New car advice please

[smelly]

Hi guys,

OK with the baby on the way we have to get a bigger car. Having looked around we've found a Volvo S40 at a local dealership.

Since all our previous cars have been company cars from Masterlease I've not had any dealings with 2nd hand cars.

The dealer is a local independent dealer he's stated that "Car has recently had a major service", "Car will come with Warranty" and "MOT to May 2011, Tax to October, Full Service History + Bills, Clear HPI".

Now how much of this can I believe? Is it still advisable to get the AA man out to give it the once over and should I check on HPI as well??

Sorry it's all new to me and it's quite a significant sum of cash so i don't want to drive it out after having paid for the clutch or something major to give out while we're on the road outside.

Cheers

[kalniel]

You are protected to some extent especially if you can get what he 'said' down in writing. The pessimistic response is to say that all of that doesn't guarantee any extra reliability, but at the same time if he is giving you the impression the car is in fine working order then that's what you're buying, and anything else is false advertising that he could be liable for.

Check what the warranty covers carefully, and consider getting one with a third party (tesco or whoever) if you would like ease of mind. They're like an additional form of insurance, which some people think is a waste of money, others think it's worth the peace of mind. With volvo.. repairs are very expensive, so I'd be tempted to get a decent warranty.

[jimbouk]

You are protected to some extent especially if you can get what he 'said' down in writing.

+ 1, get it in writing then you have a decent recourse in case of problems.

The dealer is a local independent dealer he's stated that "Car has recently had a major service", "Car will come with Warranty" and "MOT to May 2011, Tax to October, Full Service History + Bills, Clear HPI".

There should be a receipt for the major service, take a look. If it was done by a different garage then that should be ok, if it was done by the garage selling the car then look at the list of things that should be almost new and check their condition - should be fairly obvious by how grubby they are as to if they're 'recent' replacements or not. If he states HPI clear in writing (print out any ads that state these things and write the date they were obtained) then if there is any trouble then you should be covered - and ask to see the HPI report.

Warranty is a difficult one, if it's not 3rd party then it's not really worth squat if the place you get the car from turns out to be dishonest. Also check what's covered and what's not.

Ask about an inspection, if he's happy for you to do one then it's probably a good sign (even if you don't bother). And ask to have half an hour to go through the paperwork on your own, anything missing or any resistance to it then have doubts.

At the end of the day it's not like you're after a rare car so be prepared to walk away.

[Flibb]

We recently handed back a masterlease car, in our case wifes work is providing a loan and funding, so we needed to have an inspection carried out before buying. After hunting around a bit and talking to a few people I settled on a company called DEKRA Expert, partly on price, but also after talking to them about a few things we needed to have looked at. have to say they were excellent to deal with, quick, and the mechanic was very thorough. They were significantly cheaper than AA/RAC, but the level of service was excellent. I booked it on a Monday evening, was contacted half an hour later about the history / finance check and the car was inspected on the Wednesday. I used the peace of mind inspection for £99, was nice to have somebody elses oppinion, especially as they took it for a quick spin
https://www.dekra-expert.co.uk/vehic...cle.inspection

[smelly]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll give DEKRA a ring. The dealer was happy for someone to come in to check the car over - which i take as a good sign. Will test drive on Saturday.

[socko5000]

well if it comes with all the documents thats good and when buying second hand cars if your gonna check them yourself is the tyres for tred then look at bodywork. Then look at wear and tear inside the car on the steerin wheel and seats also under bnnet for corrsion and oil around the engine bay

[smelly]

Had a look at the car ion Saturday and took it for a test drive. It seemed fine. There were a few issues that the dealer pointed out to us - break on rear bumper, scratches on left passenger door and marks on the bonnet. He's going to sort these out in the bodyshop - I've decided not to haggle on the price. The body work would have been about £800.

I've asked for the RAC man to do a check (saw some bad reviews about Dekra) it's a full check for £249. Passed HPI check.

The 6 month warranty is with a 3rd party, which I'm happy with.

I asked him to open the bonnet but he couldn't find the catch. Took him over 5 mins before his mate came round to do it.

[jimbouk]

Sounds like you've covered all your bases well, fingers crossed for you that nothing unexpected comes up!