Buying a second hand car can be a big pain in the bum but with the right information and a little bit of guidance you can pick up a real bargain.
A second hand car does not have to be a banger of a car it can be only 6 months old, so dispel any prejudices about second hand cars. Everybody likes a brand new car but if you think about it logically the people that buy brand new are losing a lot of money!
When you drive a car off the forecourt of a car dealership the car will instantly depreciate in value and that is a really big problem. There is no exact figure about how much a new car will lose when it is driven off the forecourt but a reasonable guess would be 30% this is based on what I have seen in the past.
So when you see someone driving a new car just look at them to say silly!!
Now when looking for a used car you need to decide what you are after, this sounds obvious but for many people this is not. Do you want a 4x4 or a people carrier maybe you fancy a sporty two seaters but maybe you just want a normal family car.
Once you have decided on the car you are after you need to consider the budget you have, whether you take out a car loan or whether you pay cash you need to have a budget. If you are taking out a car loan then you need to consider how much you can afford to re pay on the loan and the best advice is you need to think if you can afford the repayments if you do not work. If you can't then maybe you should re think your budget.
If you are buying a car with cash then this is a really easy step to follow, just only spend what you can afford.
So now you have decided on the car you are after and the budget you have to spend now you just need to locate that car in that budget, it sounds simple but this is by far one of the hardest bits. I personally look for low mileage cars as they still will have a lot of life in them, I rather have an older lower mileage car than a newer higher mileage car as I just feel that the older car would have had an easier life.
Where do you look when you are after a used car? Well I would first cruel through your local news papers and see whether any of you local car dealers have the car you are after then if they do go round and organise a test drive. When you are sure that the car is the car for you then walk away and try and find that car on the internet at the lowest price you can.