h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My little 5-door ford fiesta hatchback died on Tuesday morning.

So while I scramble for lifts to work - I'm suddenly in the market for a second hand car. I've *never* done this before: the ford I inherited.

So I need a quick download of lots of wisdom on buying second hand cars - what to look for, what to consider, what to avoid, any makes/models which are to be praised/ avoided.


Community, I turn to you for help, 'cos I will need it!



Thanks!

Do you have Carfax service in the UK? For a reasonable fee you get a complete history of dealer and warranty services performed on the vehicle as well as a history of any accident reports.

You should order a report once you've found a vehicle that is a serious contender for purchase.

Never heard of it - what is it?

I looked up Carfax-UK and got a hotel in Bath!


There must be a similar service in the UK, Clive.
Here's how it works in NorthAm:

http://www.ehow.co.uk/video_4908719_carfax-work_.html

Perhaps you can search a similar service over there.

Not being familiar with the used car market in the UK
the only useful advice I can give you is to have someone
who is a licensed mechanic look it over for you. And one
of the most important things these days is to know if the
timing belt has been replaced - this is a 'requirement' for
cars with 100,000 on the odometer but is very expensive and
quite often people will sell rather than do it. If it is not done
the engine may fail at any time when the belt breaks - as
it will inevitably. The resulting engine damage will be more
than the car is worth.


~jwf~

I get asked this question a lot and it depends very much what you are looking for. Bigger cars tend to appear better value as they depreciate quickly but are more expensive to run. Smaller cars hold their value better but are cheaper and sound more like what you are looking for (based on your past car).

The AA offer a vehicle inspection service, but if you buy it from a dealer it will often come with a guarantee (although you pay slightly more probably).
http://www.theaa.com/vehicle-inspections/index.html

Check insurance quotes before you buy anything as they vary wildly.

And don't spend £2000 I've no idea why this is true but I've always been told that you should spend less and accept a degree of risk or more and look for guarantees and such like.

This is quite a good website for finding out how much a particular car should cost

http://www.parkers.co.uk/

In my experience, the only good second hand car is the one you are selling!

PP

We just went to our local garage, saw a car we liked, drove it for a bit, and bought it. I felt terribly guilty about this, because I know that buying a second-hand car is supposed to involve lots of research and agonising.

It only lasted 18 months until the head gasket went, mind.

Mol

Go Japanese if you want reliability. If you are test driving a car, most garages are happy for you to pop in and give the car a free once over as well

I have a friend with two children, a boy and girl both now grown up. They bought a Toyota Corolla (not sure what that model is in the UK) when the daughter first went to school and handed it over to her when she graduated.

I have always done very well out of the second-hand car market. So, I'm happy to pass on some wisdom:

1) If you would buy wine from a country, don't buy a car from that country. So no Peugeots, Citroens, Renaults, Seats or Fiats. Ferrari is possibly OK, but probably not second-hand, to be honest. Basically, British (cheap to service), Japanese (more reliable) or German (a good all-rounder; invariably more expensive) are the ways to go.

2) Buy private. It's NOT always possible, but if you must deal with the pros, go to a car yard that you trust.

3) The number one indicator as to your car's reliability is mileage. If it's done more than 10,000 a year, forget it.

4) Get a service history. Check it's had a yearly service and ASK about any gaps. If it hasn't got a service history, think again.

5) Take it for a test drive. Take a friend - you'll need them. If the car doesn't feel right when driving, don't buy it. Gut reactions can be right sometimes.

6) Find a nice empty car park after LESS THAN A MILE to do the following:

Park up. Turn the ignition on and off a few times to make sure you get the expected warning lights (if the engine management system is dodgy, go no further).

Pull the dipstick. Check for frothiness or creaminess - a sign of cold start damage. It's generally bad news for engines, although British cars seem to be designed to tolerate it to some extent.

Rev up the car a few times while checking under the bonnet. Check for excess movement and rattling. It doesn't matter wheter you know a v4 engine from a hairdryer motor or not: if stuff is rattling around, that's a bad sign.

A good idea to check the exhaust at this time for black or excessive smoke. In these days of emission control, that's unlikely, but it does still happen. Check the exhaust pipe isn't bouncing up and down like a Dutch prostitute as well - exhaust repairs are not expensive, but they are annoying.

