The last time I bought a car privately virtually destroyed my faith in human nature! I discovered too late that the car in question had been involved in an accident and had been cleverly disguised to conceal the damage.Of course, under the "sold as seen" policy there was little I could do about it and I had to resell the car at a thumping great loss. My latest car (bought through a dealer) has served me well but it is now time to upgrade to a newer model. Having taken the car to several dealers I was intrigued by the way they "examine" a car in great detail (sic) before offering you a price in p/x for one of their forecourt models. Without exception, the salesman will walk around the car once, rev the engine, and that's it! It's almost as if they have a sixth sense and instinctively know when a car looks right. Surely any fool could examine a used car if it was that easy, so what was their secret? It would seem that the salesman is only interested in identifying wear patterns and common faults when he examines a car - the rest is purely down to instinct. It's really a question of knowing what to look for without being side-tracked by trivial faults that have no real bearing on the overall condition of the car in question. I am tempted to consider buying privately again as I feel the best bargains are to be found via private sales.
Any views on this?
Regards,
Muzzel
P.S I have prepared a factsheet entitled 'The do's and don'ts of buying a used car. To obtain your FREE copy please click on the following link: snipped-for-privacy@clicktopromote.co.uk