when to buy used car?

Hi,

I don't think the price of 2nd hand cars will decrease due to January sales. The time they're likely to decrease is when a new reg is brought into play - there'll be more to sell. New registrations are brought into play in March & September I think. This is because people will be part exchanging a lot of their cars for the new model etc.

You are probably looking at a price range of about £6750 from a Ford dealer. These cars are likely to be ex mobility, which means they are only allowed a certain amount of mileage per year. To be fair these cars will be well looked after, but again, you do pay the price premium. I recently bought a

52 reg Focus (3 door) from a private dealer, it cost £6500. This beat every Ford dealer price plus it was a special edition model with lower mileage.

I think if you give it a test drive and it feels OK plus it has full service history you will be OK with any 2nd hand dealer, especially on cars so new. My advice is to ask plenty of questions, a link below may help you:

HTH,

Matt

In message , Matt C wrote

Watch out for the bullshit from the Ford dealers. You will also pay a premium for the other services the Ford dealers offer when you buy the car. I was offered a 'cheap' loan at 2% more than I could have obtained instantly from at least 3 other sources. The special insurance that no-one would be able to beat was over £100 more than I was quoted by my existing insurance company.

Yes I agree, never ever (well 99% of the time!) use the finance packages as offered by car dealers. This is how they make their money most of the time by offering 'super low' finance which is as you say 2-3% more than usual loan companies!

When I was getting the best price, I noticed the Ford dealers would not budge one bit on price. For example, screen price would be £6999 yet to get it to £6750 you had to work for it. They would simply not go any lower, don't be fooled into getting the models such as the 'cl' or 'lx' either which is what they offered me for £6500. I got the impression from one of the dealers I spoke to that people do pay the £7000 which is why they were not prepared for an instant sale at £6500. It baffled me as I expect £500 off screen price instantly anyway.

Matt

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful. What does 'ex mobility' mean?

Jen

A used car deprecates every month, including the vehicle you have to trade. Used cars take their biggest hit when new models arrive at dealerships in the fall and again with the advent of the next calendar year. The 'best' time to buy is when you find that one really great car and it suits your budget. ;)

That should help you, when I was buying my car every car seemed to be ex mobility (or motability).

In essence, it's likely these cars have done very low mileage, they've only been used for short shop runs and are well looked after.

Matt

snip

Have you studied long and hard to attain special qualifications to be able to state the blindingly bleeding obvious or was it just a momentary flash of inspiration on your part Mike?

Bob