Is it possible in 2025 to buy a car for £1500 that will make it to Italy?

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

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Wellington, NZ
Ok, here's the plan; In December i'm planning on doing a roadtrip (3 of us) from Yorkshire down to Rome. The trip will span around 12 days with some sightseeing and stopovers along the way. Hoping to stop off in Paris, Geneva, head south to Nice and along the coastal road making our way to Rome.

There's a a caveat to this trip; it will be one way as we will be flying out of Rome back to NZ. I've searched a ton of rental companies out there but none will do a one way trip like this (that I can find).. The obvious issue I've got is what I'll do with the car on arrival as I can't just leave it there legally. I'll have to figure that out.

I've not bought a car in the UK for over a decade (other than the R8 i took back to NZ with me) so I've not got a clue about this segment. Autotrader brings up all sorts... that's where you guys might be able to help me!

Key requirements;
  1. Road legal (mot/tax)
  2. Needs to hold 3 large suitcases (+ 3 people)
  3. Known to be reliable
  4. Diesel? Although I don't care about the fuel costs
  5. Some degree of comfort
  6. £1500 but if that's unrealistic I could move on it.. bearing in mind that I'm only looking to use it for this trip
Thoughts? Dumbest idea of 25? :D

Cheers!

======================

  1. Volvo V70
  2. PD Engine Passat
  3. MK3 Mondeo
  4. Honda CR-V
  5. Laguna GT205
  6. Honda Accord
  7. Toyota Corolla / Avesis
 
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Sure it's always possible... But auto trader is the wrong place to look.

Facebook marketplace is probably the go to for finding cheap runners these days.

However this is absolutely ideal (sure you can knock it down a couple hundred)

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!
www.autotrader.co.uk www.autotrader.co.uk
 
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Yeah that shouldn't be an issue, lots of decent cars kicking around for that money if you're not fussy. FB marketplace will be the way forward i'd think.

It will of course be a lottery at that kind of money so if you're not yourself, take someone along who is a decent mechanic to check it all over.

The ditching it on short notice in a foreign country will probably be your biggest sticking point..
 
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sovietspybob said:
It will of course be a lottery at that kind of money so if you're not yourself, take someone along who is a decent mechanic to check it all over.
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sovietspybob said:
The ditching it on short notice in a foreign country will probably be your biggest sticking point..
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This. At very least I'd be budgeting for changing some perishable items, like coolant hoses and brake lines, aircon re-gas etc. Never done anything like this myself but as bob says, look into disposal as a priority
 
Yea but expect worn suspension parts. Every cheap car I've had in recent years have needed work there. Our crap roads kill it.
 
Probably a lot of complications but second hand market values in Europe are nuts compared to the UK - if you could source something left hand drive which was possible to sell in Europe you might even make money on it (though usually where that is possible people won't be trying to sell them in the UK).

EDIT: Though just checking a few left hand drive cars like a Fiat Multipla that is for sale in the UK there is less than £500 difference to those on sale in Italy which would likely be eaten up by the process of selling it in Italy.
 
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Isn't there a rally where a bunch of lunatics buy a car for £500 and drive further than that? Probably not without a few "issues" on the way though.

It's surprising what you can pick up for £1500 privately even in these times of ridiculous used car prices. I bet you could find something better than a overpriced 16 year old Rav 4 as well!!
 
pastymuncher said:
It's surprising what you can pick up for £1500 privately even in these times of ridiculous used car prices. I bet you could find something better than a overpriced 16 year old Rav 4 as well!!
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When posting above I was actually looking at left hand drive cars in the UK out of interest and there was a 2-3 at just over £1500 which at least on paper look mint with 1-2 owners, clean MOT history, appeared in good condition.
 
AmDaMan said:
Ok, here's the plan; In December i'm planning on doing a roadtrip (3 of us) from Yorkshire down to Rome. The trip will span around 12 days with some sightseeing and stopovers along the way. Hoping to stop off in Paris, Geneva, head south to Nice and along the coastal road making our way to Rome.

