How to buy a car - actual process

You can tax a car as they do the ownership transfer online via DVLA at same time

doesn't it need insurance too?

To tax it and do DVLA transfer? No.

To drive, yes.

Only your defined car is covered for you. If you're 3rd party on other cars and your lad insures it, then technically it's possible you're covered. But your own insurance doesn't cover you to drive other cars, unless they're insured by the owner.

And then is it covered on my own fully comp policy to get home?

Not all fully comp policies allow you to drive other cars now, but also when they do, it's intended for emergency use really and not what most people assume - I'd check the small print if you're worried about it.

I've bought all my cars private and have either left a deposit and returned in the following days (last one delivered it for me) or took it there and then.

You should be able to tax while you're there as long as it has valid MOT. Though the chances of you getting done for no tax on the drive home is slim, it's still going to show as taxed by the previous owner on ANPR. I don't think anyone is going to begrudge you for taxing it when you get home.

Insurance is more important for obvious reasons. Though perhaps having no tax could validate your insurance, so both would be prudent.

I guess the method of payment would be agreed with the seller, though I dare say bank transfer has become the norm these days.

If buying from a dealer, pay deposit on credit card. You the have a bit more protection that way.

I bought my last car from a private seller. We agreed a price and I paid a small deposit, partly to secure the car and partly to ensure the bank details were correct and there would be no issues when paying the balance. We did the transfer online and I taxed the car at the same time. I had arranged insurance the night before to start at noon on the day of collection. 

I'd buy private, bide your time, find one that has low: owners, milage and has lots of service history / receipts, ideally an old persons car that they've looked after well. Buy it close to home.

I really wouldn't trust a dealer for any come back.

Filter away on Autotrader app.

Pay via mobile to mobile bank transfer (trickery if sellers old) or just pay cash.

You can get one day car insurance to get it home for around £20, but not tax.

Autotrader lists 4 <£1500 and private:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310153009402

Post COVID second hand car prices are pretty high.

Good luck getting your son insured without selling a kidney, in my son's name a £1500 VW Polo 2002 with black box and commuting cost £1800.

I just got my last car delivered, sight unseen, ordered via internet/phone. Paid via BACS I think. I had test driven the model, knew what I wanted, picked a decent one off autotrader out of the dozen or so available.

Distance selling regs apply, I reckoned I probably had more protection that way than if I'd been to look at it. It was nearly new though, I had a reasonable expectation that it was in basically as new condition (it was) and there's also the manufacturer's warranty to fall back on.

Of course it might blow up tomorrow and leave me shafted but it seemed a reasonable risk at the time, and still does.

I normally go on the train, buy and drive it home.

I'm looking at a car in a dealership on Monday.
Do we still haggle?

and if you don't like it, train home I guess.

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You might, they probably won’t.

You can just sort insurance once you've bought it, you can have all your details already in Go Compare or similar so wouldn't take long.

Re Insurnace, for £20 ish Cuvva will cover you for the journey home. Means you can sort it properly when you get back.
Tax online when you pick it up, 10 minute job.
If buying from a dealer then putting a deposit on a credit card is no bad thing, if not, cash or bank transfer.
Some private sellers I’d guess will take a deposit and let you come back. Though part of me would be fearful that giving a stranger £150 and the walking away with nothing is not ideal. I guess if it’s at their house and you have some kind of receipt written that’d work.

I’m looking at a car in a dealership on Monday.<br />Do we still haggle?

On a 16k car approved used/main dealer, I manage to get a set of secondhand floor mats he found out the back. And I'd flown all the way to Edinburgh to buy it.

I’m looking at a car in a dealership on Monday.
Do we still haggle?

Not at the £1000-£1500 end of the market, no. In fact I’d stay well away from a dealer at that price point anyway. It’ll have been bought for 500 quid and had nothing done to it.

Secondhand cars from dealers these days are priced against everything nationally due to the likes of Autotrader and WBAC, so a dealer will have virtually no margin in it. The only place to haggle is on new cars with finance deals.

I normally go on the train, buy and drive it home

Last one I sold I drove it to buyer, we went to the bank and they did a bank transfer with us both at the counter, then they drove me to the railway station.

so a dealer will have virtually no margin in it.

Earlier this year I part-ex'd a car for £2250. It was then on their forecourt for £4,500 and sold within a couple of weeks.

No haggling on what I bought as while I was on the test drive someone else turned up to buy it!

That said, I'd be thinking there's about a grand "profit" in what I traded in. Until it's mot'd and the new lucky owners realise that the thing was absolutely ****ed when I sold it.

