We went out this morning with a budget of £2000 to buy something less than 10 years old with less than 100,000miles on the clock. Preferably no bigger than a Focus and preferably not a diesel. The car needed to be purchased from a trader as we wanted to pay by credit card.
Easy? I thought it would be.
So today we went to 21 garages and traveled 207miles trying to find a car.
First car that tickled our pickle was a 05 Plate Megane 1.6VVT Dynamique. It was in silver up for £1,300 with 64k on the clock.
It was a bit rough, but it was the cheaper end of things. I opened the bonnet and luckily just popped the engine cover off for a nose. The entire engine was covered in duct tape. Confused I started to peel it back and found that 3 out of 4 of the bolts that hold the coil packs down had been sheared and someone had glued the oil packs down and stuck some duct tape over the top for good measure.
Second car was another 05 plate Megane. This time it was a 2.0 VVT Dynamique. It was in much better condition cosmetically and had covered 44k. It also had full service history and one owner from new. Up for £1,995 it was the top end of our budget but it was all looking good until the test drive. Blue smoke on start up and overrun. Huff. The salesman tried to convince us it was just because it had been standing.
Then we found a small dealer who had 2 Clio's in. A 55 plate 1.4 and a 53 plate 1.4 automatic. Both had just shy of 70k on the clock and both were up for £1,195. The other half had an automatic clio as her first car and has always wanted another. We both agreed that if it was decent we could stretch the 10 year old rule.
The automatic Clio had early signs of head gasket failure with mayo in the coolant bottle and the bottom of the oil filler which the salesman tried to cop off as being 'condensation'. Condensation in the header tank? I should hope so, but it's the oil in the header tank I'm more worried about.
After that I opened the bonnet of the 55 plate Clio, identified a couple of oil leaks and the horrible pushy nature of the salesman made me walk away.
Between cars we visited a few other garages, nothing taking our fancy.
We dropped into another dealer who had just taken P/X an 05 plate Clio with 92k on the clock which was also suffering with head gasket failure.
By this time it was 2pm and we had left the house at 8:30am. I was tired and was going to throw the towel in but the missus insisted a fight through it.
I ended up in Merthyr Tydfil which is without a doubt the worst place in the world.
I ended up some quiet side street and found an 07 Astra Estate with 140k on the clock, recent timing belt and clutch change. It was a 1.3CDTi in White in Life trim up for £1,995. The basic of the basic but it was very very tidy. I was about to take it for a test drive and was a bit concerned that he didn't give me trade plates.
"Don't you have trade plates?"
"You're insured on our policy, don't worry!"
"Er... but there's no tax or MOT. Surley I should have trade plates?"
"You're fully comp on your own insurance arent you?"
I shook my head, returned the keys and left.
Really starting to loose my temper and in the middle of god knows where I came across a lovely 58 plate Renault Megane estate (contrary to popular belief I didn't actually go looking for a Megane. They were just everywhere.). It was a 1.4, pretty basic spec in light gold. It had 70k on the clocks and looked very tidy. I took it out for a drive and was very impressed by it. It was a bit of a gutless slouch but it pulled through the revs happily.
I got back and asked to look over the paperwork and seen on the HPI report that there had been two MOT's within 2 weeks of eachother. The first one showing 126k on the clock, the second just 70k.
So after loosing my temper a bit I drove back to Bridgend and thought I'd drop into one last place.
At the back of the lot, still unprepared was a 2006 Citreon C3 1.4 Desire. In black with 111k on the clock. The mileage was high, my missus wasn't too keen on it. I decided to take a punt and pop out for a test drive and it drove superb. Usual french sloppy gearchange, the clutch was a bit high and it stunk of smoke but it had no knocks, no bangs and no smoke. It had full service history at a local Citreon/Peugeot specialist and was in superb condition bar 3 fag burns on the drivers seat.
I threw the keys at Becca and insisted that she take it out for a spin, and when she got back she loved it!
Stuck an offer in at £1,200 and pick it up Monday.
I would have thought £2000 would have been a healthy budget to purchase a 10 year old motor, we had no strict rules on what we can and can't have. But I come to the conclusion that most cars dealers are selling in our price ranges and buckets of rubbish, that first Megane I almost purchased. It was just by luck that I popped the engine cover off.
So yeah, we have a PSA car back in the house.
)
run's for cover 
