Totally new to buying a car... help!

AARRRGH

Hello all

I hope someone can advise me on this.

I'm 31 and I have a provisional drivers licence. I'm currently getting lessons and have my driving test in a few weeks.

I'm going to buy a car next week. My budget is around €2000, but if it makes more sense to spend less or a little more I am flexible.

I'll be using the car a lot initially to help me learn how to drive, but after that I'll probably only use it on the weekends.

So these are my questions:

1) Any recommendations on a car? Note I'd like to keep the insurance as low as possible.
2) Should I buy from a dealer or a private buyer?

Thanks for your advice!

Cheers

Muckie

Pick a praticular make/model you like. Will you be driving it for
long, if its just a little run about you've quite a good choice.
Toyota Starlets, Ford Fiesta and maybe even Renault Clio's.
Get yourself a pal or mechanic to go with you when you go car shopping.
Shop around and haggle. Good luck.

mickdw

I hate the idea of people buying a cheap car for 'learning' as if they intend to bounce off every car they come across.
Nothing wrong with the value you are thinking of OP but some will suggest gettting a 500 euro car so you would not be worried about damage. That is worst position for a learner to be in imo, thinking they have a easy get out of jail & not concentrating fully

AARRRGH

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I reckon I wil stick with German or Japanese...

What are the annual costs for running a car (apart from petrol). Just road tax? How much is it?

Thanks!

mickdw

You will have:

Petrol... €2500 to €3000 for about 15000 miles
Tax..... maybe 200
Insurance .... €800
Maintenance & NCT testing.... €300
Depreciation..... €500 to €1000
Unexpected repairs....€500

Total for a very cheap small car: About €5k per year.

Tigger

mickdw wrote: »

You will have:

Petrol... €2500 to €3000 for about 15000 miles
Tax..... maybe 200
Insurance .... €800
Maintenance & NCT testing.... €300
Depreciation..... €500 to €1000
Unexpected repairs....€500

Total for a very cheap small car: About €5k per year.

15,000 is a big milege and at 40mpg costs 2,200
tax fair enough 200
insurance ok 800
maintaince + nct 300
but you cant call on 1000 depriciation on a 2k car]
and unexpected repauirs aren't a yearly thing

i get €3,600 + a grand to buy the car

you won't get any cheaper than this on that sorta milege

mickdw

I dont think too many old petrol cars are doing 40 mpg though.
Buying a 2k car now might be worth 2k next year, it might also be worth nothing next year if turns out to be a heap. Either way, 2 to 3 years driving from a 2k car & being happy to give it away after that is pretty good going. Thats where I get the 1k depreciation from.

Fair enough though. 3.5k yearly + car purchase whether it be every year or every 3 years etc.

ha-ya-said-what

If you get a decent little car for 2g & hang onto it for a couple of years, you'll have got your money outta it. Loads of little solid cars out there for that money.

AARRRGH

Thank you all for the replies so far.

Another question if you don't mind:

What's the story with driving (without a full-licence passenger) when you have a provisional licence? Is this allowed? If not, what are the repurcussions?

Cheers.

antodeco

AARRRGH wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies so far.

Another question if you don't mind:

What's the story with driving (without a full-licence passenger) when you have a provisional licence? Is this allowed? If not, what are the repurcussions?

Cheers.

It depends on the Garda that stops you. You are, by law, required to have a fully licenced driver with you. If you need someone to go around with you for a while, you know you can ask me

In terms of a car, how long do you think you will keep it for? 2k will get you a decent enough runaround. What I would say is: Around €1000 on the car, the rest on insurance and tax. You can get some really decent deals. Stick with a 1 litre - 1.2 litre if you can. Try and get something less than 10 years old, because from next year, the NCT is every year, so that will factor into costs (I know €50 isint much, but still....)

af_thefragile

If you buy from a dealer you'll get warranty and you can return the car back to him if you find its all broken.

If you buy private, it'll be much cheaper but there will be no warranty and you could end up stuck with a lemon if you don't know what you're doing.

I bought my car private, I got it checked over by a mechanic in a garage before I bought it. I saved about 1500eur buying it private.
I've spent about 600eur on it so far and I've gotta spend another 400eur getting its timing belt done next week. So thats a grand gone already. Then upgrading the stereo is gonna cost me another 200eur. It also needs a new front suspension and new exhaust sometime in the future. Which is gonna be the final major spend on it.

So there you go. If I had bought it from a dealer, I could have gotten all of that fixed under the warranty. But as I didn't I had to get it all done myself.
Though maybe one advantage is that as I've gotten it fixed myself, I could get it done at reputable places and get it all done properly. And I also know that after all the fixes I've done on the car, its not better than the dealer's car.

