Where to buy used cars nowadays?

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Fri 2 Feb 2024 10:15
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Beardy_J
Where is everyone’s go to place to purchase low priced used cars now? Especially for the hugely popular economical supermini automatic market.

Autotrader - usually overpriced by private sellers and salesman if you do see a bargain it’s with a garage with terrible or no reviews in some dodgy area

Gumtree - see autotrader and doesn’t seem to be as popular as it used to be for used cars

Facebook marketplace - everyone knows about this one. Mostly scams. The odd genuine seller but have to be extremely careful and wade through loads of r******.

Shpock - seems less scammy than Facebook but not a huge amount listed.

Does everyone tend to scan all of these sites hoping to find a gem or do you tend to go to a known dealer you trust and pay the premium for it?

Edited by Beardy_J on 02/02/2024 at 10:17

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 10:57
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Steveieb

Private sales are the answer .

But good buys always seem to come up at the wrong time.

Tom Hartley the car dealer used to drive around London looking for suitable cars to buy off fellow motorists. He would hand them his card when stuck in traffic.

But sticking a post it note on a car you like sometimes works. I’ve bought a Transit and a VW Caddy this way,

Buying a house in an area you like can also be a nightmare if you wait for one to come up. A letter through the door of every house in a street can sometimes get a positive reply and the seller saves the agents fees.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 12:33
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Terry W

Much depends on budget.

Up to 3 years old - likely to be main dealer or car supermarket, possibly with balance of warranty. Few private sales - be wary of parting with £15k++ to a private seller

Despite horror stories about main dealers and supermarkets - but they are most likely to be hassle free and basically honest. Cars may often be ex hire fleets but providing there is still a manufacturers warranty in place, risks are as low as you are going to get.

It is easy to compare prices (good) but dealers will try to work with higher margins.

3-6 years old may be car supermarket or garage forecourt. There will be some private sales at this level.

Reputation more important - there will be a mix of the honest and shady. Price comparison more difficult and more variability (service history, mileage, accident damage etc).

Over 6-8 years are likely to be private or small forecourt. Dealer margin will mean private buy may be significantly cheaper. Dealers warranty options highly variable.

Summary - the smaller the budget, the greater the need for car knowledge. There is no universally reliable source. The best guidance IMHO:

  • decide what you actually want (or a shortlist of no more than 2 or 3)
  • test drive cars 2/3 years newer than your budget will allow so you know what a decent one sounds and drives like
  • the older the car the more careful you need to be on inspection - condition and history is at least as important as brand reputation.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 12:42
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Gibbo_Wirral

I'd say Autotrader and then haggle.

I bought from there last year - the seller said I was the only genuine caller - he'd been plagued with scammers and "we'll sell your car for you" companies.

He was so tired of it all he took my cheeky offer of £600 below his asking price.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 17:52
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Engineer Andy

You'd be surprised at how old cars on sale at main dealers are now - many are seemingly so desperate for new car sales that they'll take car that are 7-10 years old in PX and not just flog them on at the nearest auction.

My local KIA outfit regularly is trying to flog cars that are in the 7-12yo range and mainly from other makes. Given the (still relatively) high prices they are charging, you have to wonder at the sense of the punters buying from them.

'Highlights' of their current stock:

A vintage (in mint condition, it appears) Ford Mustang, possibly a Shelby Cobra (no price);

A top of the range 2023 Range Rover currently going for about £129k (was £135k a week or so ago);

A previous style Land Rover Defender 90XS TD (2014, going for £36k).

At the other end of the scale, they may have sold (it could've gone to auction, but it was only around for 2 weeks, nice condition and low mileage) a 2011 Ford Focus 1.6 petrol Sport for about £4.5k about a week ago, amongst others.

Round the corner, they have loads of not-that-old, high-priced KIAs for sale. Not sure who will buy that Range Rover - presumably someone with as much sense who bought it originally and then PXed it (for peanuts, given they dropped the asking price by £6k a week ago) in less than a year.

I looked at the details of some of the cars on sale, and a good number have more than one MOT failure and multiple owners on their docket.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 14:27
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - SLO76
It’s quite the challenge these days. There are too many options for sellers and thus everything that used to be largely on Autotrader is now spread out over several advertisers. Most dealers only list a small portion of their stock on Autotrader due to cost, so you need to sift through dealers websites.

