As the credit crunch bites, cheaper cars become a tempting prospect, says Paddy Comyn, who found a fine variety at some very good prices
WHAT CAN you get for €1,000? With the credit crunch in full bloom and the recession running rampant, going to your bank and asking for a car loan might not be the easiest thing to do. So what about going really low? What can you get for €1,000 or less?
A surprising amount really. Take it for granted that if you are spending €1,000 or less on a car, then it will probably not be fault-free. If this were the case, we might all spend our money on more useful things. However, with this amount of money you can do surprisingly well.
Firstly, to the classified and Carzone.ie - this can be fraught with disaster, because if you are not being confronted with a guy who apparently is trying to sell his dead brother's BMW, which is in England, on Irish plates, but if you send him €4,200 by Western Union he will "deliver" you a 2006 BMW 320D M Sport, a car worth 10 times that amount.
That ad was still up there at the time of going to print. In nearly all cases, if it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true. Then there are the many ads, 77 of them to be precise which advertise cars for €1. Unless there has been an even more serious downturn in the used car market that has turned forecourts into euro bargain shops, then this is just an error.
Using car sites such as Carzone, we looked for cars with reasonably new NCT certificates, as this at least gave us some guide as to what condition, mechanically, the car was in recently.
First up was the Mazda 626. We found an eight-year old 1.8-litre Comfort model with Air Conditioning, a CD player, airbags and electrics all-round. This writer has owned one of these, and found them incredibly durable. And with 112,000 miles on the clock this isn't scary mileage for this type of car.
If you want something a little smaller, then from the same year we found a Volkswagen Polo saloon, a car which was built like a brick outhouse, was hopelessly underpowered, but with an NCT until January 2010 it would appear to have been minded well. It had 125,000 miles on the clock and could do with T-Cut and some new hubcaps, but would make a half-decent family runabout. The seller was asking €1,200, but we are pretty sure he would have your hand off for €1,000.
Also with a long NCT was a navy-blue Ford Fiesta. It was a 1998 model and had covered 117,000 miles. It had an NCT until June 2010 and came with a driver's airbag and the asking price was just €850.
If image is important, then for €1,195, although we are sure you could haggle, you can have a Saab 900 Turbo. This five-door hatchback had covered 142,000 miles and had four previous owners, but with an NCT until August 2010 it seemed like it could be a winner.
Saabs can go wrong at this age and a new clutch could be a costly job, but for driveway kudos there are few better cars at this price.
Over at auction, if you are a little braver then there are even greater bargains to be had. Merlin Car Auctions gave us a breakdown of the cars that they had sold during September and of the cars that sold for €1,000 or less, there were some interesting choices.
Here you could get a 2004 Rover City Rover with just 26,000 miles on the clock for €750. You could have got a 2000 Skoda Fabia for €800, or if you wanted a people carrier, you could have got a 2000 Opel Zafira with 80,000 miles on the clock for a mere €800. The Alfa 156 gave its fair share of trouble, but find a good one and it's a joy to drive. A 1999 1.8-litre petrol version with just 50,000 miles on it went for just €750.
Managing director of Merlin Car Auctions David Byrne, told us to look out for three things. "If the car has an NCT, is taxed and the mileage is reasonable then you are on the way to a bargain," he said.
When spending this sort of money, it is easier to opt for something Japanese because the parts are easy to come by cheaply, they tend to be able to put up with higher mileage and in the case of many Toyotas, high mileage is nothing to be scared of at all. Try and avoid the temptation to go for big expensive German cars - they can be picked up for half nothing but when a clutch or an exhaust will cost you the same amount again to source, then this tends to negate most of the benefits.
Our advice would be to visit the auctions a couple of times before you buy, and see how the whole thing works.
Your first time there you will be the fish out of water, so get some practice first. Yes, you can buy a car for €1,000, no, it probably won't be a work of automotive art, but look for that NCT, check it has been taxed recently, and if the mileage seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
And what is one like to drive?
We borrowed a 2002 Peugeot 406 1.8-litre from Jack Doran Motors in Drogheda, and while the car had high mileage it had been well maintained and serviced. "Any car that has been serviced properly and on time is capable of lasting a long time without too many problems," said Mark Doran. "This car sailed through its NCT because it was properly minded."
The car itself was comfortable, felt tight enough and certainly on the exterior was spotless. The inside also didn't appear too worn and all the electrics and the air conditioning worked well.
The steering felt a little loose, but the brakes worked well and the gearbox felt smooth. This was a car that was €1,000, and it felt as if it had plenty more life in it. With an NCT until 2010, there was that potential headache gone too.