Need advice on Buying Car

SusanC10

So, Husband and I are thinking about getting a new (2nd Hand) car.

Our current situation is that we have 2 cars - Car #1 is a 2006 Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI which is the main family car (2 kids) and I mainly drive it for school runs, child related runs and going to visit my Mum 3 Hours away approx once a month. Car #2 is a 1998 banger which pre-dates our relationship and which Husband uses to drive himself at weekends to hobby-related activities. He uses public transport to get to work so it is only used at weekends.

We are thinking of going to France in Summer 2016 on the Ferry and doing a substantial journey while there (approx 2k km in France alone).

Our current thinking is to get rid of Car #2 for scrap as it is so old and we are now hitting the problem of insurance for cars over 15 years old. Car #1 has approx 108k miles on the clock but I had an accident a couple of years ago so it has been in an accident.

We are looking at getting an Estate Diesel. 2010 +. 1.9 +. Preferably less than 100k miles on the clock. Preferably a Skoda Octavia Estate or VW Passat Estate but open to other suggestions. Budget €12k - €14k max.

We have not bought ourselves 2nd Hand before as Car #2 was a gift from Husband's parents and we bought Car #1 new in 2006. So all advice appreciated.

We want to buy from a Dealer but should we stick to SIMI ones or are Independent ones ok too ?

How would we go about having a potential car Independently assessed before purchase ?

Are prices listed negotiable at all ? We would be paying Cash (Bank Draft).

For the type of car we are looking for should we consider Northern Ireland or the UK ?

All other advice appreciated.
Thanks in advance

bazz26

First of all the S.I.M.I. offer no value to a customer. They are an organisation made of member dealers who campaign and lobby their own interests. There are as many poor dealers out there with a S.I.M.I. sign hanging over their door as there good ones who don't. Rule of thump is buy from a dealer who has a good reputation passed on by friends or family. Also do research of feedback on them online.

There is also a sticky here about buying a used car in Ireland, while it's a bit old and very long the majority of the stuff on the first few pages is relevant:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056198864

SusanC10

@ bazz26

Thanks for the reply. Will include all Dealers in the search so. And will look for recommendations.

Will also have a read of that thread. Cheers.

Atlantic Dawn

Do you need a diesel, what kind of mileage do you do?

exaisle

SusanC10 wrote: »

.

For the type of car we are looking for should we consider Northern Ireland or the UK ?

All other advice appreciated.
Thanks in advance

For what you want, I think that the UK is probably your best bet.
There seems to be a chronic shortage of relatively low mileage second hand cars here.....
A couple of minutes of looking and this popped up....
Link
VRT is about €1800 and include another €750 for air and ferry charges, and the cost of pre-purchase inspections and finance checks, and you're still within budget.....even with sterling at an all-time high.

SusanC10

Thanks for the advice - we are leaning towards buying in the UK but want to have a good look here in Ireland first but as exaisle has said there is a real shortage of low ish mileage cars here esp 2011/2012.

We are narrowing our Search - all Diesel Estates - what are anyone's thoughts on the following :-

VW Passat
Skoda Octavia
Mazda 6
Toyota Avensis

My preference is definitely for the Passat or the Octavia but Husband willing to consider other makes.

Also another question - which would be better for eg - 2010 car with 75k miles or 2012 car with 100k miles - same make and model ?

Thanks in advance