Key Post: Advice about buying a second hand car- key post

M

Marion

Guest
I have never bought a car before and I am wondering what the best approach is.

The local garage has about 20 second hand cars and the owner says that he will "see me right". He will organize the loan for me as well through Ulster Bank, I think.

I could go around the various showrooms myself , but I wouldn't really know what to look for ?

There is a guy in work who knows a car broker. I haven't heard of this before. He will shop around the various dealers for me and will get me the best car for my needs. Apparently he does this for free - I don't have to pay him anything. This seems like a good arrangement.

Any suggestions ?
 
Re: Help buying a second hand car

Hi Novice - My own view would be to recommend that you deal with seperate parties/providers for your financial needs and motoring needs. If you need a personal loan to buy your car, contact the main banks and find out which of them are best value. I would be particularly wary of the 'motor broker' would apparently doesn't charge a fee. Unless he is a very charitable person, I would guess that he is actually building his fee into the overall price you will pay for the car. Therefore he is really 'hiding' his fee, which seems potentially dangerous to me. Also, it is likely that you will be in a better bargaining position with the garages as a cash buyer.

Regards - RainyDay
 
Second Hand Car

Novice,

I would suggest that you decide on several types of car that appeal to you based on looks, engine size, cost to run, price, reliability, etc. - there used to be a magazine called "What Car" which might help if it's still available.

Say you narrow it down to a few makes and models, then phone several garages in your area to see does anyone have this make. There is a good website called www.cbg.ie which will give you an idea of what's available countrywide and the prices the cars sell for so you will know that you are not being done on the price. A lot of the bigger car dealers have websites with Used Cars on them - for example, if you want a VW, go to www.volkswagen.ie where you will find a list of their dealers and their websites.

If you know a good mechanic get him to look over any car you are interested in or alternatively I think the AA have some service like this for a fee. You will especially need to do this if you decide to buy privately rather than through a garage particularly if it's your first time buying a car. If buying from a garage ask for a 1 year warranty.

And I agree with Rainyday, organise your own finance as finance arranged by a garage means that the garage will be getting a kickback - they won't necessarily have your interests at heart and it's more than likely Hire Purchase they will arrange for you.

Also remember (as my father warned me) never trust a car dealer - they are not there to "see you right" but to make a profit.

Mersey
 
Re: Second Hand Car

Hi novice,

I agree with the advise given so far. Many car dealers now make more money from organising finace packages than from the sale of cars. The big problem I think is knowing how much to pay.
Were I you, I'd ask your dealer for a few suggestions. Write them down, including the cost. Log onto www.cbg.ie. That site will give you a good idea of what different second-hand cars are going for. They will also send you out a free magazine which gives the prices being asked for different makes of car. So far this has taken you only a few minutes.

Now go to Windsor car auctions and see what cars are making. Compare this to the price you guy was charging. you will also get a good idea of what's on the market and what you can afford.

Rock
 
Should I borrow ?

I have about 5 grand and my local dealer says that I won't get much of a car for that . He can arrange another 5 or 6 grand in finance which will get me a much better car.

Any views on that ?

Novice
 
Re: Should I borrow ?

Hi Novice - I'm sure your dealer can arrange the extra 5k-6k, but you really need to consider the cost of this extra finance. Firstly, can you afford the repayments. For example, a £6k loan over 3 years will cost you something like £190 per month in repayments. Can you afford this, along with petrol, insurance and servicing costs?

Also, is your dealer the best source for this finance? You might well find that you can get this finance from one of the main banks at a lower rate than your dealer will arrange (as he is almost certainly getting somekind of kickback from the finance company which you are ultimately paying for).

Don't overstretch yourself. You can always upgrade your car to a more expensive model after a year or two, if you wish.

Hope this helps - RainyDay
 
Re: Should I borrow ?

For 11k or thereabouts u will have new seat Ibiza for example

Do u realy want a brand new car
paticularly not with it being your first car

I have been driveing for about 10 years and would not dream of buying a new car,
IMHO a car is something to get u from a to b with some degree of comfort

I would advise u to look at ythe buy and sell, motoring mags, the net, teletext etc and get an idea what u can buy for your 5k
forget about the borrowed money and then shop around
get a mecanic to have a look at a few cars that u pick out to see that they are ok
get a 12 month guarantee and drive away
forget about your £5k loan etc
Happy driveing
 
Re: Should I borrow ?

Novice - I've never owned a brand new car in my life and I never intend to. A car loses literally thousands off it's value the moment your drive it out of the showroom. Go with the advice you've got above and spend what money you already have - don't borrow as you can avoid it.

Regards,

Liam D Ferguson
www.ferga.com
 
Does anyone know any other car brokers ?

Has anyone else used a car broker ?

It seems like a good idea. They know all about cars, they will find the best car for me and they won't charge me a thing ?

Novice
 
Re: Does anyone know any other car brokers ?

Not familiar with the concept of a car broker. How do they get paid?
 
Re: Does anyone know any other car brokers ?

