The AutoTrader Game
28th January 2009
It all started with my stepdad Adrian, proclaiming that he has found a really nice Porsche 911 Carrera S complete with the Tiptronic semi-auto gearbox, for £10,000. I was really impressed and began a hunt for bargains for myself. Nowadays i’m actually addicted to doing so because i’ve found a number of highly desirable cars for not much money at all.
For example, want an expensive, top-end sports coupe? Then you can get a Jaguar XKR for around £8k onwards. High mileage being the only issues, which isn’t really an issue so long as you maintain the car regularly and look after it. Another example - one for the fans of the winding backroads - is the Mitsubishi Evo. On winding welsh B roads there’s simply nothing faster than an Evo. With the Evo X being £30,000 and the IX model still relatively new, the trick is to go for the Evo VIII. It’s better looking than the IX and has the same horsepower. Want one? Pick one up for £8k. In black too, if you fancy.
If the Evo’s not quite your thing but still want to blitz the backroads, there’s always the legendary Skyline R34 GTR. I found one in black with only 60k miles on the clock for £6000. And you can pick up an R33 model for half that.
Still want something with a bit of class and not something very Boy Racer-ish? How about a 2002 BMW M5 for around £8k-£9k, complete with that lovely 5.0L V8 and all that high tech luxury equipment? With speed that will tear your face off and yet a comfortable GT cruising mode that will soothe your fevered brow, you’re going to struggle to find a nicer car for the same money.
I’m probably shooting myself in the foot by telling you all about this because if you’re anything like me you’ll be phoning your bank manager tomorrow morning and will probably beat me to the best deals, but it really does show why the bottom is falling out of the car trade in dealerships. The case in the UK used to be that for a cheap deal you usually looked at old cars that were usually rusty old bangers. The best deals were usually nice cars that needed a bit of work on them. Nowadays though the cars aren’t that old and some of them are really nice cars, whilst dealerships are selling new cars for - lets be honest - a hell of a lot of money. A decent hatchback will cost more than £18,000. And a sports car for less than £20,000? Forget it. But the biggest problem is their roster of used cars. Because each car is checked, valeted and serviced by their in-house service teams they feel it warrants the ability to charge around twice as much for a used car compared to the price you’d pay if you bought one from a bloke in a private trade.
The problem with buying these bargains is you have to be really careful and know your stuff. You have to know what to look for when you go to visit the car. The big secret is this - it’s not hard to do so, even if you don’t know much about cars. You can usually find guides on the internet that will tell you exactly what to look for on specific models of cars, and more commonly a list of general things you should check on any used car you buy. If necessary bring a print-out of the guide with you, and if the owner refuses to give you permission to carry out said checks, walk away. Even if you really want the car, it’s not worth any amount of money if it’s just going to die on you.
Also, the best thing about private trades? It’s really easy to barter and haggle on the price, especially now the country is in a recession and every penny counts.
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