---
title: 'How To Buy A Used Car - Step By Step Guide & Tips - Great Britain'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qy16Y_7B3zw'
video_id: 'Qy16Y_7B3zw'
date: 2026-06-29
duration_sec: 1494
---

# How To Buy A Used Car - Step By Step Guide & Tips - Great Britain

> Source: [How To Buy A Used Car - Step By Step Guide & Tips - Great Britain](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qy16Y_7B3zw)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to buying a used car in Great Britain, covering everything from online searching to final payment. The presenter emphasizes the importance of thorough inspection, legal protections, and avoiding common pitfalls.

### Key Points

- **Search Online and Be Willing to Travel** [0:42] — Don't limit yourself to local dealers; use Autotrader, Facebook Marketplace, or eBay to find the best car for the right price.
- **Dealer vs. Private Seller** [1:43] — Buying from a dealer gives you rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015; private sellers offer no such protection, so only buy from them if you're knowledgeable about cars.
- **Pre-Viewing Checks** [2:52] — Before contacting the seller, get an insurance quote for the specific car, check road tax costs, and review the MOT history online.
- **Contact the Seller with a List** [4:43] — Have a list of questions ready, including service history, timing belt status, and any known issues. Prefer calling to gauge the seller's honesty.
- **Inspect the Car Thoroughly** [7:03] — Make a list of all problems you see, from paint damage to panel gaps, tire condition, brakes, and engine bay. Check for leaks, mayonnaise under oil cap, and exhaust smoke.
- **Test Drive and Final Checks** [15:43] — Test all gears, clutch, steering, suspension, and brakes. After agreeing on a price, do a car history check to ensure no outstanding finance before paying via bank transfer.

### Conclusion

Buying a used car requires patience and diligence, but by following these steps you can avoid costly mistakes and find a reliable vehicle. Always prioritize condition over mileage and never skip the final history check.

## Transcript

One owner from new blue magnific paint.
Come closer. Come closer. I'm not
charging enough to include delivery.
This logo here stands for form. You are
racing. Better than a Capri gear and
faster than Neil Armstrong. You know it
makes sense. Oh contr Dellboy. Oh contr.
Even though this thing has had one owner
from new me. It's literally being driven
by hundreds of people who can't drive.
And the only thing this car has in
common with Neil Armstrong
is the fact it's done enough miles to
make it to the moon. Well, almost. So,
here are some tips to help you buy a
used car. And my first tip is not to
simply go to your local used car dealer
because, well, you're going to be
limiting your choice to what they happen
to have in stock. Search online and be
willing to travel. In my opinion, it's
worth risking a day of your time to find
the right used car for the right price.
Online, you can use Autotrader. It has a
brilliant search tool. Not only can you
search via make and model, but mileage,
age, even naugh to 60 time. The problem
with Autotrader is it's expensive for
dealers to put their cars on it, which
means, well, you end up paying for that
when you buy the car because they have
to transfer that cost onto you by
putting that cost onto the price of the
car. If you're looking for the absolute
cheapest cars, well, Facebook
Marketplace may be a good place to
start. You can also use eBay as well.
That's a good place for used cars.
Plenty of cars on there. It doesn't
matter where you find your car. What
matters is that you find the car you're
looking for. The next thing to consider
is whether or not the car is being sold
by a dealer known as a trade seller or a
private seller, which is the current
owner of the car. There is a significant
difference. If you're buying from a
dealer, well, you have the Consumer
Rights Act 2015 by your side. If there
is a problem with the car, you can go
back to the dealer. Make sure you let
the dealer know as soon as possible
because time does matter. The longer you
leave it, the less rights you have. And
don't just call them. Put it in writing.
