I always seem to buy the first car I see

[Luke.]

Everyone always seems to say, when you're looking for a secondhand car test drive loads, get an idea of the gooduns and never plump for the first one you drive. Hmmm. I've never actually been to see a second car.

So far, so good.

[AceOfHearts]

Ditto

I also have a bad habit of buying cars unseen on eBay

[S10 GTA]

Times have changed, you can do plenty of research in advance now. Iirc I have only walked away from one car.

[lost in espace]

I put a deposit down on my last car unseen, only a £1k snotter but it was a hell of a risk. Turned out to be a very good one!

[slippery]

Same here usually. A massive amount of trawling the classifieds, shortlisting etc, but I usually narrow it down to one target car and buy it. You can read a lot into a car by the ad and the sescriptions and photos are a world away from where they were before the internet. Plus I'm always short on time to travel around looking.

[ChasW]

I usually try to make the first car I see the "benchmark". In other words it ticks all the boxes unless I get a nasty surprise when I view it and test drive it. If it is as expected then often I just weigh up the hassle of looking at others and risk of of losing the one I've just seen. It's all down to the amount of homework that's possible these days. People can email you extra photos, copies of service documentation etc. I have even contacted previous owners by asking for details from the log book or looking at the name and address on service invoices. One car I bought for my wife I knew more about its history than the seller. By pure coincidence the previous owner was a company I had worked for years before. So I phoned their fleet department who provided me with a copy of the car's entire history.

[acf8181]

Yeah, its often said never buy first you see, but sometimes there's no reason not to as its good!

[wackojacko]

acf8181 said:

Yeah, its often said never buy first you see, but sometimes there's no reason not to as its good!

Exactly....

Every car I've bought (4 so far) I've always bought the first one.

[OldSkoolRS]

I must be out of practice as in the last few days I've looked at 4 cars (tatty, mint but expensive and two in the middle but with the smaller engine than I want) and I'm still going. In hindsight I could have saved the wasted trip to the tatty one if I'd asked a few question first, but they still might not have been very honest with me I guess ('first to see will buy' rubbish and my OH said it looked crap as soon as we walked up to it). The mint one stands as a benchmark now, so I've got a few days (perhaps) to compare it to some better priced alternatives.

I'd forgotten how much effort it takes when looking for a car, but perhaps because I'm looking for a weekend toy (BMW Z3 2.8/3.0 litre) they aren't on every street corner. Last year we bought the second car we looked at for my OH, which was a Mini, so much easier to find...it's been good so far touch wood.

The shame is I'd spotted what looked like a real gem on PH while I was away on holiday and now I'm back he seems to have vanished, so I guess it's sold. Otherwise I suspect I would have bought this one as the first I'd viewed...

[Hoofy]

Interesting...

Say, did you know I have a car for sale?

[Jasandjules]

I always look at 2-3 at least as you just never know if a better one comes up and of course once you've seen a couple you know a bit more about what to look for etc....

[mike9009]

Must also admit, I buy the first I see and TBH the prior research I do, has not let me down (except for my first mk11 VW Golf, which was a complete shed!)

I do go shopping around to pick the make and variant I want first. But I see this as a necessary component of being a petrol head. So I have test driven plenty of different variants, but then set my heart on one, find it, buy it.....

Mike

[deltashad]

I found a car on ebay, Mazda6 at a really good price for my brother.
The description was 'mint condition'. We spoke to the garage owner in person before leaving, told him the distance we were travelling and were assured it was in great condition.
I drove my brother from Perth (central Scotland) to Manchester to collect it. The car looked great with only 53k on the clock, when one of the employees took us out for a run in it the car felt and sounded like it was only firing on three cylinders.
My brother had a shot and said there was no power, on investigation one of the spark plugs was lose. After sorting the spark plug he fired it up, it reaked of black smoke, then after ten minutes left running, it still reaked of black smoke.
£130 of fuel and our time wasted along with insurance cancellation charges!

Edited by deltashad on Sunday 26th February 10:37

Edited by deltashad on Sunday 26th February 10:38

[LawAys]

I'm afraid I do the same.

I think it's because I spend so long searching online for the right one, as soon as I see one that fits the bill perfectly, I almost make my mind up before I've even gone to see it.

Can be annoying sometimes because I end up battling between head and heart when I'm actually viewing it..

[randomwalk]

I bought my Merc off ebay without going to see it, for 600 quid I thought it worth the punt, 5mths later costs to date = £0 (except for fuel)

[Marf]

Ditto, never bought a lemon either.

[redgriff500]

I would if the sellers were honest.

Went to see a 996 and it clearly needed £700+ of bodywork and had 2 oil leaks and a rattle.

Went to see a Mazda6 and it needed £800+ bodywork and the full history was actually missing the last 40k.

[bakerstreet]

slippery said:

Same here usually. A massive amount of trawling the classifieds, shortlisting etc, but I usually narrow it down to one target car and buy it. You can read a lot into a car by the ad and the sescriptions and photos are a world away from where they were before the internet. Plus I'm always short on time to travel around looking.

This is my usual problem. I just dont have the time to be driving up and down the country looking for a car. The last car I bought was £3500 and as soon as you starting driving up and down the country that soon eats into your budget for the actual car.

Think I looked at 5 for my last car. I eventually settled on something that was cosmetically the best, but had the best service history.

[Baryonyx]

I also tend to buy the first one I see. The only time I have ever had my time and cash wasted was when I went to Preston to see a 728i that photographed well and the dealer was complimentary about, only to get there and find it was a wreck and unlikely to get me home.


When I bought my MX5 I looked at loads and test drove loads, only to come back to the car that had first caught my eye at the start of the winter three months later and buy it then! Some of the other cars I've had, like the MR2 Turbo, are rare enough that I only had the option of going to see one when I bought them, but they turned out to be good anyway.

[OldSkoolRS]

Just back from looking at another four Z3s today: Two are likely candidates, but I can't decide if I want the 2.2 6 cylinder example (not sure about the mettalic red colour though) or whether I'd be happy with a cheap (but FSH and tidy) Silver 1.9 I found.

Then when I got home I rung about a blue 2.8 that has only just come up for sale so I'm seeing that one tomorrow. If I buy the 2.8 it would be the first 2.8 I've seen, so does that mean I'll have bought the first one I saw or is that cheating?

I meant to add that I've really enjoyed going to look at these cars (mostly) and having a few test drives. It's surprising how some dealers just throw you the keys and tell you to take it for a run and others only let you go round the block. I understand the private sellers not doing this as I haven't got any insurance yet, but even they seemed willing to take me for a decent drive to show the car off, which shows confidence in the car.

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Sunday 26th February 20:15