Also I wanted a black car and the dealer had a silver one, so I'm happy with what I got.
Even though i've had to spend all that money on the car. I don't regret not getting it from a dealer. Its still a really nice buy.

Bottom line, you're safer and better off buying from a dealer.
And if you do find a good cheap deal private, make properly sure its not a lemon by getting it looked over by a professional mechanic in a garage where he can put it up on a ramp and look underneath the car.
And only go private if the seller is genuine and you're saving >1000eur. If not it won't be worth it!

AARRRGH wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies so far.

Another question if you don't mind:

What's the story with driving (without a full-licence passenger) when you have a provisional licence? Is this allowed? If not, what are the repurcussions?

Cheers.

Depends on the garda that stops you (look out for the one's that says "traffic corps").
If he's in a good mood, he'll tell you not to do it again and let you off.
If he's in a bad mood, he can fine you 1000eur and another 1000eur if you don't have L plates on (making it 2000eur for no passenger + no L plates). Its kinda a catch 22 situation. Having the "L" plates on your car is like a big "look at me I'm a learner" sign which will attract more gards towards you. The other day I was stopped at a check point and the gard came around to ask for me and my passenger's license. Normally they only check tax, insurance, NCT and thats it but because I had L plates on, he felt obliged to come and ask me for my license. Maybe also cuz I'm young.
And I know many people who have provisional but drive around all over the place without the L plates on and never get into any trouble. Helps if you're a girl, you'll get away with murder! Though the garda will not be happy if he finds you're a learner and have no L plates on!!

So as I said, its a catch 22 situation. Stay safe, have your L plates up and drive around with a full license passenger!

Bigus

Very few dealers will even consider selling a car for 2k , and the ones that would probably wouldn't honour a warranty.

jackofalltrades

af_thefragile wrote:

If you buy from a dealer you'll get warranty and you can return the car back to him if you find its all broken.

Dealer warranties are usually quite restrictive in what issue they cover and can be as short as 3 months.

I bought my car private, I got it checked over by a mechanic in a garage before I bought it. I saved about 1500eur buying it private.
I've spent about 600eur on it so far and I've gotta spend another 400eur getting its timing belt done next week. So thats a grand gone already. Then upgrading the stereo is gonna cost me another 200eur. It also needs a new front suspension and new exhaust sometime in the future. Which is gonna be the final major spend on it.

So there you go. If I had bought it from a dealer, I could have gotten all of that fixed under the warranty.

Dealer warranties don't usually cover wear and tear failures/scheduled maintainence.

Bottom line, you're safer and better off buying from a dealer.
And if you do find a good cheap deal private, make properly sure its not a lemon by getting it looked over by a professional mechanic in a garage where he can put it up on a ramp and look underneath the car.

I'd disagree that buying from dealer is necessarily better. I've heard plenty of horror stories from people who have bought cars from dealers. Including someone who was a regular customer in main ford dealer who was sold a car that had previously been in a crash, was badly repaired and was then sold on without telling the cusomer.

Bottom line wether its a private sale or a car dealer, always get the car properly checked out.

AARRRGH

Thanks everyone for your replies. OK - I have two more questions!

1) This is probably a really thick question, but when you buy a car you won't be insured to drive that car, so how do you get it home?
2) I am thinking of buying this car (or at least, having a look at it to see if it is ok). Anything obvious I should be aware of, e.g. dodgy dealer, etc.

Cheers!

Carstuck

You could get make it part of the deal for the car to be delivered.

-Corkie-

Its abit pricey i know where there is a 99 five door for 1200 euro with 2 year nct

Bigus

At 950 with belt done its not dear, seems exactly what you're looking for , don't know this dealer but looks sound.

af_thefragile

AARRRGH wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replies. OK - I have two more questions!

1) This is probably a really thick question, but when you buy a car you won't be insured to drive that car, so how do you get it home?
2) I am thinking of buying this car (or at least, having a look at it to see if it is ok). Anything obvious I should be aware of, e.g. dodgy dealer, etc.

Cheers!

At that price range look around a LOT and definitely make sure to get it properly checked in a garage before you buy it.
You're looking at the bottom of the pile there and so you need to be really careful as to not end up with a lemon.

I've been to that dealer's place once to check out a Puma. It was in really bad shape so I walked out. Couldn't say much about the dealer cuz I didn't spend much time in there.

But really look around a lot before you buy something at that range. Most of the cars are heaps of junk but you will find some good ones in there.


And after you've bought your car, call up the insurance company (whom you've already got the insurance quote on) and get the insurance on it over the phone. Once you've paid them (through credit card or laser) you will be insured on it and you can get it home. That's how I did it.

Or you could tell the guy to drop it at your place. Or hire a trailer.

antodeco

Get your insurance added that day, or give me a bell, and I will do a temporary transfer of insurance and drive it for back for you.