I want a car NOW (autotrader.co.uk)

Member Name: wisemind

Product:	autotrader.co.uk
Date:	03/03/09 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to navigate

Disadvantages: none

Autotrader.co.uk is an offshoot of the weekly magazine which is primarily bought for the purpose of buying and selling cars.

The website covers areas such as loans, insurance and parts as well as the search section

There is a section which has news and reviews which enables you to search for reviews of your cars but this only covers cars for the past 5 years so older cars you need to search other sites. When I was searching I personally found Dooyoo very useful for this.

The search is one of the best I know and find it much more useable than the magazine.

There are two searches one for new cars and one for used cars.

To search you can enter your postcode then adjust the search dependant upon your requirements

You can alter distance you are prepared to travel for a car, make or model as well as minimum and maximum you are prepared to pay. This is the basic search.

The cars listed tell you if they are trade or private and most have at least one picture which is particularly useful when searching for a car. As the photos are uploaded they are usually much clearer than in the magazine.
You can use a more advanced search which includes only looking at private or trade adverts, age of car, colour and manual or automatic.


My experience of buying


I recently bought a used car and found using this site particularly useful. As I was only really test drive a car on Monday or Thursday mornings when my son was at nursery which meant I may as well eliminate all private buyers as the majority would be at work at this time.
I wanted a manual gear box and preferred a 3 door car as I am much more confident driving a small car and have found that strapping my son into his car seat is actually easier in a 3 door car rather than 5 door. I put the mileage as 30 miles as I didn't particularly want to travel any further than that.

Things that were important for me was at least some service history and power assisted steering but I needed to read through the adverts to see if these were included.

I did have certain cars I like Citroen Saxo, Vauxhall Corsa, a Renault Clio or a Peugeot and wanted to search for a good value car. I found a car that fitted my requirements so arranged for a test drive but while getting ready to go I had a call from the nursery as my son had an upset tummy so I had to collect him and by the time he was well enough to go back to nursery the car had sold.

One of the things I do particularly like about the site is that you can compare what price the average cars are going for. I mostly removed the model and make search as I wanted a good car rather than a very specific care. Each time you add or remove a search function you are given the number of cars in that search.

The search can be displayed in price or distance closest to your postcode

I managed to find another car than was only a couple of miles away from me that was perfect for me and now I am the proud new owner of a Citroen Saxo.


Selling a vehicle

To list an advert they give you guidance about what should go in your advert
The cost of the advert depends upon what package you want.
The standard package is £35 for 2 weeks on the website and 1 week in the magazine but if your car is going in the bargain section which is for cars under £1000 it is a reduced rate of £15.

I have never sold a car through this source so have no experience.

Using the website is much easier than the magazine as the magazine seems to cover a really wide area, it is much easier to compare one car to another and photos are better quality. It also means I don't have to spend £1 or traipse down to the shops to purchase it
I found the site very easy to navigate and next time I am searching for a car this will be my first stop.

Summary: great for searching