£500 car buying advice

[Hazzard33]

17 year old here
I'm looking to buy a cheap supermini (Fiesta,Polo,206 etc) for around £500 to practice driving in and use to commute to and from college for a bit when I pass my test. I know a bit about cars but just not where I can get the best deal on them. I have several options - buying part exchanges from dealers, gumtree or auto trader but i don't know which is best.
Also what models of cars to look at avoid would be greatly appreciated

[bearman68]

I would say £500 for a running super mini with an MOT in the current market is unrealistic I'm afraid. Even £1000 is asking a lot. 12m ago maybe, but it's hard now.
Toyota yaris is the obvious answer though.

Stuff to avoid - all German stuff, most of the French stuff. Stick to Japanese and Korean, and you might manage it, on a good day.

Best of luck.

[KungFuPanda]

Keep your options open. Join all the FB groups for cars being sold under a grand. Go for something being sold privately with the longest MOT. Hopefully it’ll last you a year.

[A1VDY]

We sometimes have trade ins at that price range. Just yesterday we sold a Mk6 fiesta finesse, a basic model with the 1.3 ohc engine as fitted to later Ka's (no cambelt, chain drive). 03 plate car but the body was very good as was the underside. Four nearly new tyres and 12 months mot, £550.
However we only had it for a day before it sold.
Personally for a first car I'd go with a Mk6 Fiesta. Very Hardy mechanicals, cheap and easy to repair. The 16 valve versions, 1.25 & 1.4 go better but the 1.3 is chain drive so no belt to worry about.
Theres plenty of crap out there so you'll have to sift through them to find a reasonable one. Try to take someone with you who knows a little about cars so you don't get stitched up..

[Durovigutum]

Hazzard33 said:

17 year old here
I'm looking to buy a cheap supermini (Fiesta,Polo,206 etc) for around £500 to practice driving in and use to commute to and from college for a bit when I pass my test. I know a bit about cars but just not where I can get the best deal on them. I have several options - buying part exchanges from dealers, gumtree or auto trader but i don't know which is best.
Also what models of cars to look at avoid would be greatly appreciated

My first car, 31 years ago, was a £200 Austin Allegro. It got me through my test and a few months on. I’ve bought a lot of cars since, now shopping mostly in the glass palaces, but I remember my Jalopy days fondly. My advice would be to buy something grandad and unfashionable- partly because you’ll get something low mileage and looked after, but also because young people don’t crash many of them which reduces the insurance as the computer scores the risk low. You may have to go Focus size however.

[dtulip8]

It’s not impossible to do. I picked up a 52 plate 1.9 TDI Fabia for £600 off Gumtree yesterday. OK it’s done 180k, but full service history (literally every 6k) and a cam belt last year. You just have to keep looking, be prepared to put up with imperfections (the thermostat is duff on mine) and keep your eyes open when looking at it.

[Jamescrs]

It is doable but dont focus on any specific make or model. Keep an eye on Facebook and Gumtree and look to see what comes up.

You really need someone to go with you if you dont know cars yourself though as cars in this budget can be bodged up to get you a couple of miles down the road before they fail and you have zero comeback in reality.

I've currently got a Mini Cooper S I bought for under a grand which I use for track days and its brilliant so there are bargains around but you have to be careful.

[ChrisH72]

Private sale has to best best surely?

My best mate recently sold his 1.7 Puma which he'd owned for 17 years and kept immaculate (as much as possible). It had a few months MOT and ran very well but as with most 20 year old Ford's keeping on top of rust and other little issues was becoming a chore. It went for £650 so not much more than you have in mind. Okay, insurance for a Puma at 17 is probably not great but it's just an example of how you can find a well looked after car in the classifieds for very little.

[Rozzers]

Just bear in mind that it will cost more to insure than to buy. This affects the prices of higher insurance group cars at this level, with them often appearing cheaper than the basic small cars.

[Lester H]

Lester H said:

Bit of a boring answer for a 17 year old but often the best buys at this price are from relatives or a friend of a friend who knows someone giving up driving, a neighbour or even from a small ad in a supermarket, preferably in a “posh”area. Sometimes small independent garages may have something which they would prefer to sell rather than send to auction. Korean a good bet as suggested, also post 2002 Fiesta.

If you like cars ( you are now a PH after all) as opposed to just going from A to B you might get a part time/Saturday job at a small local car lot where you will quickly learn about valeting, basic checks and what to look for.

