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Buying a car - need advice
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| Trancedewd |
im gonna be buying a car in the next week and need a few pointers. (Id ask my dad - but hes in useless :rolleyes: )
Anyway, im gonna be viewing the first one ever on wednesday
Heres the car specs:
Citroen Saxo 1.0i 3dr
1997
47000miles
full service history
cd player/immobiliser/new tyres
price £1300 ono
sounds pretty good to me, but i was wanting to know if theres anything in particular i should look-out for when seeing it?
im sure there'll be some ppl here with previous car buying experience :)
cheers |
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| Turner |
| Ask Luke about saxos, his seems to brake every 5 minutes and he probably wouldnt have another 1 if he was given it. :p |
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| Luke Terry |
you don't want a saxo, i wouldn't have another one if i was given it
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| DRM |
from a quick look on autotrader at saxo's from a similar period with same mileage then yeah i reckon its about right for the money as long as there is nowt wrong with it, its possibly even on the cheap side.
Possible problems according to whatcar.co.uk
Leaking coolant and suspension wear/failure are likeliest problems. Brakes and electrical systems also offer potential expense
so u might want to check them urself or u can pay the aa to do it for you, think its about £50 or something for them to do a check.
hope that helps |
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| Coup |
ok heres some stuff:
u want to see a current HPI Report. a HPI report is a document that every car registered in the UK has. u can do them for any car, and cost around £15-£30. they tell u everything u need to know about the car. if its ever been in any major accidents, if its an insurance write-off and has been repaired, if theres any finance on the car, last recorded mileage. all the essentials. if they dont have one, do one yourself. for £15-£30 u cant fault it. If u a garage comes knocking on the door in 3 weeks asking wheres last months finance for the car, u lose out, coz finance follows the car, not the owner. If its been wrote off and repaired again, which isnt illegal, u dont need me to list the problems this will cause. The HPI report will also tell u the VIN number (VIN = chassis number, unique to every car), you'll want to match that upto the VIN number either on the engine, or inside a door sil. This will tell u if the car is really the car it is, or two cars glued together after a smash. a HPI report will tell u this. for £30-odd, this is an essential.
Dont be afriad to find the faults, this car sounds good, so already ur looking for good things to reinforce ur decision to buy it, dont. Dont be afraid to pick out the things which set alarm bells ringing. Who cares u got some people on their drive looking at you, u only have one shot at buying a car, if the door seal is hanging off, its hanging off, dont push it back in and let them tell u its fine and doesnt leak. try and get a general feel for the seller. The person i bought my current car from had a valid HPI report for me when i got there, sold the car from his home address (so is putting his home down as security over his faith in the car), and i could genuinely feel his honesty. If u get some dodgy feeling people selling from some random place, then have a think.
Paintwork. If the paintwork is in mint condition and nice and shiney, then its either been well looked after, or its had a quick re-spray with a can. Many dodgy dealers do a quick once over with some paint before a sale to get past clueless people who see a nice paint job and think "wow, thats in good nik", when really, if u look in the door sills and under the wheel arches and its rusted to , it isnt. a full on re-spray is mint, but they strip the whole car down and costs £600+, so on this car, wouldnt be worth it.
Have a mooch around the engine, dont listen to what they tell u, listen to what u see. take out the oil dipstick. New oil = VERY thin, VERY little colour, almost like water. old oil = very thick, and black. If the oil on the end of the stick is thick and black, then it hasnt been changed in atleast 6 months. and it its on the bottom of the stick, hasnt been topped up in a while. if u can, clean the dipstick after getting it out before dipping it back in and taking it out to read the oil. i know its not easy on someones drive but £1300 isnt pocket change. Try and find the radiator, and where u poor the water/antifreeze/summer coolant in, there should be a plastic tank around this area see if its between the levels. these simple things will indicate how well the engine gets looked after, of whether it gets the bare essentials.
