Buying old cars with low mileage - what to look out for?

Yes probably. It just depends on what the problem is really. You’re just trying to build a picture of what the owner was like, did they care about the car or not. Did they deal with advisories, or not. Etc etc

sadly it appears that the owner has alzheimers and has stopped driving, and his family are selling it for him.  my grandaughter knows his grandaughter.  however, hes misplaced the service log so at present it doesnt have any history officially, although they say its been done every year.

the advisories look to have been done for each re-test apart from 1 tyre on the last one, and theyve told me itll need 2 new tyres soon.  theres light damage to both bumpers and a rear door.

the young lass im in contact with (grandaughters friend) says she thinks a dealer has already made an offer to her dad but she'll keep me informed.  id guess any dealer offering a price will be taking the p1ss, so i think theyd probably prefer me to buy it but im just not sure its 'the one'.

im at work today so told her if its still for sale tomorrow ill come and have a look, but obviously im not a serious potential buyer atm so if it goes it goes.

cheers

theres light damage to both bumpers and a rear door.

Sounds like my mothers Honda Jazz, every panel has a mark or scrape on it but its serviced every yr on the dot.  It sounds like a classic OAP car. The cars are very solid and reliable. If its a keeper car and not worried about the exterior dings I would buy

 If its a keeper car and not worried about the exterior dings I would buy

with no service history?  and yep, not toooo bothered about scrapes and dings, my wife would soon be adding to them anyway 😀

but even if i trusted that the car has been serviced regularly, itd affect resale price too wouldnt it.  unless as you say, a keeper car that we run into the ground.....

EDIT:  also a base model, which isnt a problem in itself but at 5k i would ideally be wanting something with at least reverse parking sensors for my wife. (painting a good picture of her driving here arent i 😀 )

Folk need to adjust their cost vs car perceptions to the 'new world'.

It's pointless for anyone who bought s/h pre-2021, telling us what you paid, it's irrelevant - this is why:

2015 aygo here just serviced and mot yesterday for 125 gbp, no advisories.  Zero tax 200 gbp insurance, paid 6.5k 2018 worth 5k now.

In 2018 at 3 years old it cost £6500.  7 years LATER it's still worth £5,000.

Folk need to adjust their cost vs car perceptions to the ‘new world’.

Conversely there's a Vivaro at a dealer that's been following me around the internet, it was ~£13k last year, it's since been reduced to £7.5k!

It's a nice low milage van to be fair, but post-covid silly season with the gap in new car production, people buying commuters and people holding onto cars for longer is coming to a sharp halt.

Sounds like my mothers Honda Jazz, every panel has a mark or scrape on it but its serviced every yr on the dot.  It sounds like a classic OAP car. The cars are very solid and reliable. If its a keeper car and not worried about the exterior dings I would buy

well me and mrs ex-p just been to have a look at it as its only 5 minutes away.  wanted to take my wife to gauge her reaction, will she fall in love with it, will she think its not worth 5k to us etc...

initial impression was disappointment.  yep i can live with a few dings, but at the bottom of the hatch, and on the damaged front bumper there were small areas of rust from the dings.  its been a long time since ive seen rust on a car, and that worried me more than scratches, dints etc.

woman explained that they still havent found the service history, but the dealer that theyve been talking to stated that would only knock a couple of hundred off the value.

so we walked away, didnt even accept the offer of a drive as we didnt want to waste her time.  pleasingly, mrs ex-p was of the same opinion.  she's p1ssed off tho as she really wanted to fall in love with it 🙂

but...... rust, no service history, no parking sensors (really think theyd help wife out), top of our budget at 5k, it just wasnt the one.  i thought about a (very) cheeky offer but as the grandaughters know each other i didnt want to take the p1ss.  im sure itll sell to someone, just not the car for us unless it was a lot cheaper and we bought it as 'an absolute bargain'.

cheers

tempting in this frosty weather as it has a heated windscreen, but its not japanese (nor skoda/kia/hyundai etc) nor petrol which was my main criteria but what are your thoughts on:

ford fiesta zetec 1.25, 12 plate, 105,000 miles, FSH, short MOT (would need a conversation about that) for £1,500.

