Advice regards buying a car, please.

[Diesel]

Situation: Always had company vehicle, now looking to purchase my own car, first since I was 17.

So, where do I start?

I have the cash, no car to trade, sell ect.

Does this put me in a good position to go to say, Motorpoint and barter with them or do they not 'barter' do they favour customers that seek credit?

Buy private perhaps?

Minefield I'm already thinking.

Any help, much appreciated.

[taio]

I'd have thought a good start would be looking around

[TVC15]

Motorpoint don't negotiate on prices

Cash is no longer king in buying cars at most places - infact they prefer you to take their finance and often offer discounts based on taking their finance.

What kind of car / budget ?

Motorpoint is usually your best bet - but does depend on what you are looking for / and how much you want to spend.

If you want a brand new car you can pick up some great deals

[Claretpants]

Bought mine at Motorpoint and price is what you pay but got a decent price on my part ex.Thought it was the most relaxed purchase ever with no pressure and got a zero mileage for 4K less then equivalent in a dealership plus got warranties

Good luck and have a look at their web page

[cutsy123]

Lease one

Much cheaper

[Diesel]

Motorpoint don't negotiate on prices

Cash is no longer king in buying cars at most places - infact they prefer you to take their finance and often offer discounts based on taking their finance.

What kind of car / budget ?

Motorpoint is usually your best bet - but does depend on what you are looking for / and how much you want to spend.

If you want a brand new car you can pick up some great deals

Around 10k

[Man of Kent]

Get yourself onto some of the e-mailing lists of lease car companies and wait for a few days. The deals will come rolling in and you'll be amazed how cheaply you can lease a car nowadays, as long as your annual mileage isn't over 10,000 and you don't mind what car you'd prefer - the offers can be quite random and tempting. I saw a one year lease on a Citroen C1 (small admittedly) for £69 per month including VAT on an 8,000-mile a year limit. Here's one such lease company: Frontier Vehicle Leasing - http://get.frontiervehicleleasing.co.uk ... ist_151216" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Steve1956]

Claretpants? Great name, is Marlonpants still around on this forum,only asking because you both have the same surname.... Pants!

[Dazzler]

I have always used Parkers Price Guide before buying.

There advice is to not pay the windscreen price.

http://www.parkers.co.uk

[Clarets4me]

Too many variables to give a straightforward answer... what size of car, annual mileage, etc

Motorpoint are good value for nearly new, almost all ex-lease or hire cars, some massive savings on list price..
Leasing can be great value especially if you are now doing lower mileage change of job retirement etc...watch out for +VAT pricing though..
Used car leasing can be even cheaper still...

[3putt]

Also think Motorpoint is great place to buy a nearly new car. They tend to sell cars that have few thousand miles on the clock that are between 6 and 12 months old. Bought a couple of cars from them, the last one I paid £12k for a car that would be £19k brand new. Was about 7 months old with a few thousand miles on the clock.

[bobinho]

Don't be drawn in by the Motorpoint hype. The lads above who say here is money to be saved are right, but...
They advertise the saving over new, but remember you are NOT buying new. So it's a little misleading. Know the forecourt prices at the main dealers first, then you will know the true saving at motorpoint.
Bought from them myself, and it was ok. Don't offer a lot in p/x cos they generally send to auction.

Don't like buying cars, as I don't like or trust car sales people. Just a personal thing. Don't like ANY business where you have to haggle to get to a fair price.

Cash is NOT king. Buy through their finance, then pay it off after a couple of payments. Sorted.

[TVC15]

If you are not bothered about a new car and don't want a finance or balloon payment type deal then I think Motorpoint is probably your best bet.

You'll get a good / reliable car for that price but you are probably best thinking about what are the major things you want from the car....e.g. Size, pertol or diesel ; manual or automatic etc....and are you bothered about the make and model ?

If you have a few ideas of what you would like go on the Motorpoint website and then filter your search by the things you want to prioritise.

You'll soon see from the website that the higher the specification of the car and the newer / lower mileage will mean the higher the price....there will also be some big variations in prices between the manufacturers.

