Buying a used car

[MyDogsPaws]

How does anyone do it? I bought a used car a few years ago which hasn’t lasted the length of the finance agreement so I’ve ended up having to pay it off early and scrap it and now I’m absolutely skint and have no car, I need a car to get to get work so I’m having to hire a car at huge expense on my credit card. I’m struggling to commit to buying another car as they are all massively overpriced and it feels like whatever I buy will just breakdown again, because of my budget the cars in my price range are all 2018 or older.

if I buy a car from a dealer I can get another finance deal but they are all hugely expensive. They generally have a (short)warranty which is something I suppose but because of the price i would have to get a 48month finance deal and there is bug risk that the car won’t last that long.

If I buy a much older cheaper car through a private cash sale I would be taking a massive risk buying one without any kind of warranty- I’m sure no one ever sells a car unless it has something wrong with it so it seems like it would be a definite disaster!

Aibu to be so stuck on this decision? Tell me your used car buying tips and also some success stories to get me out of my decision paralysis!

Do you know anyone who has any mechanical knowledge of cars who could go with you to look at some?

I don't think its a big risk buying from a dealer with a 48mth finance deal - a 2018 car should last longer than 4 years, assuming it is looked after and you aren't rally driving in it every weekend!

Also private sales are not all cars that have something wrong with them - people upgrade or stop driving all the time. I've recently sold my 2012 car, it never broke down or cost me huge sums to fix, I only sold it as I wanted a more up to date, newer car with more mod cons.

Plus warranties generally won't pay out if they deem something to be due to wear and tear, which most of the time they are.

@NoodleNuts no I don’t, especially at such short notice. I really really need a car as I can’t afford to keep hiring for another week. I’m just so scared to make a huge financial commitment and it all to go wrong again.

Of course not all private sales have faults. The best thing you could do is buy something known to be reliable like a petrol Toyota.

Yup same thing happened to me, I have always leased and then when we bought our house we decided to buy a car so that we would have a tangible asset at the end of the loan. Worst decision we ever made, the car has not stopped breaking down, garage refused to help us in the slightest (Chalfonts Motor Company if anyone needs a place to avoid!). It's cost us thousands upon thousands to keep it going, and we haven't even paid off the loan yet still.

Have decided I will never buy another car again once we have paid this loan off, and will instead just go back to leasing. Too much risk buying one, even from an apparently good garage with the RAC guarantee.

Unfortunately I don’t think leasing would be a good option for me as I drive a lot for work and have messy kids and dogs so it’s hard to keep a car in perfect condition.

Had anyone ever had experience buying a car from cinch or similar?

Got my last car from Cazoo

Had it over a year and had no issues. Went through the MOT fault free

I got my local garage to give it a once over after it was delivered. You got 7 days to return it. I don't know if Cinch have the same option

We are in the process of buying a new car. Our current pcp is up and we have had such a shock at how much car prices have increased. Before our pcp, we had older cars that we were throwing money at to repair. We were looking to purchase a few years old car (2020-2021 plates). However, we are now going for new on finance as it's working out less with monthly payments than the same used car (plus we won't need to pay for mots or breakdown cover).

I hope you find the car you are looking for. I completely get how stressful it is.

I bought a cheap less than £800 car with a yr MOT to keep me going between financing a new one. It was old but ended up actually doing 2 years with no issues. I only intended on keeping it a few months as it worked out cheaper than hiring

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.

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. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

thanks for all the replies! My budget on finance would be a car under £8000 if I was buying cash probably about £1000 with the way things are currently! Been to have a quick look around a local dealer today and they’re really wasn’t much available. I have dogs so need boot space and 3 older/tall dc so really need something larger than a hatchback.

@TheHornedOne my last last car was a fairly good brand and developed an £8000 fault at 7 year old/80000 miles

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

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