It’s easy to see why you might want to choose a cheap car for your next car, or in fact your first car. The one you’ve got might be costing you an absolute fortune, so the last thing you’re going to be able to do is fork out all this money for a brand new car. So, what’s your next option? It’s to buy a second hand car, which is absolutely fine. But when buying a second hand car, people seem to get drawn in to the absolutely cheap as chips cars that will not cost more than a couple of hundred. They drive, they look ok, and on the surface, you can’t see that anything is wrong. What happens a few months down the line? You’re left with a car you can’t use, and one that’s going to cost you a fortune to repair because the parts don’t exist. So, to save you from all of this hassle, we want to show you how you can make your next cheap car count, rather than making it something that fails you.

Warning Signs

There are definitely some warning signs that you need to make sure you’re looking out for if you want to ensure the car you have isn’t just going to break down right in front of you. First of all, you need to look at the quality of the engine. If it’s rusted or even cracked, this is a warning sign. You need to be looking at engines that are pretty much in a neat condition, with only some signs of wear and tear. This will prevent any engine issues which definitely could happen with an older car. The newer it looks, the newer it’s more likely to run. You also need to do basic checks like the oil level and quality. If this oil is low and thick and black and sticky, you should definitely be questioning it. It’s a sign that it hasn’t been changed in a long while, or that there are issues with the oil itself.

Test Drive

Test driving a car is really important, even if you feel like you don’t have a clue what you’d be looking for when driving it. But the best way to buy a used car is always once you’ve test drove it, and you’re looking for things such as extra light or firm steering, gears popping out of place, and the clutch being hard to use. You should also listen for sounds like the cambelt ticking over really loudly, screeching from the brakes, or a loud whirring noise from the wheels.

Where To Go

We always think you should go through a garage, although we do know that you can get better deals if you were to go private. With private sellers, once the deal is done you can’t take the car back to them a few weeks later with an issue. With a dealer, you can easily take it back as they will probably have given you warranty.