when to buy used car?

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jclark - 10 Oct 2005 21:15 GMT

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying a two or three year old Ford Focus 5d 1.6L
petrol hatchback. Do you think I should wait for the January sales or
anything like that? I don't know much about buying cars and so I'm not
sure when they will be cheapest. I can wait all year if necessary,
there is no rush. I want to buy from a Ford dealer if possible so as to
have good aftercare.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jen

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Matt C - 10 Oct 2005 21:50 GMT

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Jen

Hi,

I don't think the price of 2nd hand cars will decrease due to January sales.
The time they're likely to decrease is when a new reg is brought into play -
there'll be more to sell. New registrations are brought into play in March &
September I think. This is because people will be part exchanging a lot of
their cars for the new model etc.

You are probably looking at a price range of about £6750 from a Ford dealer.
These cars are likely to be ex mobility, which means they are only allowed a
certain amount of mileage per year. To be fair these cars will be well
looked after, but again, you do pay the price premium. I recently bought a
52 reg Focus (3 door) from a private dealer, it cost £6500. This beat every
Ford dealer price plus it was a special edition model with lower mileage.

I think if you give it a test drive and it feels OK plus it has full service
history you will be OK with any 2nd hand dealer, especially on cars so new.
My advice is to ask plenty of questions, a link below may help you:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/motoring/buying_advice/usedcar.shtml

HTH,

Matt

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Alan - 10 Oct 2005 23:29 GMT

>You are probably looking at a price range of about £6750 from a Ford dealer.
>These cars are likely to be ex mobility, which means they are only allowed a
>certain amount of mileage per year. To be fair these cars will be well
>looked after, but again, you do pay the price premium.

Watch out for the bullshit from the Ford dealers. You will also pay a
premium for the other services the Ford dealers offer when you buy the
car. I was offered a 'cheap' loan at 2% more than I could have obtained
instantly from at least 3 other sources. The special insurance that
no-one would be able to beat was over £100 more than I was quoted by my
existing insurance company.

Signature

Alan
mailto:news2me_a_2003@amacleod.clara.co.uk

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Matt C - 11 Oct 2005 12:10 GMT

>>You are probably looking at a price range of about £6750 from a Ford
>>dealer.
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> would be able to beat was over £100 more than I was quoted by my existing
> insurance company.

Yes I agree, never ever (well 99% of the time!) use the finance packages as
offered by car dealers. This is how they make their money most of the time
by offering 'super low' finance which is as you say 2-3% more than usual
loan companies!

When I was getting the best price, I noticed the Ford dealers would not
budge one bit on price. For example, screen price would be £6999 yet to get
it to £6750 you had to work for it. They would simply not go any lower,
don't be fooled into getting the models such as the 'cl' or 'lx' either
which is what they offered me for £6500. I got the impression from one of
the dealers I spoke to that people do pay the £7000 which is why they were
not prepared for an instant sale at £6500. It baffled me as I expect £500
off screen price instantly anyway.

Matt

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jclark - 11 Oct 2005 17:23 GMT

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful. What does 'ex mobility'
mean?

Jen

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Matt C - 11 Oct 2005 20:19 GMT

> Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful. What does 'ex mobility'
> mean?
>
> Jen

http://www.ford.co.uk/static/motability/-/motab_about/-/-/-

That should help you, when I was buying my car every car seemed to be ex
mobility (or motability).

In essence, it's likely these cars have done very low mileage, they've only
been used for short shop runs and are well looked after.

Matt

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Mike Hunter - 11 Oct 2005 20:06 GMT

A used car deprecates every month, including the vehicle you have to trade.
Used cars take their biggest hit when new models arrive at dealerships in
the fall and again with the advent of the next calendar year. The 'best'
time to buy is when you find that one really great car and it suits your
budget. ;)

mike hunt

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Jen

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Bob Minchin - 11 Oct 2005 20:22 GMT

Mike Hunter wrote in message ...
snip
The 'best'

>time to buy is when you find that one really great car and it suits your
>budget. ;)

snip

Have you studied long and hard to attain special qualifications to be able
to state the blindingly bleeding obvious or was it just a momentary flash of
inspiration on your part Mike?

Bob

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