February 6, 2008

Buying a car

Buying a second hand car can be a precarious business, especially if you are not an automotive expert. The Your Driving guide aims to try and help navigate this quagmire as much as is possible, offering simple tips and hints that should help you make the right purchase.

Before you start looking

You need to have an idea of what you need to get. Take the time to think about what you want the car for and how long you think you're likely have it. For example you may wish to avoid a city car if you're trying for a baby. Also how many miles are you going to look to cover? And what kind of miles. Again a city car is great as a nippy little run-around in town but is likely to feel a little out of it's depth on the motorway. Always look at the running costs in tandem with the cost of the car. Even if you're not financing the car through a finance package it's worth adding all the estimated costs of the car over three years and dividing it in to monthly payments. Suddenly that group 15 insurance looks a bit unnecessary.

Research

It goes without saying that with modern access to information you should research any major purchase thoroughly and the fact that you’re on Your Driving probably means that you will. It’s worth buying an up to date price guide to give you a yardstick of what you should expect to pay for the vehicle. You can also research other information such as economy and insurance group before you buy your next vehicle. While you are unlikely to be that surprised at their cost it’s always good to know what to expect.Don't go to a car showroom to just look around if you're feeling a bit flush. You are in grave danger of coming out with a lovely new car on an expensive credit agreement.

Make the first call

When you make the first call it’s always worth asking the reason for the sale of the car and how long the vendor has owned it. If they have only owned the car a very short time or they are not willing to let you know then you’re probably best off not taking the matter any further as it is likely to have been a recent purchase either locally or from an auction and the vendor will be looking to make a quick buck. In the first call it’s also a god idea to ask the registration to check the vehicle through Experian or HPI as these will offer any bad history that the vehicle may have and give you more reason to avoid making a bad purchase.

Check the mileage

In the advert the car’s mileage is likely to be listed as it’s a feature of the car. As a rule of thumb cars will usually average about 10,000 miles per year so look at the claimed mileage and see if that fits. If the car is claiming to have very few miles for it’s age it’s worth looking at it’s circumstances and the rest of the vehicles condition. The DVLA offer a checking service that logs the listed mileage from the vehicles MOT history. The site carcheck offers a comprehensive vehicle checking system that will include mileage as well as finance issues as with HPI and Experian.

Check the car over

The time and location of the viewing is surprisingly significant.  It goes without saying that if you're able to make your visit in the daytime you'll have a better chance of making a decent judgement as you'll be able to see the car better. 

Make sure that you view the car at the owners address.  This should obviously match the address on the log book and will give you a feel for the cars life before you. 

When you get to view the car there are several things that you can look for. When you get to the car put a hand on the bonnet to see if it’s warm. If it is then you want to think about why it’s hot. Maybe it’s not a good starter from cold and the vendor has warmed the car up prior to your arrival to make sure it looks good and if its a diesel then there maybe glowplug problems.

When you look under the bonnet how does the engine look? If it looks like it’s recently been washed with a high pressure hose then you need to think about why that may have been the case? Conversely if the engine is covered in oil there are probable warning signs there too, if it’s covered in oil why is the oil not staying in the engine.

Look behind the bumpers, front and rear, modern plastic bumpers don't deform in an accident. They pop back to shape, hiding possible damage to structure underneath.

Look at `shut lines` eg bonnet to wing and door to body, any unequal lines may point to undeclared accident damage. If you think that the gaps don't look quite right then run your finger along lines to feel for unequal gaps. If you can feel the gap between the bonnet and the wing or maybe the door and the bodywork is not consistent then it's entirely possible that the vehicle has been in an accident, especially higher quality vehicles as their lines should be ruler straight.

The paintwork may reveal any work that has taken place.  If you take a magnet with you you'll be able to check any suspicious bit of paintwork to make sure that it's not been touched up with filler.Steer clear of insurance write-offs, also possibly termed 'damaged repairables' as if they have been written off once insurers won’t pay out again on the same car.

As tyres are one of the parts of the car that is regularly changed, they are often overlooked when inspecting the car.  Have a check, especially on the front wheels, for wear and tread depth.  Uneven wear could indicate that the car needs some attention to the tracking.

Test drive the car

You should expect to get a 10 minute run in the car with the owner and assuming you’re buying a car in your local area then you should plan some sort of route that will test the car in a few different situations.

Look to get a steep hill in if you can so that you can see how the engine performs under load. If you get the chance to do a hill start in it you’ll also see how well the handbrake works.

Corners will help see if there is anything wrong at the front of the car and should help expose any vagaries in the steering. Brake while not holding the steering wheel tightly to see if the car pull to one side indicating a possible tracking problem.

Most cars are front wheel drive now. Find room to drive in circle on full lock, in both directions. Any clonking noises will point to constant velocity joint problems.

Use as many of the electrical functions as you are able to.  This should flush out any electrical problems, which will probably be expensive to rectify.

History

The vehicles history is probably the best indicator of what to expect. Full service history will show that a car has been looked after according to the manufacturers specifications and will show up any problems that have been encountered in the past. Assuming all of the service points have been taken then the car should throw up few surprises.

You’ll be able to find out what you will need to do going forward and assuming that you as the new owner continue with the schedule you should continue to get good mileage going forward.

Check mileage of last cambelt change. Some cars now have very long service intervals and the cam belt is a vital part of your engine as if it fails the damage will be extremely costly. Take the Ford Focus as an example, cambelt should be changed at 100,000 miles according to the manufacturers guidelines but the Mondeo Diesel requires a new belt every 35,000 miles.  If you're not sure when the belt was last changed budget for a change when you buy the vehicle it can be added to the service that you will be likely to put your new car through at relatively little expense for most cars and will save you the cost on an engine rebuild if it fails.

Obviously higher mileage vehicles are likely to be less reliable but as long as they are well looked after many will still offer a lot of trouble free miles. Next time you’re in a taxi take the time to check the Mileage, you’ll be surprised how often it’s over 200,000 miles.

Grey Imports

Grey Imports may look very attractive they often have servicing problems. You will probably be told "its almost the same as the UK spec vehicles", this may be the case, but this means that the UK parts won't fit your import vehicle and you'll have to get your parts imported which apart from being expensive and inconvenient may also prove to be impossible as the overseas suppliers don't have enough call to export parts to the UK. You'll often find that mechanics will not touch imports so the bargain could be short lived indeed.

If you're contemplating a purchase why not call a local mechanic and ask how much to change a Cam belt or even something as simple as a head light on the imported vehicle. Their reaction could be quite telling.

Happy hunting

This guide won't guarantee that you never buy a turkey again, but it should help you spot them in the future.

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