First Car - Finance Questions

[Polygon]

Hey Guys,

I'm currently driving a 1998 Toyota Tazz. It is paid off for, and gets me from A to B perfectly. The body needs some fixing, but all in all it's a good car.

But as many Tazzes is misses some cool stuff like modern looks, aircon, power steering, safety, etc... so I want to buy a used car in the R120k price range.

I've been looking at one of those new-look (note, not new) Corsa's. Thing is this will be my first car i'm buying.

What are the pitfalls and advice for buying your first car? What can I negotiate on and what can't I? I know I need to factor in insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc..costs.

That said, I found a really nice 2008 Corsa 1.4 sport 3 door (looks cool anyway, need to see it in person). It has 74000 kms on the clock, and all the other good stuff in a modern car today. The price is 120k.

I spoke to the agent selling it and he quoted me R3200 over 48 months with R10 000 deposit. He said the price wasn't negotiable as this car is already low enough. Should I believe him? I don't know how this is financed, but can I get better financing?

Thanks Guys. Appreciate the opinions and advice that follows. Yes, even the criticism from the fanboys lol.

 

[LCBXX]

Shop around. There are many good deals to find. Spend at least 2 weeks shopping and test drive as much as you can. It gives you a baseline to work from on how certain cars feel after a certain amount of KM's.

Personally, if a salesman dismisses me like that, I'd shop elsewhere. The 2nd hand price market is notoriously inflated - phone your insurance and ask them what the trade & retail on the car is.

 

[koeks]

cool car. but it looks like the mileage is a high for the year model? why not look at an older model? 2006 or 2007?

 

[Sapcat]

+ 1 on shopping around - do research on Autotrader for example to get e feel for the market. Personally the Corsa dosent look like that great a deal, especially considering the mileage.

Also do you best to negotiate with the bank on the interest rate. If you put down a deposit, this help your negotiating leverage

 

[hashbrown99]

Shop around. There are many good deals to find. Spend at least 2 weeks shopping and test drive as much as you can. It gives you a baseline to work from on how certain cars feel after a certain amount of KM's.

Personally, if a salesman dismisses me like that, I'd shop elsewhere. The 2nd hand price market is notoriously inflated - phone your insurance and ask them what the trade & retail on the car is.

+1. That is very high mileage and price for a 2008 model. Also the salesman's attitude really sucks

 

[Gaz{M}]

Test drive Test Drive Test Drive.

You can look at a million car magazines, a billion auto trader adverts, read websites and talk to your friends and family. But when you sit in the driver's seat, you will just know if this is the car you want or not.

 

[ALFAHOLIC]

+100 on shopping around. I find myself now in the position to get the car I've always wanted...but now sitting with a car that i just took because I needed one drastically, it looked good then, but now I'm strugling to get rid of it as its not paid off

Shop around for what you like. The feeling of getting a new car is often overclowded by bad judgement and falling for every trick in the book from stealers...think very carefully about what you want to buy...

 

[*SynergyX*]

seriously ...for a 1.4 corsa with that amount of milage(sure its not 7400 maybe???) on it..thats a ridiculous price.

i just bought a car in may this year......vw mastercar with 6000km's on it practically brand new...and paid around that price also its a 1.6

 

[RazedInBlack]

74000KMs is excessively high for an 08 model. Good advice these guys are giving you . . . shop around!

And don't believe that salesman! He does sound like a dick!

 

[Saffa]

First check what you can afford on a monthly basis. Then work that back assuming service fees, initiation fees and Credit life that you will have to pay on the car finance. You will get a original capital amount that you can "buy" from the bank.

You will also need to pay insurance. R500-R1400 depending on the car you have and your risk profile.

If you finance R140k (assuming no deposit and no balloon) you'll pay around R3,800 a month at current rates.

 

[ALFAHOLIC]

How did you manage to spell DICK on here...thought it was censored???

 

[DefecteD]

DEEE EYE SEE KAY
DICK
lol

 

[ALFAHOLIC]

lol

 

[DefecteD]

lol

LOL is in your pants

HAHA!

/me jokes! you set yourself up for that one!

 

[rurapente]

Renault!

 

[ALFAHOLIC]

Renalt

 

[Polygon]

thanks guys for the replies. will follow the advice given.

also, why renault?

 

[Gnome]

Nothing wrong with Opel, especially that Corsa D (the new shape), it's seriously reliable even the 140kW OPC I've only heard good things. The 1.4 is a bit slow but it looks nice, it's small (which is a must for the city), gets relatively good millage and it's cheap (the one you are looking at is overpriced).

But all things equal nothing beats the new Fiat Nuova 500 right now for the City, it's smaller and lighter than anything else, it's got a rocket 1.4 engine.

Apart from that, I usually knock VW a bit but I think I'd still take that over a Renault.

My choices would be:

Fiat Nuova 500
Corsa D
Honda Civic
VW something (like a Polo, LOL, my VW knowledge shining through)

There are some others, I just can't think of them now, but I'll tell you one thing, none of those I'm thinking of hails from France (*hint*hint*hint*)

 

[Fazda]

Gnome, I don't think anyone had a problem with the Corsa per se...just that it had done a ridiculously high mileage for a 2008 model...and that price for a high miler, certainly isn't justified.

 

[Gnome]

Gnome, I don't think anyone had a problem with the Corsa per se...just that it had done a ridiculously high mileage for a 2008 model...and that price for a high miler, certainly isn't justified.

Yeah I meant the Corsa D in general, that one is overpriced no argument.