When test driving it, dont be afraid to push it, nothing silly, but give it a proper go. When driving, take all pressue off the steering wheel, see if the car drives straight. Obv this is depent on a straight road with no camber dipping into the drains, but if the car pulls to one side (and ur sure its not the road) then its not running true. Also, apply the breaks without holding the wheel, see if the breaks pull the car to one side or not.
Also while on the drive with the engine going, put ur hand over the exhaust totally, only for 2 seconds, if air escapes from somewhere else, there is a leak, if it doesnt and the engine revs a little higher, then the exhaust is sound. Test all the instruments in the car, have a proper play, dont just assume they work.
Try and take someone who knows their stuff about cars, alot of it is general feel of the person selling it, and feel of the car ur buying. its important not to kid urself into a car because u like it, its very easy to convince urself that this skip is mint coz it has a cd player and nice wheels, remember u dont just find £1300.
let us know how u get on. |
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| Trancedewd |
wow, thanks for the info. coup :D got a couple of questions...
about the HPI report - if they dont have one, who would i get to do one? Is this like the AA car data check?
I got a list of things to check (from the bbc website) which includes all the things you mentioned - paintwork, engine, etc but in total, theres about 40 things on the list, so shall i just print the thing out and take it with me? (or will i look like a noob? :( )
How long do u usually take to inspect the car and how long to test drive it? (also, random daft question: what would happen if u crashed the car while test driving it? :toothless (im not that bad a driver, just curious lol)
My sister just traded in her old car (1996 vauhall astra) which i used to drive, so i think that will help give me an idea of what the general condition the car should be like.
I see where your coming from with the dont buy it cos u like it thing, if i do end up buying it, ill have to borrow £700 from my mum - so i better make it worthwhile
one more thing - the car is priced at £1300 or nearest offer. How much would u offer for it at first?
cheers |
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| Luke Terry |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancedewd
one more thing - the car is priced at £1300 or nearest offer. How much would u offer for it at first? |
i'd make them pay you for taking it off them
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| Trancedewd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Luke Terry
i'd make them pay you for taking it off them
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lol, what has ur saxo done to u that you hate it so much?
(btw, how much did u pay for yours and what yr/milage was it?) |
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| Luke Terry |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancedewd
lol, what has ur saxo done to u that you hate it so much?
(btw, how much did u pay for yours and what yr/milage was it?) |
its an 02 plate and it's my mams, the saxo 1.0 desire model. here is a short list of it's failings
• the most awful clutch ever
• you can accelerate + brake at the same time, using the same foot!
• the car (not just the steering) is awfully light, especially in bad conditions, i managed to nearly spin out at 12mph
• if you release the the clutch in first gear too much with more than 2k rpm the wheels will spin (this is really bad on hill starts in the wet). the ems also makes the car randomly rev itself at standing at junctions. personally i find this quite amusing, but i am a reasonably confident driver and am quite happy to piss people off who are "up for it" at traffic lights by revving my engine a bit but never mind
• once when reverse parking on a hill the car did not stall but the power steering and brakes cut out, the steering was extremely unresponsive even on full lock + the handbrake nearly snapped as i tried to stop the car, ask turner if you dont believe me
• found out about a month ago both tail lights (brake/red things) had both ed despite being fully serviced in september, the one in the boot still worked tho
i suggest that you go and test drive a new saxo at a citroen garage before thinking about getting this one.
