Hi all,

My 1999 Ford Focus is on its last legs (112k on the clock, and more and more problems popping up), so looking to replace it fairly sharpish.

I reckon I can spend £2-3k, but keeping insurance down is important (21year old = insurance companies love me).

Anyway, any advice for buying cars?

Thoughts on private dealers/gumtree/autotrader/ebay?

Where should I look/avoid? What checks do I want to do on the car before buying? What to look out for/ask?

Ta, Duane.

depends on the mileage but worth checking if the timing belt has been changed. Can be costly on some cars and needs doing at some stage on the mileage. Look down the car to see if the panels are aligned ok (i.e. badly repaired crash damage). Check things like tyre wear ( is it even??) and compare mileage to the interior wear.. for some indication..
see if the engine smokes too..when revved ..can indicate engine wear..not to be confused with just a cold engine though…does it sound ok?? probably other stuff too..

Well at that price point avoid auctions like the plague.

Private sellers – are great. One owner – is a godsend. 11/12 months MOT a minimum.

Petrol / diesel? Diesels can have some write off bills once older.

Whatever you look at / buy – a full service history is a must. Sure some folk forge them. OTOH every single car I’ve ever seen with no SH has been clocked.

You dont fancy a FSH primera with 70K but a dodgy leccy window do you?

Anyway, any advice for buying cars

at your budget … buy something boring with one owner and a fsh

Toyota Corolla would fit he bill

Crikey – you could buy a 1991 Golf GIT 16v for that and be grinning like a loon at every roundabout. Or a Mazda MX5 of similar vintage for even more reliable lols.

A nice car isn’t much good without insurance :/ Or being able to afford the inevitable repair costs…

if buying private check the log book matches the address where the car is being sold from avoid the i bought it for the wife but its to big /she doesnt like it brigade probably traders if buying from a dealer check the address of the previous owner give them a call ask them about the car milaege etc , i avoided buying a write of doing this once pull the dip stick look at the oil it should either be black or the color of oil if its the colour of milky coffee/baileys walk eway youu want to hear the engine from cold listen for any knocks rattles ebay can be a good bet

Check for crash damage, replaced body panels etc give it a good run, brakes in a straight line etc. Check coolant for signs of head gasket trouble.

If your not confident take a mate who is or who at least in negotiation time help out.

If dealing with a trader try and make them cry with your first offer and be prepared to walk away.

big ass volvo estate

Golf GIT is fixable anywhere these days…

DO:

Take someone with you who knows a fair bit about 2nd hand cars, or has at least bought several successfully before.

DON’T:

Listen to middle aged STW forum members trying to re-live their youth by telling you to go and buy cars they wanted when they were your age (or want now but their Mrs. wouldn’t approve)…

DO:

Buy something that fits your needs, and will be relatively economical to run and maintain.

DON’T:

Get something you can just about afford to buy outright, but the insurance and fuel will leave you financially crippled, let alone the servicing and tyre bills!

DO:

Spend time ringing round for different insurance quotes before you get said car. Might be your current insurer just doesn’t like a certain car for some reason, but if you get quotes from other companies you might save hundreds of quid. My Dad recently got stuck in a rut with the same old insurance provider for several years, who were frankly taking the pee… He has 2 cars, his wife 1, and the household insurance with the same provider. He switched providers the other week and saved a grand total of £1700 per annum!!!

DO:

Consider what kind of milage, and types of journey you are most likely to do. People automatically tend to go for diesels these days regardless, but an older diesel can be problematic if not looked after properly or regularly driven on short journeys, so the fuel saving over a petrol could be totally null and voided several times over if it needs a big repair!

DON’T:

Buy whatever your “educated” mate down the pub says you should buy, just cos he has a preconception of what would be best for you.

DO:

Have a look at a few cars and get a feel of what to look for yourself, so you can give yourself a bit of an education on 2nd hand car buying.

DON’T:

Buy the first car you see… OK, very occasionally you just know a car is right from the word go, but it can take some time to get to this level of knowledge about cars. I know enough to take enough of a risk and buy a car sight unseen, like I did my current car. But the price was very low, the reasons for sale were totally valid (the guys old man had died, it was his old man’s car), and the condition and milage were all correct and the service history was present. But as a general rule of thumb, the first car you see won’t be the best, so use it as a learning experience.

