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Been thinking about this advice - which all seems eminently sound to a non-car-person like me - I hope you don't mind if I ask a few additional questions relevant to my current search?
You say buy private up to £10k which I assume infers some value in buying from a dealer beyond that. Can I ask you to elaborate on the rationale here? Is it that you put some value on the mechanical checks they all shout about, the warranties, the ability to attempt to enforce consumer rights against a listed entity, or something else entirely?
Any recommended models to look at (or avoid!) that fit the following criteria: large (estate), automatic, reliable, ULEZ compliant, decent value, not riddled with known errors likely to cost the ££££ down the road? Currently looking at Skoda Octavias, Honda Civic Tourers, Seat Leon's and VW Passats/Golfs.
Cheers
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elaborate on the rationale here?
I think it's just a business model thing.
A dealer that can support after sales, warranties, and checking cars properly has to be of a certain size with a certain TO. You can't do that with cheaper, higher risk cars.
When we were looking in 2018 it was hard to find any sizable dealers with cars <£8k.
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You say buy private up to £10k which I assume infers some value in buying from a dealer
buying cars privately is mainly a shit show. so much time waste looking at crap cars not as described, obvious bad repairs etc etc.
So if you can afford it, it's just so much easier to go to a car supermarket where you can look round a large number of decent ex fleet cars and take your pick. But if you don't have budget for that, you are left with the private option or low value forecourt sales which are likely no better than private.
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Its business isn't it. Used car dealers need to buy at price X, add value (which is often just clean it, throw some paint sealant on it to make it look shiny, and throw away any service history), sell for X + Y. Where Y is a % profit to make it worth their while going to work in the morning.
Not all used car dealer cars are bad. Not all private sales are legit or good.
Every car over a day old potentially has issues. Operate on the principle that any used car you buy may well cost you £500-1500 within the first days to 6 months just in wear items and things that crop up that you won't have noticed on the 0.5 mile 30mph test drive around the block.
The absolute best advise is to find a mate or colleague who is an expert in that particular car your looking at, pay them in wine, beer, mince pies for their time to help you look at a few cars you've short listed.
Do not buy the first car of any type that you see, look at and drive multiple, then even the most non car person ever will be like 'oh that one stank like fermented arse, the other one pulled to the right, the brakes on the third one were dreadful and it make a noise'....Most non car, non technical, non 'maybe I can fix this myself' type of folk just pay and buy new one way or another. Every mate or colleague that would fit into those categories is always rolling around in a new leased leon, golf, I30, corolla, mazda 3 type of car, because they just want simplicity.
Suzuki swift gets my approval. Genuinely fun to drive, excellent driving position for me (5'10, medium medium medium), engines good, the mild hybrid turbo petrol is a legend, reliable, good economy and quick enough to keep most people happy. Cheap because yeah no one is looking for them. They can rust a bit, but you'll be looking at one less than 10 years old I guess so not really a problem (all cars rust eventually in this country). Boot is small and rear seats are small ish. But if its a hatchback you want, yeah they good.
Jazz is the most best small hatchback in terms of usefulness, nothing else comes close.
hugo7
ChasnotRobert
BrickMan
Read up on how to buy a car. Best short advise.....
MIleage and number of owners TBH pretty irrelevant on a car over 8 years old IMO
Current condition is everything.
Buy private, literally no point in buying anything from a dealer under about £10k unless you need access to one of their (not great) finance packages. Every single person I've helped with buying cars the last ten years who have just defaulted to buying a random car from a dealer in the sub £10k bracket has had issues that have not been resolved, or they've been so british about it that they cannot pluck up the courage to go and take vehicle and its issues back to the dealer. You can also meet the original owner and not be buying blind.
Honda Jazz, Fiesta, I20, mazda 2 or 3. All with the basic or mid range petrol and a manual gearbox. Citroen C3 C4 with the basic petrol are OK, avoid the 1.6 diesel, a chocolate turd of an engine.
Avoid corsa/astra with 1.0 1.2 and 1.4 petrol, they all go boom
Avoid diesels that age, too many issues unless you really know what to look for.
Avoid yaris and I10 as they've all been flogged by delivery drivers unless you manage to find a random decent one.
Take a mate. And never buy the first car you see. If your desperate for a particular model, be sure to look at and drive at least two so you can get an even basic feel for why they both feel different to each other.
If your not a smoker, don't buy a smokers car, it is impossible to remove the pollution from it, its not just a smell, it actively degrades interior plastics, rubbers and materials and gives off carcinogens.