Looking for a car

[British Bulldog]

My son has just passed his driving test and now i'm on the look out for a cheap little car for him so does anybody know of any garages etc that specialise in cheap little hatchbacks in the sussex area?

Any help would be appreciated because I hav'nt got a clue where to start.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Shoreham Car Auctions have great bargains but I would operate very much on a "buyer beware" basis - a friend of mine bought a car there for £150 that broke down on his way home from the auction.

 

[wigman]

My daughter passed her test in March and bought a ford KA which was advertised in the friday Ad. She paid £700 with 1 yrs mot and 6 months with fsh and touch wood its been brilliant so far.

 

[strings]

My last 2 cars have both been ebay finds.

It isn't like buying other things off ebay - you can go have a good look, take the car for a test drive etc. Then you make the owner an offer and they accept it (or not). If you are confident about private buying this is often a good way to do it.

The first car I bought off ebay was a bit of an old banger - a P reg citroen AX - it never reached the reserve price and my Dad put in an offer directly to the owner, which was accepted because they wanted a quick sale.

The second car I got off ebay was a 54 reg Peugeot 206s - I went and had a look, took it for a test drive (parked arount the corner and had a good look under the bonnet where the owner couldn't interfere) and put in a cash offer. The owner accepted and promply took the car off ebay.

It worked well - although neither of them were 'bid' for over ebay - they were both trusty ebay finds. Although you do have to have the confidence to know what you are looking at (I didn't have a clue, which is where my Dad - who worked in the motor industry for nearly 40 years was useful).

 

[raymondbriggs]

The car auction is a great place to look because your money will go a lot further down there and all the dealers you could visit are getting their stock there anyway.much of the stock is part exchange cars that plate glass dealers take and dont want on their forcourts.I got my car there nearly 3 years ago (£5000 + guide price) for just over £3000 and still happy with it.
Your best bet might be to go along and watch how it operates before buying and see the sort of cars(and prices)they get.

 

[SirDouglasLoft]

I've been looking for ages, bloody insurance is so expensive

 

[Taybha]

There are some shitpot death trap cars on most forecourts,you just have to avoid the duds,i used to blindly buy cars just on a whim normaly because they were clean and shiney,f*** the bald tyres i wont get stopped kind of attitude.

Cost me bigtime in the end with this lucky dip type of buying,there are lots of cheapo cars on sale try and get the garage to offer you a 3 month warranty at least and when you do find a car you fancy dont take thier word for it its a blah blah blah,spend the extra dosh and get the car AA checked,with this you will prob find out that the car needs cash spent on it,so you can then try and haggle the price down once the dealer sees the AA report,you may lose the car you may not,but you at least have peace of mind your offspring are not driving around in a potential death trap.

 

[Superphil]

There's a garage at Five Oaks just north of Billingshurst, opposite the Audi garage, they tend to specialise in cheaper cars, might be worth a look

 

[British Bulldog]

There's a garage at Five Oaks just north of Billingshurst, opposite the Audi garage, they tend to specialise in cheaper cars, might be worth a look

Just been looking at an advert for a car in that area, Lyons farm car sales on five oaks road is that the place your on about?

 

[scooter1]

I can't believe how much it is to insure young people these days. A mate of mine bought his son a 1.2 Punto last year, made the lad do the advanced driving course(which is well worth it by the way) and still the insurance was £1400. More than the value of the car by some distance. I know they're a higher risk etc etc, but really by that much? It cost me £200 to insure my first car as an 18 year old in 1990, things have got a little silly IMHO...

Get him something small, the Ka is ideal. It may be a bit girly, but if he wants to drive that badly he'll drive pretty much any car

 

[raymondbriggs]

Just been looking at an advert for a car in that area, Lyons farm car sales on five oaks road is that the place your on about?

no,that one used to sell import 4x4 crap it's on the same road but nearer billingshurst.still sells crap though.
he means Kevin Griffin Autos,as he says it is oposite the Audi dealer
There is a house on the road between Henfield and cowfold,near the Bull pub that has sold hatchbacks for years.

 

[Superphil]

Just been looking at an advert for a car in that area, Lyons farm car sales on five oaks road is that the place your on about?

No, Lyons farm is just a bit North of the one I mentioned. It's about 1 mile up the road from there, used to be called Poplar Cars, now, as mentioned above, believe it is Kevin Griffen Cars, RH14 9AL.

