Your criteria for choosing a shiter

[Shedking]

If anybody pays attention to the bottom end of the car market they will have noticed that the average shiter prices are absurd at the moment. Presuming that we get back to some kind of normality this year and prices start to drop what do you look for to find that next carefully selected shiter? 

I've been doing this for a long time and as we're all different and have different requirements what works for one might not work for another.  For me I'm past caring about status and what other people think. I've had Mercs, Beemers etc and sort of flushed them out of my system.  I tend to think with a proper shiter that badges bring big bills and headaches so I try to keep it simple now so for me it's mass produced, petrol engines and parts that are plentiful and cheap. Easy access and easy to work on so if it does break it costs pennies. 

I try to vet the owner as much as the car so won't buy from a gangsta wannabee scrotum. I look for low milers, not a guarantee of reliability but I've done well with these over the years and managed to run a sub £500 car for years with minimal issues. It's not the most prestigious way of getting about but I'm tight and don't like spending my hard earned on moving my arse about these days. What is the yardstick that you use in shiter land to purchase your next steed?

[Jazoli]

Mileage not an issue for me, good mot history, non chinese tyres, evidence of service history, working aircon and petrol powered, no smell of fags (as its fucking disgusting) not owned by a chavvy prick boy racer, absolutely no modifications or 'enhancements', not from a driveway trader trying to flip, no torn upholstery or dog hairs oh and no rust whatsoever or silicone covering all the dash and controls.

Apart from that I'm not too fussy

[sierraman]

Is it a Ford? Is the advert spelt correctly? Is it sat somewhere normal in the picture? Does it look like it has some life left in it? Is the owner/seller normal and not full of shit? Is it cheap enough that it can fiscally be written off after a year?

[grogee]

It totally varies according to mood or the prevailing wind. 

I had a really nice Mondeo MK3 dizzel that was owned by my mate's Dad. It was great, did 45mpg, nice to drive, spacious, reliable. I did everything to it service wise.

I got bored because it was too reliable (and slightly boring) and bought a Volvo V70 2.4T instead. Did loads of work to that, sold it, then had my Dad's Kia Ceed dizzel. Did loads to that (clutch, turbo, suspension etc) and sold it. 

I think I got the Puma after that which has slowly turned into something too nice for everyday/winter use. 

Honda Legend, always wanted one, it didn't disappoint except for the colour (JRG) and terrible ride. Again, did loads and sold it. 

Then a Celica because it was local. Bit rough but fixed the water ingress and fucked big ends then it was a nice car. But too low and hard... Then the Brokus fixer upper, and presently the Saab 9-5.

I think it's kind of like automotive ADHD. The above list only covers 2015-22 and there's a few cars missing as well. 

For what I've spent on parts and effort over the years I could have had something Really Nice but I'd have probably crashed it when it was perfect. 

[bub2006]

Enough room in boot for my mobility scooter and preferably an auto box. Won't buy from someone who can't type or speak properly and uses text speak or words like fam,blud,innit etc. Tend to buy cheap and very rarely sell a car on,usually end up scrapped so not expecting full service history etc and expect to replace cambelt,tyres at sone point.

Fell kind of lucky with my focus. 2003 2.0 ghia automatic. Motability for first 3 years then 1 owner till 2021. Service stamps in book,2 keys and mot till May (purchased in october) and I paid 600 quid. No rust and hasn't ever been welded. Ac needs a regas,I've also changed tyres as they were old,cambelt and auxiliary belt. I've done over 4 thousand in it so far and I've also serviced it and replaced the crap plastic stat housing. Booked in this week for new brake pads as they are getting low.

[Shedking]

I won't sell a shiter, I really can't be bothered in dealing with some of those who frequent this end of the market, come now boss best price, run and fix until it has come to the end of its life and scrap and move on. 

[Spiny Norman]

1: Is it petrol powered?
2: Does it have a decent MOT, at least 6 months?
3: Is it being sold by the owner and not some get-rich-quick Scumtree bandit trader?
4: It is 'interesting' and/or 'good'?

Preferably local too, I CBA schepping 6 hours each way to the other end of the country for a banger and if possible I like buying shitters from people I know on here. Doesn't always guarantee 100% satisfaction but it improves the odds considerably.

[Sham]

Has it been looked after? Decent tyres, recentish oil change and any obvious body damage patched up reasonably.

Decent owner who enjoys cars and knows a bit.

Thats usually enough.

[juular]

I don't care about practicalities, I generally want to buy something I've never tried before so that I can see what it's like, or something I've had my eye on for a long time and the opportunity has come up.

My only real criteria is that it's pre 2000 as anything after that just feels bland and modern to me. 

Sometimes I'll buy something just because it's a good price or because it's the right thing at the right time.

I'm not really bothered if it's fucked or MOT less as I quite enjoy fixing stuff up if it's cheap enough.

[Agila]

Lengthy and hopefully clean mot

Japanese with not much rot.

Petrol, chain driven.

 

 

[SRi05]

Oldish, but presentable. Something that defies it's years looks wise. Automatic, petrol, relatively quick. Evidence of being looked after. tidy interior.

Current daily nails it for me

 

[Matts_Rusty_Bus]

Oldish, but presentable. Something that defies it's years looks wise. Automatic, petrol, relatively quick. Evidence of being looked after. tidy interior.
Current daily nails it for me
 

Glad it's doing you a good turn, it's looking good.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[SRi05]

5 minutes ago, Matts_Rusty_Bus said:

Glad it's doing you a good turn, it's looking good.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
 

It's been faultless, just what I needed after the drama with my old one 😂 

[DVee8]

Between a £5 and 20 quid roffle ticket

[Bren]

Distance comes into it as do certain parts of the country - there are quite a few areas I would not attend to buy a car.