If the dealer is not playing ball, then
go to the financial ombbudsman. When you
buy from a private seller, though, you
don't have those rights. That private
seller could have a car that needs an
expensive repair that they're trying to
pass on to somebody else. You buy the
car unaware of this repair that's
needed. You find out later and there's
nothing you can do about it. I don't
recommend someone who knows little about
cars buy from a private seller. It's
better for people who are clued up about
cars to buy from a private seller
because they well they're more likely to
know if there's a problem. Also, I don't
recommend buying high value cars from
private sellers either. Before you
contact the seller of the car, there are
three things you need to do. The first
thing is to find out how much it costs
to ensure that actual car you're going
to view. I'll leave a link in the
description to confuse.com. It's a price
comparison website for car insurance
amongst other things. I like using them
because it's quick and easy. And once
your details are stored, you just log in
and you can find out the price to insure
a car very quickly and compare different
insurers. They're not sponsoring this
video, but it is an affiliate link. So,
if you click on it, depending on what
happens afterwards, I may get a small
commission, but it doesn't cost you
anything. The reason why you want to get
a quote for the actual car you're going
to view is because you can have two cars
that are exactly the same or at least
you think they are exactly the same and
one cost significantly more to insure
than the other. So you may be thinking,
"Oh, I've got a quote for that other
car. This car is the same. It's going to
be the same price." You go and buy the
car and then find out, oh criy, the car
insurance is a lot more. So you don't
want that nasty surprise. you want to
get a price for the actual car you're
going to view. The next thing is vehicle
excise duty or road tax as most people
call it. The same thing is true. You can
have two cars that appear to be exactly
the same but the cost to put road tax on
them is vastly different and that's
because rules change and also throughout
the lifetime of the car it's going to be
tweaked and that can make a difference
to how much it costs to tax it and the
difference can be great.
And the third thing is to go on to theot
history check website. It's free to use.
I'll leave a link in the description.
You put the number plate of the car in
and you can see the history of the
car's. You can see where it's passed
failed, why it's failed, and the
advisories. Once you have found out how
much it costs to insure it, tax it, and
you've looked at theote history, now
it's time to contact the seller. My tip
is to have a list of information that
you want to find out. list on screen.
Now, you can add to that list or take
away from it. It's up to you. But that
is my advice. This is the information
you really want to find out when you
contact the seller. You can email it to
them or you can call them. I prefer to
call them so I get an idea of what they
are like. Are they answering my
questions? Are they rabbiting on about
nonsense for ages and ignoring what I'm
asking them? How easy are they to deal
with? Do I want to buy a car off them?
Do I want to take a car back to them if
there's a problem with the car? The most
important information you're trying to
find out is the car's service history
and whether or not there's anything
wrong with it. Now, most cars have a
book like this. And in this book, it
will tell you what needs to be serviced
and when. And there will be somewhere
for the garage to write the date and the
mileage of the service and then stamp
it. It's better to look through the
invoices though cuz that's better
evidence that the previous owner or
owners have serviced it. Also, does it
have a timing chain or a timing belt? If
it has a timing belt, that will need
replacing every so often. Is it due soon
or has it just been done? If you're
driving around in a vehicle with an old
timing belt that needs replacing, well,
that's a ticking time bong. The engine
could die suddenly without warning. And
if the car has not been serviced when
it's supposed to, well, that can cause
irreversible damage to the engine. I
don't recommend buying a car without a
full service history because the engine
is likely going to be more worn. But
overall, it's a sign of how that car has
been cared for. However, when you're
looking at the lowest end of the market,
the cheapest cars for sale, it can be
hard to find one with a full service
history because the car is not worth
enough to warrant spending money on it,
not even a service. So, when it comes to
the cheapest cars you can buy, often
they don't have a full service history.
Sometimes though, it may be serviced by
the owner, and that doesn't put me off.
That's a good sign because that owner
has probably taken good care of the car,
but I would want to see receipts for the
servicing parts as proof that they have
serviced it. So, you've actually made it
to come and view the car. My next tip is
to make another list. Look around the
car and write down any problems you see
with the car. Don't rely on your memory
because you may forget some of the
problems. When it comes to you making a
decision as to whether or not you're
going to buy the car, you want all the
information on the list in front of you
so that you make the best decision and
if you decide to buy it, you get the
best deal. So, look around from top to
bottom at the paint. Is it damaged? Are
the panels damaged? Look at the rubbers.
Look at the plastics. Look at the
lights. You can see here this light has
some crazing. These little cracks. I'll
write that down. Look at the wheels.
Look at the panel gaps. Are they even?
They're going to vary in size. Like the
panel gap for the door is going to be
much bigger than the gap for the bumper
and for the bonnet. But what's important
is that they are even. They don't get
bigger or smaller when you run your
finger along them. Look at the tires.
Are there cuts and bulges? What's the
tread like? Is there much tread? How old
are they? Find the date code just there.
Week 20, 2024.
Tire manufacturers recommend tires are
replaced after 10 years. There's no law
about that, but in my experience, tires
aren't very good after about 5 years.
