Thinking about passing my 12 year old Renault Clio on to my son when he passes his test. Need to replace it with another cheap run around that I can drive for a couple of years and then pass on to my younger son. I do around 3000 miles a year if that. Budget max £2000
Cars bore the pants off me so thought I would start my research by asking those of you more interested in them than me what you would recommend. Is it better to buy older with lower mileage or as new as I can get with higher mileage?
My two pence worth:
Buy on condition, not age.
Check out the seller as much as the car. Ask loads of questions by email (you have it in black and white if it turns out they're dis-honest) and then again in person, see if you can trip them up. If you get a bad vibe, walk away.
If your budget is £2,000, buy something for around £1,500 and then you've got a 'margin of error' for any unexpected repairs or servicing it might need.
Google the seller's name and number, so many sharks about these days.
Everyone will have an opinion of what is or isn't a good car, to the extent it's almost impossible to buy one that someone doesn't have a tale of woe about. We're all different, I cannot abide VW/Audi stuff as the ones I've had have been very poor, other people rave about them.
Take someone with you, even if they don't know about cars. My daughter was 8 years old when she found problems I hadn't spotted (rust and dents) and check every single last bit of the car over and don't forget to do an HPi check.