Found this on MoneySavingExpert motoring forum and borrowed it for the perusal of our fold.
Rules for car buying.
1) Never buy a French car.
2) Sub £2,000 cars are better than £10,000 cars.
3) Mileage is irrelevant, other than high mileage is better.
4) Old Ford Mondeos are the best cars on the road.
5) Never buy a new car.
6) Japanese cars are "well put together".
7) A MoT guarantees that the car is in perfect condition.
8) Never check a car out before you buy it as it is preferable to discover the faults later (e.g. it's only got three doors, not five).
9) When you buy a car, always let the seller deal with all the paperwork.
10) There are some outstanding bargains on Gumtree.
11) If your current petrol car costs £50 a week in fuel, spending £13k on a new diesel car to reduce your fuel bill to £40 a week is a great money saving decision (Apples2).
12) Always make sure you pay a deposit before seeing the car (Jaydeek1).
13) SOGA will protect you if your £500, 12-year-old Ford Ka develops a fault after 8 months of ownership (Jaydeek1).
14) Warranties are always worth the paper they are written on and cover everything except tyres, so don't bother reading the small print as the dealer will tell you they are "cpmprehensive".
15) Dealers will always quote you the best price for a new car, so don't bother checking prices with other dealers or the internet.
16) If you know nothing about cars and only have a screwdriver in your toolkit, bangernomics is for you (Richard734).
17) If you fancy a new car, look for ex-demos as they are always cheaper than a new car (Chieffy72).
18) If you have fully comp insurance on your old car, don't worry about insuring the new one as you'll be covered to drive it by your old policy (Aretnap).
19) When the dealer tells you he has someone else coming to see it in fifteen minutes and they sounded very keen on the phone, he's bound to be telling the truth (Aretnap).
20) Full Service History guarantees the car has been immaculately cared for and won't develop any faults for the next 10 years (ChopinonaBudget).
21) If car dealers are hell bent on making a profit, they are scam artists of the first order.
22) Buying a £300 Corsa and fitting it with £500 worth of lights, hi-tech stereo gear and tinted windows will definitely enhance the resale value should you decide to sell at a later date (Barbiedoll).
23) It's better to rent for the rest of your life as long as you have a large expensive car outside.
i particularly like 4 8 and 11.
:-)
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Of course a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, but I've never seen the point of 23), though quite clearly it's a philosophy that applies to a lot people round here. I've always put a lot of money into a nice house and garden - the car is secondary. And I keep my car in the garage anyway.
As for 1), the Peugeot 306 HDi I ran for many years was totally reliable and incredibly frugal.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Sun 14 Apr 13 at 11:43
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>> Of course a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, but I've never seen the point of
>> 23), though quite clearly it's a philosophy that applies to a lot people round here.
>> I've always put a lot of money into a nice house and garden - the
>> car is secondary. And I keep my car in the garage anyway.
>>
>> As for 1), the Peugeot 306 HDi I ran for many years was totally reliable
>> and incredibly frugal.
>>
Whoosh !
(it's ALL tonge in cheek)
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I likes numero diecinueve as I've erd it soooo many times ... And used it!
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I've taught SWMBO to ring the 'phone and come out with it saying "it's someone about the car" whenever I've had prospective buyers looking round.
Concentrates their mind!
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Not just in the not-so-bargain basement either, Dog. A prospective buyer at the other branch was used to concentrate my mind the first time I negotiated over the LEC. The dealer wouldn't accept my offer of asking-less-£2000 - so I let it go and he offered it to me four weeks later for asking-less-£3000.
I understand this other buyer was genuine, but that they opted to buy a new E220 rather than a 3yo.
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>> 4) Old Ford Mondeos are the best cars on the road.
I beg to differ.
>> 6) Japanese cars are "well put together".
But punitively thirsty.
>> 3) Mileage is irrelevant, other than high mileage is better.
Might well be, we'll see. I haven't let slip about my latest motor yet, have I? ;)
I've sold plenty of snotters to people who've followed most of MSE's rules to the letter, he he he...
