How to buy an old banger?
Discussion
Hey hey!
My girlfriend and me moved to Belgium. We moved our Mercedes there and now she found a job too. We are sort of in the medium salaries, where we can afford to keep two cheap cars or one nice car, but not really the second one.
The only issue is, we would like to keep the Merc, as our travel car. So now I was thinking to buy a scooter to drive to work. But since scooter prices are expensive in Belgium and car prices are cheap in UK, I thought why not to buy an old banger in UK..drag it through MOT, abuse it for a year ...you get my drift?
Well it turns out a used car market for under 500 quid is actually a mestirious place to be.
Can someone recommend something reliable enough... And cheap enough to drive? I was thinking maybe Passat B5. But to be honest it could be anything as long as it has a roof on it.
Looked into Smart cars, but a bit scared it will be expensive to maintain. Also they are 700+ but cheaper on tax...
Where people buy their 200-300 quid cars? eBay? Gumtree? Facebook?
Looking for any advice/experience you got really!
My girlfriend and me moved to Belgium. We moved our Mercedes there and now she found a job too. We are sort of in the medium salaries, where we can afford to keep two cheap cars or one nice car, but not really the second one.
The only issue is, we would like to keep the Merc, as our travel car. So now I was thinking to buy a scooter to drive to work. But since scooter prices are expensive in Belgium and car prices are cheap in UK, I thought why not to buy an old banger in UK..drag it through MOT, abuse it for a year ...you get my drift?
Well it turns out a used car market for under 500 quid is actually a mestirious place to be.
Can someone recommend something reliable enough... And cheap enough to drive? I was thinking maybe Passat B5. But to be honest it could be anything as long as it has a roof on it.
Looked into Smart cars, but a bit scared it will be expensive to maintain. Also they are 700+ but cheaper on tax...
Where people buy their 200-300 quid cars? eBay? Gumtree? Facebook?
Looking for any advice/experience you got really!
You still need to drive it to Belgium so not too f’d.
Set AT filters for petrol and 1000max.
Be prepared to travel, walk away if your gut says no as there will be plenty more.
Spend some cash on it to make it safe it least.
The usual suspects of Focus/Mondeo, your B5 Passat, but in Belgium a Pug or Renault will work easy.
You’ll be fine as you’ve said anything with a roof - keep an open mind wrt model and spec. An unloved spec will present the best bargain.
Plenty will wisely argue to just stick with a jap petrol.
I’d stick with AT and avoid Bumtree.
Set AT filters for petrol and 1000max.
Be prepared to travel, walk away if your gut says no as there will be plenty more.
Spend some cash on it to make it safe it least.
The usual suspects of Focus/Mondeo, your B5 Passat, but in Belgium a Pug or Renault will work easy.
You’ll be fine as you’ve said anything with a roof - keep an open mind wrt model and spec. An unloved spec will present the best bargain.
Plenty will wisely argue to just stick with a jap petrol.
I’d stick with AT and avoid Bumtree.
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