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Buying a car

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:31pm
12 replies384 views6 members subscribed
Psadebs

Posts: 45

5 helpful points

Location: San Cayetano

Joined: 16 Oct 2020

Hi can anyone give us advice please on buying a car now we’re here.

We think it better to have a left hand drive car now we are here permanently.

Can anyone recommend a dealership?

Do you think it better to buy new rather than second hand?

Any help would be appreciated 🙏

Gem

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:42pm

Gem

Helpful member

Posts: 278

172 helpful points

Location: Torre-Pacheco

Joined: 16 Jan 2020

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:42pm

Psadebs wrote on Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:31pm:

Hi can anyone give us advice please on buying a car now we’re here.

We think it better to have a left hand drive car now we are here permanently.

Can anyone recommend a dealership?

Do you think it better to buy new rather than second hand?

Any help would be appreciated 🙏

Hi

Would definitely suggest you get a left hand drive car, given you are here permanently.

We originally bought a second hand car when we first moved here, but the prices tend to be really high and, of course, you won't necessarily know the driving history.

Our car was written off in the Gota Fria floods and when we looked to replace, we decided to have a look at new car prices.

Ended up with an absolutely fantastic deal for a top of the range Dacia Duster (not everyone's cup of tea for sure) which was only 10-15% more expensive than a 2 year old Ford Fiesta! 

For that, we have a brand new car (with all the bells and whistles),5 year warranty, free servicing up to 100k, a proper dealership, great financing, etc.

Have a good look around (when you can) as there are likely to be lots of great deals given the current situation.

Happy hunting

Psadebs

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:55pm

Psadebs

Original Poster

Posts: 45

5 helpful points

Location: San Cayetano

Joined: 16 Oct 2020

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:55pm

Gem wrote on Tue Feb 9, 2021 2:42pm:

Hi

Would definitely suggest you get a left hand drive car, given you are here permanently.

We originally bought a second hand car when we first moved here, but the prices tend to be really high and, of course, you won't necessarily know the driving history.

Our car was written off in the Gota Fria floods and when we looked to replace, we decided to have a look at new car prices.

Ended up with an absolutely fantastic deal for a top of the range Dacia Duster (not everyone's cup of tea for sure) which was only 10-15% more expensive than a 2 year old Ford Fiesta! 

For that, we have a brand new car (with all the bells and whistles),5 year warranty, free servicing up to 100k, a proper dealership, great financing, etc.

Have a good look around (when you can) as there are likely to be lots of great deals given the current situation.

Happy hunting

Thank you so much for the quick reply.

RichT

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 7:06pm

RichT

Super helpful member

Posts: 1132

1258 helpful points

Location: Lorca

Joined: 13 Sep 2019

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 7:06pm

I would certainly recommend left-hand drive if you are here permanently. Although it will take a little getting used to (more so if you have a manual gearbox), it is safer for overtaking, driving in general and also for those little things like paying at motorway toll booths, using ticket machines in certain car parks, etc.

The second-hand car market is not as developed as in the UK for two main reasons: 1) company cars are far less common, so there are less 2-3 year old fleet cars being passed through to the second-hand market; and 2) traditionally, spaniards buy a new car and then hand it down through generations and basically drive it into the ground. So, all in all, you will find a smaller selection of used cars at higher prices than in the UK.

A lot of used car dealers tend to sell high mileage, older, cheap cars in poor condition. However, many main dealerships will offer low mileage (and remember it's kilometres when looking at the 'mileage' a car has done!) or so-called 'Kilometre 0' nearly-new cars that are often pre-registered to achieve a certain sales target, but not actually sold for 6-12 months - and this can result in them being 25-30% cheaper than their price as new.

One thing to watch out for is the pricing - commonly you will see a 'cash' price and a considerably lower 'finance' price. However, if you go for the 'finance' price, that is the price quoted without including the interest paid on the finance, which will often take the price significantly higher than the cash price.

Try www.coches.net which works like autotrader.

