Buying private V garage & advice on 01 Colt

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seriams

Registered User
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Hi,
My sister is looking out for her first car. My boyfr & I disagree on whether she should by private or from a garage. I reckon you have more come back with a garage regardless of the warranty they give you.
For instance, I bought car in April with 3 months warranty. It's up now and touch wood I have no problems, but if something major went within the year I would still have no problem going back to the garage. Would I have a leg to stand on?

Secondly, has anyone had any bad experiences buying private? my sister has seen a 01 mitsubishi colt by private sale and he's looking for 6,000. If we look at the car, are there any things we should keep eye out for and is 6K too much?

All views welcome & thanks in advance.
 
Pay for a finance and history check on the car and then after that checks out pay for the car to be inspected in the nearest franchised dealer.
That will eliminate most of the risk with purchasing from a private buyer.
If the franchised dealer finds something wrong with the car you can use it as a bargaining point.
It's a buyers market. If the seller wants to sell the car and you deal with them in a professional manner they should be willing to bring the car to a dealer for inspection to secure the sale.
 
seriams said:
Hi,
...I bought car in April with 3 months warranty. It's up now and touch wood I have no problems, but if something major went within the year I would still have no problem going back to the garage. Would I have a leg to stand on? In a word no.

Secondly, has anyone had any bad experiences buying private? my sister has seen a 01 mitsubishi colt by private sale and he's looking for 6,000. If we look at the car, are there any things we should keep eye out for and is 6K too much? Plenty of people have bad expereiences buying both private and through garages. They buy privately because it's cheaper, and they'll take a slight risk, based on an assessment of the car, it's service history etc. An ideal private purchase is a car which still has a manufacturers warranty. I have no idea if €6k is value. Ask a franchised dealer.

All views welcome & thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
i bought from a garage twice and had problems both times.
i generally buy privately now. its cheaper so if anything is wrong you are no worse off.

When buying privately you need to check the condition of the usual consumables... not just the engine condition... if you had to replace 4 tyres, brake pads, an exhaust section and get it serviced then you could be looking at €1000 straight away!!!
 
I have also bought from both, and had problems when I bought from a dealer. I bought the car I have now in a private sale for a great price, has NCT till 08, and touch wood, is going well. I've heard those AA checks are worth while, so this might be a good idea for her to go for, especially for a private sale or even a dealer if you haven't had any feedback on them.
 
I can't believe how many prefer buying private. I don't know how new the cars are that you are buying?
We aim to buy one that is six years old and it's a starter car so its going to be three door civic, corolla, corsa etc and its all young people that are driving these and in case of civic and corolla it's young fells tearing around in them. This puts us off straight away.
Do you have to be member of AA to get your car checked?
 
My car is 02 Peugeot 307 and paid €7500 for it back in April. Low mileage. Have a look on Carzone, you'll find plenty of Private Sale cars on there, generally they are priced to sell for about €500 less than asking price, with Dealers knocking off €1000 or so.

I don't think you have to be a member of the AA for the check. It's in the region of €200 I think, I'm sure someone will confirm though.
 
The AA do a basic check from €214 upto a more detailed check for €320 but i honestly prefer the option of getting a decent mechanic to give the car a once over instead for a lot less.

It shouldn't take long to determine if the car is a lemon, i.e. you should be able to avoid a clocked/accident damaged/major mechanical problem.

Otherwise it's down to service history in a big way. For me stamps in a book aren't enough(easily forged) i prefer to see orginal receipts and always phone the garage(s) to confirm dates/milage/work done. Orginal nct certs are great too, not just the discs, since the milage is recorded on these also.

Overall it's a buyers market at the moment so there are great savings to be made buying privately. If there's something you are suspicious about the car and/or the seller isn't being forthcoming or is vague about the car then simply walk away.
 
seriams said:
Hi,
My sister is looking out for her first car. My boyfr & I disagree on whether she should by private or from a garage. I reckon you have more come back with a garage regardless of the warranty they give you.
For instance, I bought car in April with 3 months warranty. It's up now and touch wood I have no problems, but if something major went within the year I would still have no problem going back to the garage. Would I have a leg to stand on?

Secondly, has anyone had any bad experiences buying private? my sister has seen a 01 mitsubishi colt by private sale and he's looking for 6,000. If we look at the car, are there any things we should keep eye out for and is 6K too much?

All views welcome & thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Garage 3 months warranty is joke, they dont keep to it..Get a someone to look the car over, make sure nothing wrong with it..
 
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