Buying a car

[ninjabeaver]

Me and my missus changed her Corsa B for a Corsa C a few years ago. Got £1000 for her old L reg one and picked up a 3 month ex-demo 1.4 SRi for 2/3rds of the on the road price. Plenty of bargains out there, but, from personal experience I'd only go to main dealers to check out brochures etc and then hunt around for a nearly new example.


Auto Trader UK - Buy & Sell New & Used Cars, Car Loans, Car Insurance

Parker's

For doing research.

[VaVaVoom]

We were also looking at a 3 year old ford focus, but again the interest over 5 years was crazy, of course buying it out right would be the better option but we can't afford that as were saving for a house (which is another story)

Our problem currently is that the places we have spoken at, they will tell us one thing and the next moment tell us something totally different.

We tried asking questions but not really sure what to ask. Any advice on the things info we need to get out of them, such as warranty info, interest, etc.

If i was buying a PC i would be fine but i have no clue when it comes to cars.

I used to sell cars in a previous life and would seriously recommend against 5 Year finance. While it's great for keeping the monthly payments down you'll be in negative equity on the car for at least 3 years. As for new, slightly used and used I'd say it would depend on the car.

Some of the demonstrators I used to drive where thrashed more times than I can remember If it's Japanese it can normally take it, French/Spanish less so!

Good luck, hope you find a good'un

[j17sparky]

If you are willing to look around and wait you can get almost any car for only a few K. My mate got a 52 reg Celica for £2800 - cant say fairer than that imo

And remember just because its nearly new doesnt mean its any better than a 20 year old car. My car is 15years old and i would put it up against the vast majority of 5year old cars, because it has been looked after.

[tomscaper]

Thanks everyone for the advice, have a lot of things to think about now, hopefully get something this week.

[broc]

1) Try to secure your finance first, avoid dealer finance if at all possible. Look around at dealers & get an idea of the sort of sums you need and then try and get the money sorted before you go shopping. Zero % finance is normally quoted on new car 'list' price & nobody should ever pay full price, unless it's for a Porsche
Dealers often quote flat rate finance, with compound interest the APR is usually double! If using dealer finance, watch out for admin fees and 'final' payments, these can often add significantly to the cost.

2) Set your budget limit before setting foot in the dealers, and stick to it. Don't be talked into spending more than you can afford. Don't tell the dealer what your limit is, or how much per month you can afford if using HP/Dealer finance. When negotiating, let the dealer do the talking, make them work for your business; don't show them how keen you are on any particular car & make sure the salesman knows you are looking elsewhere. Be prepared for the salesman to wince when you say what price you want, if they don't you are not aiming low enough! Don't be swayed either by him going off to discuss the price you want with his salesmanager , that's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Chances are they will be having a cup of coffee & discussing last nights TV...... Tell the salesman what price you want & then shut up! If they don't agree be prepared to get up & walk away, saying very little. If they want your business they will call you back. Most dealerships have targets & quotas, the closer to month/quarter end they are the more desperate thay can become, especially if they are only a few sales short of their numbers.

3) Avoid brand-new. If you can, be flexible in your choice of brand/model/colour/specification. There are still a lot of dealers & manufacturers who pre-register vehicles to maintain their 'share' of the market. For example, last November I bought a pre-registered Seat AlteaXL 2.0 TDi that was almost 8 months old and had only 10 miles on the clock for about 70% list price. With the car I got a full tank of fuel, carpet mats and paintwork/upholstery treatment thrown in as part of the deal.

4) Dealers are in general far keener to throw in 'extras' than drop their price so bargain on price without extras, agree on the price and then start again by asking for extras like full tank of fuel, carpet mats, mudflaps etc

5) Watch out for fuel consumption & emission levels. The Govt recently announced they were hiking the road tax for 'dirty' cars and dropping it for 'clean' cars, in 2010 there is a substantial hike in the pipeline for 'gas guzzlers' and even some fairly modest cars will be caught.

[PeterW]

5) Watch out for fuel consumption & emission levels. The Govt recently announced they were hiking the road tax for 'dirty' cars and dropping it for 'clean' cars, in 2010 there is a substantial hike in the pipeline for 'gas guzzlers' and even some fairly modest cars will be caught.

Tell me about it, ours is going from £180 to £210 I think, I'm not sure if that is good or bad to be honest.

[flyinghaggis]

Most important bit of advice is "only buy half of what you can afford" - in todays climate it is too easy to get overcome by payments. Selling a car as a distressed seller WILL hit you hard.

QFT! Nothing can put you in debt like taking out a large loan on a car then finding you need to sell if for whatever reason in a year or two. Often the sale of the car won't make much of a dent in your loan which risks putting you in serious negative equity!

The moral of the story is never spend more than you can afford and if you think you may not keep the car long enough to pay off the loan consider whether loaning that amount of cash is really necessary.

Plus don't get me started on road tax increases! Mine's up from £205 > £265 or something similar IIRC

[LeeH]

Another vote for not buying new from me.

A learned friend of mine once said "if garages were any good at lending money, they'd be banks". Go to a financial institution if you want to buy money.

Have a think about what you actually want to buy and what else you could do with the money - do you really need a silver dash, automatic lights etc and will these add any value when you come to sell it? £500 on aircon is a holiday somewhere....

You'll always lose money on cars though.

I've always driven French but currently also have a Mazda. The difference in my confidence that the Japanese car will start every time and not fall apart compared to the Citroen is huge. Actually we also have a Kia Cee'd and that is also miles ahead of the Frenchie in quality feel.

[plexer]

if garages were any good at lending money, they'd be banks

doesn't really make sense as it's not the garage itself lending you the money it is a financial institution.

Ben

[LeeH]

Point really was that you'll get a better deal buying money direct - the garage is a middleman and I'm certain will be taking a profit/commission on the finance.

You don't go to a bank to buy a car.

[plexer]

Yes but because they are on a commission from it then it can be good to get some extras on a deal you agree to their finance and then pay it off with your own from a bank etc...

Ben

[LeeH]

Well, you've got me convinced.

I'm off to Reg Vardy to open a cheque account!

[Gibbo]

I was looking for a new car the other week. Saw a nice one in the Vauxhall dealers at Wigan.

They asked how I was going to pay, I said I'd arranged a bank loan.

They said if they could match or beat the loan, would I take finance from them? I said yes, as it would allow me to get the car a few days earlier.

They showed me all the figures on screen, 24 payments of £154. Seemed all well and good.

A couple of days later when I came to sign the paperwork, it was actually 22 payments of £154 and two payments of £300 - incorporating a "initial setup admin fee" and a "final option to purchase fee". Despite trying to sweeten the deal with free tanks of petrol I told them to stick it.