Looking at an older car - need NCT advice.

SeanW

Hi everyone;

I need some advice. I'm looking for my first car, and unfortunately I'm on a limited bugdet, so I'm looking at late 90s cars.

Today, I looked at a diesel Toyota in a dealership, its NCT just expired in June. And while, from what I've been able to ascertain so far the car appears to be in good mechanical order, the bodywork is a bit of a mess.

Specifically, there are some small streaks of rust on the exterior body, and there is evidence that the car had been rear-ended at some point, with among other things, the rear bumper tied onto the back with small pieces of steel wire, where before it looked like there would have been screws or rivets, presumably. The dealer said they'd take care of that part.

I don't really care that the car doesn't look the nicest, I just want something that will be road legal and get me from A to B - but I need some help figuring out if the state of the body would pose a problem for the NCT.

Oh and BTW I know the RSA wanted to make NCTs an annaul thing for cars over 10 years old - have they managed to ram that through yet?

Hal1

Keep well away! next thing you know he'll be charging you extra to put through nct. It begs the question as to why he hasn't put it in for it and from your description of the car I can see why.

Sleepy

What's your budget? There's great value out there at the moment, especially if you're not looking for any more than a reliable means of getting from A to B.

SeanW

The car is from 1996 and the dealer offered for €800. It would be my responsibility to renew the NCT - which seems to be a general trend for anything under €2000, i.e. the dealer sells the car "as is."

Although I could afford between €2000 and €2500, I need the cash for other things and was hoping this car would be good value for money. I guess I am the eternal optimist :pac: Realistically, €1500 is my limit. I know, it's pathetic

Sleepy

I've seen this in the dealers and even told him that the pics don't do it justice... Reckon you could haggle him down to 1500 on it easy enough and it's NCT'd for a little over another year:

http://www.longmilemotors.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200928194577262

Sleepy

Lots more like that or better on carzone tbh.

BostonB

Theres no good reason for a car not to have a NCT unless theres a problem(s) with it.

Senna

Plenty of cars under 1.5k with full/almost full nct in the free ads paper, most cars less than 1k are sold through them rather than net and autotrader etc.
I wouldn't be too worried about the year, better a 1994 good car than a 1999 heap.
If you are looking at mid 90's, jap makes might be best, what size car have you in mind, diesel or petrol, small engine or doesn't mater etc

SeanW

The rust on the bodywork appears to be "surface" rust rather than structural. i.e. I've seen worse on a similar priced car :eek: The dealer said the NCT people would be looking for structural rust - jagged edges and so on.

Thanks for the ref to carzone but that's where I've been looking, the problem is that I have a couple of hangups, the first is about must have Toyota, since experience in the family has shown them to be the most enduring cars (my Mother's last Toyota was a Starlet that was on the road for 19 years doing a lot of miles and needed nothing more than a new tyre all the time she owned it)
and my second hangup was that I would prefer a diesel - but that doesn't seem like a really good idea because for the same price as some of the crappy Toyota diesels I've looked at, I could get an well NCT'ed petrol Toyota. Oh What a tangled web I weave :rolleyes:

That's why I was hoping this car I looked at today would have been a worthwhile deal.

Edit: I just checked Carzone and there seem to be a lot better cars listed, including one car that checks all my 'boxes.'

Wibbs

Rust would be a concern for me. It's like an iceberg, what you can see above is only a small part of what's below.

BostonB

Theres loads of cars without rust and with a NCT that are cheap. Avoid cars with rust and without a NCT like the plague. Run a mile from them.

Unless you are doing big mileages, a petrol will generally have a smaller engine, so less tax and insurance and in general have far lower mileage than a diesel and cheaper. So it balances out and the petrol will usually be in better condition than some clapped out diesel.

I'm not even looking and I've seen some mint japs cars going with less than 60k miles circa 1998 cars going for €1000~1500.

bazz26

There are plenty of cars out there for under €2k that will come with a decent NCT. If the seller is so sure it will pass the NCT then get them to send it through or at the very least get them to give a written guarantee that they will put it right if it fails. If they are so confident they should have no problem doing this, if they don't then walk away.

But from experience of looking at cars for my sister, when you have a tight budget you will nearly always get better value from a private sale in this price range than a garage. Anything I looked at in garages within this price range was junk traded in with no warranty which meant buying from a garage had the same risk as buying private.

OP take a look here, you may be pleasantly surprised with what you might find:

http://www.adverts.ie/showcat.php?cat=2