put it this way, i prefer driving my dad's rover metro 100 thing and that is a right heap in all fairness. saxo has a cd player, only reason why i drive it :stongue:
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| dj_mdma |
saxo's are horrible...:whip: :whip:
go for a VW Golf MK2, or (i can't believe i'm saying this) a Corsa, they seem to be a bit more reliable and stuff. Or you could have my Seat Ibiza with 1.4litre power for OIRO £1100 ;)
it all depends on how much money you have and stuff...i see that you're 18, do you have any no claims bonus? How much do you want to pay for insurance? Would you prefer a car that is different to most people your age have? etc etc
Usually your choice is limited to Fiesta's, Escorts, Corsa's, Golfs, Clios, Ibiza's, Polo's and stuff. |
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| DRM |
to be honest i think people are being a little harsh on saxo's they really aint that poor a car. i guess it all depends on wot you are looking for. reliability wise a polo or a golf is gonna do u good tho a golf at that price is gonna be pretty old and any vw or anything german u are gonna pay more for just the name. saxo/106 i would stick in the same category. not the most reliable car (tho not that bad either) but pretty decent to drive on the whole. clio's on the whole are a decent car at the price you are looking at. then theres corsas, micras etc that personally i wouldnt touch with a barge pole. horrible looking cars and really not great to drive. but if all u want is something that goes from a to b then i guess they are worth looking at. lam did make a decent point of looking outside of the usual range of cars on offer but only problem is with that is that u are generally looking at something a little older and even if they are reliable u never know wot problems they may have, tho there is a flipside to that and they may well have been loving looked after and cared for (which can quite often be the case with old golfs as there are plenty of enthusiasts around)
coup gave some good advice there on wot to look at when buying and taking ur time and not being too easily influenced by wot the seller is saying is some of the best advice to take with you.
As for wot to actually pay. if they are asking £1300 ono, then obviously they are willing to take something a little lower. Asking them how much interest they have had may help tho they are pretty likely to tell you they have had "some" interest regardless of whether they have or not. when ur looking around £1300 then i would suggest try something around the £1100 mark and working up from there, tho try to seem like u really pushing the boat out by going up a little. If u play poker then its advantage as to how to make the right faces :p
Before any bastard says dont listen to me as i dont even have a licence then take on board i have a family full of car nuts and have been brought up on this. My brother has an account on here i think so i will ask him to post as he seriously knows his . |
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| Coup |
about the HPI report - if they dont have one, who would i get to do one? Is this like the AA car data check?
Probably, but the AA prob slap their own name on it and add an extra tenner on the price tag. I googled HPI check and here is the first link, http://www.carwatchuk.com these want £25 to do a full check on the items it lists. Ring the person up, if they dont have one, and arnt willing to do one, do one for yourself. For £25 its silly not to.
I got a list of things to check (from the bbc website) which includes all the things you mentioned - paintwork, engine, etc but in total, theres about 40 things on the list, so shall i just print the thing out and take it with me? (or will i look like a noob?
You will look a total pleb wandering around their car with ur clipboard and pen, so dont :p try and remember the essentials, and most of them are common sense. Study the BBC info in detail and just remember and digest as much as u can. I guess u could ask the person ur taking to check points 1 - 10, and u can check 11 - 20. just dont take the paper :p
How long do u usually take to inspect the car and how long to test drive it? (also, random daft question: what would happen if u crashed the car while test driving it? :toothless (im not that bad a driver, just curious lol)
Normally u wander around the car for about 10 mins, turn over the engine, rev it, play with the nobs, listen to their hard sale telling u all the amazing things about the car etc. driving it lasts anything between 5mins and 20mins. depends on the seller. if u they take u for a 5 min strole on an easy course and say thats it, or conviently have no fuel to do more, thats something else to set the alarm bells going. If they let u take it on a varied set of roads, and are comfortable taking it for a good drive, then it shows their confident in the car. If u crash it your insurance will cover you, if ur not insured to drive their car, u aint driving it :p unless they have trade plates which anyone with a d/licence is covered, and if they have them, theyre a car dealer.
one more thing - the car is priced at £1300 or nearest offer. How much would u offer for it at first?
When someone puts a car up for sale theyre always expecting to be knocked down, so theyre prob looking to get £1150, £1200 for this car, the £100 over £1200 is the bit their gona lose on knockdown. So id say £1150 to begin with, and they'll say either no, or £1250, then u say "ok split the difference £1200, and put ur hand out", shake, deals done, £100 off asking price. Remember u aint gona knockdown alot, coz the cars not up for alot.
i wont get involved with the saxo argument coz ive never driven one, but they can look good. |
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