Buying an used car, please help!

[tam]

Hi all,

I am going to buy a new car in Tampere, I got the lisence last month but knowing nothing about buying an used car. I check some on nettiauto and now wondering what should be considered when owning it.

Please help to explain a bit what I need to do after buying an used car from nettiauto and give some tips when buying from there.
1. Katsastettu, I understand that it would be one year, so is it good to seek for the one which was inspected 3/2011 ?
2. Insurance, this is my first car in Finland so how much I need to pay, what kind of option should I take, is there kind of oneway insurance?
3. I want ''benssi'', so do I need to pay tax and how to I pay?
4. Do I need to change name to owns the car?
5. Is this safe to buy from nettiauto, would there any other way to buy?
6. What trademark would be easy to fix (if broken) or have replace tools with reasonable price. Is this a must to choose Janpanese, can OPel, Fiat, Renault be OK?

I am so new here and have no network, please help

I really appreciate your advices!

[Cod]

Buy a Toyota Yaris if you are buying second hand. They are expensive second hand for the simple reason that they are good cars.

When you buy it off Nettiauto or whatever, ask the right questions. Google that one. Ask things like: has it been in a crash, has it been serviced properly (ask to see the huoltokirja - service book and check the entries, has the car been servces properly by a shop or by a monkey like me). Ask are there any problems they know of with the car. Ask when the Jakohihna was last changed - on a Yaris, this is a chain not a rubber belt so is less of an issue.etc etc

When you buy it second-hand, buy it from a shop unless its through a friend. If you buy privately, you may get shafted. I bought from a shop in December and then got a full refund 3 days later since the car was bad. A private seller will never do that. A shop 'must' give 6 months warranty too on motor, accelerator, gearbox and brakes. What this actually means, I'm not sure, but it's better than nothing. Look for a car that has an engine heater, low mileage, few owners and a great service book. Older cars can suffer rust and corrosion ie. moving parts get fouled up and electrics low in the engine bay can suffer. However, I just bought a 10 year small car, which had not been driven on motorways, so salt spray hadn't been reaching all parts of the underbody of the car like it does now with me driving it on the motorway. Check also the condition of summer and winter tyres. Often the summer tyres are history so factor that into the price.

After paying via Netbank and getting a receipt, you get 1 weeks insurance free. In that week, take the Part 2 of the car registration document that the seller has signed, and go to katsastus. You can buy insurance there or organise it yourself. I have full insurance - third-party plus comprehensive. I'm with Pohjola.

You probably don't really need to worry to much about when the previous Katsastus inspection was. The most useful thing that it could tell you is if the motor is spitting out a bad mix of gases, which means that you could have engine sensor problems which on some cars is expensive to fix. It may also pick up broken suspension springs etc...but those kinds of things don't have to be expensive to fix.

Expect break downs, that way you wont be disappointed when it does happen.

Here's the best I found in a few minutes of looking

http://www.nettiauto.com/toyota/yaris/3682637

[Mook]

Buy a Toyota Yaris if you are buying second hand. They are expensive second hand for the simple reason that they are good cars.

provided that you all fit in...

It all depends how much money you want to spend, the size of car that you want and how old you want it to be.

For cars that are only a couple of years old, then look for ex-leasing like ald.fi or easykm.fi - less popular brands depeciate more quickly so a 2 year-olf renault is probably a good deal.

If you're looking at banger 1-2000 euros, then anything goes.

[tam]

Thank you very much Cod and Mook. It really helps me alot.

So I will try from a shop. I look from nettiauto and try to understand the language. Rahoitus 10% käsirahalla, vaihtokin --> does it mean that 10% is off if I pay by cash all at once? Why this happen, would that affect anything? Is it a must to pay through bank (Nordea) ?

I need a car for a year (or maximum 2), price around 3000 e, 5 doors (we are two and a new baby born). Please suggest the suitable one!

I wonder how the bargain would go, example: listed price on nettiauto is 3000e, should that go down to 2700, and then 10% off with cash --> real price = 2430 e?

[AldenG]

Rahoitus 10% käsirahalla, vaihtokin

It means you can get financing from the seller with a 10% down payment, trade-ins also accepted. There's no mention of any kind of discount.

[Pursuivant]

One thing though - if you havent lived here long, the insurance company might not want to give you insurance "automatically" (which you can do at the katsastus) but you have to go to their office and then pay a years insurance beforehand (which you have to do in the bank as they dont take cash these days). If you have a home insurance (as you should) its always easier to get an insurance from the company you are with and you might get some deductions too. So once you get happy with a car, write the registration number up and then go get the insurance sorted before you go try registering it to your name - you do have 7 days to do it, but still rather get everything sorted immediately. Usually the seller will take you to the katsastus to make sure they get rid of the car properly, as if you sell a car to some dick who doesnt register it guess who gets all the bills and fines? Other thing to check is the road tax has been paid, as its really no interest to the police who hasnt paid it - they take the plates and you cry on the roadside. Also you cant do anything at katsastus without the tax being paid even if its a few cents missing.

[Cod]

3000 isn't enough to buy a car. You'll need to spend 5k.

