Buying a used car

People will give you lots of tips op but it’s a huge amount of just luck. I had 2 cars bought outright at around 70,000 miles, checked by a mechanic and they both conked out within 2 years with expensive repairs along the way.

but I had a friend who bought an ancient polo that she had for ten years and only needed minor repairs.

You won’t get anywhere with £1k these days though.

We're still buying very old VAG cars which are fine but if OP Is looking at modern cars then yes, I'd agree with Japanese. My parameters are normally cars which are 10-15 years old as a minimum to be fair!

We always buy used, high mileage cars with FSH, usually sticking to VW/Skoda (VAG group) as we know they've always been reliable for us.

They’re mediocre these days, if you want reliability buy Japanese, namely Toyota.

My fiancees was a dud so ended up getting a 3 year old Toyota. As long as you service it with them they will extend the warranty to 10 years or 100k miles ( whichever comes first).

This worked out as 4k deposit and 200 a month finance including 3 years servicing.

That has to be cheaper than hiring a car. You can buy a banger with a year MOT but that depends on how much you know about cars, good history etc

Definitely look on Honest John forums to ask for recommendations. (They have DSG hatred over there.) There's nothing wrong with a high mileage car if it's actually got a full reliable service history (receipts rather than just a few stamps). Put your requirements into AutoTrader to find some cars in your budget then check the make and models on Honest John for common problems - they have owner reviews which can be helpful and a Good/Bad list which talks about common faults.

We always buy used, high mileage cars with FSH, usually sticking to VW/Skoda (VAG group) as we know they've always been reliable for us. I've never had an expensive repair and I don't pay stupid amounts a month for a PCP car.

Yes auto repairs v expensive, a 2nd hand one from a breaker might have been an option, rather than scrapping.

Get a bank/finance loan, dont rely on finance from a dealer. Sainsburys, marks, tescos, various banks, get the best rate if you need to borrow

Whenever I’ve bought a used car I’ve always looked at Honest John reviews first to see what makes/models to go for. TBH I’m not even sure if he’s still doing reviews but there must be similar…
The other thing I do is ask the current owner to take me for a test drive (with them driving) so that you can see how they drive it!! If they ride the clutch and grind the gears you know the car is going to be well worn and need a new clutch/gears soon!!!
Good luck!

If you cover reasonable distances and not just town driving then for longevity and reliability you want a 2.0 diesel, the offerings from Ford, Citroen, Peugeot, VW, BMW, Skoda are all solid engines.

If you only drive auto you need to steer well clear of most CVT gearboxes (Powershift in Ford) as when they’re good they’re very good but they break and are catastrophic to repair

Do you drive auto only or manual? I ask because of the £8k fault-that sounds very auto gearbox sort of money

How long do you think good brand cars last?
I drive a 21 year old VW Golf (2003 plate) that has done over 200k miles.
You must be buying seriously low quality garbage cars for it not to last.

Have a browse on cazoo cinch and auto trader and do your finance sums. Don’t be scared!! You’d find a decent deal on a £0 deposit and pay it off over 60 months , try monthly price would be quite reasonable. Look for a bog standard reliable type car like an Astra or golf or something Japanese, make sure it’s lowest mileage and double cheap the service records, ie serviced yearly and check mot history that it’s only ever failed on brake lights or worn tyres. Do a finance quote and see what you can find in your budget, but personally o think it’s crazy to lease or hire. After a few years you’d be positive equity of you wanted to sell on before the finance is up and you can always pay it off early if you could.

Agree on getting the AA to inspect your car. They did our current used car for us and it’s still going strong 10 years on!

Go for lower mileage always. One that's been regularly serviced. Not had too many owners. Preferably go to a small dealer with recommendations.

I buy cheap second hand cars (under £3000), and don’t ever carry out any major repairs. I look for under 100000 miles, full MOT with no advisories, plus a quick check back through the MOT history. Test drive to make sure there’s no obvious faults. I’ve had a couple of duds but they usually last 3 or 4 years, which works out much cheaper per month than any finance deal.

2 years ago I bought an 8 year old car on 5 year finance. It’s never missed a beat.

Its not the fact they’re used OP it’s the fact you don’t seem to be mechanically minded enough to buy safely.

In my opinion cinch/Casio etc should all be banned, the idea of spending £10k/20k on something you’ve never even seen baffles the fuck out of me!

What do you need from a car? What sort of distances do you cover?

What is your actual budget?

I buy my cars (never new) from car dealers (never main dealers), I have a budget in mind, put my requirements into Autotrader, identify some likely options. See if I can visit the dealer and have a poke around

On a couple of cars I think we arranged for the RAC or the AA to come and inspect them, they charge for this obviously but it gave me piece of mind, I dont think I bothered with the most recent

My car is a 2010, I epxect it to go on for another 5 years at least. Its a Nissan.
I would only buy from brands which have good reliability, older nissans for example, or toyota, honda, hyundai etc etc, although Ive got my eye on a Skoda Yeti perhaps for the next replacement

I dont look for low mileage actually, I find this suspicious, I like to think that a car has been in solid use a lot. My car was 130k miles when I bought it. I expect it to do another 100k easy, our last one did until it was written off by a van reversing into it.

I have a feeling however the handbrake needs replacing, need to get that looked at.

Sorry, pressed send too soon.

... what sort of car are you looking for? There are 0% deals around on new cars that sometimes end up being cheaper than used but it depends on your budget and needs.

How much can you afford a month and what sort of car are you l

I try and buy ex-demo. Our current car was a 1 year old Suzuki with 5k on the clock, and was about 35% cheaper than new.

I have always bought cars from private sellers and avoided second hand car dealerships. I have never had any problems....until the last two, both of which were duds so I bought my last car two months ago from a dealership. It was much more expensive but had all the things I wanted and hopefully won't pack up on me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nothing wrong with a private second hand car or one from a dealer, small indies are better than chain ones.

If i was getting another car, i'd get a Skoda Fabia petrol, in your case, get an RAC report on it.
Look for a low mileage, the fewer owners the better, with some genuine service history, decent tyres, even wear, brake disks that aren't worn, clutch has a low bite point, doesn't steer off to one side especially when braking, no weird noises, esp when pulling away, braking or changing gear, and no engine smoke, walk away on that one.

Always make a low initial offer, 10% or 15% less than asking price.