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sun 14 Apr 13 at 21:19
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>> Might well be, we'll see. I haven't let slip about my latest motor yet, have
>> I? ;)
Now don't be a tease, i've got to buzz orf to bed shortly ready for an early start, so get a move on if you'd be so kind..:-)
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Hahaha, OK then seeing as it's you.
I've been training a new guy on prestige deliveries for the last month. Pretty good as it happens.
He had a 57-plate Saab 9-5 1.9 TiD 150 Vector Sport estate, manual, leather, xenons, ESP etc, 127k miles, fsh. Too big for his wife, he said, so we did a straight swap for the 57-plate Mazda6 2.0 auto, 58k, some history. He paid £4.5k for the Saab last July, we paid the same for the Mazda in November. 15 quid admin fee on my insurance, no change in premium. Cheaper road tax too, £220 vs £280.
So far, after 1200 miles in it... loads of space, comfy seats, everything works, 46mpg. Well happy.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sun 14 Apr 13 at 21:42
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Nice car, hope it does well for you.
Now the important bits, have you slipped an oil change in yet (Millers/Fuchs) stripped the brakes out for a full service and underbody washed it then waxoyled it, not forgetting gearbox oil change....if not why not...;)
By the way i've got about 4 litres of recently purchased Millers latest Diesel Fuel additive here going begging, offers welcome.
New thread about it so we can pick holes in it or otherwise take the mick soonest?
Thats it bedtime.
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>> New thread
Rather not GB, I seem to get flak for standing up and saying anything these days. Hence not announcing it sooner.
Is it Millers EcoMax? Deffo interested, email me (address in profile)...
It's only done 4k since last oil change but I'll do it before its July MoT.
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I seem to get flak for standing up and saying anything these days.
Really? Sorry about that. You'll get none from me on this one: hope it works well for you. Swedish cars are a hard habit to break once you've had one. The Germans want you to be impressed by all the clever things they've done; the Swedes just want you to be comfortable.
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>> Hahaha, OK then seeing as it's you.
>> He had a 57-plate Saab 9-5 1.9 TiD 150 Vector Sport estate, manual, leather, xenons,
>> ESP etc, 127k miles, fsh. Too big for his wife, he said, so we did
>> a straight swap for the 57-plate Mazda6 2.0 auto, 58k, some history. He paid £4.5k
>> for the Saab last July, we paid the same for the Mazda in November. 15
>> quid admin fee on my insurance, no change in premium. Cheaper road tax too, £220
>> vs £280.
>>
>> So far, after 1200 miles in it... loads of space, comfy seats, everything works, 46mpg.
>> Well happy.
I hope it works out for you, but frankly that was ruddy stupid. That is so going to bite your ass.
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>> Really? Sorry about that. You'll get none from me on this one
Thanks. :)
I don't come here to be insulted. If other posters haven't got anything nice to say, I'd rather they didn't say anything.
>> frankly that was ruddy stupid. That is so going to bite your ass.
Yeah, my dad says that too.
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>> >> Really? Sorry about that. You'll get none from me on this one
>>
>> Thanks. :)
>> I don't come here to be insulted. If other posters haven't got anything nice to
>> say, I'd rather they didn't say anything.
>>
>> >> frankly that was ruddy stupid. That is so going to bite your ass.
>>
>> Yeah, my dad says that too.
dads know best.
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>> dads know best.
So I keep telling my three kids :)
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Dave, is it an engine with a timing chain or a belt?
If belt, has it been replaced on schedule?
(Not nagging, just a well wisher) :-)
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>> Dave, is it an engine with a timing chain or a belt?
>> If belt, has it been replaced on schedule?
Belt, it was changed at 90k in 2011. It's variable servicing, been done since new at 19k, 37k, 56, 72k, 90k, 108k at main dealers and 123k when sold last July. Now on 129k, I'm doing 25k a year so will properly service it every 6 months or so.
