If you know what you are looking for you will generally find a much better deal from a private buyer. There is also usually a better scope for negotiation and a much bigger selection of cars. dealers are just as likely to sell a poor car if they wan't rid and palm you off with some 3rd party useless warranty..
How far would you travel for a car?
- Thread starter DerbyCore
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If you know what you are looking for you will generally find a much better deal from a private buyer. There is also usually a better scope for negotiation and a much bigger selection of cars. dealers are just as likely to sell a poor car if they wan't rid and palm you off with some 3rd party useless warranty..
I blogged about this: http://blog.carspy.co/how-far-do-you-travel-for-the-right-car
Basically non-petrolheads won't go further than about 40 miles, or out of their comfort zone. Weird really when a car is your second biggest financial commitment usually.
Most for me about 300 miles but really I'd go anywhere in the UK or even Europe I could get to for reasonable time/cost.
Basically non-petrolheads won't go further than about 40 miles, or out of their comfort zone. Weird really when a car is your second biggest financial commitment usually.
Most for me about 300 miles but really I'd go anywhere in the UK or even Europe I could get to for reasonable time/cost.
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But how valid is that statement?
How far do you travel from your last place of address to your new home? Do you relocate for 300 miles for a better home?
No.
I don't think I will go all the way up to 300 miles to get a car that is less than £10k, it's just too far for something that will depreciate and depreciate. Yes, it might be the second biggest financial commitment but it isn't a permanent one nor the last ever car you will buy.
Caporegime
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I don't think that's a great comparison. You're only going to collect the car, if you move then you're planning on staying 300 miles away.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Yet more illogical comment
Why does a cars depreciation have any bearing on how far you would travel to buy it? Why does the fact it isnt the last car have any bearing on how far you would travel to buy it? I don't understand.
When you start to buy cars which are of a specific model and specification you will have no choice but to travel some distance in order to buy them because there simply are not enough of them around to buy one from 10 minutes down the road.
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How on earth do you figure that?
For example... if the girlfriend was to take me in her Ford Probe... 600 miles for the probe, 300 miles for the new car.
600 miles at 25mpg = 24 gallons ~£180 in fuel just for the drop-off car.
Another ~£90 to bring the other car back.
And that doesn't take in to account the wear and tear associated with that many miles...
So say £300 to pick up a car 300 miles away... no way I would ever do that for a car valued under £2k... even above that it's unlikely unless the car was perfect and it's the only one like that available.
283 miles from here to Preston in Lancashire. Absolutely awful night coach journey, but it was without a doubt worth it, i'd do it again for the right car.
The guy I bought it off was totally stand up and was pretty much the most ideal seller you could hope for. I wouldn't have travelled that far if I wasn't near certain I was going to buy it.
The guy I bought it off was totally stand up and was pretty much the most ideal seller you could hope for. I wouldn't have travelled that far if I wasn't near certain I was going to buy it.
Went from West Wales to Glasgow to get my Jeep.
Train to Cardiff airport early Saturday morning, flew to Glasgow, picked up in the Jeep, did the deal and drove home. Stayed in a Premier Inn in Monmouth overnight, lovely fry up in the morning and got home about 1pm Sunday.
Even took my 8 year old daughter with me for the jolly. One of the most enjoyable weekends pretty much ever.
Lol at the comments on here. Wouldn't travel for less than 10K - my Jeep was £1800 and even that was steep
or would only buy from a dealer? WTF? Only ever bought 2 cars from a dealer and neither were particularly satisfactory transactions.
I've even contemplated picking up an 03 plate WRX from the Isle of Lewis recently.
As Gayjin says though, make sure you are 100% with the car and you've done the deal before setting off. I put a lot of faith in that clunking old Jeep considering I had a small child to worry about but I did some digging, found a previous owner and knew it as a good'un.
Amusingly, it would have been cheaper to fly home than drive the Jeep home
Train to Cardiff airport early Saturday morning, flew to Glasgow, picked up in the Jeep, did the deal and drove home. Stayed in a Premier Inn in Monmouth overnight, lovely fry up in the morning and got home about 1pm Sunday.
