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Some advice when buying a s/h car

Priapus

Priapus

Priapus

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2004
Posts
10,594
Location
East Sussex, UK
Hi all,

My family and I are moving back to the UK in Q1 of 2024 - and we will need a vehicle. I’ve looked on Auto Trader to see more or less what our budget allows.

Where are good places to look for cars, besides Auto Trader and how do we try protect ourselves from buying scrap basically?

Also looking for some good recommendations on a suitable family car - that will also allow us to take the dogs out in. Not particularly tied to any specific brand mind you. Just something as modern and reliable as possible, given a budget of around £5000 to £6000 more or less.

Thanks gents
 
HangTime said:
Autotrader is probably the best given you have >£5k budget. There's also ebay motors and motors.co.uk.
Click to expand...

Thanks I’ll take a look at the others too.

I see there’s something called CarVertical. Is it worth getting a few reports from them? Not sure how accurate or good their info is?
 
Priapus said:
Thanks I’ll take a look at the others too.

I see there’s something called CarVertical. Is it worth getting a few reports from them? Not sure how accurate or good their info is?
Click to expand...

Something *like* CarVertical is a good idea if you are buying from smaller places or private sales, though there are cheaper places than CV though CV do put a lot of useful information together with graphs, etc. which can give you a better idea as to the car history without having to go into detail.

If you do go with CarVertical look around for referral codes as quite a few YouTubers, etc. are sponsored by them with a discount for using them via their referral link/code.

EDIT: Personally I'd look around where you are moving back to and see what medium sized franchise dealers have a good reputation, though some might not deal with vehicles less than about 10K - though increasingly the ones around me have been going down as low as £4900, as in my experience they tend to be the best bet, even if you pay slightly over the odds there is usually more comeback if there are problems.
 
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I usually buy from Ebay rather than Autotrader because of Ebays seller rating system. Ok i know it doesn't guarantee the seller is honest/the vehicle is good etc but imo if you look carefully i think u can usually get a good idea about the seller. Plus Ebay ads can be far more descriptve/detailed with more or less unlimited space for the advert description. Autotrader can be very useful still, it's my second place to look after Ebay.

I avoid Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree, too many chavs and frankly dodgy adverts. Always check the MOT history, always HPI it even if from a dealer who say it's clear. Avoid backstreet dealers. Highly unlikely i'll buy a car from the Birmingham area, the amount of damaged/repaired cars coming out of there seems very high.

For my initial checks i may use 1 of the cheaper HPI check companies (i can get 5 checks for £10 iirc) but if i'm about to buy a car i do a HPI check with 1 of the more highly regarded HPI companies which can be a bit pricey but worth it. Always get insurance quotes before viewing/buying in case it's too expensive.

For 5-6k OP as new as possible (you won't get particularly new for that) and for taking dogs in i'd be looking at something like a focus/mondeo estate or kia cee'd estate.
 
Thanks all, much appreciated.

We've rebooked at our budget and could push it to 10k - that seems to get us closer to cars that are slightly newer, too - which we'd prefer.
 
autotrader for your usage.

if it was a specific car then i would look at owners forums for that car as most have a classifieds.

or for instance if it was an EV i would look at the speakev classifieds.

it it were a performance car i would also look on pistonheads.

but all this is by the by, as said elsewhere and in the 1st line of my post, autotrader is probably best for your needs.
 
Second hand car prices are still mental. I saw a Freelander 2010 with 125000 miles on it advertised as a "low mileage" car for £5k the other day. I wouldnt have given you £5k for it when it was new! Awful car.

Went to check autotrader as I thought the garage was taking the **** but no, there are 131 freelanders all with over 125,000 miles and most are around that price. What a sad state the second hand market is still in
 
Priapus said:
Thanks I’ll take a look at the others too.

I see there’s something called CarVertical. Is it worth getting a few reports from them? Not sure how accurate or good their info is?
Click to expand...

VCheck is better IMO

HPi isn't worth the time anymore as lots of dealers are buying unrecorded damaged cars from BCA/Copart etc, repairing the damage and selling as straight cars. VCheck checks salvage records, places like BCA/CoPart etc are obliged to record the car as it arrived. HPi doesn't check salvage.

For example:

Advert on AutoTrader


Salvage record
 
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Resident said:
VCheck is better IMO

HPi isn't worth the time anymore as lots of dealers are buying unrecorded damaged cars from BCA/Copart etc, repairing the damage and selling as straight cars. VCheck checks salvage records, places like BCA/CoPart etc are obliged to record the car as it arrived. HPi doesn't check salvage.

For example:

Advert on AutoTrader


Salvage record
Click to expand...

Oh wow.

Thanks for that; I'll add Check to the list.
 
Greebo said:
Second hand car prices are still mental. I saw a Freelander 2010 with 125000 miles on it advertised as a "low mileage" car for £5k the other day. I wouldnt have given you £5k for it when it was new! Awful car.

Went to check autotrader as I thought the garage was taking the **** but no, there are 131 freelanders all with over 125,000 miles and most are around that price. What a sad state the second hand market is still in
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£1500 + fees from auction so hoping to make a profit. Poor decision making from the dealer. Will definitely lose money from this one.
 
Resident said:
VCheck is better IMO

HPi isn't worth the time anymore as lots of dealers are buying unrecorded damaged cars from BCA/Copart etc, repairing the damage and selling as straight cars. VCheck checks salvage records, places like BCA/CoPart etc are obliged to record the car as it arrived. HPi doesn't check salvage.

For example:

Advert on AutoTrader


Salvage record
Click to expand...


Oh my

how on earth did Auto Trader pass all the checks when its listed as a Cat S ?

i take it HPI check didn't pick this up?
 
ShiWarrior said:
Oh my

how on earth did Auto Trader pass all the checks when its listed as a Cat S ?

i take it HPI check didn't pick this up?
Click to expand...

AutoTrader generally don't check beyond the most basic HPI However HPI doesn't check salvage records and the vehicle in the example was never recorded at all.
 
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