Because every time I check on articles apparently “poor” people according to them are guys with 10000 euro ready to spend like that.

Also the apps for car buying seem broken, they only offer you totaled cars or cars that need serious work at low budgets.

  • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    12 hours ago

    Other have said it too, but I’ll boil it down:

    • Budget beaters are not on car apps. That’s mostly dealers, who will be making a profit.
    • Buy from individuals. Use general second hand platforms instead, like facebook marketplace or what is used in your location.
    • Be weary of private individuals flipping cars, they’re looking for profit like dealers, but will have done nothing in terms of maintenance beside the painfully obvious, which will have been a diy job with the cheapest parts available.
    • Running costs are a PITA. Besides insurance and fuel you should look at what a set of tyres costs. For some reason that’s a somewhat decent indicator of maintenance costs level.
    • Depending on periodic inspection rules in your country, buying a recently inspected car can mean you have a car for 2 years that you can discard afterwards, instead of sinking a shit loaf of money into maintenance ahead of the next inspection.
    • Depending on where you live, cars can have been used as collateral for car loans. Typically not at your price point, but it’s something to be aware of. Buying a super cheap car, only to find out that it comes with 2 times it’s price in debt sucks.

    What’s your budget? I mean I don’t think 10k € is a car for broke people, but are we talking 5k? 2k? I found a local Suzuki Wagon R+, 20years old, ugly AF faded paint, but a solid car with a couple of years left, listed for 13k DKK, that’s like 1700 €. I don’t think that you’ll have much luck finding cheaper cars than that.

    • palordrolap@fedia.io
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Offtopic word choice nit-pick: “weary” means tired, “wary” means afraid. The first is related to “wear” as in “worn (out)” (or “wear and tear”), and the other is related to “aware” / “beware”.

      Since “wear” and “-ware” are generally pronounced the same by most modern speakers, it’s easy to see how the confusion might arise, but in “weary”, it’s pronounced “weer” - “weery”.

    • callouscomic@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      4 hours ago

      Also look for modding history in two ways. One, does that model of car online have a big community who loves to mod it? Your insurance is likely not going to be good.

      Second, has anything about the specific car you’re buying been modded? Shorter springs, air intake, exhaust changes, tires size different from stock size, etc. Anything looks off? Probably best to move on. It’s likely been an abused toy for someone before you.

      Checking various fluids can also potentially help. I also try to consider if there’s any sign at all of major things having issues like transmission, or just small things like electronics I could live without.

      Also like your idea about checking and comparing cost of tires for a particular car. In addition to that, the brand of tire and conditio of tires can also tell you a bit about who had been owning it and how they treated it.