PM me the link and I'll post it for you.
What's your budget?
What's your budget?
General Buying a Fiat Panda
- Thread starter Marvelftw
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General Buying a Fiat Panda
Thanks, I’ve tried but it won’t let me as it’s being flagged for potential spam.
It’s a 2015 Easy+ with 26,000 miles.
I don’t have a budget as long as it’s a car in good condition!
Here's the thing. Prices have been crazy since Covid. Consider that when we bought our fully loaded Lounge brand new/prereg in 2017 it cost £8600. So to see cars selling for similar money at the same age seems a rough deal. That's the market though.
There's another clean-MOTd Easy plus in your bailiwick. Sure it's done a handful of mileage a year but ours has only done 11000 miles and without issues so far.
Fiat Panda 1.2 Easy 5dr **LOW MILEAGE*ONLY 21000 MILES FROM NEW** | in Northfleet, Kent | Gumtree
**4.9 GOOGLE REVIEWS.TRADING OVER 35 YEARS**ULEZ COMPLIANT.HPI AND MILEAGE CERTIFIED.WITH JUST TWO OWNERS HAVING ONLY COVERED 21000 MILES FROM NEW COMPLEMENTED BY SERVICE HISTORY.POWER STEERING.ELECTRIC WINDOWS.REMOTE LOCKING.AIR CONDITIONING.ALLOYS.CD/STEREO.WE ARE FCA REG
On insurance, an old colleague had their 2008 Panda written off recently and was offered £1500, which I found astonishingly good.
That’s the one!
That's NOT an Easy + . Often see a bog standard Easy listed as Easy+.
The Easy+ Has red mirrors/rails, Alloys and steering phone controls.
That would interest me more. Like jrk I'm not a fan of "ultra low mileage for year" vehicles - for the reasons he states.Here's the thing. Prices have been crazy since Covid. Consider that when we bought our fully loaded Lounge brand new/prereg in 2017 it cost £8600. So to see cars selling for similar money at the same age seems a rough deal. That's the market though.
There's another clean-MOTd Easy plus in your bailiwick. Sure it's done a handful of mileage a year but ours has only done 11000 miles and without issues so far.
Fiat Panda 1.2 Easy 5dr **LOW MILEAGE*ONLY 21000 MILES FROM NEW** | in Northfleet, Kent | Gumtree
**4.9 GOOGLE REVIEWS.TRADING OVER 35 YEARS**ULEZ COMPLIANT.HPI AND MILEAGE CERTIFIED.WITH JUST TWO OWNERS HAVING ONLY COVERED 21000 MILES FROM NEW COMPLEMENTED BY SERVICE HISTORY.POWER STEERING.ELECTRIC WINDOWS.REMOTE LOCKING.AIR CONDITIONING.ALLOYS.CD/STEREO.WE ARE FCA REGwww.gumtree.com
On insurance, an old colleague had their 2008 Panda written off recently and was offered £1500, which I found astonishingly good.
Exactly that; new car prices have gone crazy too. But as you say, that's the market.
When looking at that first one, I though they're asking £8000 for an 8yr old Panda; you could have bought that car new 8yrs ago for that. But in today's market, that sort of thinking isn't really helpful. The real question is what other options do you have for similar money? And the likely cost of running that one for 3-4yrs isn't far short of what you'd pay on a pcp for a new small car.
It's a fair argument yes. Just some of us are averse to the whole PCP thing.....and the available 'small car' options.
The other advantage with the Panda is Insurance. Certainly when you're well into middle age. Saga = £125 a year full comp? Come on.
£5000-£8000 is an interesting price point if you're prepared to buy privately. Most buyers won't risk that much money without dealer protections and facilities, so if a private seller needs a sale, they'll be unlikely to get much more than trade price for it. Put in an offer of £300 more than the WBAC buy price, and you just might be able to grab a bargain. You need patience, persistence and enough knowledge to avoid the lemons.
Here's one where you might be able to negotiate a significantly lower price.
Here's one where you might be able to negotiate a significantly lower price.
Thank you for your help everyone and especially for the links. I’ve just rang the dealer and arranged to see the last one your posted AB100! It’s actually very close to me so thought it was definitely worth a look.
Thank you for the post jkitching, I’m a bit wary of going private for all the reasons you said.
Have fun at the dealers. They're independent so may take a bid anyway, assuming it drives OK.
That's perfectly understandable; it's a lot of money to risk. You certainly need to know what you are doing, or take someone with you who does.
But it's where the real bargains are to be had; dealers know the value of a good car and generally don't sell them cheaply. And it's not easy for sellers of more expensive used cars to get much more than trade price for them. At lower price points, private sales achieve closer to typical forecourt prices.
One advantage of buying privately is you get to meet the current owner, see where the car's been kept, and sometimes you can read a lot between those lines. And if a private seller wants to bring the car to you or meet in some neutral place, don't even bother looking at it.
