Car purchase for dummies

[Grace212]

hi all
I haven't driven for 20 years

I'm having refresher lessons and will be buying a new car.

what's the best way to do this? In my day we didn't have online options, just went to a garage and did a test drive.

also I can buy new, but I gather it's not "new" if it's been bought buy a dealer and that's a cheaper way to get new?

I don't think I can do PCP if I only have contract and temp work, is that correct?

so really I have 2 main questions - what's the actual source for most people to buy and what type of finance do people prefer?

I've seen it mentioned on here about handing back the car in a few years and getting a new one if your car is in good condition. I always kept my car immaculate so would do so again, is that something I should consider while looking at financing options?

I've never had a new new car, am I right I don't need an MOT for a while on a new new car? Also will I need to arrange insurance before taking delivery of a car/driving a car off a forecourt?

thanks for any/all advice!

Right we've just bought a new car, so let me tell you what we did.
We did a few test drives to decide which car, looked online at reviews and reliability statistics to help.
Got down to a choice of two, then went on to carwow and get a price on the car you want, no obligation, you get a price for buying outright and pcp. We found our car was cheaper to buy outright especially as we plan to keep our car for ten years. We then went to our local dealer with a print out of our car wow price and they matched it bar a couple of hundred quid which was worth paying for the convenience of a local dealer. We got 50% interest free credit and £1000 deposit contribution from the dealer.
Our brand new car was cheaper than any used car/ex demonstrator we found in autotrader.

rideawhiteswan

no good deals on swans then?

seriously, thank you for that, that's very helpful. was your local dealer the official local rep for that brand of car?

it's interesting that it worked out cheaper. If it's still the case that cars are cheaper in September then I can wait till then.

Yes they were the main dealer and all the dealers are familiar with car wow, they obviously don't like it but we were very polite, let him know we wanted a good deal and I'm so pleased we got it from the local dealer. The service was excellent and we've rung them once for help with the Bluetooth.
Have a look at car wow, no one contacts you, you contact them.
This is it first new car before this we always went for Toyotas a couple of years old. We never had any problems. We always got a cheap loan from the bank before this.

Always get mine from a Car supermarket such as FOW.co.uk. On arrival they will value your old car (I know that's not the case here), give you a price on a piece of paper and then you know exactly what you have towards the next one without the seller doing that silly negotiation stuff that depends so much on the model you're interested in. Then you wander around, maybe choose 5 ish cars at a time you're interested in and get given the keys to look at them in your own time. No pressure. Eventually, you know the one you want, it'll have low mileage usually and be between 6 - 24 months old and in good condition and services fully. It'll be serviced and checked before you can drive it home and you can also extend the original warranty and also buy gap insurance (in the event of a write off, you'll get the full value of a new replacement or close to it). It's easy and low hassle.

... and you'll save loads too.

Thank you, this is so helpful. Mum drives a Toyota, she’d definitely vote for that. I used to have a Peugeot, it wasn’t great but obviously lots will have changed since then.