Entering the unknown
I took a friend to the auction today; she has recently gone through a messy divorce to her soul mate, who ran off with a younger model.
The company smoke went back and she found herself in the position of venturing into the unknown, i.e. buying a car with a limited budget and making it sexy, practical, reliable, and well specified with low mileage.
Having never done this before and not having a clue about cars I thought it only fair that Motor Trade Insider assisted her in her search.
The plan:
1) Find something that fits the above criteria (as close as we can)
2) Understand our parameters
3) Go find that car!
We went to a large auction house with a cross section of cars from £200-£20,000 approx 400 in number, we thought the best thing to do (when she got over the colour and budget issues!) was to search for a model that she might find acceptable.
As a seasoned veteran of the trade I found her bright eyed excitement and innocence quite refreshing and then a thought struck me, what on earth would she have bought if I had not been with her? Now I am not saying she is not a sensible girl but she was entering the lion’s den!
Anyway after spending time looking at a variety of different cars we decided what she wanted and more importantly what her kids would find acceptable, but as today was research day and as I am always banging on about the need for preparing yourself, she is going to her nearest dealer to test drive the model in question (we checked out boot size, specification, sexiness etc) and this car ticks most of the boxes.
When she has driven it and checked out insurance and running costs and I get the green light, it’s a race against time for me to find the right car for the right money in the right colour, (no pressure then!).
So watch this space I will let you know the outcome in a couple of weeks time when hopefully I have a happy friend who has a great car and one that is reliable and wont depreciate too much but most importantly will demonstrate the fact that by doing your homework you could save yourself a great deal of money.
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