Buying a cheap used car rant

[Drago]

You went to Far Cotton without a couple of ex-Spetznatz bodyguards? Brave man indeed.

 

[Salar]

How about this Corsa, in your price range and easy to service


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Four-sea...-quadricycle/132626447096?hash=item1ee126faf8

 

[biggs682]

Daewoo Kalos
Automatic
Sept 2003
100 000 on the clock
Mrs Colly has had it from new but seeing as l've just about retired now and am losing my van we decided to get a bigger vehicle between us.

Got to be manual gearbox and ideally local ie 15 mile max from nn8 postcode

 

[biggs682]

You went to Far Cotton without a couple of ex-Spetznatz bodyguards? Brave man indeed.

Yep , mind you i had the other half with me

 

[biggs682]

One of the reasons I lash out on newish cars is to avoid - generally - the secondhand seller aggro.

For the OP's relatively modest budget I wouldn't worry too much about the transaction.

Sure, you don't want to be robbed or properly ripped off, but for a £500 car it's not worth going to a lot of trouble to establish the seller's background.

Agree re background history

Just had a text confirmation from the guy we are meeting lunch time that he works at the place we are meeting so that's good

As normal i will give it a once over and a min of 5 miles road test at various speed's and road conditions with my ears open for noises and eyes open for any other issue's whilst the other half checks the important things like paperwork

well we waited 20 mins and he failed to show only to ring when on way back to work !!!

 

[Drago]

What about autotrader?

 

[Electric_Andy]

^^ Yes Auto trader is still quite popular with some more traditional folk who aren't knowledgeable or confident with Gumtree or Ebay. What I'm saying is, dodgy people tend to use Gumtree more because it's free and less "official"

 

[Oldbloke]

How about this Corsa, in your price range and easy to service


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Four-sea...-quadricycle/132626447096?hash=item1ee126faf8

Mad

 

[mustang1]

Just had a text confirmation from the guy we are meeting lunch time that he works at the place we are meeting so that's good

As normal i will give it a once over and a min of 5 miles road test at various speed's and road conditions with my ears open for noises and eyes open for any other issue's whilst the other half checks the important things like paperwork

Just a quick side track: i test drove a new Hyundai the other day and the sales guy just wouldn't shut his trap. On and on he went. I figured he was selling all the features for the car and keeping my mind off the things that were no good. I did not buy.

 

[mustang1]

That's one of my main gripes about buying cars. Sellers using words like mint or perfect. No car that has driven any sort of mileage is mint. Mint to me is concourse or showroom standard. Back when I was a teenager and in my early twenties, when I'd no kids and a thing called spare time, I would spend every Saturday detailing my car. They weren't worth a lot but keeping them gleaming meant they always seemed nicer than what they were. When I sold on my first car, a 4 door 106, the dealers valet guy bought it as it was so well kept. Still, I wouldn't have described it even then as mint.

I love a bargain like the next guy, but sometimes it is worth paying a reputable dealer that bit extra. Another thing I'd do, is find the top spec of whatever car you're looking, the one with all the possible optional extras. My thinking is that if someone walks into a showroom and spends say 4k more on the same looking car, then chances are they know what they're looking for and may take more care of it as opposed to someone who just buys the base model to rip around in for a few years to get them from a to b.

Sometimes if I'm looking to keep a car outside it's warranty period, I will buy a lower spec model as I figure there are less things to go wrong .

 

[smokeysmoo]

Ask at some local main dealers about their trade in stock. If a car's too old to retail off the pitch it just goes to auction where they roll the dice on price.

If they've got what you want and can cover their trade in allowance thus avoiding auction fees I'm sure they'd want a deal.

Bear in mind though most trade ins tend to be in need of an MOT and service, and may well have failed an MOT recently prompting the last owner to get shut.

 

[screenman]

Ask at some local main dealers about their trade in stock. If a car's too old to retail off the pitch it just goes to auction where they roll the dice on price.

If they've got what you want and can cover their trade in allowance thus avoiding auction fees I'm sure they'd want a deal.

Bear in mind though most trade ins tend to be in need of an MOT and service, and may well have failed an MOT recently prompting the last owner to get shut.

That never happens nowadays, even staff cannot get their hands on those cars.

 

[classic33]

How about this Corsa, in your price range and easy to service


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Four-sea...-quadricycle/132626447096?hash=item1ee126faf8

He'll have fun with that.

 

[smokeysmoo]

That never happens nowadays, even staff cannot get their hands on those cars.

Ah ok, glad to say I've been out of the trade for 5 years now, sounds like times have changed.

 

[Saluki]

I got my car by going onto the my local facebook page and putting up a post saying that I was looking for a car to commute to work with, needed to be reliable and that I was on a bit of a budget due to being on minimum wage. I live in a really strong community spirited area.

I got offered a 1.6 Astra, on a T plate, 82k on the clock, genuine mileage as have FSH, MOT'd to the end of July and it's bloody marvellous. I gave £425 for it and utterly delighted with the thing.
I don't much like Facebook but it does have it's uses. Possibly worth a punt on there.