possibly daft question

[martymcfly]

Is there such as thing as a reliable car brand/ model or is it a case of clever spin and good maintenance?

I'm looking to buy a car for up to a grand which will last me a year. Before I reach for the Auto Trader and look for cars with FSH and an MOT, are there any I should be looking at/ avoid?

I really don't care what it looks like/ does as long as it lasts about a year.

thanks

 

[johnny_t]

To be honest, if you only want it to last for a year, 500 quid should be more than enough. Depends on what you want to do with it, but I'd look for a 10 year old Golf or similar, if I were you.

 

[JohnD]

With a cheap old car, you can expect faults. The one thing you can't replace or repair is rusty bodywork and underside.

By the late 1990s a lot of manufacturers were making cars with zinc-plated steel which is very resistant to rust growth. Try to get one of them.

Unfortunately I don't know which small cars were galvanised when (Audi, Nissan and Toyota have been for a long time)

A car at that price is unlikely to have FSH. If you are really lucky you will find one owned by a retired person and msotly kept in the garage (trust me, they do exist but not as often as sellers would have you believe). People usually take their cars to dealers when they are worth money; eventually a year's servicing approaches the value of the car, so they stop.

A boring Japanese family saloon or supermini will be better value and more reliable than anything fashionable or desirable.

When you phone, ask the vendor how long they have had it and say you will want to look at the registration docs. Ask for them when you arrive. If the docs aren't available or don't shown the name and address you are buying from, and the date the vendor told you, go and look at another. There's always another. Don't waste your time inspecting and getting the sales story from someone who you already know isn't trustworthy.

 

[^neo^]

What sort of mileage are you doing?
How big does it need to be?
Have you got your eye on anything?

Can pick up cars that will be reliable for a couple of years for £500 all day long, so £1000 will be plenty.

 

[martymcfly]

Thanks for all your replies - very helpful so far

Basically it has to get me to work and then home again. It's about a 20-mile round trip every day.

That's it - no kids, no motorways, no wardrobes to transport, no time travel required...

I'm thinking about basically anything in the "bargain cars" section!


thanks again

 

[^neo^]

look through the bargains section and post back when you see something you like............ sure someone will tell you what to look out for!

For £500 you'll pick up a pretty good Polo or something, which are cheap and easy to fix if they do go wrong.