Do all the little stuff you check before an MOT: handbrake, lights, tyre treads and so on. If the owner hasn't looked after those, who knows what he's neglected?

Lay down and get your mate to drive the car towards you. Look carefully at the front wheels for any off-straight movement or pulling. Also, if he doesn't stop in time, the brakes are faulty, although that might not be your biggest concern if you're laying down in front. Do the same thing from the driver's seat - let go of the steering wheel and watch for any play in the tracking.

Check the bodywork really carefully. Off-colouring is usually a sign of accident damage - avoid at all costs. Look for chipping as well - even tiny chips will take a few years of the life of the body.

B

Brilliant posting Mu Beta!
That should become an Edited Guide Entry that we can
reference every time somebody asks the question.


~jwf~

Parkers looks good thanks.

and thanks to Mu for all his advice -

Yesterday a colleague at work told me to haggle.

good advice / bad advice?

We've had a lot of luck with Nissans and Toyota. Look under the hood, even if you aren't completely familiar with car innards. Check the oil and the radiator fluid. (They should look clean and there shouldn't be any of the one in the other.)

Stick your head under the car and make sure there are no leaks on the driveway. Look along the car for signs it has been rolled or otherwise wrecked. If the frame is bent, do not buy.

Always test drive. Bring a friend. Give the vehicle a good long test drive, up hill, down hill and at freeway speeds. Take your hands away from the steering and make sure she holds steady. Have your friend look out the back as you go uphill, to make sure it doesn't make smoke. When you brake, make sure the car doesn't pull left or right. At least once, when it is safe to do so, brake hard.

Ask if you can take the car to your mechanic.

Park the car and wait a bit, then again look underneath to make sure there are no leaks on the driveway.

Also, always check the logbook (V5c) to see if the car has been written off in the past.

The advice people have given is great, but you can follow it all and still end up with a lemon.

It's a risk business, Clive. Follow it all and you'll, say, buy a 3-year-old low-mileage Nissan Micra. Statistically, it will be more reliable than the alternatives, which are more comfortable, are better performance, are more spacious and, frankly, more cool.

You may decide you're happier driving a babe magnet. So it costs more to get through the MOT? What the hell.

I break most of Mu Beta's rules with my French estate car, but it's great - it's comfortable and spacious. I just sometimes pay for that when I visit the garage.

I once drove a Nissan Cherry - it did my back in.

You pays your money...

As far as I'm concerned, the word 'French estate' applies only to vineyards.

But see the bit about gut reactions. We recently spent a weekend shopping for a new second-hand car for Odo, only to go with the one that she knew 'felt right' all along.

B

Volkswagen Passat or Ford Mondeo if that size
Volkswagen Polo or Nissan Micra if smaller

If anyone's going to have a gut reaction, it won't be in the back of *my* car!

I personally like my Citroen Saxos, and would look for another. They aren't half as bad as they used to be in the old days, and cheaper than citroen.

Also consider makes of car that are based on more expensive cars (so Seat are often essentially cheap Volkswagens, Citroens are based on Peugeot (most of their parts are branded for both) and so on).

The thing you want to get and insist on being allowed to get before you buy, is an HP check. There are lots of services on offer, just shop around a bit. I think (but I'm not positive) that the DVLA offer one.

Another thing to check on test drive is the clutch. Ideally without the owner in the car with you, it tends to upset them (but I'd expect it tried out if I was selling, it's fair enough). When driving, and when it's safe, you need to drop it into a lower gear than you should be driving in. So whack it into 2nd (I say whack, you want a fairly normal degree of clutch release, not too hard, but not so you're feathering off really gently either) to see if it slips. If it's not, the car will jerk and slow down alarmingly then pick up speed again at high revs (so please, make sure you're on an empty stretch!). You can release the clutch almost immediately and resume driving in the usual gear. If it is slipping, it'll ease down gently. Also go up a decent hill if you can. If it's revs rise then it's slipping, or starting to. It'll cost you a couple of hundred upwards to replace.

This is a one-off test, so don't keep doing it, isn't very nice to the car, but it can save you plenty moneys so as far as I am concerned it is justifiable. Lots of people are innocent but some will try to flog a car that's starting to need work like that done.

Sorry, bit wordy. I'm a bit brain dead today, so please forgive me. Good luck with the car!