DO:

Get the car checked over, HPI’ed etc… You do not want to buy a stolen vehicle, or someone else’s finance problem.

DON’T:

Be put off by a couple of minor niggles… If an electric window doesn’t work, often this can be a cheap/easy fix that will also allow you to haggle on the price. Same with things like an aircon regas. Though also be wary that if it’s an aircon pump that has died, not that it just needs regassing, it could be very expensive to replace!

Anyway… I could go on and on with these Do’s and Don’ts for hours, but I need to go to bed! Check out used car buying guides on the likes of Parkers, Honest John and various other websites. And get someone you know and trust who knows about cars to go with you. If you’re anywhere near me (I live in Worcester), and want some help/advice first hand, buy me dinner and I’ll be more than happy to help! 😉

🙂 mboy knows shit

Sensible advice from mboy there

Take mboy with you.

Dodgy sellers and dodgy cars often go together – trust your gut feeling and if it doesn’t feel right, walk.

Focus should go further than 112k.

2-3k could get you a bargain or a complete money pit.

I’d stick with what you know until you have more money.

Do your research, choose a shortlist of cars.

Use ebay and dealers to get an idea of price, but then try and find something local/private in the papers as they can be some bargains to be found.

Don’t disregard the lower spec models…the fully loaded cars will fetch higher money. If you start browsing the trim levels on Parkers, there is no hope…you will end up coughing up for the Ghia GTi Cooper Sport, even though the actual car is older and higher mileage than you originally planned for 🙂 But at least you have heated seats and no blank switches on the dashboard, right? If you stumble across a decent spec model that fits your criteria, its a bonus 🙂

Buy local…we bought a car over an hours drive away, from a dealer for the ‘reassurance’ of after sales. A few days later we had to return it as a gearbox seal was leaking oil onto the new clutch, halfway there on a hill I was ready to call our recovery to return it. (should have, in hindsight, might have been a bit more embarrassing for the seller) Returning it and then collection (another vehicle to get me there and back) cost a fortune in fuel. Subsequent problems I ended up fixing myself as it was not worth the drive to the dealer.

It cost us about £200 to sell a rattly horrible Fiat Punto and buy a Ford Fusion of the same year and mileage. The upgrade in comfort, safety, performance and ‘niceness’ for a car costing the same is staggering.

P.S Don’t buy black, unless you want to wash it every weekend and still have a car that looks dirty 🙁 Only regret!

As said above, dodgy cars and dodgy people go together. This is why i prefer to buy private cars, so I can guage the previous owner.
As well as all the obvious stuff like water in the oil or on fillercap, there are a few subtle things I check to get a feel for the car.
Tyres…are they matching on each axel and are they half decent brands. Folk who skimp on tyres WILL skimp on servicing and other maintenance.
The disc brakes, these give a really good guide to the life the car has had. Cars driven hard use a lot of discs. You dont use brakes munching miles on a motorway. Front discs can last 30-50k miles so take an educated guess as to how the car has been driven. A car on 45k might (probably) will be on its second set of front discs, so how worn are these. You can get a guage of how long the brakes have been fitted fo r by looking at the level of corrosion on the none braking areas of the disc.

Try to look at the car at angles that allow the sun to glint on the panels, this will help you see any differences in colour from panel to panel. Personally a small amount of respray evidence does not scare me, many cars get minor carpark scuffs or get keyed by thugs, so a bit of spray evidence on doors or bumpers is not a worry. Best place to look is round window frames or in the channel where the bonnet sits on the front wings (ie the bit of the wing thats hidden by the bonnet,) if there is evidence of spraying in these areas then it points to something more than a scuff or vandalism….walk away.

As said above, dodgy cars and dodgy people go together. This is why i prefer to buy private cars, so I can guage the previous owner.

Absolutely. The owner will usually tell you more about the car than looking at the car will. Even if they don;t say a word.

Ask them a few questions. How long they’ve owned it. Servicing. Etc.

Aside from that, you don’t need t be a mechanic. Check for any rust (I’d expect none at that price). Check the oil…make sure it looks good, contains no goo, and is not thick and lumpy like a car I looked at recently!

