Re: A cheap car?

When looking to buy second hand One careful lady owner is a must

Re: A cheap car?

That can be a ploy to sell the vehicle ,so beware

Re: A cheap car?

If it just a motorised umbrella that you want, try the Chevrolet Matiz. A cheap 4 door with a boot and much more fun than it looked. Low cost tax and insurance. I mainly just pottered around in mine, but it was quite comfortable and I would have been happy to travel further in it. (I did have to have a cushion for the driver's seat, but I have got little legs)

Not much to go wrong with it, the central locking failed on the front passenger door once and I just climbed into the back and exited through one of the rear passenger doors. Sad when it finally ceased up and was sent to the scrap yard .

Re: A cheap car?

I've just seen a Hyundai Matrix 1.6 GSi that doesn't look bad. It's advertised at £690, so I'll probably offer £600
Does anyone know anything about them? Thanks

Re: A cheap car?

Think you missed that one Bazza

Re: A cheap car?

Having spent a week looking online for a wee secondhand car and planning to go and look at one or two that have caught my eye I've now changed my mind! That's twice I've seen horror stories on Judge Rinder about buying secondhand cars from car dealers! Buyer beware as he states. I'll stick to walking with the odd trip on the bus. I think or will I change my mind again? LOL

Re: A cheap car?

Well, I've been looking and asking around without much success, even though I put my limit up slightly to £1,000, possibly £1,200 if I saw something that was what I wanted
Been round about 8 to 10 local garages & dealers. Those I could afford looked quite dodgy, just a patch of hardcore & a couple of blokes smoking roll-ups, and not really interested
Any decent dealers were out of my price range, and it seems they no longer keep trade - ins, they go straight to auction

I particularly wanted to go away next weekend, 11 to 13 April, so I looked at hiring a car
I can hire a Fiesta for a full weekend, 12-00 Friday till 12-00 Monday for £33-60
That means for the price of a banger I could go away at least 20 weekends, and I will have a modern, reliable car, and I won't have to pay for insurance, road tax, or servicing.
Even if they dream up a couple of extras and it creeps up to around £50, I reckon that's still good value, so that's what I'll do.

Re: A cheap car?

That sounds like a great plan. I had never thought about hiring a car rather than buying and owning one. When you add it all up your idea is a really good one. What about insurance? I was told that if you do not have insurance for a period of 2 years you lose your no claims discount or does that not even matter if you are just hiring a car occasionally? Forgive me if I seem a little daft that's because I am lol

Re: A cheap car?

I have my bus pass, and there are shops within easy walking distance, so I only really need a car now & again. It won't be the same as having my own, but then neither will it cost as much

As far as I know the hire fee of £33-60 is all in, however I believe they have a trick to put it up a bit. That fee includes insurance, but there is a high excess of about £500, so most people will pay the extra 7 or 8 quid for 'reduced excess protection'.

Re: A cheap car?

I thought it would be too good to be true

I've hired a car for the weekend, and, yes, the hire fee is £33-60, and it includes insurance

However, there is an Excess on the insurance of £1,000, and the insurance doesn't cover tyres or windows, including the windscreen.
So that means if there were any incidents I would have to pay the first £1,000, and all the cost of tyres & windows.
There is a separate insurance for tyres & windows, and to reduce the Excess. The premiums for these are higher than I expected
The alternatives are to take a chance, or simply not hiring a car and bother going anywhere.
This will bring the total cost to £90-60

Well, I haven't been anywhere for a break, a visit, or holiday since October, so I've decided to pay the additional cost, as, I suspect, most people will do.
It's a bit underhand or sharp practice in my opinion, but I haven't got much choice

I have another couple of weekends planned for later this month, and May. It still works out cheaper than owning a car, but I'll think a bit more about getting one