[swaroopsankar]

Hello all,

I need some valuable advice from you guys on buying a used car in the UK. I have been going through a lot of used car websites here and they are all plagued with so many options which confuse me a lot. My heart always goes to the BMW models such as the 3-series and 1-series but my mind goes to the Japanese models like Civic, Corolla, Vitara etc.

Also, I am not quite sure about the reliability part of the used cars as this will be my first ever used car purchase.

[thesquaremile]

As you say the length and breadth of the used car market is overwhelming, so to start off its important to narrow down on what you are after. Are you going to be using the car for mainly city and school runs? or driving motorway miles frequently? Do you need a family carrier or a high-performance hot hatch?
In terms of reliability it is no surprise that the Japanese and Koreans are/have always been ahead of competition. Parkers.co.uk, Honestjohn and JD Power surveys are good websites to get an idea which models fair well year on year with regards to reliability.
If you are considering options from the German stable then watch out for known issues such as the timing belt wear out on high-mileage Audis. I would also recommend to explore BMW, Mercedes and Audi manufacturer-approved used cars, that offer a comprehensive check, warranty and breakdown cover as standard.
When you've shortlisted the car you want to purchase, run a HPI car check (£3) on the vehicle that should highlight any skeletons in its closet. That includes accidents, insurance write offs, outstanding finance etc. Ensure that the car has not been classified as Category S, C, D, N by the insurer as that indicates an insurance incident, and its severity (depending on the grading).
Do your research on insurance premiums before you purchase the car. You can get an accurate estimate through a plethora of comparison websites - confused.com, moneysupermarket.com etc by simply knowing the Reg number of the car.
Buying through a reputable dealer (not individuals) is a preferable option as you will your stauatory rights in case you are unfortunate enough to find issues with the car in the initial period.
There are also plenty of user car warranty options for that extra peace of mind.
Hope that helps! Feel free to send me a PM if you have other questions.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by thesquaremile

As you say the length and breadth of the used car market is overwhelming, so to start off its important to narrow down on what you are after. Are you going to be using the car for mainly city and school runs? or driving motorway miles frequently? Do you need a family carrier or a high-performance hot hatch?
Feel free to send me a PM if you have other questions.

Hey, thanks for that informative post. I am unable to PM you due to your newbie status. I would be moving to the UK soon and one of the highlights was the anticipation of owning and driving some nice cars. I have a few questions:

1. Since your credit score would start from scratch there, how soon can you become eligible to get finance for a new car? Someone told me around 3 months but I would love to have more clarity on this. I am more inclined towards a PCP deal as the initial costs are low.

2. Is there no credit history needed if you choose to buy your car on an HP deal? Again this is something I read on the internet and not sure if it is true.

3. If both these are not feasible initially, then the route to go is for a used car. I do not want to go for a completely depreciated 10-year-old model here. Rather would look forward to buying something that is not more than 5 years old and run 50k miles or so. Can used car dealerships be trusted there or is it similar to India? Also, can I get finance for a used car considering the zero credit history or would need to pay this in full cash.

Have a lot more queries.

[thesquaremile]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Hey, thanks for that informative post. I am unable to PM you due to your newbie status. I would be moving to the UK soon and one of the highlights was the anticipation of owning and driving some nice cars. I have a few questions:
..
Have a lot more queries.

Building up credit history takes some time, usually 3-6 months considering lenders want to see a consistent history of transactional data on your account. Including regular incoming payments, direct debits for energy/gas bills etc. You also need to make sure you’re on the electoral roll since it lets lenders know you have a settled address. I am not 100% but my guess is that a HP deal entails a credit check, so the requirement of a stable credit history applies.

In terms of used car dealerships - yes there are plenty of reliable and honest businesses out there. The government has now digitised MOT data, which means checking the MOT and mileage history of a vehicle can be done within a few clicks (https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history). As such, things are a lot more transparent and chances of dealers fudging numbers are slim. That being said there still the cowboys out there, so do your research on the vehicle and dealership beforehand. Google and Autotrader reviews will serve you well. Hope that helps.

[kousik]

I have gone thru the process recently. Relocated to London exactly 3 months ago. Public transport is very good and you rarely need a car here. But been used to them, so went for one. Having no credit history, no corpus built up (spent the joining bonus on setting up house, paying security deposit and other relocation expenses etc), the only option was to opt for a second hand car and pay full cash. Also wanted peace of mind, so kept cargiant as second option before visiting the showrooms.

I checked Toyota first, they had good inventory though 60% of Yaris, some CH-R. They said Prius sells the same day. However there were none we actually did quite like. Next we visited Lexus as it was in the adjacent campus. Obviously 99% of their inventory was out of my budget. But there were 2 we could stretch and reach. We settled for a 2015 Lexus NX 300h with 70K miles for £20000. Paid a deposit of £2000 and they asked us to collect it a week later. I transferred the money I received from selling my cars in Bangalore using LRS scheme and added some fund to it to make the balance payment.

Next challenge was to get an insurance. Though directline denied, confused and comparethemarket offered a few quotes based on both me and wife hold only Indian licence and we have no history of residence and driving here. Finally called the insurance company as the payment was not going through -- over phone it was done. It was more than double of a friend who's a long term citizen with full NCB for a car that's IDV is double of mine.

To work around the daily transaction limit, did online transfer to Lexus 2 days before collection. The vehicle was serviced, MOT (fitness) done, was in top shape. They transferred the ownership online, immediately paid yearly road tax, and we were good to go. The service history was always with Lexus so I signed up for 3 yrs service contract with them.

[condor]

For folks in UK:

Our family friend is selling his Jaguar XF 2.2D Portfolio model, fully loaded. The car is in London. Selling to move to a Tesla.