UKH

After a couple of decades of using company/fleet cars I need to get my own car. Almost certainly a good/decent relatively new used one, rather than new or leased.

The last time I had to do this, you went to a newsagent to buy a Parkers Guide then wandered windswept forecourts being accosted by geezers in sheepskin jackets. I'm sure times have changed, if only because of the net and AutoTrader and car "supermarkets".

So, any tips for how to buy a car in 2019?

Hopefully someone in “the trade” will come along shortly with a more informed view. But as far as I can figure out, late reg sales are dominated by ex pcp or lease cars which in turn are dominated by the big dealer chains. So you won’t go very far wrong with any of them - decide what you’re looking for, check it’s depreciation profile, and go buy - in this part of the world it’s Park Automobiles, Arnold Clark’s or the Ford one I can never  remember! All the deals are much of a muchness.

My first tip would be run a mile from anything describing itself as a "car supermarket" 

Highly recommend using HPI to check anything you are buying, paying particular attention to mileage at MOTs and any potential off-the-road gaps.

Auto trader to give you an idea of prices and to shop around...

We found it very difficult, nearly impossible to get anything knocked off the price. We did get some new tyres though. There was one car we looked at that had a small dent. We were told that it wouldn't be fixed because it wasn't a viable repair for the price of the car. The car was up for 9K.

We got a decent deal on a car in the end. Paid cash, which didn't go down too well, but hey-ho.

I've bought from one and had no issue whatsoever.  Picked up a 3 year old Vectra estate for a decent price (which was near brand new in running-in terms, it was ex-Motability contract and had done about 10K miles and had clearly been kept in a garage and main-dealer serviced) which did me well for about 5 years then I flogged it to my mate who ran it for about another 3 with no major issues and got a few hundred for it trade-in against his next car (it was a 1.8 petrol and so not very economical, it wasn't causing him any issues as such).

OK, they won't know about it in a way buying from the owner allows you to do, but it does avoid you needing to be waving around cash (I paid for it by debit card) and gives you far more protection.

Go to Autotrader and set parameters like budget (lower as well as upper), max mileage you'd accept, age range, fuel type etc etc. This will give you a large list of possibilities. Add in body type (hatch, saloon etc), and auto/manual. This will narrow it down further. Ignore specific cars, just look at what comes up repeatably. Narrow it down further by distance from your location if you still have thousands of options. The aim isn't to find a car, it's to find what makes/models commonly come up that meet your requirements. Then select a few that you like the look of and go and do some research into common problems, depreciation etc, Then find one, do the HPI check, and buy it. In your case it sounds like buying from a dealer would be better than private. Autotrader is a good tool to find the right type of car, but don't limit yourself to buying from it.

With the number of people buying new on PCP you seem to get waves of used cars being dumped back on the dealers and their credit firms two years later.  Get the timing right and they’re very keen to shift lightly used stock so you might get a good service plan and 0% HP thrown in to tempt you.  Edit: We did this; as Arch said they wouldn’t move on price but they moved on included service plan, tyres and body work repair.

All our recent cars (last 20 years) came from car supermarkets: fantastic nearly new prices quickly arranged and with no subsequent problems at all ... estates and small cars. You can do better price wise but with way more hassle and wasted time. I'd recommend them for busy professionals buying nearly new.

Personally I'd work out what car you want first, then do some detailed research into the common problems and things to look out for with that model, the target price etc. and then go on the hunt armed with the right info. 

Personally I'd always favor buying privately over a garage if I can (although I've done both).  I've had very few problems with the cars I've bought privately but the one I bought at a garage had quite a lot of issues, only one of which was covered by the warranty.

Most garages get their stock from trade-ins or auctions, often cars people have got rid of for a reason.  It's exactly the same stuff as a private sale - just with a couple of grand added onto the screen price.  With a private sale, yes there's no guarantee but with a private sale you can assess both the owner and the vehicle and you get a much better idea about how it's been looked after.  If you're not mechanically competent then an RAC inspection can provide all the peace of mind you need.

My wife bought an ex-demonstrator from a dealers - low mileage, all the bells and whistles and a fair chunk off the list price.

My car also came from a dealers - 1 owner, full service history, couple of minor niggles quickly sorted.

Things are different these days for sure. Head over to facebook and find a car you don't want, start with a few courteous messages then throw in some wild cards "I can't see a tax disc in it, have you got the tax and stuff", "have you got it in any other colours" and "can you measure the tread depth and send it to me, spare too pls" and then finally "what's your best price bud". Remember the figure, take 50% off in your head then go see it, preferable twice at inconvenient times. Make sure you've got more questions and swat up on the model so you can tell the seller all about it (shows your serious). You need to get good at sucking your teeth and looking worried, do things like pull the oil cap off and then shake your head, maybe sniff it and mention something about head seals going. Keep it up for at least an hour. Offer them the 50% and then get stroppy when they're not happy. Do they even want to sell it? Who knows. It's not even worth that, explain to them how you'll lose money buying it and you're doing them a favour because it'll blow up soon anyway. Try and settle at around 80% of their lowest price then say "cheers mate I'll think about it, I was really looking for something bigger" and then walk away. Job done.

I went to see a van at a car supermarket, the salesman asked how I was going to pay, I said bank transfer. He said "just so you're aware, the price on the web includes a £500 discount for taking our finance" from which he would not budge, i.e. paying cash would have cost £500 more. I went on my way, a bit annoyed.

