Buying a cheap car

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zenbu
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 7:44 pm

Buying a cheap car

Post by zenbu » Wed May 08, 2019 8:07 pm

I have some questions about how to go about buying a car in Finland.
I'm looking for a car for the short term (maybe for only about a year or so. Hoping for less than EUR 2500) so I'd prefer not to spend a lot but I'd also like to avoid a car that constantly needs lots of repairs.

Judging from some older posts about buying cars on this forum it seems like some think it's better to buy from a dealer than from an individual. Is that still true in this price range? Do dealers even sell cheap cars or do they try to offload them at auctions immediately?
How safe is buying from an individual? How big of a problem is it if you are confident enough to speak in Finnish when trying to buy from a dealer or individual?

Do you need insurance to drive the car home? If you buy from a dealer is the price you see the price you pay or do they add a bunch of fees like a processing fee and registration update fee? On Nettiauto ads often mention 'Toimituskulut'. I've never heard of such a thing, what is it? Is that for if you want them to drive the car to your home and can you avoid it if you drive the car home yourself?

I've also noticed several dealer ads with something like "Soita meille - ennen kuin tulet" which if I understand correctly means to call before coming. This is also something I don't understand. Why would someone need to call a dealer before coming to test drive a car? Don't people normally just show up unannounced?

How is payment usually handled for dealers or individuals? I'd expect most people wouldn't be comfortable paying over EUR 1000 in cash so how do people arrange payment?

Also, any advice on how to tell if a dealer is trustworthy?



Buying a cheap car

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riku2
Posts: 1045
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:13 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by riku2 » Wed May 08, 2019 10:21 pm

I understand correctly means to call before coming. This is also something I don't understand. Why would someone need to call a dealer before coming to test drive a car? Don't people normally just show up unannounced?
yes, the part of the ad you read does mean call before coming. that's in case they sell the car to somebody else.
years ago when i almost bought a new car I had a test drive booked with Kia. I turned up to collect the car and they said they'd sold the test drive car. At Nissan the dealer said that instead of taking orders from customers they guessed the colours/engines/spec that customers might want and ordered those from the factory. if you actually wanted to specify the car yourself you would have to wait twice as long.
This was buy a new car and not a used one but I think the attitude is still the same - the market for cars is so small in finland that you'll buy from the dealers regardless so they can adopt these strange practices. what else can you do? in my case I went to germany and bought my car from there, saved a lot of money and didn't have to deal with finnish car dealers.

sadly this doesn't help you and it's not worthwhile you buying a car in germany but it at least prepares you for their attitude and i doubt i'll set foot in a finnish car dealer ever again.

Retread
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2019 9:08 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by Retread » Wed May 08, 2019 11:05 pm

It's been a loooong time since I bought a car here. Had a few. Always used from private owners. No problems. Unfortunately I can't recall the work involved BUT ... 3 things come to mind ...

1) cars over a certain age must be inspected yearly (Katsastus) and it's well regulated and strict.

2) from memory, insurance goes on the size of the motor and the value (to the insurer) of the car. Had I known that earlier I would have bought a car with a much smaller engine. No hills here anyway. Check insurers sites, they used to have calculators to determine the insurance cost.

3) don't buy a cheap diesel unless you know the car/owner. They can be incredibly expensive to fix ...but what isn't eh?

Are you sure you need a car? Think very carefully. Fuel, insurance, road tax, repairs. Will it need new winter tyres when the time comes? Public transport is very good generally. Bicycles are available cheaply. e-assist bikes can be had for 1000e.

I do not know your situation however.

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rinso
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Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:22 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by rinso » Thu May 09, 2019 6:42 am

I've got good experiences with buying second hand from companies. (there are many specializing in second-hand cars) They can organize finance and insurance for you too.
The risk however with a car that cheap is the reliability. The car will be rather old and some (very expensive) parts could be almost worn out.

riku2
Posts: 1045
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:13 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by riku2 » Thu May 09, 2019 7:04 am

Retread wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 11:05 pm
cars over a certain age must be inspected yearly (Katsastus) and it's well regulated and strict.
It changed last year. The first test is when the car is 4 years old and then every 2 years (6 years old, 8 years, 10 years) and only every year once the car is 10 years old.
Retread wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 11:05 pm
don't buy a cheap diesel unless you know the car/owner. They can be incredibly expensive to fix
The annual tax is also quite high on diesel cars. The idea being that the lower tax on diesel fuel is offset by higher annual tax. This benefits people who buy a lot of diesel fuel (eg taxi drivers and farmers) but will make low annual mileage diesel car ownership more expensive.

Daniel2016
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:50 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by Daniel2016 » Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:05 am

riku2 wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 7:04 am
Retread wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 11:05 pm
cars over a certain age must be inspected yearly (Katsastus) and it's well regulated and strict.
It changed last year. The first test is when the car is 4 years old and then every 2 years (6 years old, 8 years, 10 years) and only every year once the car is 10 years old.
Retread wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 11:05 pm
don't buy a cheap diesel unless you know the car/owner. They can be incredibly expensive to fix
The annual tax is also quite high on diesel cars. The idea being that the lower tax on diesel fuel is offset by higher annual tax. This benefits people who buy a lot of diesel fuel (eg taxi drivers and farmers) but will make low annual mileage diesel car ownership more expensive.
Hi,
As a first time driver, what kind of car(s) can I buy if I have 1000 euro as my budget. I dont want a car (automatic) that will not be giving me problems. I ain't looking for anything fancy but problem-free and affordable to maintain.
Thanks in advance for your reply.

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rinso
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Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:22 pm

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by rinso » Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:13 am

1000 euro as my budget
problem-free
affordable to maintain
Not a realistic set of demands.

Upphew
Posts: 10748
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:55 pm
Location: Lappeenranta

Re: Buying a cheap car

Post by Upphew » Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:51 am

Daniel2016 wrote:
Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:05 am
Hi,
As a first time driver, what kind of car(s) can I buy if I have 1000 euro as my budget. I dont want a car (automatic) that will not be giving me problems. I ain't looking for anything fancy but problem-free and affordable to maintain.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
1000€ -> old
old -> automatic transmissions were in minority
So you are looking for a cheap, reliable car and want it with automatic. 2010 two out of three cars had manual transmission. And that 1000€ probably makes look for older cars still. And during that time the automatics were popular in larger, more expensive cars. Thus they use more gas or diesel and have more expensive parts.

I'm not saying that you couldn't find that one 2003 nissan micra with automatic transmission, but that those are rare.
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