There's a a caveat to this trip; it will be one way as we will be flying out of Rome back to NZ. I've searched a ton of rental companies out there but none will do a one way trip like this (that I can find).. The obvious issue I've got is what I'll do with the car on arrival as I can't just leave it there legally. I'll have to figure that out.

I've not bought a car in the UK for over a decade (other than the R8 i took back to NZ with me) so I've not got a clue about this segment. Autotrader brings up all sorts... that's where you guys might be able to help me!

Key requirements;
  1. Road legal (mot/tax)
  2. Needs to hold 3 large suitcases (+ 3 people)
  3. Known to be reliable
  4. Diesel? Although I don't care about the fuel costs
  5. Some degree of comfort
  6. £1500 but if that's unrealistic I could move on it.. bearing in mind that I'm only looking to use it for this trip
Thoughts? Dumbest idea of 25? :D

Cheers!
Click to expand...

£1500 will get you in the region of a decent Mk3 Mondeo.

Known for reliability, might even see you in the ST-TDCi range for comfort, huge boot space.

Register it to a hotel room in the UK under the name Bob Smith so then you've no issues with dumping it.
 
You could have bought my old car off me for £1300. BMW .120d e82, with new dual mass and clutch . 141k . Drove it up to the Midlands and it felt like it had so much life left

Not sure about the 3 large suitcases and 3 people though
 
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DJMK4 said:
You could have bought my old car off me for £1300. BMW .120d e82, with new dual mass and clutch . 141k . Drove it up to the Midlands and it felt like it had so much life left

Not sure about the 3 large suitcases and 3 people though
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EDIT: Sorry, that was an unnecessary comment :p
 
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Plenty of great bargain buses about, you just need to filter through the weeds to find them.

I needed a big car for an upcoming family holiday last year when my ZT was off the road and picked up this Laguna GT205 estate for £1200.

30072024_laguna_side.jpg


Key requirements;
  1. Road legal (mot/tax) - Bought in July 2024, MOT until September 2024 (which it passed with 0 advisories)
  2. Needs to hold 3 large suitcases (+ 3 people) - Just look at it
  3. Known to be reliable - Just ignore the Renault badge and it'll be reet
  4. Diesel? Although I don't care about the fuel costs - Long term average of 37mpg in this baby
  5. Some degree of comfort - Half leather seats, aircon, full electrics, masses of space, cruise control, speed limiter, boot has enough space to sleep 2 people comfortably
  6. £1500 but if that's unrealistic I could move on it.. bearing in mind that I'm only looking to use it for this trip - Easy peasy, see above
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It's taken me all over the UK for work and pleasure in the last 9 months, covering 12k miles with only a (very recently) sticking front caliper.

Obviously I'm not suggesting everyone goes out and buys an old 2.0T Laguna but there plenty of great cars out there waiting to be snapped up. I usually buy cars from eBay and despite buying mostly £900 'bangers' my entire life, I can't recall ever thinking that any one of them was a bad choice.. and 95% of them stayed in my ownership for many many years. Sure, with an old car you need to expect some maintenance if you plan to keep it long term but for a throwaway car that is less of a concern.

Something a bit more subtle and less mainstream is less likely to have been owned by a muppet who thinks a 110bhp turbo diesel is some sort of rocket ship.
 
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I've done this, it's not actually that hard. Facebook marketplace is your best bet, you could probably get something like a Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla / Avensis that should do the job. You could even find something cheaper that's mechanically sound but rusty enough that it won't pass its next MOT as it'll be cheaper and you don't need it to make it to the next MOT anyway.

Getting rid of it in Italy will be easy, put it on Facebook marketplace Italy for €200 and someone will definitely take it without worrying about it being RHD or UK registered. I did that in Nice with an old UK reg Citroen BX and had about 20 calls within an hour of listing it. Then you can just send the permanent export part of the V5 back to the DVLA.
 
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