This the 82ps one? I thought the diesels from back then were 1.4 or 1.6 too?

Keep searching - it took me months and months to find something that was acceptable, so much rusty, badly repaired rubbish out there.

Ended up with a 2006 Clio for £900, no service history, mismatched worn tyres, stitched up tears in the rear seats, and about 7 shades of red, but rust free and straight enough (almost 100k miles as well).

Shoved it into my local garage for oil, filter, air filter, cambelt, and any weeping seals behind the cambelt, and 4 new tyres and it's become her first runabout.

So I suppose what I'm saying is don't discount the uber-cheap end of the market, if you can find something that's straight and rust free and not smoking/steaming. As you've then got some money to spend making it reliable.

ford fiesta zetec 1.25, 12 plate, 105,000 miles, FSH, short MOT (would need a conversation about that) for £1,500.

You'd need to check the timing belt has been done at that mileage.

This the 82ps one? I thought the diesels from back then were 1.4 or 1.6 too?

ahhh id assumed it was petrol.  dont want diesel.

You’d need to check the timing belt has been done at that mileage.

doesnt say but i think ill forget it anyway.  MOT history shows plenty of advisories that werent done til next year, so you get a picture dont you....

heated windscreen would be nice tho 🙂

thanks

another honda jazz, good provenance as its a mates daughter selling it after 7 years.  hes got his own garage so will have kept it decent, not sure he's overpriced it tho so putting it here for your advice please.  its a.....

honda jazz 5 door 2012 1.4 EX, top spec model in metallic grey, FSH, MOT Jan 26, just been serviced, 2 new rear tyres and rear brake pads.  68k miles.

i wont put the price up yet, ill see how you value it before doing that 🙂

cheers

oh hes just told me that its an i-vtech engine if thats a consideration.

cheers

£3.5k ?

For a manual I'm guessing 4.5k based on Auto trader prices.

Slap bang in the middle, 4k.

I thought that was overpriced for a 12 plate but maybe not then....

A low-mileage Doris car, I'd be concerned about the clutch.  Regular away I see OAPs pulling out of parking bays at walking pace with the engine screaming its tits off.  You can smell it after they've gone.

its been owned by his daughter for the last 7 years, although i cant vouch for her driving style.  shes been paying lots of money to keep it down in london where she works and its just not viable for her to keep it really as she just uses public transport or her boyfriends EV.

sounds the sort of car we'd want (small, decent make, petrol, FSH etc), and as i mentioned before, her dad/our friend has his own garage so i guess he'd have kept it all up to scratch for her.

talking of scratches, i dont think its got reversing sensors which surprises me for a top end model.  mrs ex-punk has certainly scraped ours a few times so im hesitant to buy one with no sensors that might be worth a lot less in a short space of time 😀

but..... as ever with cars, you take a chance.  just had that initial feeling that 4k was overpriced for a 12 plate, but maybe it is in the ballpark actually.

cheers

in london

Less road salt

Well worth thinking about a car from Southern England, especially if the person doesn't rinse the car off underneath. Just got my van, and it's lived in SW England for 3 years and it's immaculate underneath.  We bought a cheap Aygo, 3 years ago (£2k) and it had lived in the NE. Fortunately, bodywork was OK, but it needed cleaning and rust proofing on the suspension and subframe as it was starting to go crusty. It's been fine since.

well, weve just been for a test drive in it.  lovely little car really, couple of dints but nowt thatd put me off.  what does put me off tho is that there was no DAB (no 6 music!!), no reverse sensors, and wife ideally wanted a car thats £30 p/a to tax.

i guess im just after a bit more for a 'top spec' car, in this day and age i really think spending 4k on an upgrade then it should have DAB and sensors.

a compromise (or 3) too far do you think?  or should i look past minor issues like that?

Top spec in a small car isn't the same as top spec in a big car.

DAB radio and parking sensors/cameras aren't massively expensive or complicated aftermarket items and can even be combined.