Check the brakes. As long as they're not
hot, you can run your finger along the
top like that. And when you get to the
top bit just there, there shouldn't be a
big lip. If you can feel like a ridge
just here, like a raised bit on the end,
that's about one plus mil over one mil
big, that's a sign that the brakes are
worn. But really take your time. Don't
just glance at it. Look around it like
you're cleaning it. Imagine you're
cleaning the car and you're trying to
get every spot. That way you're going to
see all the parts of the car and you're
going to notice any problems. Also, you
can look under the car. You can't see
much these days because of all the
plastic covers, but if there was an
obvious problem, you'll likely see
something if there's obvious damage or
if there's a big oil leak. For the next
thing, you don't need to know anything
about engines. I've opened the bonnet
because I'm onehanded at the moment as
I'm holding the camera with one hand and
it's awkward to open the bonnet with
only one hand. Even if you know nothing
about engines, you can have a look. You
can look at the fluid levels. Are they
between min and max? If you're
struggling to see any fluid, shine a
light on it. The light from your phone
will probably work and help you see
where it is. You can check the oil with
the dipstick. And also, you can just
look at it and see, is it like this?
This is an honest engine. Dry and dusty.
Is it super clean? Has someone steam
cleaned it? Maybe to try and hide
something or maybe just to make it look
better. Who knows? But a dry, dusty
engine like this is usually a very
honest engine. Oil should be on the
inside of the engine, not the outside.
You shouldn't be seeing oil in the
engine bay. Neither should you be seeing
coolant. Coolant usually looks like well
when it leaks you get like this salt
buildup. It looks like a buildup of
salt. White sort of crusty salt.
Unfortunately from the top you can't see
everything but you can shine a light
down here and here to see if you can see
any oil or any salt build up the coolant
which looks like salt. Even better if
you can get under the engine and have a
look. That's going to show you even
more. Oh, and I forgot. Another check
you can make, even if you know nothing
about engines, is to look underneath the
oil filler cap, not as relevant these
days because head gaskets don't seem to
fail much these days, but if you take
the oil filler cap off and look
underneath it and there's like a white
mayonnaise substance, that's a sign that
your head gasket could have failed.
There can be just a little bit of white
on there, which can just be
condensation, but if there's a lot of
white mayonnaise, that's a bad sign.
It's a new day today, hence the
different clothes. I ran out of time
yesterday. I had to do a lesson. The
next thing you can do is switch the
engine on. Now, ideally, you'll get
somebody else to switch the engine on
whilst you look at the exhaust to see
what comes out the back. But if you
can't do that, you can just do it
yourself. Get ready. Get the door open,
switch the engine on,
and go around and have a look. Get to
the exhaust and see what's coming out.
Now, water's normal. It's okay to have a
bit of water and it's okay for the water
to be a little bit sy, a little bit
black, but you should not see oil coming
out the back. White steam, which looks
like white smoke, but it is steam, is
normal on a cold day, especially on a
cold start. You'll get a fair amount of
that, but you shouldn't have big clouds
bellowing out the back. If you got huge
white clouds of smoke coming out the
back of your car, that's a problem. When
it comes to the suspension, it's
unlikely you're going to be able to see
much.
No, I can't see anything. Try and look
under there, but still
can't see much at all. What you can do
is find a solid part of the car at each
corner and give it a good push like
this. Push it down. The car should
settle fairly quickly. It shouldn't keep
wobbling. That's a sign that your shock
absorbers have failed. If it does keep
moving for a long time, what I like to
do is open the door because then I can
get my hands on a solid part of the roof
and give the car a good shove.
And you see it's settled quickly. Could
you hear that squeak though? Your body
is not likely strong enough to make the
suspension squeak when you move it. So
the squeak you can hear, if you can hear
it, I'll do it again.
That's likely the handbrake. And it's
normal for handbrekes to make that noise
when you're bouncing the car up and down
with the handbrake on. Next thing you
can check is the boot. See if it opens
and goes up and stays up and
closes properly. Needed to try that a
bit harder, didn't I? I'll do that
again. There we go. In fact, make sure
all the doors open and close. Make sure
all the doors lock and unlock. And check
all of the windows, electric windows or
manual windows. Do they go up and down?
And when it comes to checking the boot,
have a look underneath the boot floor
and you can see if there's any signs of
damage. If there was obvious damage,
it'll be sort of like this. These metal
bits down here may be pushed forwards.
You'll be able to see it doesn't look
right. Uh check for the spare wheel. Is
it there? What condition is the tire in?
And also rust and any water that may be
getting in here. That can happen. This
one looks
all good, though. When it comes to
checking the interior, take your time.
