Where did you buy your car?

I am in the unenviable position where I am looking to buy a new car - didn't really want to have to until next summer, however there is wear to part of my inlet manifold (plastic?!?!), and apparently my choice is either to lash out a stupid amount of cash to replace it, play Russian Roulette and hope that it keeps going over the next six months, or try and trade the blighter in whilst it is running - the latter option is appealing to me the most at the moment.

Now, main dealer prices are just a touch too high for me, and although my credit rating is significantly better than it once was t he likelihood of me getting finance that is not secured to the vehicle is pretty slim; so, I am resigned to the fact that I am going to be getting the car and the finance from the same place.

The current car loan has 18 months left (no missed or late payments or anything), and the car will pretty much be worth the balance of the loan. I don't have a big wadge of cash to use as a further deposit (if I did, I might consider fixing the current car, better the devil you know and all that....), so I reckon that I am firmly in car supermarket territory.

Now, I bought the current car at The Car Shop, got a reasonable deal from them and was quite happy with the service - however, they are a long way away from me, and looking at their website at the moment the vast majority of their stock has a hell of a lot of 'leg' on it (80,000 miles as a rough average) - I would rather go for something with less miles on it, as the current car has just turned 101,000 miles and I am wondering if its as much the mileage as anything that is the reason for the impending doom?

I looked at CarCraft website - lower mileages, and very close by, however have heard nothing good about them; apparently you would need to be a mechanic and a solicitor to ensure that you didn't get done when buying a car from them.

I looked at Car Giant website - again, high mileages and I recall visiting their premises a few years back and not being impressed by the state of the cars at all.

I then looked at Available Car website - horrendous distance to travel for me, although the website was quite impressive; however, a quick Google later revealed negative reviews and I have no desire to have to travel half way up the country to effectively get shafted.

So, where did you buy your car? Has anyone bought from any of the above and have good stories to tell? Is there anywhere else I should be looking at?

I am reasonably savvy when it comes to looking at cars, so am fairly comfortable that I can spot the good ones from the sheds (not that I should be in shed territory, as the budget is around £9-12k depending on finance)

 

I thought I had bought a quality car last time (VW Passat) - however, it soon became apparent that the engine was borne out of the BHP race, and was essentially a bastardised version of an older one, and in doing so they gave it more bugs than a wet tramp.

In fairness, it now has 101k on the clock and has only let me down once - but, I am reluctant to spend (borrowed) money on this repair knowing that there are almost certainly more repairs in the offing.

I am looking at either a newer VW Passat Estate with the improved 2.0TDI CR engine, or and Audi A4 Estate, maybe a BMW 3 Series Estate (although doubtful, as I just cannot get myself to actually 'like' BMW's, no matter how people rave about them), or a Skoda Superb Tourer (again, must the CR engine).

I have looked at the Ford Mondeo and the Vauxhall Insignia, and whilst they are both nice, I am concerned that they are both likely to lose money faster than a bad gambler whilst I am paying a loan on them (I understand that all cars do this, but I would like it to be worth at least a few grand at the end of the loan).

There is only really one local dealer that I can think of, which I visited recently - lovely stock, lovely people, however out of my league in terms of budget and the finance would want a considerable deposit - currently not an option.

 

My mum had a few over the years before she had to go for an MPV on Motability (struggles to get into a lower car now), and all of hers were great.

I do like my Jags, and would have another one in a second if my heart was the only obstacle - however, I am stuck in a pretty horrible position at the minute, so arranging/financing something like that would be nigh on impossible.

The part to fix mine costs around £480 on its own - then there is the fitting of it; I've seen the day I would tackle a job like this on a Saturday afternoon, but its quite involved on this car, and to be honest I'd be petrified of knackering the new part.

In short, I reckon I am looking at a bill of around £800 to solve this one issue, so by the time I tax the car at the end of the month, that is a grand - and its a grand that I simply don't have. Even if I did, I am not convinced that I want to spend it on this car at this stage in its life, as there are certainly more bills not far away.

In short, I need to do a deal where I can chop this car in, and walk away with a newer one on a new loan, paying the same as I am now - I'm just not sure how many dealers can do something to accommodate this, and on the right sort of car (just to make it all the harder, I won't go for a car I don't like simply to get me out of a hole - I'm paying £265 a month, and that should be able to get me something pretty good, even without a deposit?

 

Nice wee car the Fox, sadly too small for the family, dog etc. Even a Focus would be really pushing it size wise to be honest.

 

Clueless - what make/model was Christine, and who was the large seller if you don't mind me asking.

I have searched for reviews on all of the car places mentioned above, and others, and the positive reviews were in single figures in each case. Loads of people saying not to go near Car Craft/Car Giant/Car Shop/Available Car/Evans Halshaw etc etc etc, and probably with good personal reason - - yet these places are still in business, so is it just a case of luck no matter where you go?

Rustyroots - back in August, I saw an Audi estate that I absolutely fell in love with, and was about to rush out and do the deed, when I decided to pop into a small local place on the way 'just for a look' - they had three Mondeo's, only three or four months old, and each with less than 3000 miles on the clock, and all with massive savings off the list price; I pretty much decided then and there to not bother looking at anything else, and rather than chop the current car in with no deposit forward onto the next, that I would wait and see the loan on this one out completely and use it as a deposit against one of these nearly new cars - that was fine, until this one decided to hold the begging bowl out to the tune of a grand.

I tried 'bangernomics' a few years back, and it backfired fairly comprehensively, so I went back into newer cars (not least as my car is pretty essential to our daily lives), and to be fair to the Passat its been a reasonable car - its only let me down once, and that was sorted under warranty, and apart from servicing and tyres, its not really wanted anything to speak of. If I was in a better position, and the mileage wasn't as high as it is, I would almost certainly just fix it.