Buying A Car

I have a distinct aversion to Gumtree as it's often difficult to tell who is a genuine seller and who isn't. I have done OK out of eBay in the past but have never bought a car using it. I have bought several bikes though and all have been as described.

Buying a cheap car is a bit of a minefield anyway. It's years since I bought a car but my son did very well on a very nice BMW for good money using Autotrader and a private ad on there.

 

I wouldn't buy a car from a car wash of some 'dealer' who does it from the street/ his front yard.

 

I'd personally avoid websites that advertise for free, it's full of scammers and idiots. Stick to the sites on which people have to pay to advertise such as auto trader and eBay classifieds. I think it's a safer way to buy in an unsafe world.

 

All depends on what you are after, and what budget you're on.

my mate buys and sells on ebay/trader and mostly comes up ok (as @BIG M says, there is a good chance that if somebody is prepared to shell out for an add, then they are less likely to be a scammer or timewaster), but occasionally gets stung (he tends to have more wins than losses, but mostly he does it out of his addiction to cars and never makes any "real" money). He ALWAYS goes to look and test the car before buying, usually pretty early in the adverty run, and then goes and prices up what work seems to be needed.

He currently has a 57 plate Audi RS4 convertible if you're out for a beast of a car that looks like a total poser/hairdresser car?

Pete

 

A friend of mine said a long time ago, and it does need to be adjusted for inflation, that a car whether old or new will cost you £2000 per year.

My own philosophy is to buy new or nearly new and keep for a long time. I wouldn't touch an old car with a bargepole.

But then I also know someone who would buy anything as long as it was dirt, and I do mean dirt, cheap and had a long MOT.

 

Buy a >2007 Saab 93. Cheap, reliable, comfortable, safe, spacious, very solid, loaded. Dont worry about spares or servicing, theres plenty about.

VW golf went up my arse a few months back. I needed a new plastic bumper. The golf was written off. Swedes can build cars.

I have an Aero.

 

I wouldn't describe myself as a habitual pessimist however when parting with my hard earned $$$ on second hand cars I have the view that:
1) I'm buying someone else problems
2) If something doesn't feel right...avoid it
3) If it seems too good to be true....it is
Generally I expect to be fixing stuff that fails within the first few months
As said above, if people don't want to pay to advertise it , they wouldn't be the kind of folk who want to fix it before they part with it

 

I had one of the new 2003 when they first came out. Never out of the garage.

Ford, Vauxhall, Renault all have cheap accessibility to pattern parts and make old cars more viable.

 

It's always worth a look at honestjohn.co.uk to see what he has to say about the cars you have in mind. Also, you do want to narrow down to some specific models, rather than just what's offered in a price range; that way you can look at several of the same type and you will pretty quickly get to see how they vary in condition. There's a lot to be said for "one careful owner since new" because if they are selling an old car (often because dealer has offered hopeless trade-in value) it will still be cheap but should have full history, original purchase receipts, etc. There really are nice genuine people out there selling cars like that, but it sometimes takes a while to find them.

 

It's always worth a look at honestjohn.co.uk to see what he has to say about the cars you have in mind. Also, you do want to narrow down to some specific models, rather than just what's offered in a price range; that way you can look at several of the same type and you will pretty quickly get to see how they vary in condition. There's a lot to be said for "one careful owner since new" because if they are selling an old car (often because dealer has offered hopeless trade-in value) it will still be cheap but should have full history, original purchase receipts, etc. There really are nice genuine people out there selling cars like that, but it sometimes takes a while to find them.

 

Is it really any different to buying a bike?

 

Low millage is not always great. My Audi A3 did 110k mls in 5 years with me and the brakes were never touched. 2 1/2 years and 30k mls on my Focus and I needed new discs. Audi used to just go up and down the motorway but the Focus is just run about town.

 

In essence no not really, however most components that would shows signs of wear are easy to look at, discs pads, suspension, tyres, chain and sprockets. Start up a bike you will see it smoke.... Cars are hidden underneath a shiny body so unless you are prepared to crawl around on the floor its easy to buy a shit box...A lad I work with bought a real lemon not a few weeks ago, rotten brake lines, buggered wheel bearings

 

I meant in essence of type of person selling via gumtree or paid ad

 

My bad

 

Personally I always go for low mileage and as few owners as possible. My son bought a 10 year old golf from AT last year with 42k miles and 2 owners..the engine bay and inside were mint but the outside had clearly been tarted up. It's proved to be a great car........so far.

It was funny, the guy was selling cars off his drive, here we go I thought, he was about 70 and been in the trade all his life, he clearly had the sales patter, had all the answers. He then opened the garage doors and it was full of Ducati memorabilia. He owned a 916 SP and had loads of great photos of him racing with John Hackett and a few others. I had many happy hours chatting to him, it just shows, you never know what's behind the ad.

 

Buy a Toyota. Doesn't matter which one.