Hi

 

First off, I'm useless with cars. I have no knowledge or understanding of them and the thought of buying from anywhere other than a main dealer terrifies me.

 

Now that said here's my situation.

 

I had an Octavia for a while and I liked it. I'm now looking for a cheap run around for fishing trips. It doesn't need to look good or be refined. It needs to be cheap ( around £500/600) reliable and economical to run. I believe a diesel would be more reliable buy but I'm not that bothered either way

 

I looked at Parkers prices and cannot find a car advertised which is anywhere near them Some are over twice the guide price!

 

So far I've only looked in Autotrader.

 

Any advice? I'd be most grateful

where are you located?

Hi David. I'm in Kent

HI wrong end of the country to be able to offer more than basic advise.......

 

try the local papers shop window ads, even supermarket notice boards, look for genuine private sales ( car in sellers name and for sale at their home address etc ) ideally one or two owner car with some history and mots to back up info given and always remember if it looks to good to be true it almost certainty isn't.....

 

in your price range the car market is a minefield even for seasoned 'buyers' but sometimes you can strike lucky

 

let friends work mates etc know you are looking for a car

 

if you can walk around to as many local car sales sites, back street garages that you can and make it know that you are looking for a cheap decent run about, if sellers don't know you are looking they certainly won't come to you !! you could even try breakers yards quite often they will have a few cars for sale

 

sometimes a cheap van can be a good 'fishing wagon'  

 

hope the above helps

 

good luck Dave

 

I've just checked ebay cars by locating my search as if I lived at Maidstone Hospital, there is a fair few motors listed at under £600 may well be worth a look, all the pointers above apply you have just got to sort a 'genuine private seller' ( skoda Felicia's are often one older driver owned cars find a decent one with PAS good history and you could do a lot lot worse..... ) 

Edited 5 August, 201411 yr by davidwhite

Thanks for the advice David. I will give it my best shot. Maybe I will just need to trust to luck and hope for the best. A van would do me fine - in fact better maybe. I'm not sure what kind of van though, or if that would be cheaper than a car. I will look into it.

 

Thanks

Hi

 

First off, I'm useless with cars. I have no knowledge or understanding of them and the thought of buying from anywhere other than a main dealer terrifies me.

 

Now that said here's my situation.

 

I had an Octavia for a while and I liked it. I'm now looking for a cheap run around for fishing trips. It doesn't need to look good or be refined. It needs to be cheap ( around £500/600) reliable and economical to run. I believe a diesel would be more reliable buy but I'm not that bothered either way

 

I looked at Parkers prices and cannot find a car advertised which is anywhere near them Some are over twice the guide price!

 

So far I've only looked in Autotrader.

 

Any advice? I'd be most grateful

Don't know what part of Kent you are in, but try the Friday Ad and search only on Private sales max £660, just seen a tidy looking Mazda 323F on there near Tunbridge Wells for £600. That would take all your fishing gear. Mazda's also have a good reputation for realibility in general.

My next door neighbour picked up a Citroen van for £200 for his fishing trips. Needed a bit of welding for the MOT but nothing major. Cost him £50 to get it sorted and now he has a decent van for his fishing trips!

I have a 04 plate Arosa for sale with 33k on it. Tax and mot until Feb15. Stripped out with just two front seats. 95% of the interior is still available,just carpet needed which is available on eBay.

Just bought Octavia vrs hence the sale.

Thanks,Ryan.

Edited 15 August, 201411 yr by pkr