Used car for £1000

Soldato
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Hi guys, I'm emigrating to oz in a few months and just need a car around £1000 to last me until November time or so as I need one for work.

A guy local to me has a decent Mazda2 1.3l 2010 for only £900 with only 72k, it looks mint but was wondering does anyone have an experience of these cars and any common problems ? £900 seems dirt cheap.

edit - just checked and it's MOT expired, may be the reason it's selling cheap? It's passed all 4 previous MOT's with no advisories.

Cheers, Mart
 
Better to get something with an MOT in place, one that'll run beyond when you'll need it.

Other than that, basically get anything that runs ok and has no obvious issues. 4 months isn't a long time to run a bangernomics car.

Are you planning to drive it many miles?
 
Cheers buddy, not planning to run many miles probably 1-2k between now and November.

I did find another one, a little hyundai i10. The MOT mileage jsut looks odd, the pic of the dash in the advert says 78k but this is the MOT, what's up with that mileage? Doesn't make sense. I have asked the seller, just waiting for a reply!

https://imgur.com/XwiTbjn

Any advice on this car appreciated! Thanks
 
Ask the guy to MOT it? Offer to pay for the MOT if it passes?

In general at this price buy on condition and service history and forget about the mileage unless it’s absolutely galactic. Average mileage these days is around 10k a year although many have done considerably less in the last 18 months. I wouldn’t be concerned if the Mazda had 100k miles as long as it’s been serviced and is in good condition for the year and miles.
 
Cheers buddy, not planning to run many miles probably 1-2k between now and November.

I did find another one, a little hyundai i10. The MOT mileage jsut looks odd, the pic of the dash in the advert says 78k but this is the MOT, what's up with that mileage? Doesn't make sense. I have asked the seller, just waiting for a reply!

https://imgur.com/XwiTbjn

Any advice on this car appreciated! Thanks
What about the previous MOT’s? Do they all match up with increasing mileages? Likely just an I out error by the tester.
 
Thanks for the info! The previous MOT's do match up and look consistent with about 6k each year.

None of the cars I've seen have service history, not sure if that's a huge problem? Not really planning to sell it on just to get me around for 4 months or so. I'm an NHS Nurse and just need it to get me to patients, so just local driving mainly covering about 40 miles per day.

If a car has no service history, what would be the things to look out for ?

Thanks for any info! Mart
 
Thanks for the info! The previous MOT's do match up and look consistent with about 6k each year.

None of the cars I've seen have service history, not sure if that's a huge problem? Not really planning to sell it on just to get me around for 4 months or so. I'm an NHS Nurse and just need it to get me to patients, so just local driving mainly covering about 40 miles per day.

If a car has no service history, what would be the things to look out for ?

Thanks for any info! Mart
If there is literally none then it could be a problem. I’d recommend a good combing through any paperwork he has and it may be worth getting it serviced once you buy it if there is literally none.
 
Thanks buddy, funnily enough mk3 clio 07 was my car before this one and got really unlucky with it.

Within 2 months the air con condensor and compressor needed replacing costing about 400, then the whole heating/blower system died on me costing about 300 quid right in the middle of winter lol.

It was the Dci so naturally the Turbo then gave up and the car constantly went into limp mode, didn't the best of luck with that car! lol
 
Renault electronics are very....French, but engines are usually solid. I think they must test all of their cars in the south of France or something because they don't seem to like winter :D
 
I would just filter autotrader and find something under £1000, under 100k miles and within 15 miles. Buy something with an unstressed naturally aspirated petrol engine.

A Focus or Astra would be a decent size without being too small.
 
Thank you guys, just made a short list of the local cars I've seen. Seen a Honda Jazz 2009 with high miles but full dealer service history etc and only 1 owner, gonna check that out too as heard they are quite reliable cars!
 
As mentioned...a naturally aspirated, petrol manual, with full service history.

Mileage not too big a deal as long as it's looked after. I needed a temporary car quickly...got a BMW 3 series with 136k on the clock, one owner, full service history. It's still going fine two years later. It's running so well I can't really justify replacing it, so guess I'm stuck with it for a few more years :P
 
What does it mean a naturally aspirated petrol? Just a regular petrol engine? Thanks for the help guys

Not a turbo ( or hybrid or anything).

Simple, low stress machines. Quite a few high mileage turbo diesels are prone to the turbo letting go in an expensive manner.

A fairly modern naturally aspirated petrol will keep going a long time as long as they're serviced.

I'd avoid automatics for the same reason. Simple is better.
 
Ok thanks guys that makes sense. My current car is a little pos, 55 plate daihatsu siron 999c. It's falling to bits but to be fair it does just keep on going, just that the underneath is rusting to bits, exhaust is coming off the back box sounding like a spitfire lol.

Thanks again for the info , Mart
 
Can you not just rent a car for 4 months? You can rent a van for pennies I've seen the adverts on TV wher its like £250 a month or something for a van a little car should be cheaper.
 
You can get a very reasonable fiat panda for less than a grand.

Fun to drive, reliable and cheap to repair when they aren't.
 
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