frustrating day looking at cars. different approach!

[johnhenry]

Afternoon

Yesterday, i posted a thread asking for suggestions on cars, filled with optimism, i checked the bank, adjusted my budget, down to around 1.K-1.5K (might have gone a tad crazy last month :/ ) and off i searched. found some stuff, went to look today, (que moan)

I have spent since 9:30 this morning driving round with a friend, looking at cars, i have got home and am literally no further forward, every car there was something very wrong with or incredibly dubious about. So, I am trying a new approach.

PISTONHEAD'ers within 25 miles of Bridgend. If you are selling your car within the price tag of 1-1.5K and it meets the following criteria i am interested in your car.

1) It does not have a used condom in it...
2) It is mechanically sound, ie - not broken or bodged to sell
3) You are not from a swamp
4) You have looked after your car, maintained it, have some proof of this and are generally a nice person to it.
5) Your car is not a daewoo, kia, or something horrifically beige.
6) It hasnt done spaceship miles, i need it for a daily hack and cant be dealing with bits falling off at regular intervals.

If you fit these criteria, please get in touch! I'll need to get insurance quotes and the like to make sure i can afford to run the car, but if its all good-
Im free this weekend and would be overjoyed to possibly have a good viewing/buying experience.

A miserable PH'er

John

[Blayney]

johnhenry said:

Afternoon

Yesterday, i posted a thread asking for suggestions on cars, filled with optimism, i checked the bank, adjusted my budget, down to around 1.K-1.5K (might have gone a tad crazy last month :/ ) and off i searched. found some stuff, went to look today, (que moan)

I have spent since 9:30 this morning driving round with a friend, looking at cars, i have got home and am literally no further forward, every car there was something very wrong with or incredibly dubious about. So, I am trying a new approach.

PISTONHEAD'ers within 25 miles of Bridgend. If you are selling your car within the price tag of 1-1.5K and it meets the following criteria i am interested in your car.

1) It does not have a used condom in it...
2) It is mechanically sound, ie - not broken or bodged to sell
3) You are not from a swamp
4) You have looked after your car, maintained it, have some proof of this and are generally a nice person to it.
5) Your car is not a daewoo, kia, or something horrifically beige.
6) It hasnt done spaceship miles, i need it for a daily hack and cant be dealing with bits falling off at regular intervals.

If you fit these criteria, please get in touch! I'll need to get insurance quotes and the like to make sure i can afford to run the car, but if its all good-
Im free this weekend and would be overjoyed to possibly have a good viewing/buying experience.

A miserable PH'er

John

Problem found.

Only joking. I'd love to contribute, but you don't want my gf's Punto...

[_rubinho_]

This guy's mate has a Rover 75. It was almost mint when he bought it

[djfaulkner]

johnhenry said:

1) It does not have a used condom in it...
3) You are not from a swamp

Thats just being picky.....

[Riknos]

I would widen your search, personally. I never understand people who are not willing to look further away from home to get a better deal on a car, but are willing to buy one closer to home for more? doesn't many economical sense. You only have to drive to visit a car once or twice when purchasing, so why does it matter if it takes more than 30 minutes to get there?

[johnhenry]

hah - seems alot of people are in the same predicament
I can up the radius to maybe 30-35 miles if people have something that fits criteria, this weekend i need a car by monday hah,its got to happen!

I just wanted a nice PH car, and most importantly a car that isnt dead or full of questionable things...

regards
John

[Jasandjules]

Have a look on Ebay then for that kind of range?

[johnhenry]

there seems to be a plethora of 'economy' hatches on ebay around that price, it's what ive been to see today

I had to explain to one chap why he should get the oil changed and service a car, as the dip stick revealed there to be no oil in the car along with many other issues under the bonnet.
Cars at that range in traders possession just seem to be problems waiting to happen.
im making pretty bold statements based on my experience today not just what i think.

PH'ers at least enjoy cars, and if you enjoy cars, you look after them. The direct opposite to most of what i saw today.

[johnhenry]

Riknos said:

I would widen your search, personally. I never understand people who are not willing to look further away from home to get a better deal on a car, but are willing to buy one closer to home for more? doesn't many economical sense. You only have to drive to visit a car once or twice when purchasing, so why does it matter if it takes more than 30 minutes to get there?

I am totally with you on this one! However - I am currently relying on others to ferry me to these viewings and whatnot, if i say - seen a car, give them the details ( seems correct, as some did today) then drive 100 miles to see it and it turns out to be a dud then its just a total waste of time effort and money.

But on the whole i totally agree with you on a wider search for the right car.

[anonymous-user]

at that price it is superbanger. Better to spend a grand and 500 on fixing/replacing parts. Why spend you whole budget on a car..

[Jasandjules]

Sadly your experiences are all too common. And of course with your budget being, with all due respect, limited, the condition of cars within that range is also unlikely to be top notch. You MAY find one though, don't ask don't get and all that. Good luck with your hunt.

[snorkel sucker]

How about a slightly different approach again...