Eye test might be worth while if she doesn't know where the back of the car is in something that is small enough to almost touch the back window from the driver's seat. I'll leave the OP to decide the best approach on that though 😆😉

DAB radio and parking sensors/cameras aren't massively expensive or complicated aftermarket items and can even be combined.

spoke to a mate of mine who's an auto electrician, he says the sensors would be around £200, and thinks i'd struggle to get a decent  DAB add-on these days, and itd also tie up the aux socket (thats if it has one).  so im thinking that even if it could be done, im going to be adding around £500 to the cost, so 4.5k for a 12 plate?  sadly i think we'll give this one a miss and the search goes on.

Eye test might be worth while if she doesn't know where the back of the car is in something that is small enough to almost touch the back window from the driver's seat. I'll leave the OP to decide the best approach on that though

nowt wrong with her eyes (she still finds me slightly attractive after all) its her spatial awareness she needs to work on 😀 

thanks

Quick look on eBay brings up a range of Android head units for the Jazz with fascia, DAB tuner and a camera bundled in for £100-£150.

It's one of the easier things to change in a cars spec if it meets other requirements. Or if you opt for a single DIN unit and fascia you can just move it from car to car. We have one that has been in 3 or 4 cars and is now in the garden shed that has a 12v solar setup 

Quick look on eBay brings up a range of Android head units for the Jazz with fascia, DAB tuner and a camera bundled in for £100-£150.

Or if you opt for a single DIN unit and fascia you can just move it from car to car. 

something like this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226369900170

thanks

Bit late to this thread, but also consider a Suzuki Swift. You should be able to get a decent one for your budget.

We bought my son a 2013 model and it is a great little car. 1.2l engine is great for fuel economy but not strained on motorway runs. It also only £35 vehicle tax.

I would look at it the other way round - you could save money on a higher mileage example and not necessarily have a less reliable car.

Bit late to this thread, but also consider a Suzuki Swift. You should be able to get a decent one for your budget.

yeah, considering all far eastern motors really, if we see a swift itll definitely be up for consideration.

I would look at it the other way round - you could save money on a higher mileage example and not necessarily have a less reliable car.

yep, not discounting higher mileage at all.

thanks

Yes, like the linked one, bit cheap and cheerful, but do the job. Must add I don't have one myself but have used similar cheap single DIN items in tractors and diggers.

Yes, like the linked one, bit cheap and cheerful, but do the job.

yeah, my (auto-electrician) mate said the same to me about it.  he said you cant get the decent quality goodwood type jobbies for that make/model/age of car any more, so the only alternative is a cheap chinese on which can be pot luck.  hes seen a load fail in his line of work.

he mentioned you could probably get a different dashboard to suit a better one, but ive no appetite for taking it that far.

like i said, shame, as the provenance/history of the car was ideal.

thanks

just tried posting this but got bombed out, something about a problem with my data so i'll try again.

wifes just sent me an i20, about 30 miles from home.  its 100,000 on the clock and £5k.

whats your opinion on the model/engine type?  any alarm bells?  i know itll be overpriced at a dealer but if its the right car......  cant get to see it til middle of next week anyway but thought id ask your opinions.  the pics show it to be in good nick.

Just get a simple car.  Avoid those "high tech" cars with plenty of gadgets cos they will be plenty to go wrong. 

well we've just been to look at another hyundai active but better than the last one.  same price (£5k), same year (2016) but this ones got FSH, fewer miles on it (71k) and seems well looked after, just a few small scratches on the back but thats to be expected at that age.

apparently its a 1.0 T-GDi turbo petrol engine, so my question is...... turbo?  we're looking for simple petrol engine, as little as possible to go wrong.  anyone know what these engines are like and how serious it would be if the turbo was to fail?

only got a short test on it but he says he'd put one on if it was called for.  we've got a good feel for it, lovely looking car that appears to have been well looked after, so next question is, is that car/model/engine worth £5k?  would it be fair to offer less and accept the gamble of putting a test on ourselves?

thanks

ewwww actually my wifes just told me id got the price wrong, it would appear to be £6k, not £5k.  not such a good price after all then :-/

Posted by: sadexpunk

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apparently its a 1.0 T-GDi turbo petrol engine, so my question is...... turbo?  we're looking for simple petrol engine, as little as possible to go wrong.  anyone know what these engines are like and how serious it would be if the turbo was to fail?