I mostly look through Autotrader for dearer cars, but for cheaper private sales Gumtree is best. Facebook is full of utter garbage, but posting on your own page that you’re looking for a cheaper car can sometimes reveal a friend or a friends relative who’s about to trade in or sell a wee car.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 16:31
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Adampr

Personally:

- Franchise dealer for anything expensive

- My local garage for every day cars

- Private sellers on eBay for something cheap

I would also consider Cazoo or Cinch if I knew what I wanted to buy and had driven one before.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 2 Feb 2024 21:39
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - SLO76
Just been perusing the AA website for cars, it’s actually quite decent with a fair number of nearby options I hadn’t seen on Autotrader etc.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 08:54
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - nick62

I sold my VW Transporter on Gumtree to a punter from 200 miles away.

He paid a £500 deposit after a couple of emails with service history queries, then did a bank transfer fot the balance when he turned-up to collect it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 09:44
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - SLO76
As a trader I used Gumtree mostly, because it was free. Anything over £3k was hard work though, unless it was a van. The VW Caddy SDi I had for my newsagents would’ve sold ten times over. When I seen the demand I tried to find other tidy vans but 99.9% of them were overpriced garbage that had been abused and neglected. My wee van was absolutely mint, with full dealer and specialist service history. A great wee van, built before all that emissions control c*** ruined diesel engines for good.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 09:57
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - nick62

Mine was mint, one owner, full VWSH and totally unmolested.

It's still not easy shifting a £24k van privately though. But you only need one genine buyer who knows their stuff.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 12:29
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Engineer Andy

Mine was mint, one owner, full VWSH and totally unmolested.

It's still not easy shifting a £24k van privately though. But you only need one genine buyer who knows their stuff.

I suppose it's similar to selling your home without going through some kind of estate agent - it can be hard work, both time-wise and for avoiding scams and time-wasters.

I'm guessing if a car (or other vehicle) has a decent following and an owners' club (e.g. VW campervans), then that may make things easier as they are desirable and have a knowledgeable fan base.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 12:34
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - KB.

Out of interest, if I traded in either or both of my two cars to a new car main dealer, where would they likely finish up being sold on? Same question if I sold them to WBAC or suchlike. I'm guessing no main dealer would have either of them on their front.

One's a 2011 petrol Yeti DSG and the other a 2011 Hyundai i10 automatic. Both one owner, both very low miles and virtually mint condition. But however highly I praise them they're both still 13 years old.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 13:20
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Adampr

Probably too old for a main dealer. They'll put them same straight into auction. WBAC would do the same, not least as they are owned by BCA.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 19:36
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - Engineer Andy

Probably too old for a main dealer. They'll put them same straight into auction. WBAC would do the same, not least as they are owned by BCA.

Not necessarily - Yetis (pardon the pun) are in great demand it appears - a local KIA dealership was selling two of them (one a DSG) that presumably were pxes a few months ago, as was the localish MG dealer.

Whilst higher mileage cars appear to be passed onto auction quicker if they don't sell on the forecourt, they still are given a go (at least round my way) at dealerships, as long as the car in in physically good nick, as in no rust on the bodyshell.

Many appear to be sold (I see 'sold' notices on them as I pass by) probably because they are 'relatively cheap but in good structural condition. Low mileage cars appear to sell very quickly, even older ones, as long as that condition threshold is met.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Feb 2024 14:22
Where to buy used cars nowadays? - RT

Out of interest, if I traded in either or both of my two cars to a new car main dealer, where would they likely finish up being sold on? Same question if I sold them to WBAC or suchlike. I'm guessing no main dealer would have either of them on their front.

One's a 2011 petrol Yeti DSG and the other a 2011 Hyundai i10 automatic. Both one owner, both very low miles and virtually mint condition. But however highly I praise them they're both still 13 years old.

If you sold to WBAC, Carnext, Cinch, Elmo or Marshall Motor Group the car(s) would go to BCA as they're all owned by BCA - where they go after that could be anywhere, depending on age, condition and demand.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link