Have a look, see what tyres are on it. If it has a full branded set that’s a good sign that the owner is happy to fork out on decent stuff. But if they’ve been scrimping here, you’ve got to wonder where else they’ve cut corners. Even if they have cheaper ones, but a full set, that can be a good sign. If they have different tyres on every corner, all with different tread depths however….that’s a bit worrying: proper peasantville servicing.

Give the car a good test drive. Make sure all the gears operate smoothly. There’s no misfires or spluttering throughout the rev range. Drop down your speed and put it in a high gear and floor it, and listen for the clutch slipping. Check the electrics. Listen for any odd noises, and notice how the car handles and steers.

Look at the advisories on the MOT cert.

That will get most people by. And if you’re happy to walk away and don’t get too excited, or feel pressurised, and you can trust your instincts, then you should do alright.

Before you go look at a car too….DO google it. There’ll be a buying guide somewhere that some geek as written up on forum. It’ll likely provide a list of common faults for that model. And every car will have very common faults. Some of them are inevitable and will need budgeted for. Some are avoidable through good servicing. And some are just annoyances. Pay special attention to these.

I agree with the above!!! Go on a forum for the car… I own a ibiza and on the owners club it lists their common faults and i think i’ve had most of them, thankfully they are cheap to sort out!
and if you find a car you like find a dealer with a mint one find out how much extra it is and go test drive it. I always want to know what a mint car drives like! Some cars are lumpy or a bit hazy and its hard to know if something is worn or if its meant to be like that! My ibiza has “sports” suspension and so it hates any form of bump in the road, if you didn’t expect it you might think it was a fault but having been in a mint version of my car i know its how its meant to be!
Never buy the first car you see either – an old piece of advice but its true. You want to have time to think about it

Don’t go to the pub beforehand 😳

Don’t buy in the dark

Only meet the seller at their house, not some car park somewhere.

Thanks a ton for all the help guys, much appreciated, lot to bear in mind 🙂

India might be a bit further than he wanted to travel 😉

Make sure the car has all keys. If it only has one, walk. Make sure the car has its V5 and its in the sellers name, don’t accept ‘selling for my Son/Uncle etc’. Those can be genuine but theres plenty of cars out there.

Need more info look up Logbook loans.

Also don’t accept ‘I’ve only had it two weeks and I’ve changed my mind/change of circumstances’.

Even if a car is HPI clear- check all the shutlines etc etc.

I tend to always buy privately and a few questions on the above tends to clear the numbers down abit.

why not save some money and give your current car an overhaul. much cheaper and at least you’ll know the provenance of it too!

What is actually wrong with the Focus, as my neighbour has just sold a higher mileage one for over £1k – only real issues were some bodywork damage.

Look at fixing it, and then better preventative maintenance in the future?

At £2-3k you are in difficult car territory.

At £2-3k you are in difficult car territory

In a recession people tend to only sell cars when they have multiple problems rather than the old’ ‘lets px and buy a new car’.

Look at the advisories on the MOT cert.

They either list a lot more stuff on your advisory these days (ie this year) than they used to, either that of I’ve had a plague of minor issues. but a recent MOT adviosry slip should give you a clue to any problems.

i vote current car overhaul . unless its electrical gremlins or engine failure….

a full suspension rebuild and a clutch would see your car good for a long time yet provided no rust ….

we bought the mrs golf for 2k last year – done 10k in it and just paid 1000 pounds to get it through its mot …. suspension bushes – a new steering rack (i knew it was going from the noise – it didnt fail on this but my mech recomended replacing) and a few light units needed replacing(had HIDs upfront)

when i bought it i basically did as Mboy listed – walked round it , looked tidy , inside was tidy , had reciepts for timing belt and full service the week before at a garage where i know the owner – so i phoned him and had a chat about it – 12 months tax and 4 brand spanking new hankook winter tires were fitted.

avoid cars with lots of owners , avoid cars with short mots ,

dont avoid cosmetically tatty cars – ie dented scratched cars. playing bangernomics – these can be gold mines , it may just be that the car gets parked in a bad carpark or on a bad street – doesnt always mean neglect.

for example there was a tidy looking 02 civic on here over in glasgow for a good price (your budget) last week – the owners bike had come off the roof rack an scratched the roof – looked a bit tatty but ticked all the other boxes i use when judging used cars….

If its on its last legs meaning it cuts out, overheats or drinks coolant then I’d spend the money and run it firmly into the ground yourself.

The better the devil you know- anything else is a punt.