Used cars - advice

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Journo Tyke, Jul 7, 2020.

  1. Journo Tyke

    Journo Tyke Well-Known Member

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    Okay, so I've only ever had cars via various leases so far but am now looking to buy one for the first time.

    Couple of questions please:

    1. Age vs miles.

    Example: Car A is 2 years old and has done 40,000 miles, Car B is 4 years old and done 15,000 miles.

    What I'm seeing in this situation (assuming all else is equal) is that Car A is a little bit more expensive but not a lot. Cars that haven't been used a lot but are 3-4 years old seem like quite good value to me, but the car itself is still 4 years old.

    Which of the two above would you be inclined to go for at a similar price?

    2. Dealers

    If a car is listed at say £7000 and there's finance available. What's a realistic amount to get off the price is you're paying cash? I honestly have no idea. Don't want to lowball an insulting amount, but obviously want to get as good a deal as possible. I'd have thought in the current circumstances, a cash offer would be quite attractive. £6500 out of the question?

    Thanks!
     
  2. DEETEE

    DEETEE Well-Known Member

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    If you are paying cash go to an auction with someone who knows a bit about cars and you might be able to pick up an ex fleet car/ decent repo for about 2/3 of the forecourt price.
     
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  3. DEETEE

    DEETEE Well-Known Member

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    Oh and given what you do for a living you should know the garage doesn't provide the finance! they'll get money for the car and a kick back for introducing the customer to the finance company.
     
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  4. Journo Tyke

    Journo Tyke Well-Known Member

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    Valid point.
     
  5. Austiniho

    Austiniho Well-Known Member

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    Be prepared to go in low at a dealership. Nothing embarrassing, they will try to drive the price up, be prepared to walk away.

    I’d probably go go the higher mileage car depending upon make and model. Cars generally are built to last quite a few miles now. And people will be more focused on the newness than the mileage when you sell it on.
     
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  6. JamDrop

    JamDrop Well-Known Member

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    1. I always go for the lower mileage and 3/4 year old car. Lots of 3 year old cars come up for sale because there are a lot of people who switch cars at that age because MOTs are due and they prefer to always have new cars. There are schemes where you can swap your car for a new one every 3 years so all those cars come to market. Mine and my husband’s cars that we’ve got with low mileage have always lasted over 12 years and still been fine but then we’ve decided to swap them ‘in case’ at that age. We never have any intention of reselling so that doesn’t matter to us and I’m not bothered about impressing people about it being one year younger.

    2. Companies vastly prefer people to pay on finance and are actually not allowed to accept less just because you are paying in cash (as it means their however long interest free or whatever is a lie if they do discounts for cash). That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to haggle on other points but you won’t get it cheaper solely for paying cash. I’m not great at haggling, I rarely get much money knocked off so when that doesn’t work I have success in getting the paid for extras included for free instead.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2020
  7. Sup

    SuperTyke Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure if I've made this up or not but I'm sure a god way to get money knocked off is the opposite. Say you're going to pay on finance but you need a deal to afford it. Get some money off and then within 14 days cancel the finance and pay in full.
     
  8. lk3

    lk311 Well-Known Member

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    I always go for a higher than average mileage car for my Wife, the reason being she does very little miles, so we pay slightly less for the car but when it comes to selling when we sell, we don’t lose too much money on the car, because the mileage becomes average for its year etc. We do however balance this with its history in terms of looking at past MOT, service history, has its mileage been consistent etc.

    Main dealers will accept very little less than the price on the car, mainly because as Jamdrop said they want you to finance, the reason for that is because of the kickbacks from finance companies, I have known Salesmen walk away when offered cash deals.
    What they will do is increase the price on a part ex to get the sale over the line on Finance, which can give you the same effect if you have one to sell.

    Smaller one man band garages are more likely to accept a lower cash offer as they are more about spinning the car and releasing the cash.

    Also you will be more likely to get a better deal at the end of a month than the start, two reasons for this 1) Salemen & Garages might be low on their quotas. 2) A lot of larger second hand dealers operator on a ‘stocking loan’ system for their cars.
    A stocking loan is where they get the car free for a period of time, if they sell it they pay a certain price, if they don’t the price goes up.
    You can usually spot them because a car will be reduced by say £500 for a couple of weeks but then go back up(Sometimes higher than original).
     
  9. lk3

    lk311 Well-Known Member

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    Used to be quite common practice until Stoneacre killed it by offering lower priced cars but getting bigger kickbacks.
     
  10. JamDrop

    JamDrop Well-Known Member

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    Makes sense.
     
  11. lk3

    lk311 Well-Known Member

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    Some will do it, but you have to be careful as they will swap lenders and use a higher interest rate, so you have to make sure you pay it off.
     
