Buying 2nd hand - am I too paranoid

[claude80]

OK, help is required......Ive got money in the bank and Im driving a pink car which my olds bought for me a few years ago, its been due a change for a long time now!

Loving the 182 and have been to dealers, seen internet prices and am keeping an eye on the second-hand market and if Im honest, this is where Id most like to buy but this is also the root cause of my problems. Im not mechincally minded and am that person who would kick the tyre and if it doesnt fall off then I would assume the car is ok. For that reason Id only buy from a main dealer but I want to buy at the price 182s are going for privately.

Am I being too paranoid that if I bought a car privately, 12-18 months old, it can have lots of very serious things wrong with it? I just dont want to spend a lot of money on a car thats gonna cost a lot more in the long run if lots goes wrong with it.

What can I do to put my mind at ease if I do want to buy privately? (Apart from the kicking the tyre trick (does that actually work by the way))? Im not after a list of specific things to look for but more general advice of what you think I should do.

Cheers peeps

 

[White16valver]

buy off someone on here IMO

If theyve been on here a while then I doubt that theyd screw you over!

 

[Middo]

book a RAC inspection to look over the car and give u a written report. anything serious is probably going to be covered by the warrnaty tho.

 

[Matt ATR]

Yeah prices are pretty good on here, and the cars have often been well looked after - I would do a HPI and check warranty/service history.

You can always search through their posts too!!

 

[Don]

I bought my 172 cup from a dealer, 6 month old ex-demo. Where I worked, they dropped a scrap car battery through the drivers wing, so took it to a bodyshop to get sorted, when they were checking the car over, it turned out that there was some damage caused by some sort of knock, and that it was fine, but the idiot who caused the damage covered it up with touch-up pen. The dealer paid for the bodyshop to sort that out, but you would like to think that wouldnt happen with a dealer...

If the car is under 3 years old, you should get the remainder of the warranty, so that is a good thing, as for condition of the car, get an AA/RAC inspection if you want peace of mind. There are some cars on here that are IMO stunning, and have been more than well looked after, granted, they will cost more, but you can tell a "well" looked after car. Dont forget a HPI check also.

 

[Macca172]

Quote: Originally posted by White16valver on 02 September 2005


buy off someone on here IMO

If theyve been on here a while then I doubt that theyd screw you over!

Agreed, theres some minters for sale on here at the mo!

 

[jon_r]

Remember that a lot of cars still have the balance of the warrenty remaining, so anything that goes wrong mechanically you are covered.

 

[Don]

2 examples
http://forum.cliosport.net/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=16&TopicID=176285&PagePosition=1Clicky 1

http://forum.cliosport.net/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=16&TopicID=174301&PagePosition=2clicky 2
I know that theyre not 182s...but you can see where Im coming from.

Donny

 

[cat171]

can you get a mate who knows what hes looking at to go with you ??
if not, try the rac & get one of their blokes to look the car over.
or maybe buy off some one on here.

 

[claude80]

Thanks for that for starters.......

Talk to me about AA / RAC checks and also HPI checks. Who does them and where do you get them from?

Anyone had one done? Are they any good? What do you get?

Everyone on this site is sooo damn helpful, Id like to nominate you all for an OBE! Cheers

 

[jongsr4]

yep just get an RAC inspection and an HPI check, and if its both ok youll be fine, there are lots of companies doing HPI checks now, ranging from £25-40ish,

http://www.hpicheck.comwww.hpicheck.com is probably the main one

 

[ViolentJ]

The AA use this company for their vehicle inspections:

http://www.dekra-assured.com/bp.asphttp://www.dekra-assured.com/bp.asp

 

[ViolentJ]

IMO if you know what to look for (take someone who does with you) and the dealer is very forthcoming with history and willing to service the car and mot it before you take delivery then there isnt much to worry about.

Ive just bought a 1998 R reg Coupe, the dealer serviced it, motd it, sent it to Renault to change the cambelt and fitted new tires + gave me a free 3 month parts and labour warrenty. - When a dealer is that helpful you know the car is fine!

 

[chizzy]

After agreeing to let an RAC man check my last car over on behalf of the buyer i was pretty pissed off when the RAC bloke dropped the car off the jack and damaged the sill of my 15K MINI!



they paid for it but that wasnt really the point!

