eBay motors for an emergency car purchase
by Chris Dawson
There’s nothing quite like eBay in an emergency, this weekend I was on my way to a friends house when my car engine decided to blow up leaving me in urgent need of some replacement wheels. Seeing a huge cloud of blue grey smoke in my rear view mirror was not the most auspicious start to the day and not the most impressive way to arrive at a friends house, but it left me in little doubt that I was in need of a new motor.
A few hours later having let the engine cool and limping home at about 20 miles an hour (5 miles an hour was the most I could manage up the steepest hill), I walked back into the house and got straight onto eBay. After all where else can you buy a car in a hurry on a Saturday afternoon?
Motors – browse vehicles – cars were my first three clicks on eBay swiftly followed by distance to narrow the selection to motors within 10 miles of home. Five minutes later after a quick phone call I was back out of the house jumping in the truck (which I bought five years ago on eBay) and on my way to a forecourt just 5 miles from home. After a quick test drive and some financial wangling I had a car again (so if you’re one of the people I have meetings arranged with next week yes I will be able to make it!).
It’s may not be the greatest car in the world, but it drives like a dream, is in reasonable condition, and has every comfort I could possibly want. It’s automatic (obviously… didn’t you know I’m lazy?) with electric everything (locks, mirrors, windows, sunroof and memory seats which are also heated front and rear), along with cruise control (more laziness), climate control and a 6 CD autochanger in the boot. It was also a bit of a bargain after pleading poverty got the price knocked down by 20% and it came with four brand new tyres! The garage even delivered the car home for me seeing as I had to drive the truck back.
Prior to eBay I’d have probably still have been in the newsagents buying a copy of Autotrader by the time I was back home with a replacement car. The chances are that I’d still not be aware of the dealer I found today (They’re hidden on a side road I’ve driven past hundreds of times and never knew they were there). eBay Motors rocks, if you’re in the market for a car it’s probably the best place in the UK to start your search.
My only regret is that once again I can’t leave feedback for the seller on eBay – classified ad format just doesn’t allow you to do that. However if you’re ever in the need of a friendly car dealer in the vicinity of my place then I can highly recommend Cool4Cars in Aldermaston who trade on eBay as topnotch365.
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It’s amazing how cheap cars are nowadays.
They may be cheap to buy. But then there are the other expences:- Insurance, Road Fund Tax, Repairs and Maintenance, Petrol(or Diesel) and then of course you are seen as a Cash Cow by every Local Authority for Parking and of course if you park in the wrong place there are always a flock of Traffic Wardens(or whatever they call them now) all wanting to stick a ticket on your car(as they all seem to be on Commission to stick the maximum number of tickets on vehicles)(remember st georges dragon pointed out recently that they even stick tickets on cars that are moving but held at such as Traffic Lights or Junctions).
So its not the initial purchase that expensive its everything that follows on.
The good news for me is that I already had a car so have been paying for everything anyway. Also conveniently the new tax disk starting 1st March for the old car arrived Saturday so I’ll be popping down the post office to exchange that for a full refund and buy tax for the replacement so that’s not costing me a penny.
All in all John’s right, you can buy a decent quality motor for no more than a few thousand pounds these days and if you wanted to you can pick up a half decent runner for well under a grand.
What does amaze me as I get older is how cheap insurance is – the new 3 litre V6 car isn’t costing me a penny more to insure than the old 2 litre motor!
Also if the old car is going to be scrapped it should be worth about £150 or so. So as the new car appears to be a Vauxhall Omega and they don’t fetch a lot the differance in value between the old and the new may not be very much.
You’re right it’s an Omega and you can get some really cheap ones… but the good ones do still fetch a fair bit more than the scrap value.
On the plus side the old one was also an Omega and has a pair of headlights just a year old – they were £90 each so they’ll be going on eBay with a few other bits before the rest goes to the metal recycler
Your car model affects your premium. You won’t get these numbers from your insurer; in fact, you may not be able to get them at all get all the facts from “Clearance Auto” website
lets all use horses again , feed merchants, saddlers, blacksmiths, and vet fees, toll houses every few mile highwaymen etc, ah! the good old days
I don’t have room to stable the 200 odd horses comfortably sitting under the bonnet of my replacement car. My garden is big, but it’s not that big
Of course we could get a little more modern than horses and go for something like a Steam Car(Stanley Steamer anybody)
lots of horse shit to get rid of too
Which could be potted up and sold on Ebay to Greek start-up businesses.
http://tamebay.com/2012/02/if-you-think-they-take-the-piss-in-britain-its-shit-in-greece.html
Does wonders for the Roses. In the good old days in a village when the horses went through the streets all the gardeners would rush out with a bucket and shovel to clear up the streets and put it on the Roses.