Well you're right that it is more to go wrong, but almost everything has a turbo now,  including pretty much every van you see.

Many of those will get driven hard from cold, with zero mechanical sympathy and the maximum possible interval between oil changes. 

So yeah modern turbos are pretty robust TBH (in general, i don't know this specific car/engine).

but almost everything has a turbo now, 

yeah?  that surprises me, i didnt think any of the small cars did unless they were sport versions.

So yeah modern turbos are pretty robust TBH (in general, i don't know this specific car/engine).

so you wouldnt be too worried about the car only doing lots of small journeys?  im talking of 2 journeys per day, 2 miles each time, sometimes even less?  thats why we're only considering petrol, i hadnt even considered that any of these small cars might have a turbo.

thanks

Posted by: sadexpunk

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but almost everything has a turbo now, 

yeah?  that surprises me, i didnt think any of the small cars did unless they were sport versions.

So yeah modern turbos are pretty robust TBH (in general, i don't know this specific car/engine).

so you wouldnt be too worried about the car only doing lots of small journeys?  im talking of 2 journeys per day, 2 miles each time, sometimes even less?  thats why we're only considering petrol, i hadnt even considered that any of these small cars might have a turbo.

thanks

Problem with tiny low powered petrol engines relying on a turbo is you'll be on boost pretty much all the time, otherwise it will be slow as hell.. Ford eco-boost engines seem to have a bit of a questioable rep for reliability, for example.

Posted by: sadexpunk

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but almost everything has a turbo now, 

yeah?  that surprises me, i didnt think any of the small cars did unless they were sport versions.

So yeah modern turbos are pretty robust TBH (in general, i don't know this specific car/engine).

so you wouldnt be too worried about the car only doing lots of small journeys?  im talking of 2 journeys per day, 2 miles each time, sometimes even less?  thats why we're only considering petrol, i hadnt even considered that any of these small cars might have a turbo.

thanks

Sounds like an ev might be a better option? 2 miles is a bad workload for any engine really, turbo or not. Check out the Nissan leaf and Renault zoe.

Sounds like an ev might be a better option? 2 miles is a bad workload for any engine really, turbo or not. Check out the Nissan leaf and Renault zoe.

for around £5k?  not really clued up on EVs tbh altho ive been dipping in and out of the EV thread to try and understand them a bit better.  are those 2 cars hybrids or full electric?  and i suppose theyd have a crap range before needing a recharge?

and back to the 'small far eastern engines'.... our nissan note has done us proud over the years and we'd still be happy getting another similar small petrol jobbie (it does still get a decent run periodically), so would you say this small engine with the turbo would be a worse option than one without?  or negligible?

thanks

Problem with tiny low powered petrol engines relying on a turbo is you'll be on boost pretty much all the time, otherwise it will be slow as hell

How slow ? I've a 1.2 nonturbo 108 82 bhp and it's perfectly capable of being traffic 

How fast do you need for a run about. 

Drives far nicer than dacias 0.9 turbo 

i know the best part of nowt about engines.

when does the turbo kick in?  above a certain rev number in each gear?  just above a certain speed, so only in 5th say at 60mph?  is a turbo in a small engine like this a bad idea then?

still wondering whether to go for it or not, its a nice car, at £6k its above the price id like to pay but if it lasts us 10 years or so like the last one then probably not toooo bad.  the turbo thing definitely worries me slightly tho.  we're looking at simple petrol engines, the less to go wrong the better, and now all of a sudden theres turbo failure to consider 😀

If you don't like the idea of a small engine with turbo then just get an NA engined car instead, plenty to choose from and 1.4 petrol engines are generally adequate for most smaller cars.