 

[jongsr4]

http://www.hpicheck.comwww.hpicheck.com do seem to be quite slow at updating details though

 

[ChrisR]

Its got a warranty, as long as theres nothing blindingly obvious and it looks ok you should be fine

 

[jonnyboy]

I will probably never buy a brand new car again unles something amazing comes out, I bought a new 172 and worrying all the time about keeping it priostine did my head in as the slightest scuff was really stressfull lol

I bought a 6 month old meg for 5 grand off list and its a minter, let someone else take the depreciation. The amount of 182s available you can take your pick

 

[tiff_needle]

I think you should do your homework and learn how it all works. If you want to get ripped off then go to the dealer - simple as that. You will pay at least £1000 more for the car, probably £2000-£3000 on top of the real value of the car, you have to think is it worth it?!?

Its people like you that mean Renault still try and charge £11995 for a 54 plate 182 which they are down at my local dealer!!The REAL value of that car is about £8500-£9000 maximum. Get the books, go down to some auctions, look in ebay and classifieds. When you see how cheap they really are you may change your mind.

 

[Munson]

Buying a 2nd hand 182 is really just like buying a new car made by anyone else. The first owner bought the prototype and suffered the pain of having it fixed. It was he who had to have the new parts fitted that fixed the millions of known faults...

 

[claude80]

Quote: Originally posted by tiff_needle on 02 September 2005


I think you should do your homework and learn how it all works. If you want to get ripped off then go to the dealer - simple as that. You will pay at least £1000 more for the car, probably £2000-£3000 on top of the real value of the car, you have to think is it worth it?!?

Its people like you that mean Renault still try and charge £11995 for a 54 plate 182 which they are down at my local dealer!!The REAL value of that car is about £8500-£9000 maximum. Get the books, go down to some auctions, look in ebay and classifieds. When you see how cheap they really are you may change your mind.

But thats exactly my point, am I being paranoid thinking that just because Joe Bloggs is selling his for £9k (which may well be the REAL value of the car) is there something wrong with it cos my local dealer has one on the forecourt for £12k. Or are they exactly the same car with the same likelihood of something going wrong with either of them? Also, if you do buy from the delaer are you likely to have any more come-back or is a warranty a warranty end of story?

 

[Munson]

I dont have a problem with the Clio quality, as it IS cheap and superb value. I DO have a problem with them continuing to build cars with KNOWN faults. They are playing the numbers game and gambling that it will cost less in warranty fixes than it will to actually get their engineers to address the problems.

 

[Munson]

Sorry I cross posted there, in response to my own post.

As you were...

 

[tiff_needle]

I think you should just have a look around, for the price of a 1 year old one at the dealers you can afford a brand new one from trade sales or motorpoint and probably still have some money left over. You have nothing to worry about as long as you have warranty and clean Hpi check. If being used always look to buy a 1 owner from new car be suspicious if it has 2 3 or 4 owners and always make sure it has FRSH. If it doesnt then dont bother with it as there are loads of others for sale.

 

[claude80]

Cheers Tiff for the advice.......and for the record.......do you know what Tiff is short for?

 

[Munson]

To be blunt, the RENAULT history means sod all, as they know f**k all about the RS cars anyway. They use the wrong oil, dont know what the 12k service entails, dont know how to fix known problems, and take your car for a 60 mile drive and leave the tank empty.

FRSH means bugger all, and I wont be buying Renault again. The dealers are so poorly trained with the RS brand, I reckon my dead hamster, Sandy (he died when I was 11) could look after my RS better than any Renault dealer.

WTF is the point in the RS brand if they cant support it?

 

[jongsr4]

Quote: Originally posted by Claudeykins on 02 September 2005

Cheers Tiff for the advice.......and for the record.......do you know what Tiff is short for?

Timothy

back on topic, your best bet is to buy the car privately for roughly 2k less than a dealer would charge, get an RAC/HPI check on it and youll be fine, the Renault warranty will still be running so youll have no problems on that front either

 

[clio_nut]

BUY OFF HERE!



I did and it was wel well worth it... you get a car which has been looked after properly, and if the person has been on here a while, you know that they aint shady or anything... really worth doing mate, get it off someone respected on here!

 

[cat171]

as i said before & loads of others have, if you do see one you like, before you habnd over the cash (or whatever) get it hpi checked (costs about £45.00) then you will know for sure.
Or get one of your mates to go with you who knows about cars, surely you must know some one ?
Also you might be able to get a renault dealer to run the reg through the computer to see if its had work done on it.

Go and have a look at a few before buying it, although as its almost new they should be sweet fa wrong with it.

 

[alexst]

Buy my skoda fabia vRS for £8,500, Baragin.

Alex