Buying new or used cars online

Traditionally, most new and used cars were bought from a car showroom or garage forecourt. However these days it's not uncommon for one to buy a new or used car via the internet. I'm sure many people are still reluctant to purchase a car from a website as they feel they're putting all their faith in a photograph and description rather than being able to test drive it prior to purchase.

This is a common misconception as all the main websites from which one can purchase both new and used cars feature vehicles which are for sale in garages and car showrooms up and down the country, and the buyer should only look at cars for sale in the garages local to them. Finding used or new cars online is no different than checking the classified ads or motoring section in your local newspaper. If the model and price is right, and the garage is local enough, of course you can can give it test drive before spending your money.

The beauty of using the internet for looking for your next car is it's far more convenient. You can browse the new cars only if that's what you're after, or for used cars only in a specific geographical area. Additionally one can narrow their search to within a specific price range or if they've set their heart on a certain model of manufacturer, tailor the results accordingly. It should be noted that where one is looking for a specific model within a certain price range, it's advisable to widen the geographical area of the search as what you're looking for may not be available within say a 5 mile radius.

For those who feel they are not 'internet savvy' enough to use one of the many car sales websites when looking for used or new cars, don't despair. There's usually at least one person in every family who can instinctively navigate most websites, so why not ask them to 'drive' for you?  Often such websites will deliver a large number of results as they're affiliated with a large number of car showrooms, even when searching for a specific model in your local area, the results can be overwhelming. However the results can usually be sorted in order of price 'low to high' or 'high to low' or by distance (determined by entering a post code), which will show the closest showrooms' selection of cars for sale at the top of the results.

Once you've found a few cars which you're interested in having a look at, just go back to traditional methods; call the garage or showroom to make sure the car is still available, find out their opening times and go and have a look. Nobody in their right mind would buy a car without taking it for a test drive and obviously giving the tyre a kick to ensure it's structurally sound, and using the internet is no different.