I may have suggested these before, but the Kia Venga is a good value, non-nonsense option. Like this one.

I haven't checked the MOT history on that, but there are plenty more about. We've had one in the family since new and it's been awesome. 

when does the turbo kick in? 

its a function of the amount of air being pushed out the back of the engine. In a petrol car, this is a combination of revs and throttle position - on a modern "utility" car, it will likely have full boost available from around 2,000 rpm at full throttle. The turbo won't be working if you're pootling along at those revs (ie driving at 70 on the motorway) but is when you're accelerating hard. 

on a diesel, the turbo is spinning more of the time as the throttle doesn't exist to limit the air going in (and thus out) of the engine - there's still a difference based on how much power you're asking for, but not as much as in a petrol

I wouldn't be worried about short journeys on a turbo. I'd probably err towards a hybrid if thats your driving pattern, but turbo shouldn't be unreliable

that particular i20 seems expensive - for 2 grand more you can get one half the age (still in warranty) with fewer miles

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertising-location=at_cars&homeDeliveryAdverts=include&make=Hyundai&model=i20&postcode=ox44ue&sort=price-asc&year-from=2020

2mile journey? Surely bicycle is the correct answer? (I can't remember the beginning of the thread)

Failing that AND you can charge it away from the road/pavement then an EV is the answer. Even the cheapest most knackered Nissan Leaf on autotrader will do 10x that journey on a single charge.

A 5k leaf will get 70-100miles range and the beauty of them is no engine to break/no oils to change. As a fan of Bangernomics they are on my radar.

Whizzy/farty small turbo'd high output engines aren't built for longevity and especially when not getting up to temperature on a 2mile journey.

when does the turbo kick in?  above a certain rev number in each gear?  just above a certain speed, so only in 5th say at 60mph?  is a turbo in a small engine like this a bad idea then?

You don't have to worry about it.  It makes little difference in real life - the only thing is that if you drive it slightly harder you can make it significantly less economical, and to make it economical you have to drive really very gently.

A Leaf is a good option for purely local driving but do not get a 2010-2012 one.

But as above - bike, or ebike, is the solution for 2 miles. I wouldn't even bother, I'd be walking.

Aren't we coming back round to where this started? NA petrol, like a 1.3 vtec? 

Posted by: trail_rat

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Problem with tiny low powered petrol engines relying on a turbo is you'll be on boost pretty much all the time, otherwise it will be slow as hell

 

How slow ? I've a 1.2 nonturbo 108 82 bhp and it's perfectly capable of being traffic 

How fast do you need for a run about. 

Drives far nicer than dacias 0.9 turbo 

Yes that's what I meant... Sorry I did not word it very well.
I've an N/A 1.2 Micra.. It's perfectly capable and is even quite comfy doing 80 on the motorway.
It'll never win any street races but that's not what's it's designed for.

2mile journey? Surely bicycle is the correct answer?

oh if only.  commute is on a dangerous road, grass verge, no cycle lane, lorries hurtling past.  ive been forbidden from biking it by my family.

Failing thatANDyou can charge it away from the road/pavement then an EV is the answer. Even the cheapest most knackered Nissan Leaf on autotrader will do 10x that journey on a single charge.

without crossing threads with the EV one, wouldnt i need to pay lots of pennies to get a charger installed?

But as above - bike, or ebike, is the solution for 2 miles. I wouldn't even bother, I'd be walking.

A Leaf is a good option for purely local driving but do not get a 2010-2012 one.

I've an N/A 1.2 Micra.. It's perfectly capable and is even quite comfy doing 80 on the motorway.

A Leaf will charge from a normal 13pin plug (not very big batteries)

The first ones had the worst battery chemistry......and all white interiors.

just been looking at leafs (leaves?)

i20 man tho has just messaged me to say hed take £5.5k now and its going on autotrader today.  do you think thats still too high for what it is?

I suppose other considerations are it's only got a short test, and how much would a turbo cost if it went?

Those Maeving electric motorbikes were talked about positively on another thread.  Good for 70mph so you won't be being overtaken by lorries.