Cheap runabout for a few weeks

[paulguitar]

Morning all.


I am about to find myself between Porsches and need a cheap reliable runabout for a small amount of time. Ideally, I'd be looking to spend not much more than £1,000. It needs to be easy to sell on when I am done with it.


Any suggestions for any cars that would fit the bill?

Thanks in advance.

[ZX10R NIN]

Best Astra/Focus locally, or hiire a car for a few weeks.

[paulguitar]

ZX10R NIN said:

Best Astra/Focus locally.

Yes, I was thinking Focus.


What about something like a Toyota Aygo or a Seat Leon?

[Belle427]

Small yaris I'd go personally.

[paulguitar]

Belle427 said:

Small yaris I'd go personally.

Yep, that's another on the list of possibilities.

[MullacAbz]

Can rent an Aygo from enterprise for £320 for 2 weeks. Probably work out more expensive than buying a 1 grand motor and selling it on but depends on how much you value your time arranging the buying, insuring and selling.

[OutInTheShed]

Finding anything viable for a grand is a challenge, so I would not be picky.
Any nice clean car with a fairly new MOT and no obvious problems will do.

You can waste a lot of time and money looking for the ideal car.
Just buy the nearest thing that feels right and you find yourself trusting the seller enough.

Likewise you can waste a lot of time selling a car, so I'd try to avoid anything with limited appeal or might be an 'idiot magnet'.
Low insurance group widens your market to get rid of it.

It may be different elsewhere in the country but around here, a quick look at Gumtree shows most things under a grand are hopelessly broken.
First thing that actually looked driveable was an Alfa with chronic lacquer peel and 6 months' MOT. I have a pot of clear varnish in the shed....

In the deep dark past, I bought a couple of back door trade ins from local garages, no warranty, no comeback, gambles that served me well enough.

[paulguitar]

I could up the budget a bit, if I can get pretty much all of it back it doesn't matter much.

[M.F.D]

Buy something simple.

If you can manage to find a reasonably well looked after Toyota or Honda then I imagine you won't go far wrong.

[matt21]

I’m about to sell my 2004 Passat Estate Highline 1.9 TDI. High miles but runs very well, only selling as I have too many cars. Owned it for 14 years, it will last a while no issues I am sure. Heated seats, Bluetooth radio, Michelin Crossclimates and FSH. Could do with an oil change and bodywork rough. Interior like new. Mot end Nov. Only kept it so long as I can’t bare for it to be scrapped or broken when it’s running fine and owned it for so long. Looking for £750.

Edited by matt21 on Saturday 9th March 19:20

[paradigital]

When we needed to find my friend a runabout whilst he was back in the UK from Australia for 6 weeks, we decided that a Suzuki Swift fit the bill.

Fun enough to drive but easy enough to sell on again.

We ended up buying one that was in desperate need of a deep clean but was mechanically great. Ultimately ended up making a small profit on it just by being able to present it better than the seller we bought it from.

[smallpaul]

tax, insurance, transport, any repairs and re advertising cost will quickly add up to much more than the cost of a hire car for a few weeks.

Edited by smallpaul on Saturday 9th March 21:10

Edited by smallpaul on Saturday 9th March 21:11

[Raymond Reddington]

Buy on condition at this price more than anything else would be my advice.

It's a bit of a minefield these days. I'm trying to find a cheap estate and selling my little mk5 golf TDi. I'm hoping for 1500-2000 for it and that's what I'd like to spend on a bigger workhorse.

I'd always go for Japanese in the first instance and not usually look at German metal like the golf but everything out there seems so neglected.

I think I'd sooner go for a well loved one owner Peugeot than I would a battered Kia Picanto or neglected Honda Jazz.

Best of luck with the search!