When the other half goes back to work in September, I may need a second runabout.
I'm thinking 5 door hatch Focus 1.6 LX or a higher spec Fiesta might do the trick.
I don't want anything French.
Is there anything else which could match the Fords on value for money, spare parts, servicing costs, insurance, VED?
Also, I'm likely to buy from a dealer for peace of mind and want a car with a full dealer service history. If it has a FSH, can I assume any recall issues have been addressed at the point it was serviced?
Edited by Honestjohn on 02/04/2009 at 15:08
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Ford franchises don't sell cars at this price level. Normally, any dealer selling you a car for £2,000 will have at least £1,000 profit in it, and you don't have very strong consumer rights when buying cars at this price level.
HJ
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Fair enough HJ. I may have to spend more in that case.
What about recalls?
Would a dealer have records of any essential work carried out/not carried out?
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Forget it, I spent two months trying to find a Focus for this amount of money. In the real world at least in Manchester £2k would get you a decent W reg example but for me there was just no value for money in that when £2500 would get me a 52 reg one.
I've also noticed some Focuses at this age have started to rust so watch that. I found Astra G's offer a lot better value for money.
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Or spend £2k privately and buy a newer and better car.
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Yep especialy if you can take somebody that knows about cars. I paid too much for my car for a private sale but its still cheaper than a garage.
We have never once bought a car of a trader (well I did once and that experience made me lack trust in any used car places) its always been private.
It is a bigger risk but if you get the car checked out as longs as the engine and bodywork is sound when you buy it you would be very unlucky if the engine died the next day. I know you get some kind of warranty when you buy from trade but as has been mentioned here the warranty can be limited anyway.
Also if you save £600 on a private sale that money can be put towards any expensive repairs.
Also at the moment cars at this end of the market seem to be going for above book value.
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As HJ says, at this end of the market, any warranty isn't worth the paper its printed on, so why contribute to a dealer's overheads and profit margin? Do your own HPI check, verify document serial numbers / legitimacy etc online, and stick a chunk of the savings in the bank towards running costs.
A £2000 car at a dealer is a £1000 car with tyre black and a pro valet. A £2,000 car privately is a £2,000 car.
I would never go near a dealer at this level.
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You can get a good idea of real prices by going on autotrader or the like and comparing what all types of seller wiil want for their vehicles. Seems used values are going up so there must be more people out there looking for older cars and shunning the new ones.
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Absolutely. I distinctly remember a few years back trading in a high miles 7 year old Mondeo for £1k and then spotting it on the same forecourt the next week for £2k.
One of the local posties bought it and I kicked myself for missing the chance to sell it him for £1200 and do us both a favour!
At that end of the market, always buy and sell privately, IMO.
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If it's only a runabout, your best bet is a 5-7 year old Mondeo, budget £1k, privately.
Main dealers won't generally even touch cars worth so little as their reputation is on the line to keep it repaired.
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A few weeks back on my weeky visit to the forcourts of the A6 in Stockport I spotted a private sale W reg Focus for £895. It was a real mess and had everton stickets all over it as well as a changed gear knob. i was amazed when I saw the same car a week later at £1395 a forcout in the same shed like condition.
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to be fair a car bought at a thousand pounds and stickered up at 2 grand is going to be something like a daewuss or something as awful and looking for a sucker that knows nowt about cars but knows the years of number plates (the fools) anyway ,in the real world where traders bid against each other at auction a wanted car will easily attain a good 1800 quid and the profit is invariably in selling the warranty and the finance
if i could buy cars for a grand and double up everytime i would be at the roulete table rather than tabulating on here
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>>Or spend £2k privately and buy a newer and better car.
Excellent advice - go on autotrader and limit your searches to "private" and I'd hazard a guess that you'll see some decent cars with decent history at decent prices. You'll see some opportunistic dreamers as well but they'll be obvious!
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>>Or spend £2k privately and buy a newer and better car. Excellent advice - go on autotrader and limit your searches to "private" and I'd hazard a guess that you'll see some decent cars with decent history at decent prices. You'll see some opportunistic dreamers as well but they'll be obvious! unfortunately more scallies work in private than from pitches
if you honestly believe that you can sort the wheat from the chaf when it comes to s/h motors in periodicals then i suggest you work for trading standards and work with an iron rod so as to make my job and all other honest tax paying traders jobs easier
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Not sure what you mean Bellboy. It it is easy to spot a genuine seller, the guy that sold me my car told me about his job what he does, where he works, the university he went basicaly everything and it all tallied with all the paper work. I am 99% sure it was genuine.
I went to some private sale houses and nothing made any sense, as soon as I here the "selling it a mate" thing I know its probably a trader you can spot them a mile off and I avoid them like a plague.
There is nothing wrong with private sales as longs as you are a good judge of charector, sadly some people lack of the common sense and fall victim to the private seller who is actually a trader selling cars that barely would see in an auction.
And Bellboy funny you should mention trading standards it is something I have been thinking about because of my recent experience. I am sure just looking at ebay most of us can spot the dodgy sales and the genuine ones.
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you know the drill do the sums do your homework though
most people think that it should be cheaper in this country and so look private first
i get phone calls and when the person on the phome realises im trade they put the phone down (obviously they speak to the wife first and have another to look at)
anyway
i just laugh at cheapest is best
and by the way you didnt over pay for your car
i could go on at british mentality but i keep my head down do the bizz and laugh at customers with shorts that really believe they know better than me
(its shorts season officially starting next week)
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i just laugh at cheapest is best
If all else is equal (or roughly so), it is. :-)
Bell boy, what magic insight into spotting a bent motor do you possess that us mere mortals don't? I'm not a trader, but I've bought and sold cars for 20 years for myself, friends and rellies, and worked on hundreds more. I'm not a professional, but I do consider myself able to spot a pup. I would trust lots of "ordinary people" I know to buy a car for me too. Once you know what to look for, and what to check, it's not rocket science.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 03/04/2009 at 09:41
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