cartorque vol 10 - ‘First car buying advice’

As of a few weeks ago my partner recently passed her test, so it fell to me as the family petrolhead to comb through used car dealerships, autotrader and the like. One thing was immediately apparent, the used car market is almost certainly completely different from when I bought my first car pre-covid. So I thought it would be worthwhile offer some first hand consumer advice based on first hand findings. 

We started as everyone does, with a budget. And like everyone does, the budget went out the window when met with reality. I suppose it depends how long you're looking to keep it but in our case, we weren't looking to do the old "keep it for a year or two then sell it" strategy that some people do to lower insurance. In our opinion, that generally rules out cars over 70000 miles. As depending on the car, this is the point were many parts start to reach their end of life and thus you risk buying a money-pit. Thus beginning my search, I had a "budget", a milage limit, and a girlfriend to please. 

The first thing you'll notice is if you want a SUV, you're in luck as the market is utterly saturated with them. Not so much the actual SUVs, but the small "crossover" type that plague our eyesight every time we go for a drive. One hopes it's because their previous owners have seen sense and bought an actual SUV or a hatchback, but part of me doubts that. Regardless, it points to one thing at least, that in todays market a first time car buyer is no longer limited to the small Corsa size hatchback or city car. 

With this in mind, it's worthwhile to go to your local mega dealer and just have a look. This gets you a better idea on what you actually want and you can leave with a small list of cars to look for. Its so much easier to buy a car when you know what you want, trust me.

Now these places are wildly overpriced in my opinion, but are generally better for those buying a used car that's closer to new and comes with new car benefits like warranty. That being said, if you're looking to get something under £7500 you're out of luck unless you want a city car with no features. Not the best value, especially for buying a first car. 

Once you've found a car your interested in, there is one thing I cannot state enough. Be prepared to travel. It is unlikely that the car you want, in the best condition for the best price is going to be on your doorstep and a car is a significant investment. A lot of dealers do offer delivery these days, if driving it back on a motorway is something that intimidates you for the first drive. Though if you do this, tax it as soon as you get it because as soon as your new V5C gets printed in your name, the new keeper slip becomes invalid if taxing it online. 

Once you've found a car, from a dealer that you think is somewhat reputable, before you go see it search for common problems associated with it. This prepares you to ask the right questions to ask the dealer once you're there. One thing I found to be a common gripe, is wet belt engines. These are engines were the timing belt is submerged in oil. These aren't inherently bad, it's just important that it's changed around 60000 miles which around the milage you'll be most likely shopping at. 

Call the dealer ahead! Calling them ahead let's them know you're interested and probably more importantly, makes sure the car is still available. Early on with our search we visited a dealership without doing this only to find out it was sold a week before, despite the advert still being up. Once you're actually with the car, do the common sense checks and make sure you check the registration using an online reg checker. This will give you as much piece of mind as you can reasonably expect, giving you history on potential accidents the dealer might not tell you about or if the car is reported stolen. 

As it will most likely be your final step, we'll finish with insurance, the looming shadow that kills all our dreams of owning interesting cars. Statistics say its about 20 to 27 days before your policy starts will get you the best price, but if you're buying your first car this is just not feasible. Not that it would make that much of a difference anyway. If you're like most people, you'll be thinking I need a tiny engine with a tiny footprint to have any hopes of affordable insurance. Unfortunately, the first thing wrong with that state is hoping for affordable insurance. There is none for buying a first car under 25, full stop. You will be astoundingly lucky with £1500 for the year.

Next is the Vauxhall Corsa assumption of the first car. Car insurance is based on raw statistics and one of those statistics is how often that type of car gets into accidents. One of our top tips at CarTorque, is to buy something you don't see many people driving.

Buy a car that's a typical first car, expect to pay more on insurance because those are the cars getting into accidents.

Writer

Sean Isaac