For example if you are happy with a Ford Focus (or any Ford) you are going to get a cheaper / newer car than if you are looking at the equivalent size Mercedes or BMW (like the A class or one series)....and part of the reason for this with Motorpoint is a volume thing as they will have a lot more Fords in stock.

You will also see with Motorpoint that at certain times they will have a particularly high number of cars of a certain make, model and even colour - as they buy them in batches. These can often be cracking prices - I bought an orange Mini Cooper D for my wife a couple of years ago and there were 5 identical cars in stock with virtually same mileage etc. These cars were at least £4K cheaper than the price at the BMW garage in Colne.

[Bfc]

Firstly you will probably know the type of car suits your needs. I think theres better deal and value buying a near new second hand car. If there's a make and model you fancy, look at various companies who've multiple dealerships. They have photos of the makes and models on the on line site showing prices which all vary at various garages, mileage, year and number of previous owners. Doing it that way I found what I wanted and they then brought the car i considered buying to me, which I did.

[Croydon Claret]

Have used car broker websites for 3 of my last 4 cars. Always gets a few grand off and you're dealing directly with a main dealer

Assuming you want a new car

http://www.carwow.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a good one

[Paul Waine]

I bought a new car last summer. Good advice in the posts above.

carwow provided some good quotes from garages that wanted to shift stock. The best deals are if you are very flexible on model/spec/engine size/colour etc. But, the garages can be spread over wide distances.

My personal recommendation - don't buy diesel. There are already moves to increase taxes on diesel cars (London councils at present). This may increase. It's not impossible that diesel fuel tax is increased and petrol isn't as the awareness of diesel pollution and harm to health become more widely known.

[Diesel]

Thank you.

[HunterST_BFC]

Petrol or ...?
oh hold on



In the past I've found you can get a great deal on the higher versions of a model.
eg - sunroof, interior spec, paint and other extras etc
In short don't buy a basic model.

A few years down the line it also makes it easier to sell with extras on rather than the basic model.

Good luck!
...and always take someone impartial with a bit of knowledge with you if you can when viewing your options.

[Wile E Coyote]

cars are great, but the selling /leasing of them is fraught with difficulties.The scruples and ethics of those in the business of flogging them are appalling. It is a seedy business full of liars and conmen. One or two exceptions perhaps, but on the whole, a filthy trade.

[starting_11]

Don't forget when buying new there are always dealer contributions plus you'd normally get a couple of grand off in the form of a £50 discount per month or whatever when buying on finance.

I'd buy new if I were you, go in there with a £2-3k cash down budget and get what you can with a monthly figure you're happy with.

Don't forget, new come with proper warranties and you'll normally find servicing and stuff included for a couple of years at least.

[Dazzler]

" Don't like ANY business where you have to haggle to get to a fair price"

Personally and seriously I love it.
Infact I don't haggle,I bang xk on the desk and say "Take or leave it" if they leave it I walk away.

The only time I actually walked away without my offer being accepted was in Wilmslow.I was a bit miffed but
a couple of days later the guy rang me back and apologised for my wasted journey and accepted my offer.plus a further £100 off.I saved £1100 off the windscreen price and I still got extras such as 12 month warranty.

I didn't tell him I was staying at friends nearby.
.

[bedfords]

I thought only absolute clowns purchased cars privately new.

[starting_11]

Well I'd say that anyone who would automatically dismiss looking at a main dealer to see what they could get due to some class warfare issue would be a clown.

[Clevedon Claret]

I am also looking to buy a car to replace a lease vehicle.
Have a look to see where your nearest BCA car auction centre is, then take yourself along or view live online auctions and you will quickly find out why car salesmen are always smiling.

UTC

[LawsCanalJump]

I bought my car for £500 nearly 7 years ago
No problems since.. bargain (touch wood)

[bob-the-scutter]

Stay away from Ford unless you like the bus!

[Herts Clarets]

Stay away from Ford unless you like the bus!

Just sold my Focus, had it for 6 years,put 80k miles on it with hardly a problem. 2.0 TDCI with 6 speed box, 50mpg and didn't hang around. I don't use buses