Need advice on donedeal buying

Danleo171

Hi all, I'm looking to buy my first car and need advice as I have little experience, Ive been looking at ads on donedeal and some of them seem like a good choice however I wouldnt notice some red flags that others might. In particular I am looking at this ad https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-vectra-1-8-sri-sports/12632798 Would the lack of current NCT and it being advertised as trade sale only be a sign that I should steer clear?

Danleo171

Also if the time on the ad (where it would say how long ago it was posted and the views) keeps getting changed does that mean the poster is just updating the ad for more views and may want to hide how long the ad has actually been up?

ozt9vdujny3srf

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

Potential here for high insurance, and high repair costs. I don't know about your circumstances, but assuming you have a small budget and no insurance history, your options will likely be limited to small cars like a toyota yaris, or a fiat panda.

This car is a largeish engined UK import with no NCT. That means there is potential for high repair costs, and a high insurance premium.

selectamatic

From what I can see (not a lot due to an old/battered phone) but it's a part time trader selling lots of different cars so that's the first red flag (some of these bucks are sound however plenty of them are cowboys) Secondly the milage: he has 147km down but there's 157miles displayed on the clocks. It's an English import which isn't mentioned on the add (2006 yet clocks in mph) and it has no test.
On the flip side it looks clean enough and it has a claimed service history, it's also easy check the mot history of the car too using the mot reg check site the original UK reg should be on the logbook.

Personally I'd leave it though for the reasons above and the fact that there's plenty of vectra's for sale so don't limit you're choice and also I generally hate the stereotyping of counties but there's a lot of below average UK imports for sale in Cork

Danleo171

Thanks for the advice, I think I will be staying away from it, I don't want to be stuck with something that theres a possibility of repairs beyond what I can afford, I did an online insurance quote for it and it was reasonable however.

Special Circumstances

selectamatic wrote: »

Personally I'd leave it though for the reasons above and the fact that there's plenty of vectra's for sale so don't limit you're choice and also I generally hate the stereotyping of counties but there's a lot of below average UK imports for sale in Cork

I generally hate stereotyping of dubs but that is a long mile road / ballymount car jarnowahimeehan.

The "Cork" bit is just another convenient mistake by the seller.

RUN Danleo171 RUN!

Atlantic Dawn

Danleo171 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm looking to buy my first car and need advice as I have little experience, Ive been looking at ads on donedeal and some of them seem like a good choice however I wouldnt notice some red flags that others might. In particular I am looking at this ad https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-vectra-1-8-sri-sports/12632798 Would the lack of current NCT and it being advertised as trade sale only be a sign that I should steer clear?

No NCT, seller having 20 other cars for sale, walk away.

If it was me looking for a cheap run about that might be a gamble I would stick to private sellers who actually own the car they are selling and that it has a valid NCT that you have checked is actually valid. I would also spend money on a car history check primarily for the reason if the car was a repaired write off trying to obtain insurance will be next to impossible.

orm0nd

Trade sale only. No warranty.

bazz26

Your never going to get anything in the way of a warranty on a €1150 car. Any 10 year old petrol Vauxhall Vectra with 157,000 miles is a gamble. Best avoided if your don't know the difference between a good cheap car and a dog.

ironclaw

orm0nd wrote: »

Trade sale only. No warranty.

Doesn't exist for B2C purchases. I'm amazed its not banned from advertising in forecourts.

OP, if you are concerned about repairs costs then you would be best to step away from Donedeal. Its a jungle and you really need to be switched on especially in the segment you are looking for: reasonably cheap popular cars.

I'd recommend you assess what you need in a car, set a budget, then define a set of cars that fit that criteria. Shift though a mountain of ads and when you find one that fits the bill and ticks most of the boxes, bring someone who is an expert on the car in question and have them take it apart before you part with a cent. The €100 you might spend on a mechanic and motorcheck may stand to you 10 fold by avoiding a lemon.