  12. JamDrop

    JamDrop Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, it’d definitely be for someone who knows what they are doing. I flat out refuse to use finance for anything (except mortgage) so it’s not for me.
     
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  13. pompey_red

    pompey_red Well-Known Member

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    https://www.astonbarclay.net/

    if you want to go direct to where the majority of garages get their cars try here, they do online and have places in leeds and wakefield.

    The auctions here aren't full of old bangers, they mostly sell nearly new ex lease / fleet or finance re possessions and also do specialist manufacturer auctions if you are after a particular make, beat the garages at their own game!
     
  14. ark

    ark104 (v2) Well-Known Member

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    Can I just ask why you've converted to buying?Took the decision to go the other way (although went for PCP rather than a lease which worked out pretty well when we upgraded). Just came round to the view that owning a car is not a great investment given they depreciate to nothing and cost a huge amount to maintain, usually within a very short period of time of having bought.
     
  15. Rev

    Revvie P Well-Known Member

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    Generally speaking, there's far less wriggle room on the headline price than there used to be. Buying used cars has changed. Rather than trawl the local dealers' ads in local papers, narrowing to a shortlist and then going to view, you now search what you want online and the results are typically ordered by price. So gone are the days when they'd advertise for a grand more than they'll take, expecting to haggle with buyers as if they do that, their car will be on page 7 of your search results.

    However, in the current climate you may find dealers in dire need of a sale so go in low. The worst they can say is no. I'm guessing you have a current lease about to end. Give yourself time. Don't set your heart on one vehicle and always walk away from negotiations if you're not 100% sure. Last time I bought a used car, I looked at 4 and bought 1. The other 3 dealers rang within the week, keen to further negotiate. I could certainly have got a better deal if I'd held out but I'd hit a pothole in my 12 year old car and the garage who looked at it said the steering rack could fail at any moment, which was so expensive, the vehicle was a scrapper. I didn't dare drive it round for too long so bought in a hurry.

    Dealers will upsell you to death with Supagard, gap insurance, extended warranty, smart repair cover etc etc. My opinion is if any of this was good value they wouldn't be so desperate to sell it you.
     
  16. lk3

    lk311 Well-Known Member

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    Super guard type products are excellent value for money to be fair BUT don’t have it done at the garage have it done privately. It will be similar money but you will know it’s been done properly. Garages and in particular main dealers just don’t have the time (or skills) to apply it properly.

    Edit: reason they sell it cos salesman gets big commission on them.
     
  17. Skinner

    Skinner Well-Known Member

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    Dependant on make of car and the procedure on servicing and milage limits deing followed many cars have 5 to 7 years warranty from manufacturer..Kia do 7 yrs now .I bought recently and picked up balance of warranty from Ford...be aware tho that the manufacturer place service record and milage limits when new to validate warranty so check the previous owner stuck to these...I always go for no more than 4 yrs old and 10k per year max miles..
     
  18. Dar

    Darfield138 Well-Known Member

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    The use a car has had is more important than the mileage it has done. The worst engine wear occurs in the first few miles from cold. A car which has done lots of starts may end up being worse than a car driven 200 miles a time and being high mileage. If you have cash look to buy private to get a bargain but avoid traders masquerading as private sellers. They will always have a great excuse as to why they've only owned the car a short time. At that age go for one owner (could be two if supplying dealer is the first one), ask if the car is registered in their name and at the address you will be viewing it at, look at log book to check how long they have owned it. Take time looking at service records and mileage and have a decent test drive, reverse, corners, get it to at least 50mph etc, check clutch electrics etc. I always think alloys are a good indicator of how well a car has been driven and cared for. Look at chassis numbers (google where they are for your particular car) Do an Hpi gold check (gives insurance if car turns out to have defect in title. Pay by bank transfer not actual cash. Auctions are ok if you go for direct entries from fleets, not cars entered by traders, but buyers premiums are extortionate and they arent the bargains you expect them to be for the chance you take. Oh and don't buy a BMW with a 2.0 diesel engine. The timing chain will fail at some point and replacement involves engine removal (it is at the back) so expect a £2,000 bill or a new engine if the car is driving when it fails. Google "N47 engine timing chain".
     
  19. scarf

    scarf Well-Known Member

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    The first sentence is tosh, my last 2 litre was still going strong at 210k miles when I parted with it and is still the daily drive of a BMW techie a year later.
    The N47 engine was superceded in 2014 so I don't think it will be on Journo's shopping list.
     
  20. Prince of Risborough

    Prince of Risborough Well-Known Member

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    Hm, slightly alarming message here. I have a 2009 BMW X3, 2 litre with 126,000 miles on the clock. It runs very well and I'm planning a long European return trip next month. You and Darfield138 have got me worrying now :(
     

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