Hope this helps!

Psadebs

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 9:29pm

Psadebs

Original Poster

Posts: 45

5 helpful points

Location: San Cayetano

Joined: 16 Oct 2020

Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2021 9:29pm

RichT wrote on Tue Feb 9, 2021 7:06pm:

I would certainly recommend left-hand drive if you are here permanently. Although it will take a little getting used to (more so if you have a manual gearbox), it is safer for overtaking, driving in general and also for those little things like paying at motorway toll booths, using ticket machine...

...s in certain car parks, etc.

The second-hand car market is not as developed as in the UK for two main reasons: 1) company cars are far less common, so there are less 2-3 year old fleet cars being passed through to the second-hand market; and 2) traditionally, spaniards buy a new car and then hand it down through generations and basically drive it into the ground. So, all in all, you will find a smaller selection of used cars at higher prices than in the UK.

A lot of used car dealers tend to sell high mileage, older, cheap cars in poor condition. However, many main dealerships will offer low mileage (and remember it's kilometres when looking at the 'mileage' a car has done!) or so-called 'Kilometre 0' nearly-new cars that are often pre-registered to achieve a certain sales target, but not actually sold for 6-12 months - and this can result in them being 25-30% cheaper than their price as new.

One thing to watch out for is the pricing - commonly you will see a 'cash' price and a considerably lower 'finance' price. However, if you go for the 'finance' price, that is the price quoted without including the interest paid on the finance, which will often take the price significantly higher than the cash price.

Try www.coches.net which works like autotrader.

Hope this helps!

That’s great, thank you so much.

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dave sierra golf

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:32am

dave sierra golf

Helpful member

Posts: 393

162 helpful points

Location: Mar Menor

Joined: 10 May 2018

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:32am

Hola    depends on how much you wish to travel     

try Paul in Torre-Pacheco     Spanish cars  or is it cars in Spaiñ

stay away from specialist vehicles in San Javier    (I lost €3,000 in two weeks) 

but the duster is a very good car        best of luck

Psadebs

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 10:11am

Psadebs

Original Poster

Posts: 45

5 helpful points

Location: San Cayetano

Joined: 16 Oct 2020

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2021 10:11am

dave sierra golf wrote on Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:32am:

Hola    depends on how much you wish to travel     

try Paul in Torre-Pacheco     Spanish cars  or is it cars in Spaiñ

stay away from specialist vehicles in San Javier    (I lost €3,000 in two weeks) 

but the duster is a very good car        best of luck

Thank you 👍

crissywissy

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:07am

crissywissy

Super helpful member

Posts: 2440

1614 helpful points

Location: Mar Menor

Joined: 26 Sep 2015

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:07am

Cars in Spain  and Yourcar Mar Menor are both on the Torre Pacheco Road and both have a good selection of great cars.I’ve had 2 from Paul Callaghan in Cars in Spain and excellent service from Andy at Your Car.l.l.

dave sierra golf

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:00am

dave sierra golf

Helpful member

Posts: 393

162 helpful points

Location: Mar Menor

Joined: 10 May 2018

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:00am

crissywissy wrote on Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:07am:

Cars in Spain  and Yourcar Mar Menor are both on the Torre Pacheco Road and both have a good selection of great cars.I’ve had 2 from Paul Callaghan in Cars in Spain and excellent service from Andy at Your Car.l.l.

Hola    long time no hear       is the Garden open again      please may I have your mossy repellent recipe 

crissywissy

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:14am

crissywissy

Super helpful member

Posts: 2440

1614 helpful points

Location: Mar Menor

Joined: 26 Sep 2015

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:14am

The Garden Bar is open again but we’re only allowed to meet with people from the same household so no coffee mornings yet...not sure what you mean about mozzie repellant...we use Block Magic from Lidl but we dont really get bothered here ...the whole area is sprayed monthly.

We did try the mouthwash recipe when we were in San Javier...google it...but didnt make much difference.

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