3k buys you a problem unless you are lucky. My most recent 2.2k car needs work - even though it is in fantastic condition. The timing chain should be changed (600 euro) and starter motor (a few hundred)

Don't forget that labour is very expensive - I believe about 80 euro an hour..(anyone know for sure?). So the risk is, you save on the price of the car but blow it all on 2 days work in the garage. If I had not have gotten my money back on a 2200 euro Renault Laguna with bad engine sensors, I could very easily have spent a thousand on diagnosing the problem (ie replacing the wrong sensors since the ECU was giving incorrect error messages).

But if you spend a good 5k (ie a bargain), then you'll get 4.5k back at the end of the year when you sell. Depreciation on good cars like the Yaris is very small. Depreciation on terrible cars is big.

Mook is right, Yaris is too small if you have a pram to put in the car unless you get an 'umbrella' style push chair like a McClaren. We have a Quinny, and it needs a full blown sedan boot to fit the thing in. If you get a small wheeled push chair, don't expect to be able to push it through snow.

Check the size of the push chair before you buy the car. It's save heartache.

Try and use your own financing if you can, gives you more control of things as they happen. A bank will be more forgiving if things go belly-up compared to a second-hand car dealer.

And yes, knock the price down. They wanted 2.7k for my small car, I got it for 2.2k because I said I could smell cigarette smoke in it, it was ugly and nobody but me would buy it.

[makaveli]

My advice take someone who is mechanically minded, more often than not tunnel vision occurs when you view a shiny car with little or no mechanical knowledge. Spend lots time looking around and underneath the car, ask lots of questions and repeat the questions to see if they are telling porkies. If you get there and the engine is hot, something is usually wrong. Mileage is not a problem if it has been meticulously maintained, if the seller has other cars look at their condition to judge how they are as everyday owners.

For that price range avoid french cars and opels like the plague, unless of course you like wiring diagrams or trips to the garage. A five door Mk4/5 ford fiesta is a good call as I *think* they fall within your price range. Plenty of space for a little car and parts are cheap, most mechanical jobs are easy due to a simple design. 1.25l yamaha engine is the pick of the bunch,good on fuel yet quite nippy and fun if you look for that sort of thing.

[Garymau]

Perhaps somebody still stumbles about this and could answer me a question: Since it has been a pain in the ass to get a henkilötunnus as a EU citizen who has started working here 2 months ago, I might just be granted one in about three weeks. I then would like to buy a used motorcycle but only want to ride it from the seller to my place, that will be it until April. Can I get it registered and insured for just one day and then in April again?

Kiitos avusta!

[Garymau]

Hei Roger. I did not know thas was possible.
I should also have mentioned that I will buy it from a company. From what I understood they will take care of registering it and insuring it, and even ask me which insurance company I prefer. I still can change the insurance company within seven days. But what do THEY agree with the insurance? 'Hey,there's somebody buying a bike from us,here you have a new client who needs insurance from now on throughout the whole year, unless he will choose another company within the next seven days?' The same question goes for the road tax: is it 'Hey, somebody will buy a bike from us tomorrow, here's his details, charge him the road tax for one year?'

[Garymau]

Thank you for being so helpful, I highly appreciate it.
I think I am just going to borrow a trailer or a van from a friend, then transport it here and register it next year. That seems to be the easiest thing to do.

[Pursuivant]

No you can't. Once you are a Finnish resident (with henkilötunnus) you may not drive a foreign-registered car one meter without paying tax. Doesn't matter if its your mom's car - customs will impound it.

[betelgeuse]

No you can't. Once you are a Finnish resident (with henkilötunnus) you may not drive a foreign-registered car one meter without paying tax. Doesn't matter if its your mom's car - customs will impound it.

There is a 14 day exception once a year for ETA cars:

Suomessa vakinaisesti asuva luonnollinen henkilö saa käyttää väliaikaisesti maahantuomaansa ajoneuvoa veroa suorittamatta yhtäjaksoisesti enintään 14 päivän ajan kerran kalenterivuodessa, jos ajoneuvo on rekisteröity toisessa Euroopan talousalueeseen kuuluvassa valtiossa. ETA-valtioita ovat Euroopan unionin jäsenmaat sekä Islanti, Liechtenstein ja Norja. Määräaikaan lasketaan myös muiden samaan perheeseen 34 c §:n 2 momentin mukaisesti kuuluvien henkilöiden väliaikainen ajoneuvon käyttö Suomessa.

Tullille tulee antaa ilmoitus väliaikaisesta käytöstä ennen ajoneuvon Suomessa tapahtuvan käytön alkamista. Tullin vahvistama ilmoitus on pidettävä mukana ajoneuvoa käytettäessä.

http://www.tulli.fi/fi/suomen_tulli/jul ... ot/005.pdf

[Moving Again]

Hei Roger. I did not know thas was possible.
I should also have mentioned that I will buy it from a company. From what I understood they will take care of registering it and insuring it, and even ask me which insurance company I prefer. I still can change the insurance company within seven days. But what do THEY agree with the insurance? 'Hey,there's somebody buying a bike from us,here you have a new client who needs insurance from now on throughout the whole year, unless he will choose another company within the next seven days?' The same question goes for the road tax: is it 'Hey, somebody will buy a bike from us tomorrow, here's his details, charge him the road tax for one year?'

There's no road tax on bikes (yet - it's coming next year).