Hi - we are about to enter the cheap cars for teenagers market. As we live in Harrogate, we don't have a great deal of choice for garages that sell cheaper cars (£2k Fiesta territory). Can anyone recommend anywhere that specialises in the lower end that is likely to have a decent selection of smaller cars. Thank you.
Scotton garage car sales at Ferensby?
Cookes at Norton/Malton.
When I've been looking at this end of the market, found most of these places don't use autotrader, but use their own websites, as they likely sell to locals anyway.
I've already checked both of those out and neither have much in at that price point.
For teens, I would look for low insurance group cars first, even if they cost a bit more to get a lower overall cost.
At the cheap end of the market dealers are a bad choice in many ways, mostly that they still want to make a decent chunk of each car so have to pay bargain prices and do as little work as possible on them to make money. If you can a private purchase from someone who's owned the car for a good while is the ideal choice.
At the cheap end of the market dealers are a bad choice in many ways, mostly that they still want to make a decent chunk of each car so have to pay bargain prices and do as little work as possible on them to make money. If you can a private purchase from someone who's owned the car for a good while is the ideal choice.
Yep, by the time they pay the business' fixed overheads, VAT, a slice made but expected to lost to warranty claims, and a living, there's not much left to cover the car itself at £2k at a dealers.
And I have never, ever, EVER seen a "bargain" car at a dealers. They know exactly what a car's worth. If it's cheap, there's a reason.
(If you can identify the reason, it might be ok - for example, my daughter's first car was from a small dealer... pre-bashed all down the passenger side. She didn't care, and it was cheap. (She may have bumped all the corners in the first few weeks of driving, too...))
Private is mostly the way to go at this end of the market - Facebook, Gumtree, at the side of the road with "for sale" on... if you're not happy checking a car over, take someone who is (I'll come if you're SW Wales, I love buying cars with other people's money! 😉 ) but of course go in with your eyes wide open... colour, in particular, should be pretty much last on the list.
In the meantime, remember to run "trial" insurance quotes through compare/moneySM/etc both as a learner and newly qualified. Some cars jump a LOT once they've past their test. We found many mid-sized hatches to be similar to the usual first car suspects (Jazz/aygo/corsa/etc) - only very small cars like Smart 4 Twos came in significantly cheaper - she ended up with a 1.6 Corolla... it was a little higher on the learner insurance, and a little lower after passing, but only maybe 50 quid in it either way against the usual suspects.
If you can a private purchase from someone who's owned the car for a good while is the ideal choice.
Yep, by the time they pay the business' fixed overheads, VAT, a slice made but expected to lost to warranty claims, and a living, there's not much left to cover the car itself at £2k at a dealers.
Yes, I get that – I am not looking for a bargain though, we are just looking for a cheaper car. The thing is, most cars I see for sale at our price point are a similar price (whether they be private sales or from a garage). And where do you think garages get the cars from? It's the people that don't want the hassle of selling privately and are happy to sell to a garage for less than they could privately. And at least I *may* get some after-care from a garage.
It is funny though – I could get a big Jag at a similar price of a same age / mileage Fiesta.
It is funny though – I could get a big Jag at a similar price of a same age / mileage Fiesta.
That's because big jags come with big insurance, VED*, fuel and potentially maintenance costs. People looking for a 3k car generally don't want to spend that again on running costs each year.
Pretty cool though, big wafty barge for not huge money. I'd take the gamble if I was looking for a new motor.
*actually the tax isn't ridiculous on second glance. Less than my diesel van!
That's because big jags come with big insurance, VED*, fuel and potentially maintenance costs. People looking for a 3k car generally don't want to spend that again on running costs each year.
Yeah, I get why they are cheap but, as you say, cars like that are in the "kinda cool" category.
Wilsden Auto's are well established and usually have some starter cars in stock, or at least they did last time I looked.
Peter Watson in Skipton are very good and if you keep checking quite often have some decent budget options. Bold Venture Garage also in Skipton specialise in Aygo sized cars and have done for years. Can't comment on their service though.
Robert Wade Cars in Halifax have been going for ages and usually have some cars at the lower end. They also swear by the Toyota Argo/C1/106 variants as first cars and, seemingly, quite bulletproof engines.
https://www.robertwadecars.co.uk
At the cheap end of the market dealers are a bad choice in many ways, mostly that they still want to make a decent chunk of each car so have to pay bargain prices and do as little work as possible on them to make money. If you can a private purchase from someone who's owned the car for a good while is the ideal choice.
+1
They still need to cover the same costs whether it's a £2k Corsa or a £20k Audi A4.
And where do you think garages get the cars from? It's the people that don't want the hassle of selling privately andhave a car they need shot of because it's got issues and felt less guilty about dumping it on WBAC or are happy to sell to a garage
The thing is, most cars I see for sale at our price point are a similar price (whether they be private sales or from a garage).
I think some of that is possibly the private sellers expecting to be haggled, maybe being a bit optimistic (remember, if the advert is still there, it's the one that hasn't sold) and you might spot the 'why' if you look in more detail sometimes. Whenever I've looked for cheap cars £2k in a garage has generally meant as little as £500 privately.
Having been through this painful process recently and ending up with a bit of a lemon I'd say stick to a dealer as close to home as possible. Having to make repeated trips to a dealer, leaving car for repair and having to make your own way back is a massive PIA even if only 20 miles away.
[but if I was doing it again I'd have bought from the previously mentioned Bold Venture garage in Skipton as long as you are happy with the C1/Aygo model as that's pretty much all they sell. I gave in to my daughters wishes for a different model so had to go elsewhere; In hindsight I wish I'd bought close to home and been less picky about model]
Renault Zoe of interest? Though with your EV experience perhaps not (and it would be a pig to drive back from the south coast).
Whenever I've looked for cheap cars £2k in a garage has generally meant as little as £500 privately.
I'd love to see proper evidence of that claim here in North/West Yorkshire – all the garages know what will sell at that price point – we went to look at a Fiesta today that was posted yesterday (at £3,000) and there were two other groups of people looking at it just after we got there. That same car (2012 1.2 Zetec Fiesta with 100,000 miles) are advertised by private sellers at around the same price. And there can be no confidence that someone selling a car privately is doing it with any more good intentions than a garage.
I'd be happy to take the risk if I could get a similar 2012 Fiesta 1.2 Zetec with 100,000k privately for £750. Show me a single one...