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car buying help
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Rozia before I give the sermon, do not do what another person did on here Sat! she asked advice did not take it & ended up with a lemon, the important thing with any car is the History ( If any) take someone with you that knows the Mechanics of any car otherwise you will end up like the person I mentioned.If you have the cash BARTER if you have a trade in, try & sell it to a private buyer but be warned, if your car has a problem Tell the buyer otherwise you can come unstuck, the BM you are looking at seems a decent car but they all do when on a forecourt, do your home work, do not jump before deciding, there are many cars out there so take heed, if you jump in to quick you will pay the price.
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As said Rozia, there are a lot out there that will take your hard earned money & think sod all about it, be very very cautious, If you have the cash use it in your faviour by Bartering, do not look at the car in the rain, check if it's had a tow bar, a cam chain changed, its done good milage 140000 but if the car has been serviced well then it will do 20000 no problem, the most important is the oil & filters, your brother will know that but whatever you do, do not go on your own.
Ignore gift20, rozia - it's a spammer.
The usual pointers are:
Look for a full service history. A good sign of how many owners the car has had.
Look (Under the carpet) by the driver's side door for the chassis number. It should be duplicated on the VIN plate, under the bonnet (Chassis number or VIN plate missing - WALK AWAY)
Look at doors & in boot for overspray. It's a sign of a repair. Another tip on the same lines is to crouch down by the rear taillights and look down the length of the car - should be straight.
Check all the gaps between the doors / bonnet / wings. Should be the same. If they're not, something might have been replaced (If you haven't been told about it).
You can also get an HPI check on the car - it's not cheap, but it could save you even more money in the long term.
Don't be bullied into buying anything either. If you get a sense that the person selling the car is hiding anything then walk away.
The usual pointers are:
Look for a full service history. A good sign of how many owners the car has had.
Look (Under the carpet) by the driver's side door for the chassis number. It should be duplicated on the VIN plate, under the bonnet (Chassis number or VIN plate missing - WALK AWAY)
Look at doors & in boot for overspray. It's a sign of a repair. Another tip on the same lines is to crouch down by the rear taillights and look down the length of the car - should be straight.
Check all the gaps between the doors / bonnet / wings. Should be the same. If they're not, something might have been replaced (If you haven't been told about it).
You can also get an HPI check on the car - it's not cheap, but it could save you even more money in the long term.
Don't be bullied into buying anything either. If you get a sense that the person selling the car is hiding anything then walk away.
Another tip (I always remember these after I've pressed the submit button)...
Look at the heads of all the screws holding the instrument binnacle on the dash - if they're worn away then your car might have had the mileage altered. Another tell-tale sign there is excessive wear on the steering wheel and gearkn0b.
Look at the heads of all the screws holding the instrument binnacle on the dash - if they're worn away then your car might have had the mileage altered. Another tell-tale sign there is excessive wear on the steering wheel and gearkn0b.
I've had a look on another site and found a similar spec car (Right age, 1,000 miles less than the one you've seen), but, it's £8,950
http://www.tch.co.uk/...earch/5884/ford-focus
Call me (Ishmael) stoopid, but something is screaming at me that your Focus is too good to be true. However, it might be right and a belter at that price.....
http://www.tch.co.uk/...earch/5884/ford-focus
Call me (Ishmael) stoopid, but something is screaming at me that your Focus is too good to be true. However, it might be right and a belter at that price.....
Also undo the oil cap and check the oil colour, if it is milky or like mayonaiase then the head gaskett has gone. As ither have said here, you can do all the checks but what id vital on 140k car, especially deisel is the service history. What I do in this situation is sit down and go through all the paper work first, do not even look at the car initailly. make sure the service book is stamped up and check all the bills looking for things like head gaskett changes and overheating issues. Run a mile if there are over heating issues. You can tell if a car has overheated, there will be brown dust in the engine bay, they can clean it up but they always miss a bit. Look at the underside of the bonnet for signs of heat.
Ok Rozia, depending on the amount of money you have will go to wards the amount of battering you can do, if you are not in a hurry that's fine, keep checking either A.Trader, your local paper ads, word of mouth, be warned in bying off the side of the road & mobile nos! check EBay, type in what you want, the CC, Colour, Year, the amount of money you want to spend, and the journey time to see the car, 5 miles, 10, miles, as you say re/your brother in law & his knowledge, there are many things you need to see, check, feel, look, & try with 2nd hand cars, but as I have said if you jump, you will pay the price, I bought my car off EBay, I battered , tried, checked, full history, I did pay cash as the person was a local Councillor, need I say anything more on that? when bought I checked with the BM Dealers at Carnforth & all that was done had been done & Bills to prove, the cars are not as bad for parts / spares, service as people make out, but make sure the car has history, if not find out first about the car that way you will not go wrong.
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