Buying a used car can be a bit of a minefield; there is plenty of risks and way you can pay too much, end up spending on repairs and more. However, with a bit of careful planning you can minimise the financial risks and get yourself the right car for you and your needs!
Budget
The first thing to do is set a budget, but how you do that is important. If you have £5000 to spend then set your budget at £4500. Why? Because it is always good to have some cash handy if any initial repairs are needed. No matter how much you plan your purchase you may miss something and its often a wise move to have a car serviced after you buy it, unless it has a dealership service stamp in the book recently. Once you have your budget you can then start thinking about what you need. If you do not have a budget and are lucky enough to be flexible, then skip to choosing the type of car first then come back to costs.
Type, Make, Model, Fuel etc
The best way to get the best deal for you is to create a list of requirements first. Don’t be lead too much but what you think you may want in terms of a make and model. Think about your needs and let that inform your choice. You may stumble across a car you hadn’t even thought about that is perfect so be open minded. Think about size, number of doors, automatic or manual, diesel or petrol and more. Once you have this list you can start searching on car buying sites based on your list rather than pre-conceived ideas about the car you think you want. The reason this approach is good is because it can save you a lot of money. You may think you want a German hatchback but once you start searching you fall in love with a SEAT Leon for example. This may well be considerably cheaper for a car on less miles and less costly to run. There are lots of sites to use to search for cars, eBay is popular but using proper car sites can be better like https://www.motors.co.uk/ and https://www.autotrader.co.uk/
Car Checkers
These are a no brainer when it comes to saving you money. In the bad old days you had to just take what the seller said as gospel. These days you can pay for a car checker and find out everything about the car from previous services and MOT issues to outstanding finance and much more. Ultimately spending a little on a checker can save you £1000s in the future. There are lots of car checkers out there some do specific checks and others like Car Guide for example, cover everything.
Prices
It is really, really important you check the price against other cars of the same type. Don’t be caught in the all too common trap of thinking you have found a bargain. There is normally a reason a car that should be £8000 turns up at £5000 on a sale site. It may have done far more miles than the average for its age and that could mean it will be due a lot of work. It might have been written off (see car checker) or it might have issues they are not mentioning in the advert. With online searches come a pretty level playing field for car prices so outliers are normally something to avoid.
The Deal
OK, so here is the bit where the money really gets important, or is it? Well, it used to be but with proper research, a car checker and careful selection you should in theory be able to just go along, check the car over and buy it. Don’t feel you need to haggle like mad and get loads of money off. If you have checked the average value of the cars you want to look at you will soon know if the price is good. If its super high don’t go and see it, if its about right then by all means try to get a bit of cash off but you may just embarrass yourself a bit.
By taking time to plan what you need, research cars and check everything you can get a great deal and save yourself money on the purchase and in the future.
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