buying car for first time

silvercar

Buying a car for new driver. Have narrowed the options to 1 litre toyota Yaris or vauxhall corsa. Both insurance group 1. budget is 3-4k. I'm guessing they will be 3-5 years old to be within budget.

Want to be sure I am getting a reliable car so intend going to a franchised dealer. No-one in family knows one end of a car from the other so need to have some comeback, though I know I'll pay for this.

Intend visiting dealerships today. If anyone has any tips please post.

Thank you.

goldspanners

dont buy the first thing you see,have a look around,visit a few dealers,when you find the car and model and level of trim you want play the dealers off against each other to get the best price.never pay the price on the windscreen.

anewman

With your budget I would not be accepting anything other than something that seems 100% in every respect - so as goldspanners says, don't rush. If you look on owners forums read through to see if there any common problems on the cars you're interested in, and make a note of checking for these and/or get an independent inspection. I think the Yaris would be a better choice than the Corsa in terms of reliability, and holding its value.

silvercar

Visited 2 dealers, both superior attitude, "nothing in your price range..."

custardy

dont just go to dealers.
look on ebay,autotrader,gumtree and adtrader etc
many rule out ebay but theres plenty of straight cars on ebay

anewman

silvercar wrote: »

Visited 2 dealers, both superior attitude, "nothing in your price range..."

I think most main dealers tend to send cars under a certain value to other smaller car sales place. This helps their forecourt looks nicer and means they get to sell the best selection of the cars they get that people trade in.

You might have to look around places that aren't main dealers.

silvercar

custardy wrote: »

dont just go to dealers.
look on ebay,autotrader,gumtree and adtrader etc
many rule out ebay but theres plenty of straight cars on ebay

Too afraid of being ripped off.

silvercar

anewman wrote: »

You might have to look around places that aren't main dealers.

But how do I sort the good from the cowboys?

Feeling really disheartened, son is now in love with the new AYGO at Toyota which wasn't part of the original plan and there is no way that one is going to appear in our price range 'cos they've only been going 2 years.

anewman

The Toyota starlet is another small Toyota which is not a bad car, my girlfriend has one. I think it is probably the earlier version of the Yaris.

As for cowboys unfortunately everyone has to put up with that possibility. If your budget is £3k I would look to get some sort of independent inspection before buying. The AA and RAC provide them I believe. Any genuine seller/dealer should have no problems with such an inspection. Also get a HPI report before agreeing to buy - there should be some discussion on these forums somewhere on how to get those cheap.

vansboy

www.honestjohn.co.uk loads help there - the forum in The Backroom - Discussion is a good place for friendly help.

You'll find more Corsas than Yaris, so better value for £$£$.

Find a local independent ESTABLISHED car sales garage, one with a reputation he doesn't want to spoil, pay a bit more than buying private, but less than main dealer!

Even better is if the garage carries out repairs as well - you'll be able to go back to the same place for service work, too.

VB

Keith

Have a look at the Toyota approved vehicles via the toyota website, there is currently 12 Yaris's for sale under 4k, all approved by Toyota. I'd suggest a trip to Mansfield for the a 2001 in Red with only 13k miles for £3999.

Again, try a search on Network Q they have 624 Corsa's listed between £3000 and £6000 so there might be a bargain amongst them.

You'll be paying more than a smaller dealer but they will be backed by normally a comprehensive check/warranty