[HTP99]

K11 Micra, as late as possible, mostly owned by oldies, probably the cheapest of Japanese cars and the best Micra before cost cutting came in. My daughter has one a 2003, I paid £300 for it about 18m ago FSH, it was a trade in through work so I have that advantage. Just looked and they are around the £900 mark!

Fiesta is a good shout, avoid a KA as they are usually full of rust, someone mentioned a Yaris, no chance for £500. Corsa is another possibility, VW Polo is another, my sister has one; P plate I think, she paid £50 for it many years ago it has never let them down and has always passed its MOT, its my BiL's station car (not currently being used!)

Just get something with as long an MOT as poss.

However as many have said a decent (ish) car for £500 will be a tough one currently, you'll need to get something through family or friends, someone who wants to offload a car quickly or someone who's been offered a trade in of around £500 but would rather sell it/give it to family or a friend.

You could try dealers they may be open to selling on their part exes but I'm afraid doubtful as it can end up a world of pain for them.

Edit, just had a thought about my sisters Polo, where are you based OP? They recently had it MOT'd and were talking about selling it, I'm not sure if they've still got it, I've just txt her.

[SCEtoAUX]

I know it's over budget but there are a few Toyoa Aygos on Autotrader at the £795 mark. At 17 years of age the insurance saving on one of those might cover the extra cost, especially if you can haggle a few quid off.

[Hazzard33]

Thanks for your help
The general consensus was:
Avoid most European cars
Japanese/Korean older peoples cars and older ford models are probably best
Be very careful when buying

[Drive it fix it repeat]

At this price point I’d say buy Japanese, reliably reliable. Plenty of french stuff to chose from but expect to be either permanently in the garage or getting the spanner’s out if your into that. Mazdas are pretty dependable In my experience.

When getting cheap cars buy on condition, I wouldn’t be too worried about service history etc as long as it looks solid and drives ok. If you find a car advertised that interests you post a link and we’ll try and help you out. Good luck mate.

[craigjm]

I would concentrate on Facebook marketplace at that price point. Just get anything that has a decent length mot on it having checked it’s mot history online before you end up going and viewing a horror. Plenty of small hatch cars around at that price point.

[Desiderata]

SCEtoAUX said:

I know it's over budget but there are a few Toyoa Aygos on Autotrader at the £795 mark. At 17 years of age the insurance saving on one of those might cover the extra cost, especially if you can haggle a few quid off.

Aygo, Citroen c1, and Peugeot 107 are all basically the same car (all made in the Czech republic in the same factory). Other than a few cosmetics and dealer customer service(which won't be relevant on a £500 car), there isn't really a difference. The Aygos tend to be slightly dearer because of the Toyota name. Any of the three would be fine.
Personally I'd go for something slightly bigger as superminis tend to be more sought after and therefore dearer and insurance might even be cheaper on a car less popular with learners.

[Scootersp]

craigjm said:

I would concentrate on Facebook marketplace at that price point. Just get anything that has a decent length mot on it having checked it’s mot history online before you end up going and viewing a horror. Plenty of small hatch cars around at that price point.

Definitely Facebook is worth a go. I would consider the car purchase price and insurance premium as one package.

You might be able to go £1000 for the car if that saves you £250 per annum and you have it for two years?

[bearman68]

Oooooh, look what I've just found.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/19149841...

This is the 4 cylinder engine. Cracking little cars these. Bet it's already sold though.

[Lester H]

bearman68 said:

I would say £500 for a running super mini with an MOT in the current market is unrealistic I'm afraid. Even £1000 is asking a lot. 12m ago maybe, but it's hard now.
Toyota yaris is the obvious answer though.

Stuff to avoid - all German stuff, most of the French stuff. Stick to Japanese and Korean, and you might manage it, on a good day.

Best of luck.

Berarman has done some looking for our new PH .I spotted a 206 which ticked all the boxes, except it said no test drive (Covoid). No drive = walk away, preferably sprint. Is there a Covid Excuses forum yet? If so I didn’t want to reiterate it.

[Hazzard33]

bearman68 said:

Oooooh, look what I've just found.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/19149841...

This is the 4 cylinder engine. Cracking little cars these. Bet it's already sold though.

Nice but very far away from me haha. Ill look for similar nearby