If you are not lucky enough to be able to purchase a nice, brand new car, straight off the forecourt, you may be looking at purchasing a used car.
Remember, cars are much more reliable now than they used to be and there is a wealth of information available over the internet which point out the most common faults for any car you are thinking of purchasing and how to spot them.
Some other areas you may want to consider are:-
Resale price of the vehicle – the price of some used vehicles is a lot lower than others. There are many factors that affect this resale price – the biggest drop in price is normally in the first 2-3 years of a cars first registration.
Other factors can be insurance costs, fuel economy, service history, reliability, price of replacement parts and of course, the popularity of the model you want to purchase (good old supply and demand – if supply is limited for a particular vehicle the higher the price is likely to be!).
Don’t be put off by the make, there are some very good motors out there now that are made by companies that may not be the most common, but are equally reliable and are now starting to grow in popularity and maintain their resale prices. Some even come with long warranties!
Finally, be open minded, it is unlikely that you will lay your hands on a car in perfect condition, they will have faults, it’s just a case of assessing whether you can afford to fix these faults or you can live with them.
Don’t forget, you can always get the car inspected by a qualified mechanic and have the vehicle HPI checked, check the log book and cross check that the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the same as that on the car itself. Get the VIN checked via Carfax to see if it has been involved in any insurance claims.
Be suspicious of anyone not prepared to let you do this – they may have something to hide!