When you are finalising your purchase, a contract will have to be drawn up. The contents of this contract will largely depend on the salesman, providing that you are not interfering with it yourself. It is important that you do not sign a contract without knowing exactly what is in it. So, make sure that all the promises are written down: e.g. when the car is delivered with a fresh MOT, make sure it is written down in the contract.

When you are buying a car from a private person, it is sensible to put a couple of things on paper. A purchase contract, like you are used to from a dealer, is not available. To still be able to draw up a contract, as a seller or buyer of a pre-owned car, we have made one for you, that you can download here.

 

The quality of a gearbox depends highly on the previous owner(s). This means that you can find out what the general condition of a car is by just checking the gearbox. A poorly functioning gearbox can very well mean that the car in general has been treated badly. An important part which you should check in combination with the gearbox is the clutch.

You can use the PreOwnedCarAdvice Checklist during the purchase of a used car. Follow the checklist to use all the knowledge of our handbook in practice.