Moral is they're not selling motors, they're selling loans. If that suits you, great.

Whatever you do, ex-demo is the way to go. You get a car with low miles in decent nick, still under warranty, but somebody else has taken the hit on the depreciation. Decide what you want then phone a dealer and get them to search the dealer network for the car with the spec you want. Make it clear that you will be paying cash (will you?) and are not interested in PCP. On hearing that well over half the dealers will suddenly find they haven't got anything that suits you because there are now so many cars parked on forecourts chasing so few customers that prices are pared to the bone and selling PCP is the only way they can make anything out of the deal.

You appear to be writing from direct experience! 

Get a VW Phaeton for £5k. Go on go on

Thanks for all the excellent advice here. Really appreciated!

I found CarWow and Cargurus very useful for checking that I was getting a good deal.  Indeed I canceled a verbally  agreed purchase recently because they said it was overpriced.  I disagree about the car warehouse comments.  My previous car was bought from one. I had 5 years of trouble free motoring and would go so far as to say it was the best car I had ever driven.

Al

Yes, Mrs RR has had two new cars from Motorpoint in Burnley and both have been excellent. 

But the main thing is not to be bitter

What is the VAT situation on an ex-demo car. I understand it on new cars and second hand cars, but an ex-demo isn’t really either.

Agreed, but a option that sometimes can be used (always read the small print!) is to take the finance (you often get a better discount vs cash as dealer gets a commission for selling the finance from the finance company) then pay it off/cancel straightaway - you get to keep the discount as your just clearing the loan. As noted you need to check you can do this for the specific finance package and check if any early penalty fees etc. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5598724

Other point is if you aren’t intending to ever own the car (eg buying new but certain will hand back after 3 years) then PCH is usually much better deal than PCP, however incentive for dealers to sell PCH is less so they don’t promote/push it. Good news is you can find all the deals on sites like Parkers.

Sure they try to sell you loans, you just politely decline. I always buy my cars outright and never had any hassle.

It was a bit of a surprise to me (I must be a bit green)

That occurred to me too - on the way home!

Another suggestion if you don’t have the cash to hand to buy, is between you and partner get a couple of long term interest free credit cards. Say 3 years length. Then if purchasing from a dealer, you can take out their finance (they won’t allow full thing on credit card like as not) and them pay off whole deal soon as it is set up. Probably have to pay a few days interest but miles better than the interest on their finance. Assuming of course you can pay off the cards in the int free term (although if you can’t a balance transfer with a big chunk paid off will prob still be less). 

Saying you will take their finance will probably allow increased bargaining power too. 

Worth triple checking with the finance dept that you can do this. 

I will be paying cash

also depends on how new you are looking and at what vehicle and time of year. find the right dealer who has a target to hit and you can get new cars "depreciation paid" rather than a 2 or 3 year old one for the same money. 

Bought a Citroen c3 picasso brand new for 10,500 (list price 18k+) and a basic Nissan Micra brand new for 6,500. neither particularly exciting cars but were specced for the job in hand

Speak to arnold clark and evans halshaw for an idea of target price and then visit or call your local dealer. The citroen dealer I went to was trying to sell me a 2 year old car for 12k. When I showed him my quote for 10.5 for a new one he quickly and quietly matched it. 

See above - you may get a better deal taking finance and then exercising your right to cancel within 14 days (check the small print).

Discounts for cash buyers are increasingly rare as there is no other margin (e.g. commission) for the car dealer

Why the dislike?

Then again, taking out an unsecured bank loan and sawing your leg off with a rusty hacksaw are also both better than PCP.

Mia-selling of PCP is probably going to keep a generation of solicitors in business once it gets shut down and becomes no-win no-fee territory,

Don’t rule out going new. Most “ex demo” cars have not been used for demo but are a means for shifting surplus stock, some pre registered. I got 25% off this way. Keep an open mind on make and model and keep an eye on local dealers and their websites 

Once again, thank you for all the useful advice in this thread. Much appreciated.

If you know what you want and are willing to play... go into a dearlership on the last Saturday of the quarter, make low ball offer (especially if it is on a vehicle they are trying to clear), they will reject your offer, leave your mobile with them and wait for a call.

Discounts are typically tiered such that sales guy can discount up to 5%, dealership manager an additional 2% then regional manager a further 2% (indicative examples only). Bonuses are calculated for each quarter, by going in on the last day of the quarter you have the best chance of getting the cumulative discounts of the sales guy, manager and regional manager... if they make the sales target  (number of cars, not the margin) they each get a bonus.

Note, this can be seen as an aggressive tactic, your significant other may feel mortified when you do this (mine did). On the plus side, you are not doing anything that the dealer would think twice about. Downside is, if they have hit their targets you won't get a call back.

LD

You can also check MOT history online for free which is useful when narrowing your choice. If the vehicle has a string of advisory’s they probably haven’t bothered fixing them if they are planning to get rid of the vehicle  and could them turn into mandatories at the next MOT. 

Choosing a second-hand car is still like making love to a beautiful woman.......

Going around when it's snowy can be good for the same reasons, a relative got a Vauxhall Senator (the Phaeton of it's day) very cheaply thanks to doing that. 

PS: Jings it's hot, off back to bed.

Has the restraining order expired again?