Rather than limit yourself to a 25 mile radius of home, broaden your range, do some ringing around beforehand (hopefully if its a PH ad, the seller will be genuine...) and then go hunting?

You could plan a route that takes into account a few cars.

I don't know what car options there are within a 25mile radius of you, but I know there aren't many by me!

[redgriff500]

There are plenty of idiot buyers too.

Just had one on my wife's car at £3500 - I priced it as the cheapest one of it's spec - he couldn't fault it and after a long test drive etc he offered £500 less and wouldn't move.

If he'd said that's all he'd offer I could have saved him the trip and me the time cleaning it and coming home from work early to show it him.

[johnhenry]

Ill certainly try and maybe build a 'route' to see lots of cars, maybe one turns up gold!

I hear about idiot buyers though, had one trying to buy my dads sailing boat, was faultless and well maintained and he offered about £1000 under asking, (it was for sale at like £4000 or something like that) and just refused to move. mindless.

[Fox-]

johnhenry said:

around 1.K-1.5K (


6) It hasnt done spaceship miles, i need it for a daily hack and cant be dealing with bits falling off at regular intervals.

You are buying a £1k car. Are you expecting a 40k mile minter or something? At £1k if it starts, drives, doesn't wander from side to side, brakes properly and doesnt make funny noises and has a 12 month MOT then who gives a stuff what the mileage is?

[johnhenry]

im not complaining about the field out there. what i find issue with is as stated above;

if it went straight, worked as it should and didnt sound like it was going to die. i wouldnt have a problem, the stuff ive seen today didnt do this.

[confused_buyer]

The truth is most of cars in your price bracket people are getting rid of because they think they're about to die and are at the end of their life.

Of course, there are exceptions.

If you're not worried about mpg there are quite a lot of decent, but thirsty, cars in that price bracket which people are getting shot of "because of the fuel" but are basically sound.

In general, the boring stuff is best in this bracket. Something like a Mondeo 1.8 LX is difficult to beat.

[hedgefinder]

redgriff500 said:

There are plenty of idiot buyers too.

Just had one on my wife's car at £3500 - I priced it as the cheapest one of it's spec - he couldn't fault it and after a long test drive etc he offered £500 less and wouldn't move.

If he'd said that's all he'd offer I could have saved him the trip and me the time cleaning it and coming home from work early to show it him.

its a fact that there are far more idiot buyers than idoit sellers.
just note that if you put your car up for sale you WILL generally get -

a) around 5 people calling saying they actually really want the car, its just what they are looking for etc etc who will arrange to come round or tell you they will call back - and you dont hear or ever see them again.

b) a bunch of people calling asking questions which were already answered in the advert. Around half of these people who contact you will ask " how much do you want for it" whether or not you actually have a price in the advert.

c) people from b) who were directed to the asking price in the advert then turning up and asking the same question refusing to make an offer until you give them a price less than advertised.

d) eventually one bloke will turn up with money in his pocket and ask sensible questions, test drive and make a sensible offer .

[kotafey]

Fox- said:

johnhenry said:

around 1.K-1.5K (


6) It hasnt done spaceship miles, i need it for a daily hack and cant be dealing with bits falling off at regular intervals.

You are buying a £1k car. Are you expecting a 40k mile minter or something? At £1k if it starts, drives, doesn't wander from side to side, brakes properly and doesnt make funny noises and has a 12 month MOT then who gives a stuff what the mileage is?

Pretty much my thoughts. £1k is what you pay for an OK laptop these days, let alone a car. As long as it's not a death trap I think you're doing well, but you will surely need to be patient and sift through a lot of rubbish.

[Piersman2]

Fox- said:

You are buying a £1k car. Are you expecting a 40k mile minter or something? At £1k if it starts, drives, doesn't wander from side to side, brakes properly and doesnt make funny noises and has a 12 month MOT then who gives a stuff what the mileage is?

They are around you just have to be patient and maybe buy something a little out of fashion.

I recently bought my daughter a car with a budget of under a grand.

I kept an eye on local ads on Gumtree, Autotrader and E-bay.

Many cars in the location and price tag but needed to be 1.4'ish engine and good enough for her to take back to Uni. I phoned about a few 206s and checked a few cars out but I didn't get a good feeling about any of them, dodgy paint, dogy mileages, dodgy sellers, etc...

After 10 days I spotted a 2002 Rover 25. The daughter actually liked the look of it. 47K miles, 1.4, blue, recent head gasket, full mot , etc... and for sale about 5 miles from me. I bid on it and got it for £821 and then went to collect the following day. CAr was as described, small dent on rear wing was no worse than described, car ran nicely, guy seemed genuine and pleasant and even knocked £21 off becuase the rear parcel shelf was missing and he hadn't noticed when he put the advert up. It had only had 2 previous female owners. Although it did smell of dog a bit! So happily handed over the cash and it's been faultless in the last 6 weeks.

I wasn't panicking though as I had the summer to find something suitable.