[Closed] Trying to find a cheap car but AT full of dealer ads?

Wait until the new year....

Trying but need some wheels before Jan 6th.

Think people will be desperate to sell by then?

Get on gumtree and ebay clasifieds .autotraders been poor for yonks since folk figured out you dont need to pay that much to sell cars.....

Remembers back in the day when you used to book the autotrader photographer to come round and photograph your car for the paper copy.

Remembers how carp it was.

Gumtree or use ebay like autotrader, find car, check it over, wave the cash.
Just got a 2002 Corsa 1.2 SXi for £650 this way as a temporary car whilst we argue over the value of our written off MX5 with the insurance company. It's a popular model with new drivers, so should be pretty easy to sell on with not much loss, might even make on it by the time I've fixed a few snags.
Loads of cheaper stuff out there if you plan to be the cars last owner.

Look at eBay auctions finishing at odd times, middle of the night or xmas day. Although my current motor is 23 years old (and French) I picked it up for buttons as it ended at 3am on a Tuesday.

I think you can filter your searches by dealers or private sales on the Auto Trader website.

Ebay have classified ads too. (I can't get my head round bidding in auctions - it sounds like a mad way to buy a car to me).

I've successfully used both methods to buy my last two cars from private sellers. Good experiences both times.

I gave up on Gumtree. Too many rogue traders, people trying to sell you rust, and smack heads.

hi

one tip I was given was when calling is to say
I'm phoning up about the car (and nothing else)
if the person on the other end doesn't know which one ..........

ebay for cheap cars, I've bought and sold with them

Rang around today and learnt that good condition means rusty lol

Yup... I sold my Focus as "good condition" other than the one big fault that caused me to sell it... the feller who bought it was gobsmacked, apparently "good condition" is normally more or less code for "infested with bears", "needs a dustpan and brush to get it off the driveway" "haunted" or "currently on fire".

or "currently on fire".

😆

apparently "good condition" is normally more or less code for "infested with bears", "needs a dustpan and brush to get it off the driveway" "haunted" or "currently on fire".

ROFLMAO! 😀

There's hardly any private ads on autotrader these days (well under 5% now). Lots hand back at the end of finance deals, part-ex or go through the rampantly popular webuyanycar type services. Can't say I blame them given how much of a pain selling cars can be. The few left tend to balk at the £33 autotrader want (or a bit less if the car is under £1000).

There's ebay and gumtree but you might do as well via local paper, newsagents windows, etc - probably still enough luddites around.