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I think buying privately is more dodgy today than it's ever been, you read all the time about people who've been scammed. Definitely you need to go to where the vehicle is kept, buying in a car park is probably not going to end well. Apart from vehicle condition on the day - and you need to know what you're looking at or take a knowledgeable friend with you and don't be hurried or feel embarrassed about taking your time to crawl all over it and say no if it's not what you want - you need to check the paperwork carefully. Probably doing an online vehicle check - AA, HPI, that sort of thing - would be advisable too.
Back in the day, I've had some fantastic bargains from big dealers selling off "trade cars" that they just wanted to get enough cash to cover the cost of the deal involving the new car they sold when taking it in. All this has been scuppered by consumer rights now though and the dealers either auction or sell to traders only. I would buy am MOT failure privately as some super bargains are to be had when someone has got a failure that's too expensive to repair and they just want rid of the vehicle. However, for a car such as what is being looked for here, it's difficult to beat a good haggle with a smaller dealer. It's likely they will be selling used (pre-owned if you want to work a bit of a psychological angle) cars only and, unless he's not very good at what he does, he'll have bought it in at a good price, maybe part ex, maybe at auction, maybe done a swap with another dealer (I used to do that to keep my forecourt "fresh") or from a main dealer (main dealers seldom sell anything over about 5 years old) so can afford to haggle, especially if he's having a poor month - I know, I've been that man! Don't be confrontational, make friends with him/her, smile a lot, be non threatening, praise the car you're looking at but point out some of the undeniable defects - it's a used car, there are always defects. Don't talk about price 'till after you've thoroughly inspected it and been on a test drive - and a test drive is NOT just round the block. If that's all that's being allowed then I might walk away, depending on how I was looking at that car. Don't ring first to arrange to see the car. Sometimes that can backfire on you but I like to start the car with the engine cold and if you ring first they will almost certainly have tried starting it if for no other reason than to check it's not got a flat battery. Listening to a cold start can tell me quite a lot about engine condition. Take it on a test drive that includes both open road and city type running, minimum quarter hour but I usually go longer than that and check out all the "usual" stuff like - does it select gear smoothly and quietly, especially reverse which has no synchromesh so will crunch iF the clutch is binding. Remember when selecting reverse to give the gears time to spin down though or it will crunch anyway, so push the pedal to the floor, count 3 bananas (seconds) and then move the lever. Does the clutch take up smoothly without judder or unusual "bite point". When on the move hold the steering wheel lightly for a wee while and see if it steers straight or pulls to one side. Do the brakes work well without excessive pedal movement and the car pulls up straight. Listen for knocks and thumps over bumps. Just generally be aware of anything which sounds unusual, like gears whining excessively or grinding when shifting down. I could fill the rest of the page so maybe time to stop here?
When you get back from the drive start off by offering some praise - "What a nice we car, I enjoyed that" and be cheerful then, if you've noticed anything say something like "it's just a pity that (whatever "that" may be)" don't pick on more than one or two things and they need to be obvious, undeniable things and NEVER try to say something is wrong which isn't. Often at this point they'll offer a small discount or FOC solution of the problem because they know they can't deny it. You can then "kind of" accept it but go on to mention the other things you've noticed and very politely, with a grin on your face, suggest the price you really want to pay. Of course this has to be a serious and realistic offer. If they want to shift the vehicle and there's enough money in the deal, you may be in luck. If they say no then ask what they would take for it. That might be acceptable or it might not. If not then say, very politely, it's too much for you and you'll just keep looking. At that turn away and start for the door. Very occasionally you'll get called back but if not, as you reach the door, turn back with a friendly face, catch the salesman's eye - he's probably watching his "prospect" walking out on him anyway - and just say something like "are you absolutely sure"?
If that gets you nowhere and they haven't sold the car in the meantime, then give it a few days and wander back in. You may well be approached by another salesman so, again, be very friendly and tell him you were in the other day looked the car over and really liked it but it was just a wee bit much moneywise. See where it goes. Slack periods, often around big holidays, I like just before and after Christmas myself, or just after the new registrations are issued when there will be a lot of used cars swilling around, are good times because they won't be selling much and failing to meet targets. Selling a car at almost no profit just to get a sale on your sheet can be very attractive to a salesman who's missing his monthly figures! You do need a fair amount of "brass neck" and not be easily embarrassed and you need to be completely non threatening for this to work best, but sometimes it works surprisingly well and sometimes it doesn't work at all. I'll go on trying it though because you can save a pile of dough when it works.
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Wow great thank you!
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Lounge is the top model and has alloy wheels as standard, plastic side mouldings and fog lights not a lot else. 2015 on are generally better equipped and gain outside temperature gauge and height adjustable seats. Also hill holder (allows handbrake free hill starts) also asr on some. (anti slip traction control)
Congratulations. If you feel like it you could let us know, in a few months say, how you're getting on with it? All the best. Jock.Hi everyone! Just wanted to update this thread to say that I bought the car that @AB100 linked. I saw it, really loved it on the test drive and it’s such a great size like I wanted. Thanks for your help everybody from a very satisfied new Fiat owner
Will do!
