Where to buy a car?

Anyone know how much Cinch take as commission? Looking to buy direct from the dealer and hoping to negotiate a small price reduction

I thought cinch was owned by we buy any car and British car auctions, so I though they were the sorta dealership front for it

I'm looking to buy a car. Nothing exciting - mostly drinking the forum koolaid and searching for ~10 year old Honda Jazzes. What is the consensus view of getting an AA/similar mechanic along to check? I know nothing about cars. I'm looking at a particular car from a private seller, they have full service history for the 3 years they've owned and the MOTs all passed and look clear of advisories online. I guess my question is really whether a mechanic is likely to be able to spot potential pitfalls/expensive issues that would have been missed/irrelevant for an MOT or are they just going to do the property surveyor thing of saying it's probably going to fall down and you want to get a second opinion on everything?

Cheers

I can only speak for the guy I use but he uses pro kit to look for fault codes etc and also has a well trained eye for any undisclosed collision damage repair, panel irregularity and so on.

Is he London-based / would you be happy to share his deets? Cheers

I'll PM you.

Cheers man, appreciate it

Plot twist, the mechanic turns out to be tester and proceeds to criticize all potential vehicles for not being manual.

That's a fair criticism.

Buy my Scooby. All the good things... manual, petrol, turbo

🤣🤣🤣

Buy my Scooby. All the good things... manual, petrol, turbo

Hmmm, What kind of scooby is it? 🤔

2003 Forester XT 2.0L turbo

OOof, almost exactly what i'm after 🥲

Though tbh not 100% sure i can afford the insurance on a turbo model. Hmmm, what sort of price range would it be in theory?

I think it's probably around £2k but I've not done much more than cursory checks. Neighbour in theory has first dibs as he said "if you ever sell it, let me know" :D

What's the mileage on it and how much do you like your neighbour?

No idea and that one's for my missus to answer, it was her deal.

More and more intriguing. I'm actively after a Forester atm.

good choice. I really like mine. most of the time.

most of the time.

Haha, elaborate on that? What's the catch?

don't get me wrong - they're great cars IMO!
caveats are the same as buying any used car, especially one that's over 10 yrs old...
have a really good look underneath, look out for corrosion on the sills and the suspension top mounts, head gaskets can be fragile on the turbo models so check for any signs of leaks or history to see if it's been replaced already, make sure it's had a cambelt replacement and if not then budget for getting that done, rear shocks are prone to sagging if it has SLS (self levelling)

i've spent a bunch of money on mine but even if you're spending £1k a year on repairs it's still cheaper than a new car on finance so that's how i justify any big bills to myself.

Or just drive it until it falls apart and get another one.

We've done fuck all to it since we've owned it. I think we cleaned the lights up a bit (they're still a bit foggy) and we've replaced a wheel bearing and maybe an exhaust part (that might've been on the Ford, I forget). Pretty sure the previous owner got rid of the self-levelling rear suspension.

I still need to clean it out, note mileage, etc and get a FS thread going for it.

Or just drive it until it falls apart and get another one.

yeah, you can do that, i prefer to try and keep my cars going rather than scrapping them if possible!

none of these issues are terminal, just stuff to look out for - i'm not saying any of these things are wrong with the hippy wagon!

buying any second hand car is a gamble, and all cars have inherent issues.

My plan is to get rid of this one and not have another one. #carfree

If I need to use a car, I'll hire something.

It's somewhat ironic that I only own a car to get to bike races.

still cheaper than a new car on finance

Our little Fabia Mk 1 automatic has just passed its MOT, without needing any work done, like it does most years.

It's from 2006 so 17 years old now. We bought it in 2016 for £3600. It seems to be worth approx £1500 now. So the car itself has cost us something like £300 a year. We've had a few expensive bits done like cam belt and water pump, plus of course servicing, tyres, MOT-minor level stuff. But nothing financially ruinous, and it has never yet broken down on us properly.

No idea how much a new car on finance works out as really costing, but I'm pretty comfortable #bangernomics is working out well for us

like hippy, i wouldn't have a car at all but we don't have a suitable car share scheme nearby.
we generally don't drive anywhere during the week, kids walk to school, wife walks to work, i ride, the weekly shop gets delivered.
the forester mainly gets used for the odd weekend day out or during the summer for holiday/camping trips for which it's an excellent vehicle.
despite it not being very economical, i sort of justify keeping it by thinking that if we did get something more eco, it would only encourage us to drive more.