Don't be rushed or distracted on this
one. Check absolutely everything.
Anything that has a function, make sure
it functions. Make sure it works. If it
doesn't, add it to the list. So, check
all the seats. Do they move as they
should? Like up and down, forwards and
backwards, all the functions of the
seats, are they working? The seat belt
as well, do they work? Do they retract?
Are they permanently twisted? sometimes
where someone's worked on the car and
they've taken the seat belt out and put
it back in. They've not put it in
properly and it's twisted permanently.
Shouldn't be like that. It's not good
for safety. You want it to be flat along
your body. Also, when you get in the
car,
make sure you can get a comfortable
driving position. You don't want to buy
a car that you can't get comfortable in.
Does the steering wheel move as it
should?
Electric mirrors quite common to fail or
be a bit sticky.
Touchcreen are all the functions they're
working. the sound system, the speakers,
the heater, the air conditioning. Hard
to check the air conditioning on a cold
day. But when it's on maximum cold, the
air coming out the vents should be
between 3 and 5° C. So that's about the
temperature of something that you've
taken out of the fridge. That's how it
should feel. Check the 12V socket.
Sometimes they fail and you don't want
to find that out just as you need to
charge something. Check the wipers, the
washer jets, front and back, the
interior lights, the sun visors. These
things fail quite often and become
broken. The light works as well. Take
your time. Look at anything that moves,
anything that has a function, and make
sure it functions. Glove boxes don't
always stay closed when you close them
if someone's broken it. This one does.
So, check that as well. really take your
time and any problems you find, add it
to the list. Now, it's time to test
drive the car. If you're buying from a
dealer, this is usually more
straightforward because the dealer is
prepared for this, but it's still your
responsibility to make sure the car is
legal for you to drive. You can't say to
the police, "Ah, but the seller said it
was fine." You're driving. You're
responsible. When it comes to buying
from a private seller, well, make sure
the car has tax, make sure it has an
MOT, and make sure you got insurance.
You need to do this when you're buying
from a dealer as well, but it should be
more easy. If you're buying from a
private seller, well, you're going to
probably have to sort out your own
insurance. And I'll leave a link in the
description to confuse.com testdrive
insurance. It is an affiliate link, so
depending on what happens after you
click that link, I may get a small
commission, but it doesn't cost you
anything. But it's important you make
sure the car is legal to drive because
it is your responsibility, not the
sellers. You cannot take their word for
it. For the test drive, automatic or
manual, you want to go fast enough to
make sure you test all of the forward
gears to make sure they work. And also
test reverse. For a manual, check the
clutch. How does the bike point feel?
Are the pedals comfortable to use? If
you can't get comfortable using the car,
consider a different car. Go to a car
park. Steer the wheel all the way to the
right. Move. Steer the wheel all the way
to the left. Move. Are there any strange
clicking sounds or any sounds at all? If
there are, add it to the list. Go to a
bumpy road. Are there any knocks or
squeaks coming from the suspension?
or do you just find the car too firm or
too soft for your liking? If that's the
case, well, you may want to consider a
different car. Also, try and test the
brakes. So, what I'm doing now, so I'm
just pulling over to let this car pass
to test the brakes. And to test the
brakes, what you want to do is make sure
no one's behind you and break fairly
firmly. You shouldn't feel the steering
pull to the left or right, but you've
got to make sure it's safe before you do
that. And ideally do it on a slightly
faster road. So it's a 40 here. I can
get do it on this little straight going
a bit faster. Holding the wheel gently,
braking firmly. Yeah, the car did not
pull to the left or right. That's what
you're looking for. Any problems at all.
Again, add it to the list. So, you've
looked around the car and you've got
your list of problems. You're not
relying on your memory. It's written
down in front of you. This is going to
help you make a good decision. And the
decision you need to make is what
problems are you willing to live with?
What problems do you think the seller
should sort? What problems do you think
you should sort? And what problems do
you think you should use to negotiate a
lower price? Take into account the
price, age, and mileage of the car. But
what standard of car you're looking for
is up to you. It's your opinion. Don't
let the seller tell you, ah, for the
age, price, and mileage of the car, it's
okay for that to be broken or for that
not to be working properly.
