Buying a car in (for) France

[Latron]

Hi

 

We are moving to the Limousin soon and want to sell our current car and buy a LHD.

We have been told that French 2nd hand cars are very expensive, so is there a better way of doing it than buying locally? We only want an old runabout for local driving, as when we go on any longer journeys we will probably hire a decent vehicle!

Any ideas/suggestions gratefully received.

Latron

[Opel Fruit<P><BR>Opel Fruit, Dept. 53<P>]

Look in the local Top Annonces paper, and similar. Also, there are dozens of cars with AV on them around and about. They tend to be cheap, in terms of the usual prices.

We bought both ours off eBay.fr - both cheaper than Occasion sites, and fortunately within 60 kms of us!

If you want just a runabout, get a petrol car, not diesel. Diesels cost lots more, and if you only potter about, the higher initial price will take a long time to recoup (years).

[Poolguy]

If you want to get a better car and save money then buy in Germany as I did.

But its not worth the bother unless you want a car say less than 5 years old - younger than that its definately worth the bother, you'll save thousands.

PM me if you want the details of a reputable agent.

Andrew

[Renaud]

eBay for cars in France looks exciting. A lot of seemingly interesting cars a seemingly good prices. As you would expect a far greater range than the left hand drive section of the UK’s eBay.

 

In the UK a daughter is learning to drive. I bought a car through eBay for her to practice in (I will sit beside her and will try not to panic or shout). But it took three attempts to buy a car on eBay.

 

The listing for the first time the car boasted of an air conditioning system. I travelled to pick it up and the vendor offered a test drive. I asked for the air conditioning to be turned on. The interior of the car fogged-up and after 20 minutes of the most dangerous blind driving I have ever done, we agreed to go no further with the sale.

 

Second car was 180 miles away, the vendor picked me up at the station and drove me (in his smart machine) into rural wilds where he (and his very large dog) showed me the car I had won. It was nothing like the description - “a few supermarket car park dings” translated to every panel – including the roof – bearing witness to accidents or vandalism. Also it had two doors not four, as advertised, one wheel was a different size to the other three. On the one hand the car I had won, was not as listed and I felt entitled to not go through with the transaction. On the other I was dealing with a large man with a large dog and faced a very long walk if I said ‘no’.

 

This is one of  the perils of buying through eBay. Had this situation been in rural France where my language skills would have compounded the problem …

 

Third car is an R reg Skoda Felicia. It runs sweetly and has power assisted steering it has the odd dent. Daughter is disgusted but accepts my assurance that if she adds to its dents I will not mind in the least.

[Val_2]

Not all second hand cars are expensive in France. Try your local small garages who have a few used ones for sale,you may be surprised at how low mileage they are and some are owned by just one previous owner. and you can often barter the price a bit.My daughter bought a 106 locally,previously owned by one old lady and it had done less kms than our newer by one year family car.I also compared the make,model and year with the same on an english list and it was cheaper in most cases and against the same in the local paper here. You also get a 12months guarantee and new CT from a garage, from a private sale you have to have a minimum of 18months CT but there is no comeback guarantee whatsoever and if you know nothing about engines you could be buying a hell of a lot of trouble. I personally have never and would never buy anything from the Internet,there seems no protection.