Scared to buy a car (lone woman)

[user1471867483]

I don't have anyone with car knowledge to go with me to buy a car. My 17 yo Citroen C1 car is on its last legs and I have to keep paying out and paying out for many things that are going wrong with it and I need another! I know the car I'd like, but it's so daunting to buy one. I just don't think the sales guys take me serious when I go. I'm so shy and fear I'll end up a crumpled mess and burst into tears.

My budget is max £13k which I have saved for these past 17 years. Any advice please on make/model or any advice for that matter? 😣 I bought my current Citroen from my mechanic who has sadly retired and moved away.

I've found that the industry has improved so much since they changed the commission structure between sales and finance companies.

I bought my last car mostly via email correspondence to Arnold Clark, I found a car I liked, did an online form about my current car, and said I'd prefer to speak via email as I was looking at lots of cars (I wasn't!)

That way you have valuations and prices on paper (so to speak) and can reply at your leisure!

When I went to test drive there was no further chatter. The salesperson was a lovely young woman and not like the sleazy salesmen of old. She told me they get £100 commission based on a satisfied survey after completion, whether a car is worth £5000 or £50000.

You can do this x

Some salespeople can be absolute arseholes. Especially when they are on commission.

Often they adopt a "go for broke attitude" because they may get gotten rid of if they annoy enough customers and cause complaints. But they also may be gotten rid off if they don't sell enough. So they are between a rock and a hard place and just end up rolling the dice. I know of someones experience with a dealer recently and it was absolutely appalling what they were saying to her to try to convince her to exchange her car for a newer one.

There are ways you can avoid the high pressure sales. Like online car supermarkets for example. They will sell you cars on approval, like 14 days or something like that. But I have no idea how easy it is to get your money back if you want a refund.

Have a look at CarWow, that way you don't need to deal with any salesmen. I've bought my last 3/4 cars online and it's been wonderfully straight forward.

My advice is go on autotrader and search for cars within an acceptable distance of you and set your price limit. Set an age and mileage limit. Set filters such as petrol/diesel and how many doors you want and see what comes up.

if you see something you like have a look on Honest John for specific reviews of that make/model/engine size (last bit is important as some engines will have specific issues).

Personally I think Fords are good value and reliability, also Toyota, Skoda. Kias are meant to be very good. DH has had two good Vauxhalls with no issues even though I think on the reliability tables they’re not as good as the other brands mentioned. Jeremy Clarkson always said avoid French cars, not sure how correct he is 😁

I have always bought from car supermarkets, although there don't seem to be so many of those these days. They don't undertake to fix them if something goes wrong immediately, but you can return them, within a short period. They don't want to have to take them back so they seem to make sure they're in good condition before they sell them.

The last two cars we bought as a family we've used Cazoo and been very pleased with them. I don't know what the situation is with the company at the moment; they still seem to be going, but the cars on their site all mention a dealer, so perhaps they are just brokers now. Could be worth looking into.

During Covid we had to buy a car online; not being allowed to visit a showroom. Their salesman went all round the car video-ing it and sent that to us. When we decided to buy they drove it over and we had 14 days to reject it if we wished, as we hadn't seen it previously. It was some distance away, so quite an incentive to make sure they delivered a car in good condition.

We've been very satisfied with every car we've bought. No hard sell any time; you just pick the car you fancy online, then make an appointment to see them. We usually go for a couple of years old and spend under £10K (might have to increase since Covid). Cazoo made a very reasonable part-exchange offer on the old car, and no hassle just to drive to their depot in one and drive away in the other.

Over the last 30 years as a family we've had two Fiats and several Vauxhalls. I know they are not considered 'the Thing' on Mumsnet, but we've never had a moment's trouble with any of them. I think because they are churned out in their thousands, and Vauxhalls, in particular have many parts in common across their range, they are easy to fix and obtain spares should a problem arise.

Go online and find the car you want from the manufacturers ‘used’ sales page. So say if you want a Fiat 500 go on to Fiats official page and look at their used models, these will be really new and there won’t be old bangers.

Find one nearish to you, say within a 50 mile radius and then go and see it, so visit the Plymouth Fiat dealer for example. Tell the salesman you’re really interested and ask if it’s their best price as it’s a little more than you wanted to pay and go from there. The car industry has moved on, there’s no longer the Frank Butcher types wandering round a car pitch with a fag and flat cap.

I’ve bought two from Cazoo because of the ease and not having a salesperson talk to me. Both been fantastic!

I bought a second hand car from a small garage. It matched all my criteria that I used auto trader to search for. I paid £100 for an AA test to confirm it was in good condition (the garage took it off the market while I got the test). I got lots of free advice from A engineer which made me feel secure in the purchase. I did all of this remotely and only saw the car for the first time when collecting it.

I actually paid for an AA test on another car before buying, it revealed it had been a taxi and had body work done so I did not buy it. It can feel like wasted money but I paid £200 over asking price to find a really well looked after car, then it was worth it.

I’d go to a reputable dealer. I was buying a car for DD and we went to Ford (other makes are available) and were treated properly and respectfully. I do know people who have bought on Cinch and are happy with their cars. I think the days when women weren’t treated properly in by car salesman are over. But if you aren’t being treated properly, walk out. There’s another one down the road.

