Tekforums
Chat => Sports, Hobbies & Motors => Topic started by: zpyder on June 20, 2009, 19:41:56 PM
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Being a total noob to looking for used cars, are there any particularly good sites out there that are reputable etc? I know a few of you use ebay motors, but I cant really stand ebay any more!
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Pistonheads and Autotrader and ebay :P
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Those are the three I use
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Id say if bidding on a car from auto trader you must go and see it before buying. The pics could have been taken 6 months ago.
Id use Auto Trader.
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all the above, also i usually check the car enthusiasts forums, you usually find cars on those have been very well cared for.
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all the above, also i usually check the car enthusiasts forums, you usually find cars on those have been very well cared for.
Buying from enthusiast forums can lead to hugely exaggerated pricing.. Buyer beware.
I still find the best place to buy cars is from the Auto Trader, bought a couple recently for members of the family, you can haggle the price down, look at the car before your buying and not go through all the nonsense of Ebay.
With the economy the way it is, its a buyers market, if someone is asking £2000 for the car you want, dont be afraid to put a silly offer in first, like £1500-1600, go away if you have to, give them your number, you never know once someone stews on it what they will do for the cash.
If your not in a rush you will get a real bargain.
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Not in a rush at the moment as my finances are such that I can just about afford it, but itd zero everything. Not sure if I want to do this as Id like to have SOME money in reserve.
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Not in a rush at the moment as my finances are such that I can just about afford it, but itd zero everything. Not sure if I want to do this as Id like to have SOME money in reserve.
How much do you have?
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Not in a rush at the moment as my finances are such that I can just about afford it, but itd zero everything. Not sure if I want to do this as Id like to have SOME money in reserve.
Wait a little while and save up an extra bit of dosh for a reserve.
Although, do you NEED a car? They are money pits.
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Dont NEED a new car, my micra is ok. But the reasons for swapping/upgrading:
Had the micra for 7 years - It was a great first car, nice and small and nippy, but more (boot) space would be quite a bonus at the moment
Due for service/tax/mot/insurance etc August time.
Its at the age where things are starting to go wrong, last year it needed a wheel cylinder replacing
The extras the Mazda have are nice, though admittedly most newer cars have them. My micra has a radio that is half broken and aircon which does nothing but suck power from the engine. The TS2 has climate control which works (and given that I spend summer days in the field, being able to cool down in the car at the end/at lunch is nice indeed!)
About the only things currently against getting a new car are the fact that I will be needing to take it down dirt/sand/gravel tracks for fieldwork, and the above mentioned cutting it fine on the finance side of things.
The amount of money I have...is flexible in the sense I have some shares I could sell and get an extra £2k from, but Id rather not. My car Id hope to get £1500-£2000 for (52 reg 1.4L micra, done a bit less than the avg mileage and has had regular services), all in all I should be able to afford £8k outright with a bit of reserve cash, or go a bit higher/lower and get a new car on finance or something, which is something I dont really want to do. Started a new job and get paid a month after I hand my time sheet in, so next payday is end of July, cutting it fine in the sense of trying to swap cars and save on the micras tax etc.
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Find yourself a mechanic mate or someone in the know, and get your ass to the auctions with £5000 you can have a pick of loads of cars, with £8k you will be getting nearly new, ridiculously low mileage car, ex fleet/ disability, something that has been serviced regularly and has full history, thats what i would do personally!
Failing that, did you drive around the local dealerships, haggle a discount on a last years model / ex tester car etc, there must be plenty of 08 stock knocking around in the country! Just ignore the £2k scrappage scheme and haggle it off the price of something they have lieing around :D
With that sort of budget id be looking at a Mk5 Golf, ive seen 55 plates selling at £5k at the auctions.
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Aye. Went to a dealership On friday on my lunch. They had a silver TS that was a year old and had hardly any mileage on it for £8k. Theres not much difference between the TS and TS2 other than traction and climate control, cd changer and slightly bigger wheels. I would almost be tempted if it wasnt silver. I figure though the bigger wheels, no matter how slightly bigger, would be a bonus, and climate control is nice too.
Will have to see about heading out next weekend if I have the time to look around with my parents, thatll be...fun.
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Aye. Went to a dealership On friday on my lunch. They had a silver TS that was a year old and had hardly any mileage on it for £8k. Theres not much difference between the TS and TS2 other than traction and climate control, cd changer and slightly bigger wheels. I would almost be tempted if it wasnt silver. I figure though the bigger wheels, no matter how slightly bigger, would be a bonus, and climate control is nice too.
Will have to see about heading out next weekend if I have the time to look around with my parents, thatll be...fun.
You could always ask them a) to change the wheels, b) lower the price if your paying in one lump sum, you never know what the response will be.
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Meh, its silver though haha. I cant stand silver cars! Only thing thats worse are the ones which are bright yellow/pink etc.
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Meh, its silver though haha. I cant stand silver cars! Only thing thats worse are the ones which are bright yellow/pink etc.
Ring around, travel if you have to, in the current economic situation the ball is in your court :D
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Those are the three I use
And you always end up with a heap on junk lol
:bounce:
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Clockd = torpedoed.
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Those are the three I use
And you always end up with a heap on junk lol
:bounce:
Theres nowt wrong with the Audi :P
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Those are the three I use
And you always end up with a heap on junk lol
:bounce:
We cant all finance new cars that we hate after 6 months with all the little problems :-P
The Mazda was rock solid too, best car I ever owned - never should have got rid of it!
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Ended up cleaning the car up on Sat and taking it down to a local Mazda dealership that I went to about 10 days prior. He gets a point for remembering me and my name (The nissan dealerships customer service is non-existent). He said hes been looking for any used TS2s to come up, whether he has or not I dunno.
But we spent maybe 45 mins-hour talking over stuff and finance options. He didnt actually try to sell me a new car and it was quite refreshing to not have the hard sell put on. He spent ages explaining finance things as some of what he was saying was a bit confusing to say the least.
He pointed out that the TS2 may have climate control and bigger wheels, but the TS can have climate control as an extra and the wheel wall is actually thicker, which will be more suitable for me for driving on dirt tracks I guess. So the search has been widened to a TS with climate control, and any colour.
Heh, as writing this the guy has phoned with a TS with climate control, but its a tad old and in pretty much the only colour I wouldnt concider, Icy blue. Silver I could bear, but Icy blue seems such an old fogey colour! However he also said they are looking at a black 07 reg with low mileage so will call back :D
Not bad, the real test will be to see how the service is after I buy a car ><
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Nige, get a soarer :-D
Luxobarge Coupe ;)
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Nige, get a soarer :-D
Luxobarge Coupe ;)
I keep seeing the one parked up by my girlfriends. It looks just like yours and its tempting :-D
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frig the soarer, get a legnum vr-4