Buying a Used Car

[Mrs E Blackadder]

I'm wondering if anyone could offer me any advice or tell me of their own experiences about buying a new car.

 

I may have to go and get my self a second hand car, and would rather use a garage of some kind as I feel there is more chance of sorting things out if something is wrong. I won't have a big budget, but with nothing to part exchange it would be good to know things like how much I can reasonably expect to get the price of the car reduced by with no part exchange, and that kind of thing.

 

Any advice gratefully received, especially if it will help me when the time comes to look for something not too expensive but as good as I can find (if you see what I mean)

 

Cheers,

 

Mrs B.

[rebel11]

Hi Mrs

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_usedtips.html

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/buying-advice.html

[scaniaman]

What reduction without a trade in story.My friend and i both phoned Arnold Clark about the same car, giving the same story about no trade in and pay in cash.I was offered £100 reduction on a £11,000 car and my friend offered £500 off. All within the space of 3 days.???????????

[SCARS]

and would rather use a garage of some kind as I feel there is more chance of sorting things out if something is wrong.

Where possible always buy from a local dealer, ask around your friends, and collegues as to which local dealers have been going for a long time, and which ones have a good reputation.

Reputation is important to most garages, usually the medium sized independents are the best bet 30-100 cars, as they are big enough to absorb warranty issues, and still small enough to care.

 

how much I can reasonably expect to get the price of the car reduced by with no part exchange, and that kind of thing.

There is no set figure for this, it will depend from car to car, and customer to customer, the dealership will of course try to get as close to the asking price as possible which is a resonable thing to do, however the best way to see if its a fair price is to look at other cars on the market of similar ilk and compare the value. If you don't like the offer, you don't have to buy it.

 

Avoid buying any car that has a minimum part exchange deal, or where the dealer is offering 0% finance on that car, they will be on cars rigged to absorb the extra cost of offering that deal.

 

You can also check the price of various car models through the pricing guides on the internet, most dealers will use either the CAP guide, or Glass's Guide. The retail Parkers/Which guide you can buy in the shops is often VERY inacurate. As with anything these are GUIDES, and not set in stone. You can find one powered by CAP on the Autotrader site, and one directly from Glass's at their .co.uk site. (sorry can't direct link due to postcount)

 

 

 

Ultimately a car is worth the price you are happy to pay for it.

Its worth doing both valuations as they can often be quite different.

[gbjadyy]

go on the autotrader website and lookup the cars you like and maybe print some off with there details and pricing and that way a garage will possible at least try and price match for you if they want a sale , cant give advise on which garage though as there are so many but steer clear of places like carcraft or similar as although you would think it, there business really lies in credit agreemants rather than actual car sales ( thats where they make there money and the consumer pays high for it), family run firms are usually quite good as there more likely to listen if problems arise but any credit agreements should be scrutinised before siging so you understand exactly how much you pay back ( dont let the window price or monthly payment fool you ) its also good to sign credit agreements by post and not at the garage itself because signing the deal at the garage makes you lose some of your rights, if you find a car you like also find out how long they have had the car for sale ( if its been there sometime its because nobody wants it generally and you have to ask yourself why dont they want it), also ask for all paperwork relating to the car so you can see what work has been done to it and at what mileages, while you have the paperwork maybe even take a sneak at the name and address of the last owner on the log book and then after all this DONT commit to anything no matter how good the salesman seems or tell u someone else is coming to look, go home and think for a few hours first as its easy to get caught in the moment of a nice looking car with a salesman telling every reason why you should have that car! ,

and while your at haome you can take 5 mins to find the number of previous owner and then try calling them to ask there opion of the car, and after all this you can even ask AA or RAC to have an inpection carried out on your behalf ( they do charge though) even if you dont want to have an inspection done you can tell the salesman that you do just so you can see his reaction ( if its a bad car he might try and say its not needed or they will inspect it for you for free etc) if the car is a good one he would simply say he has no problem with any inspection being carried out on your behalf, one little trick i alsways say to people is ask if you can have tthe car for a short time ( half hour or so, just like a road test) and then take it round the corner to the next nearest workshop and ask them if they can put car on ramp and give it quick look over for you , most cases it would be free or maybe a small drink for the guys, that way you would have in independant view on the car