I bought a cheap second-hand Micra off a guy like that one time. Looked a good deal at the time but turned out to be the biggest heap of rubbish I've ever owned, let alone driven. I didn't really lose out financially as I traded it in three years later for only £1,300 less than I paid for it but it broke my heart with regular breakdowns etc in the meantime.

My sister bought a similar car at the same time from the same guy. It went great for her and she had no problems. One day she was involved in a minor crash. The guy who repaired it told her that it appeared her car had been involved in a serious smash sometime before she bought it. That was the first she had heard of it.

My advice to you is to beware of anyone offering a deal that sounds too good to be true. Nobody sells cars as a public service and I frankly would be very suspicious of any "brokers" offering their services for "free".
 
£5,000 w'ont get you a good car....yeah right!

I'm sure a dealer would love to sell you a 10 grand car more than a 5 grand...
Try this: Get the Buy and Sell, look at the type of cars you would like, take a sample of 10, call them up and offer 60% of the asking price, just say it's all you have, is it of any interest talking further. Over the phone they can't bite so be brave. 2nd hand cars are a dime a dozen as a result of the boom over the last 4 years and sellers are pretty desperate at this stage in my experience. The result for me in June was an immaculate Volvo S40, 1998, 50K miles for £6,800 (Asking price was £11,500).
 
Re: Help buying a second hand car

novice - first of all you need to ask yourself what you want to get out of the car. Are you a sales person who wants to get from A to B *and* try to look cool while doing it ? Or do you just want to get from A to B at minimum cost ? If you are the first type of person then your dealer is correct and you won't get anything for £5K. If you are the second type then there is plenty out there in your price range.

Car brokers get their money by selling you a car at the list price of the garage where they found it, but buying it from the garage at a lower price. Technically you aren't being done. If you are going to use one you *must* use someone who is known to you ro has been recommended. Otherwise you leave youself wide open to being done big time. The theory is that they are on the lookout for a number of cars for a number of people at the same time, so they're not actually spending a lot of time on your car in particular, that's why they can be good value.

Very usefull piece of information - most (if not all) garages will give you a 'cash' discount if you take a car off them without trading in your old one. This saves them the hassle of selling on your old car. The discount can be quite significant. We were quoted £1.5k off a new Renault for no trade-in. Skoda were more like £300. The same applies, but to a lesser degree when you buy a second hand car. Think of it this way - they get to clear some low value car from their expensive sales floor and replace it with a nice shiney one which will get them more commission from the next person.

As well as Which Car (which lists the cars by manufacturer) there is another one (the name of which escapes me at the moment) which lists the cars by types and gives very good details of things to watch out for when buying them secondhand. The magazine is available in Easons, but not in most smaller shops. The advantage of this approach is that you can just search the 'compact' section or the 'executive' section and you can see the offerings from all the manufacturers.

As others have said - get your money direct from a bank as you will more than likely get better value.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever buy a second hand car from anyone (including relatives) without having a competent independent mechanic check it over for you. It might cost you £100 but you get peace of mind that you are not buying a clunker which has been stitched together from bits of other cars.

Do ring garages in advance to see if it is even worth your time to look at a particular car. If they say they won't even begin to budge towards your target then forget about it. If they say there is room for manouevre then go along. But never, ever, ever, ever, ever forget that the job of the car sales man (in fact pretty much all sales people) is to woo you into parting with more cash than you had bargained for. We bought a car during the Summer and even though we were determined not to go above a certain price we found ourselves being ever so slightly massaged higher and higher. It was only when we got out that we came to our senses. Other very important lesson - don't sign anything when you settle on a particular car. No doubt the sales man will tell you he has someone else who is coming in later to check it out. Even so, just go away, have a coffee and think it through again and assess it against your original criteria.

Hmm, enough anti-car sales talk. Suffice to say we have had much hassle, stress and delay before while buying cars.

z
 
Re: Help buying a second hand car

As a matter if interest I made a phonecall to the garage that I bought my last car from. They have a Opel Astra 5 door, 1.4 engine, 36000 miles , 1 owner full service record with the same garage ie the garage in question (an opel dealer).
Cost before you even start to haggle £5000.
The garage in question is Youngs Garage Roscrea 0505 21266.

I have no interest what ever in the garage in question other than I bought my current car there. They would not always be the cheepest but they always have good cars.

IMHO this is the value and size of car that you would want at the maximum.
 
Re: Help buying a second hand car

I remember the name of the magazine now - Parkers Used Car Guide

Check out their online site at www.parkers.co.uk

To be honest the magazine is easier to use

z
 
Second hand car

Another website of interest is www.honestjohn.co.uk which is associated with the Telegraph Newpaper. There is a good section here on used cars broken down into positives and negatives associated with each make/model. It does refer to UK cars though so bear this in mind.

Mersey
 
Re: Second hand car

Hi All,

When I go to buy a car, one of my most important considerations is the car's potential reliability. I don't want something that is liable to give me frequent trouble! :(

That is why I found this article from yesterday's Indo. quite interesting! :) :)
 
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