Even took my 8 year old daughter with me for the jolly. One of the most enjoyable weekends pretty much ever.
Lol at the comments on here. Wouldn't travel for less than 10K - my Jeep was £1800 and even that was steep
or would only buy from a dealer? WTF? Only ever bought 2 cars from a dealer and neither were particularly satisfactory transactions. I've even contemplated picking up an 03 plate WRX from the Isle of Lewis recently.
As Gayjin says though, make sure you are 100% with the car and you've done the deal before setting off. I put a lot of faith in that clunking old Jeep considering I had a small child to worry about but I did some digging, found a previous owner and knew it as a good'un.
Amusingly, it would have been cheaper to fly home than drive the Jeep home
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[TW]Fox;19748948 said:
That exactly why I travelled from Southampton to Liverpool to buy my Volvo. I wanted a manual in SE spec, which are like gold dust.
Get a lift with someone with a more economical car then? I didn't realise people actually bought Ford Probes
On a serious note - my brother took me to Southampton from Sheffield to collect my car, and I drove it back on less than a full tank, hence £40-50.
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Get a lift with someone with a more economical car then? I didn't realise people actually bought Ford Probes
On a serious note - my brother took me to Southampton from Sheffield to collect my car, and I drove it back on less than a full tank, hence £40-50.
That's not always feasible, however yes it does depend on the car. But even at double the economy (50MPG)... you would still be looking at £135 for fuel alone...
The Probe's quite nice actually... more Mazda than Ford, that's probably why... (albeit, I'm not really a Ford hater)... and it cost only £500 in reasonable condition... it's got a lot of life left in it for a shed!
In the time frame and money limitations we had after I managed to kill both my scoob and 'charged '5... it was either the probe, a mondeo or a 1.2 renault clio. It had to be the probe... it's more us
With a "brand new" car purchase I quite like to stay close to home.
I usually get a few dealers pricing, get a little competition between them and then attempt to get my local dealership to match the pricing - always done so far.
Second Hand - for the right model I'll travel as far as it takes.
When I was looking for my first Octy vRS I almost drove to Scotland for the weekend (I'm just outside Cambridge) as there was what sounded like the perfect model - right age, mileage and options.
At the last minute I found a near-identical in Lincoln and we saw/purchased that instead.
I usually get a few dealers pricing, get a little competition between them and then attempt to get my local dealership to match the pricing - always done so far.
Second Hand - for the right model I'll travel as far as it takes.
When I was looking for my first Octy vRS I almost drove to Scotland for the weekend (I'm just outside Cambridge) as there was what sounded like the perfect model - right age, mileage and options.
At the last minute I found a near-identical in Lincoln and we saw/purchased that instead.
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[TW]Fox;19746588 said:
No offence Mr Fox but where was it you brought your E90 335i from?
Ah yes thats right, a dealer.
No offence Mr Fox but where was it you brought your E90 335i from?
Ah yes thats right, a dealer.
Err exactly? So given I've purchased from dealers and private sellers I'd imagine I am well placed to offer an opinion on which I prefer to do business with.
The more you spend on a car the more likely you'll have to buy it from a dealer. I didnt buy it from a dealer because I wanted to buy it from a dealer, I bought it from a dealer because there were no private sale examples.
As I said, I dont beleive anything you get from a dealer with the exception of included warranty (and by this I mean a proper one, not the stupid crap ones you get from independant dealers flogging 4+ year old cars) adds any value to the price of the car.
Therefore if there were two cars for sale - one from a dealer one from a private seller and they were completely identical, I'd buy the private seller one unless the dealer one was less than £500 more expensive (ie, the value I would place on the warranty).
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[TW]Fox;19750622 said:
As far as brand new cars are concerned eg, what my dad just bought from the jag dealer. What is your opinion on that?
Don't have many options in my opinion.
