Where to buy a car?

Bit of a weird one, but aside from the obvious (eBay, Facebook, Auto Trader, AA & RAC), are there any other avenues anyone knows of to find a car?

For context, i'm looking for a runaround for £1500.

Gumtree

@NurseHolliday

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Are you in London?

I am. SE19

Based on owning many rubbish cars over the years I'd say £1500 is just too little for a reliable car. Better to just use car shares when you need them. A £1500 car is almost definitely going to be problematic in terms of ULEZ or will fail an MOT and end up getting written off sooner or later. £1500+insurance and tax and repairs is a lot of car shares. I'm sure there are exceptions to this but you'd have to be really lucky.

@Evell Good advice

There is a scheme with Hiyacar where you lease a car from them and when you not using it other people can rent it and you recoup some cash. They cover all insurance services and Mot and it costs about £300 a month but hassle free.

stick a wanted ad up on here? I've got a ULEZ compliant 2006 Touareg I'm looking to sell as I've no need for a car now I'm back in London...

From hard-won experience, @Evell is right - once you've got significant sunk costs in tax and insurance, it's hard not to throw bad money after good once a 'cheap' car tears its clutch to bits or fails its MOT. The next price bracket up is probably the place to be for reliable cars which still don't leave you with a valuable asset parked on the street. I'm also SE and got on well with Blackheath Motor Company last year, honest and straightforward to deal with and gave me a fair trade-in.

Real Londoners go to car gaint...done.

I disagree, a £1,500 Nissan Micra will go forever, yes there might be a few consumables needed, but they'll be mega cheap.

I also disagree. Owning any secondhand car is a lottery, and buying something slightly newer doesn't particularly guarantee you won't be met with a big garage bill in the near future. Possibly the opposite.

Any petrol car from 2005 ish onwards is ULEZ compliant, and many back to 2000-ish, so that's not a worry within that budget.

My 2p - An older Aygo/Peugeot 107/Citroen C1 (basically all the same chassis & interior) will be £20/year tax, ULEZ compliant and petrol consumption is very low. We get 450+ miles to a tank (non motorway) for our 107, reckon you could push it up to about 600 miles/tank on a motorway trip. May cost a little over £1500, though. Check Clutch, AC/Hazard/rear heating buttons being shot, Rear window hinges. But good little cars, very cheap to run.

Mates have also had good deals from people they know who are selling cars, neighbours, firends of friends etc. So get the word out.

I’m a 4th for £1500 being a very sensible sum to spend.

Pretty much any car with a small, normally aspirated petrol engine will have very little that will go wrong that should cost buckets to fix and will be ULEZ fine at your budget.

If running costs are a worry I’d steer clear of anything German. Japanese is generally a safe bet, if a bit pensioner, Ford, Peugeot, Citroen etc are maybe less reliable but parts and labour are cheaper.

Bangernomics is a real thing. Sticking to Japanese is best strategy. I know a 1100 quid toyota yaris that was still fine after 9 years of loyal service. Even sold for a profit after, potential mine field tho, knowledge of cars and mechanics is a must to spot potential money pits.

Yaris is the other option I'd recommend. T-Sport is a proper fun little car in that price.

I had a Fiat Panda 100hp for a couple of years. You won't get one at that price, but a regular mk2 Panda would be a decent buy. Drive great and surprising practical for a tiny car

I’ve got a silver 2010 Vauxhall Zafira if you’re interested. 1.8L and 109k miles but always very reliable. Great for space.

Looking for £1250.

Photos available if required.

Also currently looking for a car on off chance. 3k-ish to spend. Honda Jazz kind of vibes.

Honda Jazz kind of vibes.

Buy a Jazz. Just for the rear seats.

You can't go wrong with a Civic!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211201856209?model=Civic&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&radius=1500&postcode=e177hl&make=Honda&sort=mileage&price-to=1500&advertising-location=at_cars&include-delivery-option=on&page=1

That said, the uptick in used car prices since the pandemic makes it difficult to get something like a Civic with reasonable mileage for £1.5k.

They're great right? Absolute tardis of a car.

My old one has just been written off after a cheeky slip on the ice the other week.

Thaks for the advice - been trawling through the pistonheads forums and seems to be the general concenseus that if you know what you're looking for, you can have a cheap runaround that won't burn (too much) of a hole in your lederhosen.

Got my first this time car last year, a 2001 Toyota Corolla with 125k on the clock (Ulez free). Was sold to me as spares or repairs for £995 and ended up spending almost 2k on it in total. Cut to it blowing up on the M20 and sold it for scraps this summer. So I know a thing or two about the potential headaches.

Looking back I did everything you shouldn't do when being a used car. That said, I loved the freedom it gave me and I've been craving it ever since. Now i've saved up a bit, it's time to do it again but this time, fucking properly!