Buying a car on the internet looks easy on the Vauxhall ad. One click and, as the little boy exclaims, "Mum, Dad just bought a car!" How wonderful. Now the trend is sweeping into used car sales. One dealer tells me that around 35% of his business originates via the web. However, for the uninitiated, finding a used car online can bring both bargains and pitfalls.
My online nightmare began when I found myself looking for my first car at the age of 36. My girlfriend, 34, who has also never owned a car, asked some workmates for advice. "Check it's got four wheels and a steering wheel," they said, before falling about laughing. A mate of a mate of a mate who was a mechanic wasn't much help either. "You want to see my mate Phil," he said.
In exasperation, I turned towards something I did at least know a little about: the net. Innocently enough, I thought it helped that I knew exactly what I wanted (Fiat Punto SX, around £5000, in rialto blue or turquoise, or silver at a push). Within minutes going online and typing in a search for "Used cars", I found a car. T reg, five grand. What a bargain!
As instructed, I sent an email. A salesman phoned me back. "Sorry, mate," he breezed. "We've sold that one." There were lots of other Puntos, everywhere, but in the wrong colour, at the wrong price, or at the other end of the country. However, after a couple of weeks of failed enquiries and increasingly square eyes, I was up and off again. A car supermarket called to say they had my dream car. Sure, they were 100 miles away and I didn't have a car to get there, but I wanted that vehicle. I thought about putting down a phoned deposit to hold the car but didn't bother, because a friend had warned me it would look too keen. I was excited and set off. Four trains later, as I approached the garage at dusk I pondered the merits of viewing a car in semi-darkness. I met the slightly sheepish-looking salesman at 4.30. He sat me down and made me a cup of tea as he explained everything: how good the internet was for business, how they got online inquiries from 200 miles away, and how another salesman had sold my car at 1pm. I had left my house at 12.55.
By now, I was hardly sleeping, computer crazed and vulnerable. Alarm bells should really have rung when I saw the rialto blue SX on the website of a dealer less than an hour away, as the branch much closer to home had just mysteriously closed down. But I was exhausted, and decided that this shiny motor was my car. In desperation I ignored the filthy engine (including two dead wasps), the huge dent in the passenger door and the knackered wheel trims that suggested that the car been driven by several boy racers. Fatefully, I handed over £100 deposit, but what remained of my mental faculties prompted me to get an AA inspection. My first good move. Not only did the car have several other faults, but catastrophically was minus its essential Fiat immobiliser key (these cost £1000 to replace) and thus was virtually unsalable. I pulled out of the deal.
The whole fiasco cost me hours of online phone bills, the £100 deposit, £150 on the AA inspection/HPI test and a couple of millimetres of my hairline.
However, I've finally taken delivery of a beautiful, bargain Punto, courtesy of the first website I visited, who kept my details. It's not turquoise, rialto blue or silver, but a strange "metallic burnt orange" that my girlfriend insists matches my remaining barnet. The engine is clean as a whistle, without so much as a fly. It's not exactly what I wanted, and technically a gingernut, but my lovely car is highly desirable. How do I know this? Because last time I looked, it was still being advertised on the web.
The idiot's guide to buying a used car on the net
1 Know your sites Don't spend hours trawling - identify around half a dozen (usually bigger) sites with good access to the vehicle you're after, and visit them daily. Car supermarket sites (such as www.directcars.co.uk in Sheffield and www.fow.co.uk in Cheshire) list hundreds of cars each.
2 Be flexible Have a good idea about the car you're looking for, but don't be too inflexible - you stand a better chance if you have a range of options.
3 Use a vehicle locator Register your requirements at locator websites such as www.carsource.co.uk or www.fish4cars.co.uk. They will search the internet (locally, region ally or nationally) for you, mailing you daily with the results.
4 Keep looking elsewhere Don't base your search entirely on the net. Keep an eye on used car magazines, such as Autotrader, for dealers specialising in the make you're after. They will often list a web site as well.
5 Watch out for infrequent updates The best sites are updated several times daily, but some lie unchanged for days, even weeks at a time.
6 Found that car? Sites usually ask you to email them, for a salesman to contact you by telephone. Don't wait for that - phone them straight away.
7 Consider a credit card deposit Giving a deposit over the phone means they'll hold the car for you until you get there.
8 Be patient Occasionally the excessive traffic to sites will sever your net connection, but don't be put off.
9 Be wary If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch out for things like photos used "for illustration only", of another, more desirable motor.
10 Wheel that deal Inspect the vehicle thoroughly, negotiating price reductions for any defects. An HPI check into the vehicle's history/mileage is advisable, along with an AA or RAC vehicle inspection.
