Getting a better motoring deal

Love them or hate them, car ownership is a fact of modern life. Unless you live in the middle of a town or city you will need a car to get to work or school, do the shopping or just visit friends.

Adobe PDF

Download the full Motoring Guide

Buying a new car

To get the best deal buying a new car, the golden rule is to do your homework beforehand.

  • Read up on the car you want to buy – what are its strengths and weaknesses? The motoring media and motoring TV programmes do reviews of new models.
  • How much will insurance cost you each year? Get a quote in advance – for instance, if you are young and going for a performance car, you might find the premium beyond reach.
  • How quickly will the car’s value depreciate? Depreciation (loss in value over time) is one of the biggest car running costs. Some makes and models hold their value better than others.
  • Does it have good fuel consumption and low CO2 emissions?
  • Does it have a high Euro NCAP safety rating?
  • What are the longer-term running costs once it starts needing an annual MOT? For example, ask the dealer for estimated servicing costs and the service intervals.
  • What specification do you want? If you are happy to drive off with one of the dealer’s existing stock, you should be able to negotiate a better deal than if one needs to be ordered specially.
  • Contact a few dealers – online ones as well – to negotiate the best price. You might find that a dealer in Exeter, for instance, will offer a better deal than one in London where turnover will be much higher.
  • Certain models are built ‘for stock’ in a limited range of colours and to a given specification. These cars keep factory production lines rolling constantly and are the ones to go for if you are not too fussy about personalisation.
  • Models due for replacement are also good buys because most other buyers will hold off for the new car, making the dealer increasingly desperate to shift the older ones.
  • Consider the colour choice you make. Bad resale colours include white and anything unusually lurid like purple, yellow, orange or even (these days) pink. Sober, dark colours like black, dark blue and metallics will help the car to keep its value better. Silver is also a safe bet, although bear in mind that it is also the hardest colour to match for bodywork repairs, so will make a repainted wing or bonnet more obvious.
  • Pre-registered cars. Remember, although these may have only tiny mileages, they are essentially second hand and there may be less comeback with the dealer in the event of dissatisfaction.