Buying Used Car: Advice Please!

bettywatts

I'm wondering if anyone knows which dealers are best to buy from and offer the best guarantees. Looking for a used car for under €5000 with fairly low miles that's gonna do me for the next couple years.

I've seen a VW Lupo 2005, dealer's looking for €4500 and offering 6 months guarantee. Is it just me or does that sound suspiciously cheap? He's also willing to take my recently vandalised car off my hands as trade-in. Anyone ideas about reliability of the Lupo? Cheers.

bazz26

bettywatts wrote: »

I'm wondering if anyone knows which dealers are best to buy from and offer the best guarantees. Looking for a used car for under €5000 with fairly low miles that's gonna do me for the next couple years.

I've seen a VW Lupo 2005, dealer's looking for €4500 and offering 6 months guarantee. Is it just me or does that sound suspiciously cheap? He's also willing to take my recently vandalised car off my hands as trade-in. Anyone ideas about reliability of the Lupo? Cheers.

€4500 for a 4 year old Lupo is not great value imo. They were a poor seller in Ireland, my sister has a 2000 Lupo for the last 2 years and it has had it's fair share of stupid problems during that time.

If I were you I would look at other cars such as the Ford Ka or Fiat Panda which are superior to the Lupo and cost less.

With regards garages, don't ask for the best garage, what you do is do a search for a number of cars for sale at garages in your area, view/test drive them and see what is their lowest price and what kind of warranty they offer. Compare like for like, in other words get a price on the same type car from more than one garage to compare which is offering the best deal.

bettywatts

Thanks Bazz. Really, are Lupos not up to much? I hear very conflicting reports about the reliability of VWs. I currently have a Peugeot which has been a disaster and I want to upgrade to a 1 litre which is going to be trouble-free for 2 years or so. Yaris is the most consistently recommended car but they're v expensive for their age in general!

Fiona500

Don't buy anything French (Peugeot, Renault, etc.) or by Fiat if you are looking for reliability.

There are a lot of great deals on at the moment, so you should check your local paper. A lot of dealers are offering good value for trade ins but it depends on the condition of the car. How badly damaged is your car?

For the actual buying of the car Top Gear have a Buyer's Guide on their website, they tell you how to check for rust and things which could cost you a lot more than the car is worth in the long term. For something reliable, imo Ford and Toyota are a good bet. I have a 98 Fiesta which still runs beautifully. Carzone are a good place to look, don't buy from a private seller, because then you get no warranty. Check the service history, colour changes to the car could mean that it was badly crashed and recoloured to cover up the work done on it.

If nothing else, try to persuade the dealer to give you a warranty that will last until just after the next NCT is due. Good Luck!

bazz26

bettywatts wrote: »

Thanks Bazz. Really, are Lupos not up to much? I hear very conflicting reports about the reliability of VWs. I currently have a Peugeot which has been a disaster and I want to upgrade to a 1 litre which is going to be trouble-free for 2 years or so. Yaris is the most consistently recommended car but they're v expensive for their age in general!

In my experience of my family's owned VWs (sister's Lupo and uncle's Passat) reliability is average at best. I definately would not buy into the "if only everything was as reliable as a VW" marketing tripe.

If reliability is your main priority then I suggest something like a Fiesta or Micra. Don't just limit yourself to a 1.0 litre, Fiestas are 1.25 litre and generally they are classed the same as a 1.0 litre Micra or Yaris by insurance companies.

Another one to think about and is regularly overlooked is the Hyundai Getz 1.1 litre , it is just as reliable as anything Japanese but costs alot cheaper, comes well equipped and has low running costs:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1319505

Double Top

i was wondering if someone could help me. my brother is changing his car because he has a baby on the way. ho found two cars and ford mondeo and BMW(don't know what type) both same price but the mondeo is two tears younger. i your opinion which should he buy

Fiona500

Double Top wrote: »

i was wondering if someone could help me. my brother is changing his car because he has a baby on the way. ho found two cars and ford mondeo and BMW(don't know what type) both same price but the mondeo is two tears younger. i your opinion which should he buy

Mondeo. The ride comfort is superb, which means the baby won't get car sick. Plus they are a lot cheaper and easier to maintain, all the parts for Ford cars are quite similar so there is an abundant supply of them and you don't need a specialist mechanic to fix it. It is more likely to not depreciate too much, i.e. when he wants a new car in a few year then he will get more back. IMO BMWs are well over-rated.

Congratulations to your brother on the baby!