How to buy a car.... (General Comments / Tips Concerning Your Car)

Name: alandooley

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Product:	General Comments / Tips Concerning Your Car
Date:	23/10/00 (336 review reads)
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Advantages: Buy the car to suit your needs

Disadvantages: Don't by a dud....

Buying a car for a lot of people is a big deal. It is a lot of money that you hand over for a lump of metal that will transport you from A to B in a manner that pleases you most. What pleases you most? For every driver it would be different.

The unassuming young woman would like an accessory. Something she would look good in, a little Ka or a Bug or anything so long as it's lilac. The seasoned mother doesn't care what she has so long as it will carry all Saturday's shopping and ship the three and a half kids to and from school without costing a fortune in petrol. The revhead young man wants something with street cred. Something that's fast or at least looks fast, has great handling, will attract attention. The young poser wants a coupe or a convertible. The middle-aged business man wants a status symbol with big engines and leather interior and the rich kid wants what noone else can have.

We all want different things, don't we. So why not put some thought in to what you want. You are, afterall, spending lots of hard-earned cash on something you will use a lot! Buy the car that suits you. Try to list out what you want from a car. Do you want good handling, good acceleration, large luggage capacity, lots of room for kids, off-road abilities, good looks, nice interior, all of the above? What do _you_ want? Don't let the salesman force you in to anything. Definitely listen to his story, and make note of anytime he mentions one of your must-haves. Oh, and compare. Drive them all, and chose what you believe is the best.

Do you want second-hand or new? Well that's up to you. Personally, I would go for a new car. The probability of things going wrong is less than on a second-hand. Yes, things do go wrong on new cars, but that happens all cars. Don't listen to other peoples horror stories. The best opinion, is one you can build for yourself out of true facts. Ask lots of people if they h
ave had trouble with their Mondeo or their Astra. Do your own survey. Remember, you are buying a car that you want to feel happy with for a couple of years. Getting bored of your car after 2 months would signal to me that a bad choice was made.

When buying a new car, there isn't a lot to worry about. You have to take it at face value. There is no history. Buying a used is a completely different story. Below are some things to look for on your "new" used-car - in no particular order of importance. I'll list them as I think of them.

- Always ensure there is a full service history. This means that the service book should have all the dealer stamps in it. This is important because it should reduce the chance of unexpected problems. Generally, dealers know best how to service the car. You could be lucky and find a great privateer mechanic, but the ratio of good to gangster leans towards gangster. Stick with the dealer history.
-Listen to the engine. Rev the car freely and have a look to see if there is blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe. This indicates that it's burning oil. Black/white smoke is ok, this indicates fuel/water respectively.
-Check all the panel fittings. Make sure they align. Check for overspray on the inside. Lift the boot mats for this. Check for any odd wrinkles in the body work.
-Check the tyres. There should be a good set of tyres on it. If not, ask the seller to put some on, or give a discount.
-Oh and drive the car of course. Does it meet your expectations? Any rattles or noises? What are they?
-Check the interior. Does it look valet clean or naturally clean? This could mean the difference between a car that was filthy coming in or a car whose owner looked after it.
-Leave the car behind if it's had way more than average mileage for it's age.
-Check for rust.
-Ask the salesperson lots and lots of questions. Ask for the previous owners phone
number so you can contact them to find out about the car.
-Basically, be very thorough. It's your dosh you're spending. If you haven't a clue what you'd look for, get the AA to do a check on it. It'll cost you, but you'll get piece of mind out of it.

It's a tricky business, and there are a lot of cowboys out there, so be sensible.


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UPDATE
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Just recently I sold my Peugeot 206 GTi, to make room for my new 206 CC - hasn't arrived yet :(. But in the meantime, my Father loaned me a Peugeot 406 1.9 turbo-diesel. It is a '96 model. This is a fine car by any standards and I would highly recommend. But one thing that bothered me about it was it's mileage. It was a very busy car. It has over 130k miles on it now. If I was in the market for a diesel 406, I would be turning on my heels as soon as I saw this car. But I had no choice. It was this car or no car, so off I went. And was I surprised! The car is perfect! It drives just as well today as it did 100k miles ago.

My point is, that don't be afraid of high-milers. If the car has had the right owner, like this car, then it will be in great condition. You will save a lot of money buying a high-miler. Although you have to make sure that you check all the other parts of the car (using my checkpoints above). The saving you get from extra high mileage is about £60 per thousand miles over the average. It can work out quite nicely for you!

One point I would make, is that petrol high milers can be prone to problems when approaching 100k miles. A diesel is your best bet when searching for a car like this. I saw one Peugeot 205 diesel about 10 years ago with 313k fully service miles and the car was running like new.

So you will be able to find what you need at the right price. Just bring a bit of knowledge to the forecourt and you'll come out a winner.

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