* Will the dealer reduce the price for cash + bankers cheque? I'm not interested in a finance agreement.

Only if its a lemon, dealer likely to make more on the finance than the straight sale, so IMO less likely to haggle..equally these cars for good reason sell well, no reason to discount, unless its a lemon.

Bought carefully from the right sort of seller and checked out, private is still the best method, and this car is owned by older people, possibly but not always making the business of avoiding scams a little easier.

I prefer ebay classifieds to autotrader, more pictures and more room for a seller to write their car up, which gives the opportunity to appraise the *seller as well as the car before viewing....their ebay feedback whilst not perfect does at least give some indication as to their being real.

*if it waddles and quacks its a duck.

Edited by gordonbennet on 16/05/2012 at 15:18

ebay auctions might not be for you, but ebay classifieds are just the same as any other advert, you go and view and negotiate.

Take all precautions as you normally would, many traders now advertise there, as well as some small time traders pretending to be private sellers.