What to Ask When Buying a Used Car
When buying a used car, whether it privately or from a dealership, it should always be an exciting process but at the same time it is important to concentrate on the important things, keep level headed and ask the right questions. Here we will suggest just some of the questions you can ask when buying a used car, and you should be prepared to walk away if you don’t like the answer to one of the questions – don’t feel obliged to buy the car even if you have had a test drive. Here at Bob Davies Car Sales we pride ourselves on a no pressure sales environment, so if you’re looking for a used car in Gwent or a used car in Cardiff, get in touch today.
When buying from a dealership you’d expect that the car you are buying can be legally sold, but when buying privately it is always an important question to ask whether the car you are buying can be legally sold. It can’t be sold it if it subject to outstanding finance nor can a dealership sell you the car if it doesn’t adhere to the Consumers Right Act – which states the product must be ‘as described’ and ‘fit for purpose’. A seller, whether commercial or private, should also tell you whether the car has been recorded as an insurance write off and categorised as a Cat N, S, D or C. You can buy those legally but it comes with risks. The final legal checkpoint is whether the seller has the legal title to sell the car, meaning they are named in the V5C logbook as the registered keeper.
On the topic of logbooks, you should make sure the seller can produce the V5C upon request, in it’s original and unaltered condition. Things like the V5 get lost all the time but if that is the case, the seller should have contacted the DVLA and requested a replacement before selling the car. If the seller can only produce the green slip when you ask, it might mean they have only recently taken possession of the car and a new document hasn’t been produced yet.
Another question to ask when buying a used car, is will you be able to drive it home that day? If not, why? If the seller says you can then they are agreeing to selling the car as described and implying that the car you are buying is roadworthy. For this to be the case, you should ask to see proof of a valid MOT and be free of any known issues. Remember, you can’t legally drive a car on the roads in the UK without paying the road tax.
Since COVID, there has been a huge influx of people buying cars ‘online’ without actually seeing them. This does carry some risk but remember, when you buy a car without seeing it you are well within your rights to return it in 14 days if it isn’t what you thought you were buying.