Buying a used car in Ireland guide

KenHy wrote: »

Looking for some advise

Planing to buy my first car soon, got a max budget of €4,000. What should I be looking for for that type of cash. I'd prefer a diesel (something along the line of 1.6 as most driving I'd do would be 2 hour plus journeys (and probably with pasangers and stuff on roof racks) so the fuel efficiency appeals, but my initial searches of carzone.ie seems to suggest that I'd be only looking at cars with 120,000 miles plus for that type of cash, whereas with petrol they are going with a lot lower milage (seeing 2002s with as little as 40,000 miles) for the same money. From a maintenance point of view would I be better off going with a petrol instead?

Any other advise for a first time car buyer?

i would never spend 4,000 on a first car, i'd buy something cheap and cheerful to get used to driving then work up from that. (if you're already a driver, but this is your first car ignore this).

1.6 diesel - 4k - and everything else you've mentioned you're going to end up buying a piece of crap.

if you knew what you were looking at, a 1.9Tdi Passat estate would be a lovely car, but finding a genuine one is hard got.

Maintenance wise diesels are more, and generally cost more than a petrol. But with that mileage diesel is the only way to go. Also, paying a premium for a "low" mileage car is pointless when you're only going to clock big mileage up on it yourself.

Shakti wrote: »

When inspecting before a purchase how do you know a car is burning oil, are there any signs to look out for?

i'm not a mechanic so i honestly don't know and don't think there are any ways of inspecting this, but, always look around the oil filler cap for signs of an overly clean area (ie. something that has been filled recently and cleaned up) or on the other scale a dirty area from a recent fill up.

Afaik if a car is burning oil the smoke would be blue ish out of the exhaust. You would also be able to smell bad fumes. After that, a petrol car generally shouldn't be smokey, so if it is, walk away.

Also, you could also do a bit of research into the type of car and see if they are known for burning oil. Examples of this would be a Mk4 Golf 1.4, most of the VVTi Toyotas (Avensis/Corolla).

Serious oil burning should be very obvious, a smelly car, smoke, running rough etc.

bigron2109 wrote: »

Hey Mate, Just wondering how much you would pay for this CASH. Went up to see the dealer and he the price is €7,950 .

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Hyundai/Coupe/1.6/16413409021698660/advert?channel=CARS

Looks good, as for the cash price you'll have to ask the dealer, everyone is different. Considering they were well over 20k new, 8k isn't bad for 4 years.

Also, make sure the tax isn't dear

bigron2109 wrote: »

I asked him, and he said he would do it €7,650 cash. Any thoughts?

What warranty are you getting?

Offer maybe €7,400 and work from there?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/3445790

Just saw the above, worth a call but i'd be very weary as it's very cheap.

bigron2109 wrote: »

A years warranty is on it. See when i went to look at it today there was other people there looking at it too, which is why people he said that price. Also it has only been on the market about 2 days now.

Do a history check on it, ring a few insurances for quotes (that'll rule out it being crashed) and work from there

Best thing to do is price insurance. On the grand scheme of things, the Audi will be a few bob more quarterly on tax,but the Audi is leagues, and leagues ahead of quality in that Fiesta. The seats in those Fiesta's are horrid, but they're a great car.

Deleted User wrote: »

Any thoughts on this folks..
http://www.carzone.ie/search/613261862154010/advert?channel=CARS
I've been rethinking what I want in a car over the last few days. I might go and look at this later on today, what should I be looking for? Broad question I know

Dear god man!

Green with a cream interior?

121k miles and 4k?

Noooo

Edit:
Lol

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/3540154