It's up to you what you deem acceptable
and what you're willing to pay for. If
you agree with the seller, great. You
can move on to the next step. If not,
move on. Look for another car. Cars are
expensive. Fixing them is expensive as
well. So, in my opinion, it's well worth
spending several days of your time
finding the right car because in the
long run, it will probably save you
money. So, you've test-driven the car,
you still want it, and you've come to an
agreeable deal with the seller. There is
one final check you must do, and that is
a car history check. Link in the
description to Carver Vertical. I'll put
on screen what checks they are going to
do. Car Vertical are not sponsoring this
video, but hopefully that is an
affiliate link, which means I'll get
some commission if you do use their
service. So, I'm not going to bore you
with a 90 second ad about them. But for
me, the most important thing you're
trying to find out
is
does the car have outstanding finance?
Also, mileage and whether or not it's
been involved in the accident. That's
handy as well. But the outstanding
finance is the biggie for me because if
the car has outstanding finance, that
car technically still belongs to the
bank, not the person selling it to you.
And if the bank wants to repossess that
car because the payments for the car
have not been made, they don't care that
you have handed over money to the
seller. That's not their interest. The
car is theirs. They want it back. So,
you could lose your purchase price for
the car and the car. It's not something
you want to risk, which is why one of
those checks is so important. I've used
various car history checks in the past.
The last vehicle I bought, I used Car
Vertical simply because, well, they're
everywhere. They they sponsor so many
channels. It was the first one that came
to my mind, but I was happy with how
quick and easy they were to use, which
is why I'm recommending them to you. Oh,
and I usually leave the car history
check until the very end of the buying
process just before I hand over the
money because I've got to pay for this
history check and I don't want to pay
for it to find out, oh, I'm not even
interested in this car because it's got
this wrong with it and that wrong with
it and I've just wasted my money. But
there is an exception. If the car is far
away, then I may pay for the check
before I leave because in that case, I
think it's worth paying the money before
I take that long journey. So, if you've
done the deal, you've done your checks,
you're happy to go ahead with the
purchase, then it's time to hand over
your money. I don't recommend using
cash. I recommend doing it via a bank
transfer or if they have a debit
machine, use one of those because
personally for me, I like to have some
kind of record of where my money has
gone to if I'm spending a lot of money.
Then, you need to register the car in
your name. These days, it's easy. You
can do it online. I'll leave a link in
the description. You'll need the Fe
registered keeper document, the log book
as it's known. The current owner or the
dealer should have that. If they don't
have it, don't buy it until they have
it. That's my advice because it's just
too risky. Once you've registered it in
your name, then you need to tax it. You
need to tax it straight away. Again, in
the description will be a link to how
you can tax your vehicle online. It's
quick and easy. The only problem is,
well, it costs money. Make sure you've
got insurance. Obviously, make sure the
car has a validote and then you should
be ready to go. Kushi, when you're
buying a new car, it's fairly simple.
You know what condition the car is going
to be in? It's well, new. When you're
buying a used car, well, the condition
is question mark. How many previous
owners? What were those owners like?
What did they do to the car? What's the
mileage? What's the age? These things
are going to play into the condition of
the car. In Great Britain though, we
seem to be obsessed with mileage.
Mileage makes a big difference to the
value of the car, which is how you can
get a bargain because higher mileage
cars are cheaper, yet they're not always
worse. You could have an owner who's
cherished their car, looked after it,
done a lot of miles, but it's in
brilliant condition. You could have an
owner who's trashed the car and it's
rubbish now. It's wrecked. That's a
better word. wrecked after 10,000 miles.
You don't know until you actually go and
inspect the car and have a look at it.
How many owners? That can matter as well
because if it's had loads of owners,
what's wrong with this car? Is this car
hot potato? Is there a problem that no
one can solve and they're passing it on
from one person to another because they
can't get to the bottom of it? Maybe.
Not necessarily, but that would concern
me. and age. For me, age is more
important than mileage because, well,
time is incredibly powerful and it
degrades most things given enough time.
And well, with an older car, time isn't
exactly on its side. So, my advice is
don't be searching for cars under a
certain mileage because you would just
be possibly missing out on the best
deal. And I recently bought a car, come
to think about it, and I looked at six
cars, and the car I actually ended up
buying was the one with the highest
mileage,
yet it was the one in the best
condition. Well, that's the end of the
video, but I have one more tip. If the
car has locking wheel nuts, make sure
the car has the key for the locking
wheel nut. Because without this, well,
you're not going to be able to get the
wheels off when they need to come off,
which means you're not going to be able
to replace tires, brakes, suspension
work, all kinds of jobs you're not going
to be able to do without this. Meaning,
well, you're going to have a problem. If
you found the video helpful, please give
it a thumbs up, subscribe to get my
future videos, and until next one,
cheerio.