Dealership v private seller

ennogs

ennogs

ennogs

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I need to buy myself a second hand car. I have about £4,000 to spend.

My Dad and I are in disagreement as to where to buy one.

I say as a dealership adds on about £800 - 1,000 to the price of a car so I would be better buying from a private seller.

My Dad says if I buy private I have no comeback if I buy a lemon or there is something wrong with the car the seller doesn’t disclose. He also claims a lot of motor dealers sell cars they cannot sell professionally as private sales.

I can see my Dads point of view but I don’t want to pay a dealership £4,000 for a car that I could get for about £3,000 on private sale.

Neither I or my Dad know much about fixing cars or fault finding.

If I do buy privately how can I ensure I don’t get ripped off?
 
Privately, I think the simplest way of protecting yourself is with the AA type inspection services, that will inspect the car for you and offer some sort of guarantee that what they inspect will be ok for 6 months (though you'd need to check individual wording and policies etc. as they won't all be as good as each other).

Other than that, it's down to trying to locate the good condition cars with sellers that appear genuine, not Acme offloading his latest nail, which is probably as much luck as judgement.

The other thing to consider is that at the £4000 end of the market, the dealers etc. you deal with will not be 'simple' to deal with if things go wrong - they're still relatively likely to try and fob you off, be unhelpful etc. and whilst you may have the law on your side, you'd perhaps end up having to pursue things legally anyway. Don't expect to walk in and have all your problems solved without quibble - most won't be that amenable in the cheap second hand car arena, some might, but most won't.
 
If you go Private a HPI check is a must.

Ask to take the car to a mechanic of your choosing to get it lifted on a ramp for a thorough inspection too before handing over any cash.
 
I'd say you never need dealer warrenties, but considering me starter motor died within a week of buying the beamer its worth its weight in gold if its a decent dealer.

Just rang em up told them where it was they had a truck out within 30 minutes and the keys to (unfortunately but i guess i cant be picky) a nissan micra when we got back and the car was fixed next day.

Tbf thats as good as it gets, the dealer was one of those lives and dies by his reputation types
 
I sold my dad's kuga for him and the girl buying it paid for an AA inspection. Very thorough.

Probably 4k less expensive than a dealer but no one wants a 2.5 turbo petrol kuga for 10k that is 500 a year to tax without being able to finance it. PITA to sell
 
I've always bought privately when possible.

But I have some idea what I'm looking at and walk away from several cars before I found one that I was happy with.
You can tell if the owner is an enthusiast or not and some research online helps to find out what to look for.

Ive not always got the best price but I've been lucky that I've not bought a lemon yet.. :)
 
Private all day long OP! Most independent dealers just buy crap from auctions and lie through there teeth about condition etc.Try and find a car that someone's owned for years privately and then when you go to view it you can see if they seem a genuine person or not. If you have cash what's the point in paying highly inflated dealer prices? If you had a problem most would avoid trying to help you anyway so your no better off than buying private.
 
Some of this will depend upon what you're looking to buy. An every day car is a different prospect from something more specialist/enthusiast. If the latter, I'd usually go with private sales to survey the seller more. If something more ordinary, then I'd probably not worry too much either way and just buy the best I could find for the money without concern over whether it's a dealer or not.

Edit: just seen your second thread...
 
Private, but I have a little clue what I'm doing and the old man is an ex mechanic.

I'd be inclined to go private, with a AA inspection. Plus the £1000 saving could cover any big bills it throws.

Plus the warrenty from a dealer, will probably be worthless anyway.
 
I would buy privately every time, dealers warranties are terrible from what I have experienced and you might as well buy a car that breaks badly and pay yourself, at least you can take it to a garage you trust and get it done in decent time.
 
Excuse my ignorance here

A vehicle check with the RAC before buying the car is

£99 for a basic check

£189 for a comprehensive check

£239 for an advanced check

What would the RAC check that a £40 MOT wouldn't check?
 
ennogs said:
Excuse my ignorance here

A vehicle check with the RAC before buying the car is

£99 for a basic check

£189 for a comprehensive check

£239 for an advanced check

What would the RAC check that a £40 MOT wouldn't check?
Click to expand...

I had an MOT done, toke it to a specialist to get the tracking done. Had two leaking shocks, two inner track rods about to go, a ball joint and a track rod gone.

MOT is a pretty basic check.
 
ennogs said:
Excuse my ignorance here

A vehicle check with the RAC before buying the car is

£99 for a basic check

£189 for a comprehensive check

£239 for an advanced check

What would the RAC check that a £40 MOT wouldn't check?
Click to expand...
It should have a list of what they check for each type of check. An mot makes sure a car is safe to be on the road and that's its. Not if it's in good condition or any parts look like they might need replacing soonish. Basically a car could pass an mot and blow up the next day or week :) with an rac check I would think it would be good for a few months at least other than general maintenance things.

If you want a car with just an mot you could buy a £500 bangger with 12 months mot and just scrap it when it runs out and buy another one :p
 
If I had a choice I'd buy private with 1 or less previous owners (buying private from the original owner is ideal imo).

You might get ripped off, be careful of 'home dealers', but if you're buying from someone who has had it for years and years you're avoiding these anyway. Check the V5C, ask some serious questions if you aren't viewing at the registered address. Always be very prepared to walk away.

My opinion of dealers is unless you're putting down some serious money on an approved nearly new from a good marque with a manufacturer warranty (or as good as, like BMW insured warranty), you will not get the 'comeback' you expect, not without nastiness, arguments and legal battles. If you go private at least you're dealing with another amateur - dealers are far more experienced at ripping people off so realistically what chance do you stand?

That said, trade-in is very convenient, so is how I bought my last car - the dealer was a slimeball who I'd not trust to urinate on me if I was on fire but I've been lucky with the condition of car. I'd have had just the same luck private and saved a bunch of cash - albeit without the convenience of trade-in.
 
For that amount of money you are better off going private. Most garages may give you a 30 day warranty, but don't expect it to cover everything. They will use plenty of excuses to try and get out of it.

On the cars I have been looking at, there doesn't seem to be as much difference in price as there used to be. So either private sellers are now expecting dealer prices or dealers have to be more competitive to try and sell the cars.
 
ennogs said:
Excuse my ignorance here

A vehicle check with the RAC before buying the car is

£99 for a basic check

£189 for a comprehensive check

£239 for an advanced check

What would the RAC check that a £40 MOT wouldn't check?
Click to expand...

Well for starters I imagine they start removing engine covers and undertrays.
 
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