Best deal you've had when buying a car

[djt100]

Talking to a friend about deals we've had on cars and wondered what other people luck had been like

I'll start with mine

Celica GT4 Carlos Sainz, Went to look at one, pile of Dog S***, found another about 50 miles away, I'm already about 100 miles from home, £1000 over budget, get there it was exactly what I'd been looking for, So had words told how much money I had and made the offer, 1/2 hour later car was mine up for £5500 paid £4200

Chevy Camero for my brother I’d seen it in the dealers for about 4 weeks, up for £4500 paid £3500

206cc for my sister that needed a new Exhaust £1600 of the asking price

Ford Capri 2.0 Ghia paid £120 for it from a lady whose husband left her, just wanted it out of her garage.

Mt current Astra Coupe up for £3000, guy had already brought a new car and the astra had no tax Paid £2000 cash

All of these I would consider to have been at fair prices, before the haggling, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and a bit of taking the P***


All of these were fair prices before the haggling. Not madly overpriced to begin with

So what deals have you had??

[WalterEgo]

Bought a 9 month old Skoda Fabia vRS with 2,300 miles on the clock for £9200, used it for 9 months as a driving instructor car, then sold it with about 20k on it for £9000.

[edc]

WalterEgo said:

Bought a 9 month old Skoda Fabia vRS with 2,300 miles on the clock for £9200, used it for 9 months as a driving instructor car, then sold it with about 20k on it for £9000.

In a similar vein made +10% after 10 months and 10k miles on a Range Rover.

[jonno990]

:sigh: it's easy all you need do is feign a mockney accent and say "old out yer and"

[nouze]

shouldn't the title read "Best deal you've had when bruying a car?"

djt100 said:

guy had already brought a new car

[jsg612]

My first brand new car in 2008...

Renault Twingo 1.2 GT Turbo £9995
Panoramic Glass Sunroof / Climate Control Pack £795
Metallic "Pearl Black" £395
Sound Pack Upgrade £225
Rear Diffuser £125
Speedline Turini 16" £395

Paid £7500, brand new, with options and accessories, '58 plate, 6 miles on the clock and not a pre-reg... (Then someone run in the back of it at low speed, knocked the bumper out of alignment, put me off a bit and I sold it. Yes I'm a perfectionist.)

Absolute bargain of the decade for me, what a cracking deal. Still miss the car too - 1149cc's of 100hp turbocharged goodness is great fun.

[Big Tav]

I bought a $40,000AUD Pontiac for $23,000 once. His Mrs spat the dummy and was sick of his hobbies (he was on his 5th car) and she wanted a family car on that day. He advertised it for $30,000 for a quick sale. I called him and said I just sold one of my cars for $23,000 and I would need to organise some extra funds as I didn't have $30,000. He took my number and I got a call that afternoon saying that he would take my $23,000 if I did the deal today. I flew from Sydney to Brisbane with all of that in cash and my Mrs and I drove it home.

Best deal I ever made.

[Big Tav]

I bought a $40,000AUD Pontiac for $23,000 once. His Mrs spat the dummy and was sick of his hobbies (he was on his 5th car) and she wanted a family car on that day. He advertised it for $30,000 for a quick sale. I called him and said I just sold one of my cars for $23,000 and I would need to organise some extra funds as I didn't have $30,000. He took my number and I got a call that afternoon saying that he would take my $23,000 if I did the deal today. I flew from Sydney to Brisbane with all of that in cash and my Mrs and I drove it home.

Best deal I ever made.

[S1_RS]

Old '70 850 Mini, had front end damage. I knew the bloke, he wanted to swap for a bicycle so he could get to work. My mate had the contents of an old bike shop in his unit, I bought a bike for 4 quid and cycled up to Mini-owners house, swapped the mini for the 4-quid bike. Got the car home and found 2 quid under the back seat. Hammered out the front end damage, threw a s/h headlight in and sold for nigh-on 200 quid a week later.

[uuf361]

I guess this would be mine:

Bought my 700 mile Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster Christmas 2008, when it was 8 months old. List was about £92K and I paid £55,700.

Sadly it was a good car so I sold it 5 months later for a 10% profit....

[Compo_Simmonite]

One owner, 20,000 mile 1964 Sunbeam Rapier bought for £20 (with 10 months MOT) and sold a couple of years later for £50
Midget dismantled at 3 years old for full respray for £175 but never reassembled. Broke for parts and got £1600.
New Lomax kit car given to me. Bought a £200 2CV with new galv chassis as donor and sold the project for £1500.
1.6LS Capri that previous owner put into storage at less than 3 years old after he had heart attack. I bought for £400 when 10 years old, 10,000 miles, mass of bills from main agent for recommissioning and full (1st !) MOT. Loved that car but poor health meant could no longer drive it.

Paul H

[jomcvelia]

Range Rover Sport bought for £29k sold for £33k 6months later

[McSam]

uuf361 said:

I guess this would be mine:

Bought my 700 mile Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster Christmas 2008, when it was 8 months old. List was about £92K and I paid £55,700.

Sadly it was a good car so I sold it 5 months later for a 10% profit....

This sounds like a cracking deal, but the statement of it being a good car and therefore one you should sell.. Seems like you're doing it wrong?

I can't put much to these, but I bought a '95 1.6 Escort - which was actually surprisingly tidy - for three hundred quid. But with ten months' tax and MOT and half a tank of fuel in it, man maths said the actual car cost me about a ton. Ran it for those ten months, spent absolutely nothing on it that I didn't just fancy doing, and sold it for £130 with a fairly bad MOT failure.. Was quite pleased

[Mazdarese]

I'd like to think I got a good deal on my MPS. It was in the classifieds at £9k ,then reduced to £8.5k after 2 weeks, then down to £7,999 after another two weeks. I'd kept my eye on it, went to see it, offered £7k and dealt on £7350

Not bad for a 2007, 35k miles, Sat Nav, FSH etc.

[skene]

My friend bought a Mk2 Golf for £2 and sold it a week later for £700

[McSam]

skene said:

My friend bought a Mk2 Golf for £2 and sold it a week later for £700

He's winning so far.


Those who just want to get rid of cars, get them off the drive because they can't do anything with them, are where it's at

[hornetrider]

I got 26% off list for a brand new MX5 Coupe last year, prety stonking deal.

[CampDavid]

Bought a 306 Rallye by accident on eBay earlier this week. £835

No description but the guy selling it had just given his son a 3 series as a swap and wanted it shifted. Drives brilliantly, cambelt and service just done and worth £1500 all day long.

Happy with that.

[anonymous-user]

I bought a 1993 BMW 325i coupe when it was six months old and had done 4,000 miles in use as a demonstrator and as the weekend car of the MD of the dealership. It had every conceivable optional toy and would have cost about 33K when new. I paid 26K, drove it about for five years, and then sold it for 16K. It was stolen by some (presumably) professionals who stripped its fancy wheels and sporty black interior, but surprisingly the insurer replaced everything after the car was found in an Essex field, so when I sold it the interior was as new. That is the only sensible deal which I have ever achieved on a car, as all of my other purchases have been daft and costly, but sometimes fun (OK, except for the 700 quid bloke in pub Series 3 Landy, which was a good buy). I have only bought two brand new cars, and am resolved never again to do so unless I win the Lottery.

Edited by Breadvan73 on Saturday 12th February 10:29

[TomM]

I bought my works old Kangoo van for £300, spent a weekend cleaning it up, MOTd it, taxed it and sold it on eBay for £2350, went to NYC on the profit - the boss was gobsmacked