How-to Guides » Buy a car for less

A car is a significant purchase. Take your time and ensure that you get the best possible deal.

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Do your research

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If you know what price you should expect to pay you'll stand less chance of being ripped off. Search big car sales sites like Auto Trader to make sure you’re paying the best price. You should also check sites like Parkers and What Car?, and national car dealers, to ensure that you know exactly how much a used car is likely to cost you.

Get the right car for you!
Whether a petrol or diesel car is more cost effective depends on how far you drive. The cost of diesel per mile is lower than petrol, but the price of a diesel car is higher. Find out how far you need to drive to break even using this cost calculator.

It also helps if you factor in depreciation, as diesel cars tend not to depreciate at the same rate, and can also be cheaper to insure.

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Tips on this task (3)

1

paul1979 said

Unfortunately, market conditions dictate what a car sells for so parkers and what car can be completely misleading so the above statement is completly wasteful. Also, although it is true that a diesel will return you more miles per gallon, it will only do so at an effecient working temperature. As diesels are very good at retaining their heat, shorter journeys and town driving may actually cost you more from a diesel because the mpg will probably mirror a petrol mpg and diesel is more expensive to put into your fuel tank in the first place. So one again the above statment is rubbish!

Report on 05 February 2011 | Love 0 love
1

nawaratri said

We were accused of 'fronting ' and it was a nightmare taking months to resolve.
When I asked More Than what their exact policy was in terms of usage they said they did not have one.
We tried to find out 'is it miles in the car or hours usage..is it 60/40 or 70/30 but they had no answers to these questions
Yet we were accused of fronting, an apparently policyless practise!
They were happy to take our money when I first took out the policy with no questions whatsover about how much my son and myself would share the car.
I would suggest that nowadays with the huge increase in fradulent claims for whiplash injuries etc they are desperatley trying to claw back from innocent people rather than pursue the real fraudsters.
My premiums have risen by 70 % due to two speeding fines..you just cant win with these companies

Report on 16 June 2011 | Love 0 love
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VroomVroom said

It is worth checking out all the price guides if you have the time, but be aware that some will happily price cars that you simply cannot find for sale anywhere in the country. It worth checking out http://www.priceanycar.com and similar sites because they take account of supply and demand.

Report on 27 November 2011 | Love 0 love

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