(See my post history for details)

I did this earlier in the year for my partner. Looked at aygo/C1/107, they were all expensive because of the cheap tax, and the ones in the £1000-£2000 price bracket that I looked at all haf rotten sills or badly fixed crash damage or both! And most of the private sellers I visited were people wheeler dealering and trying to punt on complete nails they'd picked up at auction. Anything from a real private seller at a decent price sold within hours.

• Ended up looking at a 56 plate clio at a real, reputable dealer that had been sat on their lot reducing in price as it got closer to its MoT expiry date. Couldn't find anything wrong other than it being at least 3 shades of red and having had a home resprayed front bumper, no rust or bad repairs so I took a put. Offered £900 for it and he almost bit my hand off - doh! No paper work so I put it into my local garage for an MoT/service and cambelt+anything else that needed doing (I'd budgeted 4 tyres as the ones on it were shot) work came to £1200 so we ended up with a decent little runabout for £2100 which wasn't too bad considering the prices people were asking for unknown quantities!

Edit: the buying process was pretty straightforward as the dealer was 10miles away, so I cycled there, viewed it, test drove it, bought it, taxed it, insured it, chucked the bike in the boot and drove it home:-)

recently sold a similar price car to your search

Advert on Gumtree. Guy came to look with his daughter - liked car and agreed price. They offered to pay bank transfer, I was fine with it but it was a sunday so we were unsure about timescales. Guy then pulls the folding out of his hip pocket. Daughter arranges insurance on her phone while we count the cash. I filled in V5 and signed. They drove off. I posted V5 (could have done it online also)

Last 2 cars I’ve bought from friends, which is a lovely hassle & stress free way of doing things 🙂

And my mate is coming up next weekend to probably buy my just replaced 3 series.

Van came from a dealer, paid a small deposit and went back after the weekend to pay in full and collect.

Last vehicle I sold privately I took a couple of hundred deposit and they came back a few days later to pay the full amount and collect.

If you’re paying by bank transfer send a small amount first to make sure it’s going to work then send the full amount as the keys are about to get handed over.

Not at the £1000-£1500 end of the market, no. In fact I’d stay well away from a dealer at that price point anyway. It’ll have been bought for 500 quid and had nothing done to it.

If anyone follows Chop's Garage on YouTube you'll know that there is absolutely no margin on stuff below £2k, £1k is now proper Banger territory and what was a £250-500 snotter a few years ago. 15 year old cars that are usable tend to hover around the £2k mark and stay there!

For your budget I'd be absolutely trawling private sales and looking at OAP-style cars, ones that have been cared for their whole life and done easy miles. Think Fabia rather than Polo, Mazda 2 rather than Fiesta etc. Find a seller that holds onto their cars for years and still thinks that 100k miles is a death sentence (they'll not expect much money and be punting it on at 90k or so) and you're likely to find a decent car for cheap.

Have you considered, in true STW style, a Vw up/Seat Mii/skoda whatever?

Great little cars. I bought my daughter one 5 years ago and she still has it. Never failed, just keeps going...

And for Insurance, Elephant. Several hundred quid cheaper than all the black box deals years ago, and easy to deal with when someone drove into her on a roundabout. Still with them...

Make sure that there's a decent amount of MoT left, less than a month and you can't renew the tax (VED). I guess that also applies to a new-to-you application.

A new MOT goes on record the next working day IME, dunno if it's instant and same day

Make sure that there’s a decent amount of MoT left, less than a month and you can’t renew the tax (VED). I guess that also applies to a new-to-you application

I thought that as well, but when I bought the Clio with a weeks MoT left, the dealer was able to tax it there and then.

doesn’t it need insurance too?

To tax it and do DVLA transfer? No.

Back when you had paper discs in the window, taxing was always the last thing you did. They checked everything was in order first. Has that changed now?

And then is it covered on my own fully comp policy to get home?

IME fully comp allows you to drive other cars you don't own. The last policy I had also excluded cars owned by family (but not say girlfriends). They vary though - check with your insurer.

I would also say to avoid a dealer at that sort of cash point, take someone who knows a bit about cars and go private.

That said, I’d be thinking there’s about a grand “profit” in what I traded in. Until it’s mot’d and the new lucky owners realise that the thing was absolutely **** when I sold it.

If it's through a dealer, buyer will have 6 months to get a known fault fixed, just had a total of £5k warranty work done on a £9k car that turned out to use 1l of oil every 2k miles and could have rejected the car at 4months after their first attempt failed to fix it.