How far would you travel for a car?

DerbyCore

DerbyCore

DerbyCore

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Recently I've been looking at getting a new car. After searching the usual sites I found exactly what I was after (colour, trim, spec) and more importantly under my budget. The downside it's over 300 miles away meaning train up and a 300 mile drive home (providing the car doesn't turn out to be horrendous)

I'm not really concerned about the distance but everyone I've spoken to thinks I'd be mad to make a 600 mile round trip to see a car. I figured I'd make a day of it as the cars located just outside Edinburgh.

At the minute I've been put off the idea but the car is still available and I'm still very tempted to pay it a visit.

Long story short, what's the furthest the people of Motors would travel to purchase a car?
 
If I was buying a £500 banger, 10 miles, tops.

If I was buying smoething decent, there is no limit to how far I'd travel. My last three cars were both over 200 miles away.
 
I'm very picky with cars so 3/4 or more are declared a wasted trip within minutes of seeing the car. Therefore I set myself a maximum of 50 mile radius and to travel as far as that I will have grilled the seller to make sure I won't have a wasted trip.
 
3 miles for my first car ('96 fiesta)

36 miles for my current car ('02 focus)

My dad went from Manchester to Hastings to get his BMW 528 8 years ago. If I was spending £10k+, I'd do the same.
 
I set the limit to 60 miles in Autotrader. I was looking for a small hatchback at the time, which are dime a dozen so no point spending £100 or what not on train fare/food for the day/petrol and an entire day off to get a car like that.
 
I have set the limit for my current car searching to 100 miles, if the car is more than around 40 then I try and pool several cars together and see them in batches dependant on how far and how many (as well as dealership opening times or any similar other constraints/commitments).
 
Like Fox says it does depend entirely on how much money you're spending on said motor - there's no point in losing a days wages and paying train fares / food etc on sub 1K motor.

However if you're spending 5/6/7K + on a car then yes it is worth travelling the distance - from my own personal experience I travelled within about 50 odd miles for the purchase of my last two motors and both were under the 7K mark :)
 
I usually go for rarer cars than your usual focus, fiesta etc so there is no limit really on how far I would travel. I sold my EvoII to a guy from Sweden. He paid me £300 travel expenses and I delivered the car to Stanstead airport from Wales for him.
 
[TW]Fox;19739068 said:
If I was buying a £500 banger, 10 miles, tops.

If I was buying smoething decent, there is no limit to how far I'd travel. My last three cars were both over 200 miles away.
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Same, cacky dirtbox runaround would remain local. Anything AUC would be national without a doubt
 
It depends how many are around, how much I'm spending and how much confidence I have in the car after extensive discussions with the vendor.

My Clio was just a trip up the A3 and back, but still cost me over £100 (£40 boat for a friends car to get up there, and around £30 to bring the Clio back before fuel is even considered).

The furthest I've ever travelled for a car was to Evesham to buy my 620ti for a whopping £400. But then I travelled up there for around £20 for the boat on foot and a coach, leaving just around £20 of fuel and £20 on the boat to bring the car back at the time IIRC.

The rest of my cars have been either sourced from the mainland via a local dealer or cheapish cars that were for sale locally.
 
I just went to truro from leeds to pick up a 2grand 54 plate 406 estate lol.
funnily enough cost 90quid down in the van with mate driving it back up, then 50quid to drive the 406 back up.

They wanted £150 for a train ticket, or £165 for a flight to newquay lol, so much for saving the planet with public transport
 
For the rIght car anywhere in the uk tbh

I went from Glasgow to Leeds for my last taxi and gave done trips from jockland to the south coast with mates for various VWs
 
My last two cars were around 25/30miles (hours drive) away, pure chance that they happened to be relatively close and tidy examples.

I would probably travel to most places in the UK if the car is mint and it's not going to be a wasted trip but I wouldn't be setting off without having intergoated the seller, seen all the paper work and eye ****** 100 photos.
 
Depends on the car, If it was a very specific spec/rare one as far as needed, but something more mainstream I would be much more wary about travelling such great distances.
 
SoliD said:
but something more mainstream I would be much more wary about travelling such great distances.
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Why, do they not have mainstream cars further away from you, or are you in the only location in the UK where mainstream cars are guaranteed to be perfect?

I don't think wary was the right word ;)
 
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