An uncle of mine taught me when I was very young to:

• Pick the car you want, and get clear on any non-negotiables you want
• Wait until the end of a quarter, when they need to make their numbers up / hit their targets, or they've already hit them and can afford to drop prices.
• Go to at least 5 dealers, and tell them: "I WILL be buying one of these cars in 3 days' time. I'm going to X dealerships, and whichever makes me the best offer / treats me best, I'll go with."
• Then as they call, keep note of what each has offered and on the third day, call them all and let them know what the others have offered (if better) to give them a chance to match it.

It's game theory, essentially – and although they all know they're in competition with one another already, you're basically bringing that competition out into the open.

You do need to be clear and specific about exactly what you want, though, so they're competing on the same terms – otherwise it all gets a bit confusing.

I've done it twice now and it's changed the game for me – I suddenly felt like I was the one with the power!

You could ask on local.fb pages for recommendations for a decent garage? There's two by me I'd always go to, never pushy and seem honest (I suppose you can never tell!) when I was looking for DD the car supermarket places were very pushy and tbh way more expensive for what you were getting.
Also bear in mind if you go further afield, you may have to take the car back there if faults occur during the warranty period so it may not be a single trip.

I was very impressed with Motorpoint when I bought a car last year - they were helpful but not pushy, and they have a good selection to look at on site. They can get cars from their other sites delivered to your local branch, which is what I ended up doing.

Get a full AA or RAC check before you buy.

One of the best experiences I’ve had was buying through Cazoo, you get a week to trial the car and can return for a no quibble full refund, the after sales team are amazing and got all issues sorted. Much easier than going to a garage and being patronised about making sure you choose the right colour 🙄

I'd recommend going to a reputable dealer, either toyota or honda ,you'll get a warranty and peace of mind

Lovely, thank you.

The 'proper' dealer/showroom is 15 miles away. Is that too far?

Can I get to trial it for a week for free though?

Thank you. Toyota is exactly the make of car I am after.

Buy a Kia from a main dealer.

They have a proper 7 year warranty, almost no exclusions, apart from infotainment screen and a 100k mileage limit.

Otherwise everything is covered. I've had four in the past, and have just changed my old car for an EV6. They have always been great, had a turbo replaced on a six year old Sportage under warranty, had folding mirrors and EPB done for free on another car after five years.

Ease don't buy from an independent dealer, you could lose your money if it's a bad car.

With main dealers you can go above their heads to corporate if you have any issues that aren't resolved.

^ this, it cost me £200 and was worth every penny when the 2 year old car I bought had a fault, detected by me on the test drive, detected and detailed in the AA report and then still not fixed despite several attempts by 2 different garages. It meant I was able to return the car for a full refund. The report covers all sorts not just the mechanical side and clearly a mechanic knows what he/she is looking for including all the paintwork etc. Best money I ever spent.

Reliable cars, Kia, Toyota. I would buy from a dealer not a private sale just because it is easier to go back there and sort it out if there are any problems with the car.

I used CarWow but after the above I just spent £5k extra and bought a brand new Kia. Carwow gets the dealers to send you deals and then you can use those deals to negotiate at a local dealer which is what I did.

15 miles is not too far, providing you can get there easily by public transport ?

I went by train from Paignton, Devon to Burton On Trent for my last car - 6 ? hours on a train, £120 train - worth every penny and every mile getting there as the car was £2000 less there than it was in a North Devon dealer.

I knew exactly what I wanted and did it all online either by email or looking at websites and used Honest John to get an idea of the price.

I bought a under 2 year old Kia, from a Kia dealer.
and thus it now gets serviced at my local Kia dealer which is 8 miles away.

Just an update. I went to one showroom at the weekend and I had hardly pulled up inside the place when a car salesman approached my car. I was tapping on my phone; clearly I was not ready to get out and already he was asking me what I wanted (I barely got there!). Way too pushy. I then went to view a few cars for sale and I preferred the look of one car to the other. He also kept looking at me through their showroom windows, ready to pounce, and this made me feel uneasy.
He came back out again and I told him I just wanted to be left to look around and I said one of their cars was more 'tinny' than my own and he argued, "But it's the same as the one you have just a different name". He didn't respect what I was saying. I'll try somewhere else. Not a good start. This is what I was dreading. I just really don't think they have respect for women 😥.

It's not a "women" thing.

It's a "sales target" thing.

Go to a main dealers website, you can browse all their stock, watch videos of the cars, and using their webchat feature, you can request a bespoke video of anything you want to see in more detail. This is standard practice and they will do it for you.

Then, if you find a car you like, you will already have a good idea if you want to buy it. So you can go in person and only look at that particular car.

Don't discuss price or budget, you are just looking at a car, and don't get stressed about haggling, it's not really a thing anymore. Dealers don't set their own prices, it's done by software which compares all sales prices online for similar models.

They will try to sell you extras, like paint protection, gap insurance, alloy cover, fabric protection. Just decline all of those.

And stay away from car "supermarkets".

Main dealers only.

Thank you so much! This helped me so much. I actually went to a car supermarket bank holiday Monday to just sit in some cars and to narrow down which makes/models I felt comfy in. I asked how long the warranty was for one car and he said he 'thinks' (!) there's warranty still left by the manufacturer or else, he said, I can purchase warranty for a fee. No way.