Where to buy a used car?.... Edinburgh in particular?

chrism_scotland

chrism_scotland

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Thanks everyone for your suggestions on decent used cars, narrowed it down now I think to a Mazda 3, Volvo S40, BMW 3 Series or anything else that was a cracking deal but only looking to spend around £6k

Any suggestions on a good place to purchase a used car? I'd probably rather go via a dealer than private but I'm at a bit of a loss to know where is decent/reputable.

Any suggestions in Edinburgh or a bit farther field would be much appreciated!
 
I can't help with the dealers but I will say that if you are looking at Mazda 3's pay particular attention to the paintwork down near the sill, just in front of the rear wheel arch. On some models (not the newest) there is a bit of a lip which sits a cm or so out from the sill and this catches all the grit and debris from the road which just peels the paint off. A terrible design fault which has resulted in many resprays of that area according to the local Mazda dealer. My own respray lasted about 3 months so I have just decided to let it go now.

Maybe you shouldn't rule out private sellers. When people have cars with problems they generally trade them in at a dealer rather than sell private because the dealer rarely takes them for a test drive!
 
Why not pay a clued up friend or mechanic to go with you to the local car auctions, theres some bargains to be had if you know what to avoid. The last car I got from the auctions lasted me 2 years trouble free motoring and I actually sold it for a profit!
 
chrism_scotland said:
Thanks mate, noticed that on my way to work this morning actually, might nip up at the weekend for a look although 75k miles seems a lot!
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If you think 75k is a high mileage on a nearly 7 year old diesel car then you're going to have your work cut out :bonk:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
If you think 75k is a high mileage on a nearly 7 year old diesel car then you're going to have your work cut out :bonk:
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Lol, if I'm honest I don't really know what sort of mileage to expect! I've seen similar with a lot less, 40-50k rather than 70k and I've read that with the Volvo Diesel engines they need their DPF changed at about the 70-80k mark which is an £800 job apparently.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Lol, if I'm honest I don't really know what sort of mileage to expect! I've seen similar with a lot less, 40-50k rather than 70k and I've read that with the Volvo Diesel engines they need their DPF changed at about the 70-80k mark which is an £800 job apparently.
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Not all Volvo diesels have a dpf, if you have a look at the car's VIN (visible in the LH lower corner of the windscreen) the eighth character will tell you if the car has one or not:

3 = No DPF
4 = No DPF
5 = DPF
 
Chris Primadona said:
Why not pay a clued up friend or mechanic to go with you to the local car auctions, theres some bargains to be had if you know what to avoid. The last car I got from the auctions lasted me 2 years trouble free motoring and I actually sold it for a profit!
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+1 for that. I picked the wife's car up at Central Car Auctions with a sneaky last second bid and it's been a great little car. Dealers and private wanted 50% more for cars in worse condition. A lot of mechanical problems can be sorted for very little if you are savvy with that or have a mechanic friend.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Lol, if I'm honest I don't really know what sort of mileage to expect! I've seen similar with a lot less, 40-50k rather than 70k and I've read that with the Volvo Diesel engines they need their DPF changed at about the 70-80k mark which is an £800 job apparently.
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I wouldn't worry my last 2 company cars went back with approx 130-140k my current one I got ladt may has 42k on it as of last night. I would look at am ex company car from one of the big lease companies our got an exmobility car, the wife picked up an absolute bargain because the back door cards were a but tatty, but it was fully serviced.
 
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gman said:
+1 for that. I picked the wife's car up at Central Car Auctions with a sneaky last second bid and it's been a great little car. Dealers and private wanted 50% more for cars in worse condition. A lot of mechanical problems can be sorted for very little if you are savvy with that or have a mechanic friend.
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I really wouldn't recommend buying at auction unless you know what you're doing, have done your homework and have a contingency budget for repairs that may be required but aren't immediately apparent on the cursory inspection you can do prior to a car going through the ring.

You also need to appreciate that when buying at auction (and this is true of Ebay and the likes too), your rights are severely curtailed. Under the law as a buyer at auction you are treated as a trader, regardless of whether you are or not, so the SOGA does not apply - if a car is sold "as seen" or "without warranty", which is how most cars are sold, and it dies as soon as you drive it out of the auction (or indeed if it expires immediately after the auctioneer's gavel falls) then tough, you have no recourse.

I'm not saying that you can't find a bargain at auction, although nowadays these are few and far between, but you have to understand how things work and bid accordingly.....,
 
I've spent more on my car from a main dealer than I have on the wife's car from the auction. A basic service and a new battery is all that her car needed.

Mine has had to have an ECU upgrade to stop it cutting out, new wheel bearing (comes as a complete hub - pain and expensive), the EGR valve removed and cleaned, the rear washer fixed as it was leaking inside the car, the drivers lumbar support has broke and ripped the back of the seat, the tail lights blow very quickly, the quick clear windscreen has a huge strip right in my view which doesn't work, the glow plugs needed changing and there's a few other things as well.

Only the washer was fixed under warranty. Anything else and they want a £75 non-refundable diagnostics fee up front first - total con. It should be refunded if they find a fault. As far as I'm concerned non-manufacturers warranties aren't worth the paper they are printed on and it would also appear that everything is subject to wear and tear! lol

Most of the private sales we went to were actually dealers and the genuine private ones wanted as much as the dealers.