Sadly the automotive  cockroach is dying out and is being replaced by fragile stuff that although it doesn't rust a mech or elec issue will see it bridged.

[captain_70s]

Cheap
Old enough for "classic" insurance
Cheap
Not utterly hanging*
Cheap
I want it
Cheap

*With exceptions.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Practical enough (unless bought to give practicality/the dog an aneurism). Ideally if I can get a body (dead or alive, surprise me) in the boot then it wins the AnnoyingPentium practicality test. 👀

Cheap to run (low tax is nice, e.g. sub £210).

Not conventionally "cool" or attractive to car thieves.

Air conditioning and 'leccy windows is nice too. Ideally all round 'leccy windows, but I don't have that at the moment either, so no big loss.

Little to nae rust is a biggie.

Semi-passable MPGs is nice too, considering I'd be dailying it.

[Angrydicky]

3 hours ago, bub2006 said:

Enough room in boot for my mobility scooter and preferably an auto box. Won't buy from someone who can't type or speak properly and uses text speak or words like fam,blud,innit etc. Tend to buy cheap and very rarely sell a car on,usually end up scrapped so not expecting full service history etc and expect to replace cambelt,tyres at sone point.

Fell kind of lucky with my focus. 2003 2.0 ghia automatic. Motability for first 3 years then 1 owner till 2021. Service stamps in book,2 keys and mot till May (purchased in october) and I paid 600 quid. No rust and hasn't ever been welded. Ac needs a regas,I've also changed tyres as they were old,cambelt and auxiliary belt. I've done over 4 thousand in it so far and I've also serviced it and replaced the crap plastic stat housing. Booked in this week for new brake pads as they are getting low.

No rust is quite a rarity for one of those, I’d be rustproofing the shit out of it if it was mine!

[Spiny Norman]

2 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Oldish, but presentable. Something that defies it's years looks wise. Automatic, petrol, relatively quick. Evidence of being looked after. tidy interior.

Current daily nails it for me

 

Apologies for O/T but how do you find these for using in a Glasgow winter? Often thought of a Saab cabrio but too feart to leave one sitting outside at the mercy of neds/rain.

[Cavcraft]

 

[warch]

Currently its;

1.Is Mrs warch looking for a new car?

2.Is my current car (Mrs warch hand-me-down) fucked or about to expire?

If the answer to 1 and 2 is yes then yay free motah! 

[SRi05]

22 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

Apologies for O/T but how do you find these for using in a Glasgow winter? Often thought of a Saab cabrio but too feart to leave one sitting outside at the mercy of neds/rain.

I've had 4 cabrio Saabs and they've all been fine in the shitty scottish weather. You get a few drips inside the window if you're aiming a pressure washer at it but they are pretty watertight. Mine sat for a week during shitty storm weather recently and was fine. I've had loads of floppytops and never had a problem with them being vandalised or whatever, wouldn't let it put you off 

[Cookiesouwest]

30 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

Apologies for O/T but how do you find these for using in a Glasgow winter? Often thought of a Saab cabrio but too feart to leave one sitting outside at the mercy of neds/rain.

Its a SAAB. Designed for shitty Swedish winters. Which makes winter in Glasgow look like Ibiza in high summer.

It will be fine.

[RayMK]

7 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

No rust is quite a rarity for one of those, I’d be rustproofing the shit out of it if it was mine!

This is generally true.  Unusually, my son in law/daughter's 2004 3 door Focus 1.4 which they've had for about 8 years and has had no special treatment looks remarkably good underneath despite its 200k+ mileage and daily use.  I may be tempted to buy it off them if and when I sell my '94 Tipo, although they have no plans to sell it yet.

Being retired since 2008, I look for cars that suit my typical driving routes - country lanes.  Anything reasonably compact which won't destroy its underside on heavily cambered, potholed roads will attract me, provided that it looks respectable, has a clean interior (or cleanable), is mechanically sound and I can get in and out of it easily.  Ride comfort is also important, so modern stuff with stupidly thin section tyres is usually ruled out.  If it is unfashionable and interesting, so much the better.

 

[catsinthewelder]

Generally it's either ;

A, I need a new daily because the previous one has dropped to bits.

So unless I've been offered a hand me down by family I look for something practical, cheap and not German on here.  So far a BX, Cherry, 405, Astra and 214.

B, I'm bored so win something stupid either on eBay or a roffle.  So far ADO16, Discovery*, 220, Safrane, Sherpa 

 

* Not won, part ex'ed for BX due to boredom.

 

 

[bub2006]

2 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

No rust is quite a rarity for one of those, I’d be rustproofing the shit out of it if it was mine!

When the weather gets better it will be done front to back including all rear arms,subframe wheel arch liners out etc but for now it's being washed every couple of days paying attention to the stupid carpet rear arch liners .

[Schaefft]

Just needs to be a good deal on a car I've been interested in for a few years.

If it's really just about a stop gap, petrol, ideally under 150k with decent test and on the larger end of the scale (Mondeo and up), ideally nothing known to be troublesome (which excludes most french/Italian large cars). You can find something decent for around 1000-1500 quid even now, there's no reason to settle with a Micra or Corsa if you don't want to.

[Six-cylinder]

It has to bring joy!

[HMC]

How cheap is it?

[AnnoyingPentium]

If it's in a "garish" colour then yes.