I 'Face Timed' my gf's daughter today, who returns to the UK next sat from the land of Far Far Away to give birth to her first child. She is staying at chez Mum for 4 months before returning to FFA and asked me to investigate the cost of 4 months car hire. She needs a car to attend natal classes and travel around the UK visiting old uni friends and ex work colleagues, together with husband who will arrive in time for the birth and only stay here 3 weeks.
My thoughts are to forget car hire without even looking at the cost, and instead buy a 5 door vehicle privately, then send it off to the auctions when she flies home. At the moment I am thinking of spending up to £3k, buying on condition, and future gran has told me that she will reimburse my depreciation loss which seems fair all round.
Any suggestions please. Or even offers? A pal of mine is 'thinking' of selling his 10yo 307 Hdi which should be well under budget...a one owner 80k miler for which I might offer £1250!
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 30 Mar 14 at 22:20
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Panda.
Cheap, reliable, fun, cheap to run, five doors. Easy to sell on. Loads available.
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the 307 sounds like the perfect candidate, should cost approximately zero on depreciation and be easy to move on again with the low mileage.
Otherwise, possibly a Yaris, if big enough. Should be trouble free and again, should move it on with no problem and little loss
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Peugeot sounds a good bet as, IIRC, it is quite an upright driving position.
An 8 month pregnant woman won't take kindly to getting in and out a lowish car.
is she planning to be driving after the birth? Space for Prams, car seats etc to be considered
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Yaris has upright seating position and rear seats fold for pram etc..
Ideal for OAPs and pregnant women.
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Panda might be a bit tiresome for driving around the UK. Took mine to Dublin recently and you'd certainly know you'd spent a few hours in the car when you got out.
Punto would do the trick I'd think, but surely at this age and price its a question of buying based solely on condition?
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>>its a question of buying based solely on condition?
Whilst true, surely the most useless advice ever! You have a choice of 100,000 cars. If you narrow it down to a Panda, or a Vectra, or a whatever, then you are making a choice from 100.
There's no obvious way of narrowing down the autotrader hits to give you one Panda, one Vectra and one A4!
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Looked at two potentials thus evening. Both not as described. Do the sellers seriously expect numpty's to turn up, pay the asking price then drive off into the sunset?
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Having just bought a (relatively) cheap car, I would echo this. Anything under about £3k at a dealer is basically a heap (although I did see a reasonable looking Astra at £2.4k, but not what I was looking for). Private sales these days (round here - Central Scotland - anyway) seem to be rare. It's common to find 'Excellent condition' needing new tyres and brakes all round. FSH history means there is one or two dodgy looking stamps in the book. I was lucky in the end that I came across a Private sale of a 307SW, where the owner (the archetypal 'careful lady'!) had worked at the Pug garage and had all the work done there - and looked after it, so it does 'drive like new' and is pretty well unmarked, depsite having 80k up. It was only £3100 - I would have expected a price well north of £4k at a dealer. You might just be lucky, and pick up something a bit older that's reasonably looked after if you scour e-bay / autotrader and gumtree.
It may be that it is better to stump up more cash up front for something better - even getting down the auction yourself - work out the private buyers' fees before hand though - they can add a substantial % to the price of cheaper cars!
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Be sensible! Obviously you start by working out what you need. It seems the OP already has:
Small family car
Room enough for mum, dad, baby, baby stuff
Cheap to buy and run
Easy to sell on with minimal depreciation
Preferably comfortable enough for longer range trips around the UK
Having just bought priavtely myself last weekend, I'd add "local" as an essential requirement. We ended up buying the ONLY car that was as it was described by its seller. Luckily it was also 10 minutes drive from home! But we learned fast that the only way to tell is to see the car yourself, and the cost in time and fuel adds up quickly as you do that.
Prior to that, SWMBO had arranged to see another car while making a trip to Dublin (a 400km round trip, before the detour to see the car!). She rang ahead with very specific questions about age, service history and condition. She was assured the car was in good condition inside and out. It wasn't. In fact, it was such a wreck she didn't even drive it.
As for the one before that, the garage's answer to every and any question was "its a 2005 car". knew that - that's why we were asking questions! Didn't exactly inspire confidence that if a fault showed up, we'd get any satisfaction rectifying it in return for paying top price to buy from a dealer...
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Go Japanese and petrol-powered. A Corolla / Auris would have a bit more room and be only slightly less economical. Babies' effects take up far more space than you'd think if you haven't had children.
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I totally agree. Unfortunately most vendors have an inflated value of their vehicles. A good Jazz/corolla/ Auris would be perfect and I should not lose too much ££ when it goes to auction after 4 months ownership.
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True enough Avant. There's not just the baby, there's the change bag, the food bag, the car seat, the collapsible travel cot thing, the toys, the Grandma, Grandma's friend, Mum herself of course, Mum's bag, Grandma's bag, Grandma's friend's bag, the stuff they buy when they're out, ( they always buy stuff )
My wife went from a Corsa to a Mondeo estate. Still managed to fill that. I'd probably consider a pick up truck...
;-)
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Oy. I'll have you know that 'Grandma's friend' just stuffs things in his pockets. No bags for me unless I'm backpacking or going skiing.
BTW the heli skiing in Revelstoke was sick dude!
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Golf. Come with Isofix fittings for child seats etc and virtually bullet proof generally, despite age.
When I part exchanged my late 1999 1.6 petrol VW Bora (saloon version) in 2010 it was in excellent condition and with virtually no discernible deterioration whatsoever, interior or exterior wise, after many thousands of miles. Hence full PX value, despite being used in a NW seaside coast environment for eight years...:-)
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>> Oy. I'll have you know that 'Grandma's friend' just stuffs things in his pockets.
You *so* need to make that your username here.
>> BTW the heli skiing in Revelstoke was sick dude!
Do tell more.
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Wanted. Cheapo car for 4 months - Runfer D'Hills