The best ones to look out for at the auction are the ones that have come from the main dealers that were traded in. They don't want the hassle factor of the cheaper used cars and just put them straight through the auction. Take a savvy friend and you should be fine :)
 
gman said:
The best ones to look out for at the auction are the ones that have come from the main dealers that were traded in. They don't want the hassle factor of the cheaper used cars and just put them straight through the auction. Take a savvy friend and you should be fine :)
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Well , yes and no- used cars, decent used cars are in short supply, so you have to look at each car and ask yourself "why is that car here?"

Some dealerships only sell secondhand examples of the brand they have the franchise for and put everything else to auction, however alarm bells should be ringing if you see a nice looking, low mileage example of a popular car and it's been sent to the sale by the likes of Arnold Clark, as they're not going to do that without very good reason....
 
Arnold Clark.....Urgh!!! I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole but alas they seems to be taking over the country!
 
gman said:
Arnold Clark.....Urgh!!! I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole but alas they seems to be taking over the country!
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They're the third biggest car dealer group in the UK.....
 
Another point for the op to consider, make sure you actually do enough miles to justify a diesel if that's what you're after.

I've been doing the sums for myself and in my case the difference between a similar- mileage and spec car in diesel and petrol would see me saving around £4 in fuel and £2 in VED a week by opting for the diesel, but at an additional purchase cost of around £2000.
 
Thanks folks, certainly need to consider the petrol v diesel issue as it seems I could get a much newer, lower mileage petrol S40 or S60 for the price.

Also contemplating the Toyota Avensis or the newer shape (06-07) Honda Civic, both meant to be reliable I think?
 
A car dealer in auld reekie I recommend is Kenny Dunn, but he might not have much in the price range your talking about, Kenny's stock is always top notch.
Millenium motors is as good as any for the rest, I supplied them with parts for a couple of years and saw the prep that goes into their cars.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Thanks folks, certainly need to consider the petrol v diesel issue as it seems I could get a much newer, lower mileage petrol S40 or S60 for the price.

Also contemplating the Toyota Avensis or the newer shape (06-07) Honda Civic, both meant to be reliable I think?
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I had a 07 civic, and I have vowed never to have another Honda in my life, out was the most uncomfortable, unreliable, brake and battery eating piece of crap I have ever had the displeasure of driving.. Of will try and find the list of issues and problems I had. Surfice to say I was just pleased I didn't have to pay the repair bills.
 
Thanks Martin and Dave.

I think that pending having a test drive I've all but decided on a Volvo S40 or S60 but I am probably leaning toward petrol rather than diesel mainly for cost, seems I can get a lot more for my cash (newer and lower mileage) with petrol although the MPG seem pretty drastically lower.

Has anyone driven the S40 with the 1.6 petrol engine? Is it powerful enough?
 
I wouldn't go back to petrol to be honest. Today's diesels are pretty refined and I like the pulling power :) If you are driving a fair amount then any extra you intially pay for a diesel car will be saved pretty quickly through your fuel costs.
 
gman said:
I wouldn't go back to petrol to be honest. Today's diesels are pretty refined and I like the pulling power :) If you are driving a fair amount then any extra you intially pay for a diesel car will be saved pretty quickly through your fuel costs.
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You need to be doing at least 15-20k p.a. before you reach break-even and given that the op thinks that 75k is a high mileage on a 7 year old diesel, I'd opine that's not the case for him.

If you look at my example, the weekly saving for someone driving 8-10k a year equates to not much more than the cost of a sandwich, factor in the increased service costs (and the likelihood of a dpf replacement) and suddenly you're looking at paying extra for the privilege of driving something that sounds like a tractor :lol:
 
Not sure about you but I was getting 300 miles to the tank in my petrol car and now I get 550 miles with the diesel. That's almost double but diesel isn't twice the price of petrol so even modest driving will save you a fair amount.
 
gman said:
Not sure about you but I was getting 300 miles to the tank in my petrol car and now I get 550 miles with the diesel. That's almost double but diesel isn't twice the price of petrol so even modest driving will save you a fair amount.
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and to be honest, if you are looking for petrol, only turbo models have decent torque (sub 2.5L engines) at lover revs. That would limit your choice quite a lot, and they are probably not quite reliable too. non turbo small petrols are horrible in my opinion.
 
gman said:
Not sure about you but I was getting 300 miles to the tank in my petrol car and now I get 550 miles with the diesel. That's almost double but diesel isn't twice the price of petrol so even modest driving will save you a fair amount.
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Okay, using the MINI as an example and using figures taken from the onboard computers and the average fuel costs today in G45...

8000 miles
Petrol car 50 mpg
Diesel car 70 mpg

160 gallons of petrol (1.39.9/litre)= 1016.24
115 gallons of diesel (1.462/litre) =£763.31

That gives a saving for the diesel of £252.93 or £4.86 a week,if the diesel drops to 65mpg the difference is only £200/pa. If you were unlucky and had to replace a DPF then that's around £1000.....
 
Thanks again guys, I am sitting trying to work out rough fuel costs, that said I'm basing it all on urban only consumption which is unlikely to be all of my driving but I'd rather use a worst case scenario!

Based on my rough calcs a 1.6 petrol Volvo S40 would cost me about £30-£40 more a month than a 2.0 Diesel.
 
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