You’d never buy an old house without having first booked in a qualified surveyor to carry out a full structural survey right – so why behave any differently when buying a used car?
Unless you’re a qualified mechanic, buying a used car from a private individual you don’t know is a distinctly dangerous business. And let’s be honest – buying a used car from a used car showroom can often be something of a lottery no matter what the warranty tells you. If you’ve ever tried going back to one of the slightly less reputable second hand car showrooms around with some form of mechanical problem (whether minor or major), then you’ll probably know what I mean!
Now the reasons so many people don’t bother getting a qualified mechanic in to thoroughly review a second hand car they’re thinking about buying are two-fold:
- It can be a relatively expensive processing relation to the overall value of the vehicle and,
- Lots of people like to think they know a little more about car mechanical problems than they do in reality.
But both these things are a mistake. First off, it’s probably best to negotiate a price reasonably close to the asking price (having checked the book price first of course to make sure it’s a reasonable ask) subject to it passing a mechanical survey with flying colours. If it then does, then fine, you’ve bagged yourself a good car. If it doesn’t, then you can negotiate further and harder on the back of the survey or – at worst – you’ve spent a relatively small amount of money and saved yourself a much bigger financial disaster in the longer term.
Secondly – even if you’re quite well up to date, no one at all is completely au fait with some of the latest developments in eco cars for example. The technology is just changing too quickly.
Jut one more point – if the car you select in the first place is a Honda, then independent, objective surveys show that they’re the UK’s most reliable cars – so at least you’re stacking the odds in your favour. But still get it professionally assessed before you agree to buy.