With my test hopefully being booked next month, I'm thinking seriously about buying a car. However I can't afford overly too much, and the general consensus from people I’ve spoken to, has generally been, not to spend more than £500 - £600 on a first car, as apparently this will help keep insurance costs down, and also if you prang it (not that I will, I’m a careful driver apparently), it's no great loss. To get a car with this sort of money, it seems that buying privately is the only viable option. With this in mind, I’ve been looking on the autotrader website, scanning local ad's and such for seeing what I can get, and I’ve seen some rather tempting deals. However, before biting the bullet, and actually sorting out the process of going to look at / buying a car, there's a couple things I'd like to know. - Do you guys have any experience of buying privately, if so, how did it go, both in the good and bad sense - What do I need to look for, before parting with my hard earned cash? Any other comments are appreciated, I’m looking for all the information that I can get. Thanks in advance
If you find one you like, no matter what, talk to the owner about taking it to a mechanic for a lookover before you buy. If the owner gives you a hard time, then try to make it as convenient as possible - if he/she still refuses, then you know that something's might be a problem to begin with. But that's like the first way to filter out a bad deal. After the mechanic looks over the car then you can get a really clear picture of what you're buying - and maybe get some bargaining room with the owner. By the way, if you've got a decent relationship with a local mechanic, then the shop might actually do it for free - especially if they find something wrong, which means they might see that car again
The RAC do test like that. Proberly cost mroe than going to an average garage thou. trying checking otu google there a couple of guides out there. Look out for Signs of accident damaged such as ill fitting doors, odd body lines, check the front chaissis work when youve go the bonnet open check for illregular lines in the parts and chech to see if any of the paint looks older/newer than other parts of the car. Check for excess oil leaking. Check for maynaise in under the oil cap(do this both before and after haveing a test drive). when the engine cold take off the raditor cap is there a pressure realise- these are all signs of a blown head gasket Take it for a test dirve or at least get someone who can take drive to take it for one. Listen for odd noises check there no smoke under accelertion(un less its an older dielels where a little bit of smoke is fine) Ussally you cna find details about buyign secound car from owner sites they'll be able to inform you about where the common weakness are in that perticular model you looking at.
if you find something you like the look of, spend a few hours googling for it and read anything you can thats usefull. so parkers for general info, and any owners clubs websites, you shouldbe able to join them and ask questions on whaty to look for (or they may have a buying guide already posted) you can find some dealers who soley deal in cars under £1000, however dont expect them to be that helpfull, one place around here charged a £20 refundable deposit to get the keys and wont let you take a test drive. basically, go in with your eyes open and with as much info on that paticular car as possible
I would bet almost everyone here who owns a car has bought one privately at least once. A huuuuge percentage of the 2nd hand market is private sale. Your best bet is to research common faults with whatever you're looking at and either buy one that has had most of them fixed recently or factor in some repairs to the cost of the car. Depending on the car look for owners clubs (as in websites) as they're usually absolute gems for finding out about the common faults etc - and also for buying a car you want from a member Although thinking about it if you're only spending 500-600 quid you're essentially participating in bangernomics - you might as well pick up an example that has 12 months MOT and if it doesn't pass again in 12 months, just buy another - the cost of repairs on such cheap cars usually outweighs the cost of a replacement. 500 quid isn't a lot to lose on a car over 18 months, say The usual applies though - look for oil leaks, blue smoke, suspension rattles, slipping clutch, rust, non existant brakes blah blah blah - but then some of that only really applies to much older cars (10 years old+) rather than more recent cars (4 years old, say). It really boils down to the car and age of car that you're looking at. Out of interest, what are you looking at?
If you go for something like a mark3 astra, which you can easily get hold of for that budget, remember that they do rot, but they rot in the wheel arches first, so if the arches are good then its likely that the rest of the chassis is too. The petrol engines will go forever and are cheap to maintain, as are the isuzu diesel units, but the vauxhall diesel engines are prone to headgasket problems - walk away from these. Isuzu (good engine): Vauxhall diesel (poor engine):
I had a MK3 Astra as my first car, it was a 1.4 Petrol. I would advise if you are thinking of going this route DO NOT GET THE 1.4 OR LARGER! The insurance for these is Astronomical, the cheapest for my first year with an R-Reg 1.4 was £1200 but this was 3 years ago now so they may be cheaper. ::edit:: Also the arches rot out pretty fast, the rear wiper hole rots out and the bonnet rots out.
I've only ever bought two of my previous cars privately. Age old advice - Research the car model for known common faults and the signs to look out for. View cars in broad daylight. Starting a car from cold when viewing is a must - if it's warmed-up when you get there it's very likely to have a problem. If you're not sure what to look out for, have a mechanic/RAC/AA check carried out. Take somebody you trust along for their opinion.
This is a pretty useful thread, mum and i have been looking on autotrader for cars. Andy, have a look for an oldish VW Polo, you might be lucky and find one thats under trade, and not private. Thats what mum and I are doing, but all i can say is keep looking, and find several you like the look off, because you may find 2, but one is a dud, but as you found a second, you should then be lucky with that. Sam
Out of curiosity where abouts do you life, if your in Northern Ireland I could really help you out maybe. Place all the adds in ads4free and the Belfast Telegraph so we get first pic on them, I say go for a Peugeot 106 or something thats what Im going for or maybe go for a Austin Mini to be retarded
Also viewing a car after it has rained is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it makes it often look better than it is and tends to make you overlook simple things such as excessive bodywork rust, but on the other hand it allows you to check for leaks and damp.
I live near Chichester in the UK, so unfortunately, nowhere near Ireland, which is a pity, because I'm after some real Guinness. Anywho... I'm looking at any small hatch, although ideally a Ford Fiesta / Citroen Saxo / Peugeot 106, but will consider most other cars, as long as the engine isn't over 1.2, as insurance is going to be a bitch, and I don't really need anything more powerful. Polo's are nice cars, as with any VW, it's just a case of not seeing all that many for sale. There was one locally a few weeks back, and I know the mechanic who was selling it, however it was an automatic, and I’d rather not drive an automatic if I can avoid it. If you’re interested, I can see if it's still available if you like?
Have it inspected by a certified mechanic buy the car's accident/service history records online (i.e.: carfax)
^^ What they said! (I'm a part-trained mechanic btw) If the car doesn't have service history, (especially evidence of cam-belt and head gasket changes) then remember to ask the seller what they know. - If they've owned it for more than 5 years, then it's likely that both of those jobs should have been done, unless they've done very few miles. If you're planning on keeping the car as long as it 'goes', then a pre-purchase inspection is a must. - If I spent £500-600 on anything I'd want to know it was OK. (If you'd be happy if it lasted a year, then ignore this!) So, unless you have a friendly (NON ripoff) mechanic, then use RAC for the inspection - they've got nothing to gain by lying about condition.
Just done a very quick search for you brooxy, must say its from my Post COde, but: VW Polo 1.3 3dr Or VW Polo 1.0 3dr Sorry, i like VW and so i tend to really only look at VW, plus i know someone who works at my local VW dealer Sam