 

[British Bulldog]

No, Lyons farm is just a bit North of the one I mentioned. It's about 1 mile up the road from there, used to be called Poplar Cars, now, as mentioned above, believe it is Kevin Griffen Cars, RH14 9AL.

Cheers I shall check it out.

 

[Don't get me started]

You cant really go wrong on E BAy if they have good feedback. I have bought and sold cars and motorbikes off there and if they have 100+ feedback @100% you will be OK. If they haven't got 100% give them a wide birth.

Smallest slowest possible for yoof as the insurers dont like 'em. Shame really but I have seen some horrors from teenagers. In the main they have absolutely no road sense. Light blue touchpaper and stand back

 

[Garage_Doors]

My son has just passed his driving test and now i'm on the look out for a cheap little car for him so does anybody know of any garages etc that specialise in cheap little hatchbacks in the sussex area?

Any help would be appreciated because I hav'nt got a clue where to start.

How old is your son ? unless you own an oil field, its an important factor.
Mine 17 and all clean license etc even a 1.0 Micra is 2k plus just for 3rd party.

Looked up these smart cars as they are only 700cc, Full comp was 7k 3PTT 5k
and third part only 3k,
the car was only going to cost 2k

 

[Garage_Doors]

I can't believe how much it is to insure young people these days. A mate of mine bought his son a 1.2 Punto last year, made the lad do the advanced driving course(which is well worth it by the way) and still the insurance was £1400. More than the value of the car by some distance. I know they're a higher risk etc etc, but really by that much? It cost me £200 to insure my first car as an 18 year old in 1990, things have got a little silly IMHO...

Get him something small, the Ka is ideal. It may be a bit girly, but if he wants to drive that badly he'll drive pretty much any car

The value of the car is not relevant to the insurance unless insuring it either 3PT&T or Fully comp,
You have to remember the risk to the insurance company is far greater in what damage that you can do with that car more than what the car is worth and what you will get back if you write it off.
In simple terms, you can write off a 25k car with you £600 car.

The reason its uneconomic for young drivers to insure for more that 3rd part only is because they load the excess.
For instance, the boys old bike, was worth £600 full comp £1700, TPF&T 500 Third party only £200,
But the TPF&T was compulsory excess £500 ! so if it got stolen he would have got £100, having paid an additional £300 premium ? don’t make economic sense.

If anyone has any good advice for insuring young driver I would be most grateful.

 

[British Bulldog]

How old is your son ? unless you own an oil field, its an important factor.
Mine 17 and all clean license etc even a 1.0 Micra is 2k plus just for 3rd party.

Looked up these smart cars as they are only 700cc, Full comp was 7k 3PTT 5k
and third part only 3k,
the car was only going to cost 2k

He's 19, cant believe how much they charge youngsters for insurance these days he's allready been quoted over 2k for a couple of cars he looked at.

 

[Garage_Doors]

He's 19, cant believe how much they charge youngsters for insurance these days he's allready been quoted over 2k for a couple of cars he looked at.

Whilst I have never condoned young drivers driving without insurance, you can see why they did it, but thankfully that have counter that by increasing the penalty for no insurance to 6 points.
And any new driver getting 6 points in the first two years of driving in now automatically banned form driving and would have to re take the driving test.

Think the insurance premiums for young driver reflects this.

 

[beorhthelm]

You have to remember the risk to the insurance company is

...far less in proportion to actual claims than they make it look with the premiums. they rape the eager young kids knowing they will pay, to subsidise nice payments to other demogrpahics and areas of insurance that are non-compulsary. for all the stats on how many youngsters are involved in an accident (ie a passenger) the actual number of crashes involving a young driver is a great deal lower, and many of them dont involve another car or are low value claims.

 

[scooter1]

The value of the car is not relevant to the insurance unless insuring it either 3PT&T or Fully comp,
You have to remember the risk to the insurance company is far greater in what damage that you can do with that car more than what the car is worth and what you will get back if you write it off.
In simple terms, you can write off a 25k car with you £600 car.

The reason its uneconomic for young drivers to insure for more that 3rd part only is because they load the excess.
For instance, the boys old bike, was worth £600 full comp £1700, TPF&T 500 Third party only £200,
But the TPF&T was compulsory excess £500 ! so if it got stolen he would have got £100, having paid an additional £300 premium ? don’t make economic sense.

If anyone has any good advice for insuring young driver I would be most grateful.

Insuring it mums name and being a named driver seems to be the cheapest option these days, but even then its still a 4 figure sum