reliability.
Personally, with your budget I would NOT buy from a used car dealer - remember they need to make a profit, and (usually) include a short warranty - these a built into the price of the car. So say £2000 spent at a dealer would get you a far better car from a private sale.
I wouldn't discount Facebook marketplace completely - from the seller's point of view there are no fees, unlike Autotrader and eBay etc, hence quite sensible to try selling there first.
As always with older/cheaper cars, buy on condition. Some recent history is preferable, to show that it's been serviced and had any critical maintenance done (eg timing belt). A few MOT fails on an older car is to be expected, really depends if the previous owner only did the minimum to get it through or kept on top of maintenance generally.
With most makes and models there are common faults to be aware of, so worth finding an appropriate FB group or forum and reading previous posts and asking for advice there also.
Good luck

happy_money

alan_d said:

OP, I've never bought a car on finance or had a lease, and managed 27 years reliable motoring so far, so don't feel you NEED to go new to get reliability.
Personally, with your budget I would NOT buy from a used car dealer - remember they need to make a profit, and (usually) include a short warranty - these a built into the price of the car. So say £2000 spent at a dealer would get you a far better car from a private sale.
I wouldn't discount Facebook marketplace completely - from the seller's point of view there are no fees, unlike Autotrader and eBay etc, hence quite sensible to try selling there first.
As always with older/cheaper cars, buy on condition. Some recent history is preferable, to show that it's been serviced and had any critical maintenance done (eg timing belt). A few MOT fails on an older car is to be expected, really depends if the previous owner only did the minimum to get it through or kept on top of maintenance generally.
With most makes and models there are common faults to be aware of, so worth finding an appropriate FB group or forum and reading previous posts and asking for advice there also.
Good luck

Thank you for your advice - much appreciated!
I think I'm going to continue to search for a reliable second hand car using some of the things you've told me I feel a little better knowing what I'm looking out for!

foxy-stoat

I would stick to buying private, make sure they are a private seller and have owed the car for a number of years and buy from the address on the V5. Check MOT online and if it hasn't failed and has very few advisories then you can assume that it was been well kept inline with the service schedule, not repaired when the MOT tester says it does.  I wouldn't be worried if the advisories were for low tyres or bulbs.  I would always do a HPI check and check the service history before agreeing to buy.

Research the make and model so you can see what the weak areas are, they all have them, and what to look out for.

You will go wrong far less than if you spend £2500 on a £1750 car from a used dealer, they would of probably got it in as a part exchange  and gave the poor sap a lot less.  

Good lucks

forgotmyname

Bought cars from small time dealers for £2k ish. Yes they will have got the car from auction and
paid less or taken as part ex etc. But sometimes you find a dealer that spotted it as a bargain and
just making a small profit on it.

With a private seller they often "think" the cars worth more because they see them on forecourts
at inflated prices. Maybe its a we can sell you a car you cannot afford just pay a small amount each
month but pay it FOREVER... due to the interest being almost as much as the payments.

Past 4 cars were all from dealers and not bought a bad one yet. Prices from £1800 - £3000.
I would not give a car with a partial history a second look. Full service history with some
receipts not a stamped book bought from ebay last week.

Mileage depends on how many you do. Low mileage use here so i can afford to buy a car
with lots of miles. I start around the 130,000 mile mark, the price drops considerably at that
point. Buyers used to think 100k was too much, but some will buy the right car at that mileage.
But once it gets to 130k its appeal decreases for most.  I add 40k to 50k to then and resell for
about half what I paid.

AdrianC

forgotmyname said:

Bought cars from small time dealers for £2k ish. Yes they will have got the car from auction and
paid less or taken as part ex etc. But sometimes you find a dealer that spotted it as a bargain and
just making a small profit on it.

I did precisely this last weekend, too.

No way could we have found similar for less privately - the closest we found privately was only £200 less, and had already sold.