Five secrets to know before buying a car

Buying a second hand car can be fraught with difficulties, with some sellers being less than honest about the history of what they’re selling. But follow these five rules and you can’t go wrong…

*Buy from a reputable dealer such as Jennings Ford here. You’ll get a warranty and an aftersales service that simply doesn’t exist when you buy privately. And always check on the state of consumable parts. Buying a used car that needs a set of new tyres and/or brake discs is, at worst, expensive. At best, it’s a good starting point for negotiation. And be very careful of cars approaching 70,000 miles. They will need a new cam belt in the near future and the clutch may even be on the way out, as could the radiator, all of which are expensive parts.

*Always get an HPI check. This will tell you if the car is stolen, has any outstanding finance or has been written off. You can do this online, so you can check on any car using your smartphone, even while you’re at a dealers. Though don’t let this encourage you to be hasty.

*Not all vendors are keen on test drives, but stick to your guns. This is the second most expensive item, next to your house, you are likely to purchase and you wouldn’t buy a property without a couple of viewings and asking a few questions about the boiler.

*Electronics and digital displays mean that clocking a car is more difficult than it used to be, but still far from impossible, so be careful. Average mileage is about 8000 miles per year, so anything substantially below that should ring alarm bells. And be careful about wear on the steering wheel, pedals or trim that suggests a five-year-old car might have done a little bit more than the quoted 1500 miles. That’s not to say that low-mileage gems don’t exist. Just be wary of taking anything that seems to be too good to be true at face value. Yes, there are ladies of a certain age that have owned nice cars for years, without troubling them any more than the occasional run to the village shop. But they are rarer than you might imagine.

*In an age where it’s increasingly difficult to steal a car without a ignition key, it’s important to make sure you get two keys with your ‘new’ car. Advanced security and digitally-coded fobs, mean that the days of a thief hot-wiring a car are behind us, which is largely a good thing. However, it also means that breaking into a house in order to steal a car key is much more common than it used to be. So be suspicious of a car that comes with only one ignition key, especially if there’s no, or very little, paperwork. Seemingly insignificant things like well-preserved owners’ manuals are always a good indicator as to how the vehicle has been treated.

Giving a car a good wash and polish can take as little as an hour. Looking after it diligently throughout years of ownership is, however, a more difficult trick to pull off. Make sure you buy the latter.

Tags: buying a car, tips

Category: Student News