>> (Not nagging, just a well wisher) :-)
No problem. It's new enough, and prestige enough, to have been looked after money no object up to now. That counts for more than age or mileage in my book :)
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The odd one out is number (3).
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" i havnt come here to be insulted".....where do you normally go?......couldnt resist
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Good on you! My 9-5 estate is in fine fettle at nearly ten years old and 191,000. You won't get many positive comments here about it (except from me), but it will probably serve you well.
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I would add:
24) Avoid having your car repaired or serviced at any main dealer. These inhabit premises known as "Glass Palaces" are invariably dishonest money grubbers and will never perfom the work specified. The expensive equipment in their workshops is just for show .
They are to be contrasted with "local Indies" who are invariably the salt of the earth types and can be found on a gloomy run-down garage on a dodgy industrial estate. They are only interested in repairing your car. Being paid is barely a consideration. They can diagnose any faults and repair your car with the contents of battered tool chest.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 15 Apr 13 at 09:33
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WTF
Am I alone in being totally mystified by the content/purpose of the original post?
Some TIC some not???
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>>Am I alone in being totally mystified by the content/purpose of the original post?
In a nutshell - yes!
:+)
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10) There are some outstanding bargains on Gumtree.
but some are!
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>> All TIC!
>>
Apart from (3), which is true. I always buy high-mileage. Let someone else pay the depreciation and running-in snags :)
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>>>Apart from (3), which is true...
Well it's not really true is it.
Once a car has thrown up any initial teething troubles in say the first 5-10k then the lower the mileage after that the less wear on moving parts. That's not to say high mileage should be feared but it is usually a personal choice because folks actually seek an old model where they are all high mileage due to advancing years... or the more common situation where a high miler is a bargain for those that can take a chance.
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My father-in-law genuinely believes 11). Except in his case it's from £10 a week to £8
He does 4,000 miles a year, won't buy anything that does less than 50 mpg, and if someone brought out a car they could guarantee 60 mpg from 'round the houses', he'd spend thousands to get one.
Baffling.
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Just to lob a spanner in, a friend always buys 3 year old, auctioned, 100k miles plus Mondeos on the basis that if something was going to go wrong it probably already has and has been fixed, or if it's still to go wrong it'll be cheap enough to put right especially given that he's paid trade price for the car.
Seems to work for him. He's had 5 of them like that in the time I've known him. Keeps them a couple of years and a further 80 odd thousand miles and then puts them in Autotrader for as near as he dares to what he paid for them at auction in the first place.
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>>
>>
>> Seems to work for him.
It tends to work for two reasons:
1) A high mileage tends to indicate that the car has done a lot of high-speed motorway driving, which will be optimal conditions for minimising wear on the engine, clutch, gearbox, suspension, steering, etc. Probably a company car with regular servicing.
A low mileage of the same age will have had more lower-temperature useage, lots of gearchanging, bumps, turning corners, private owner, long time-gaps between services.
2) Most people (wrongly) think a high mileage car will be worn out, so it will be much cheaper.
Obviously if a car is famous for a certain expensive component failing at 100,000 miles, you wouldn't buy one at 99,000 miles unless it had already just been replaced. That's another advantage of buying high mileage cars near the end of a long production run. All the major snags will have been spotted and corrected.
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He's a right skinflint too though to be fair. Earns a lot of money and owns a lot of property but refuses to put it into his cars. In his care they get an occasional oil change, when he remembers, new brake pads ( "if the old ones start making a noise" ) and Singalongamax tyres when required. As for washing, well, that's one of the good things about living in a rainy country according to him. Seems to get away with it though by and large. I suppose it's about attitude to risk or potential inconvenience.
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>>Earns a lot of money and owns a lot of property but refuses to put it into his cars.
cause... effect...
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>> Just to lob a spanner in, a friend always buys 3 year old, auctioned, 100k
>> miles plus Mondeos
OMG, you are shameless when it comes to plugging mondeos. Its becoming a serious fetish with you.
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Good cars y'know. Mens cars.
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Rules for car buying, shamelessly plagiarised - FocalPoint
