Buying advice

Here are 9 important points to consider when you're buying a car.

To read about negotiating with car dealers, see below.

Our 9 best tips

1. Bargain if you can

Car yards expect their customers to negotiate. On a straight purchase, try to get 15 percent or so knocked off the ticket price. If you're paying cash, you might get even more.

But there are exceptions. If there's a high-value trade-in offer, or it's a "sale price" to start with, the ticket price probably won't move very much - if at all.

You may also want some optional repairs or extras, which you can use as bargaining chips.

2. Get it fixed

If our checklist and the mechanical check reveal problems the car shouldn't have (because they make the car unsafe or are needed for a WOF), insist on having them fixed. Get this done - and have the car rechecked - before you buy.

Don't let the yard use these repairs as a price-bargaining tool. They should be done anyway, for the car to be on sale at all.

Whatever work they agree to do, get it in writing before you sign up or pay over any money. Don't put a deposit down before an inspection.

3. Find two or three cars you like

If you have several cars in different yards that you're happy to buy, you'll be negotiating from a position of strength, because you'll be able to walk away if you don't get a good response. If you've only got one car on your list, don't let the sales rep know this - they'll drive a harder bargain.

4. Don't get obsessed about the odometer reading

How far a car has travelled could be less important than the condition it is in now.

Cars don't suffer much from being driven long distances, as long as they are looked after, and many well-maintained cars these days can run for hundreds of thousands of kilometres.

So why the fuss about wound-back odometers? Because dealers charge higher prices for cars with low odometer readings. Also, they should provide a handy guide to the likely condition of the car, especially the engine. If, for example, the car has done 95,000km, you'll know it's probably time for a new timing belt and other major service checks.

The average family car does about 14,000km per year, although many privately owned vehicles do quite a lot more. If the odometer reading is significantly under that figure, you might want to find out why.

If you don't trust the dealer's explanation, ask the local franchise holder if they have any information on the car. If they can't help, ask your mechanic for an opinion. They will be able to tell you whether the reading is consistent with the car's overall condition.

But remember, be guided by the combined results of your visual inspection, mechanical check and test drive, rather than what's on the clock.

5. Buy a white car

Safety features are important. From the mid-1990s, safety features like ABS braking, air bags and side intrusion bars have become common in many cars, even some quite small ones. More recently, electronic stability control has become increasingly common in new vehicles.

But one of the biggest safety features of all is colour. In a major European study, black cars accounted for 22 percent of accidents, even though they made up only 4.4 percent of all cars on the roads! Dark-coloured cars are far less visible to other drivers.

6. Know what's critical

If there's a serious oil leak it won't help much to have a CD player thrown in.

7. Don't rely on the "AA appraised" notice

Many yards have their cars "AA appraised", but this is a pass/fail basic check and does not indicate a full, itemised pre-purchase inspection.

8. Beware extended warranties

The Consumer Guarantees Act spells out the basic minimum protections available whey you buy a car from a dealer.

Mechanical breakdown insurance, also known as an "extended warranty", may remove the potential for dispute if a problem does emerge, but many provide no greater protection than what you're already entitled to under the Act.

If you are interested in buying the dealer's "extra" cover, carefully check the difference between what it offers and what you get in law anyway. Also ask about special requirements such as regular servicing.

If an extended warranty is offered as part of the price and you don't want it, ask for a discount.

9. Deal with a dealer

If you buy from a dealer, you are protected by a range of legal requirements that do not apply to private sales.

See Car buyers' rights for more details.

Tricks of the trade

Car dealers use a lot of tricks - here are three big ones to watch out for.

A high asking price

Whether new or used, the dealer's price is usually only what they hope to get. Aim 20 percent lower for a new model and 15 percent lower for a used car. They'll expect it. In the current economic climate, dealers will be very keen to sell.

There may be exceptions. Cars are put on "special" from time to time. Don't expect discounts from these prices. Some manufacturers, notably Honda, have a "no haggle" type of pricing structure. We think you should still try to haggle - just don't be too surprised if you can't budge them.

The trade-in deal is a trap

Some dealers advertise minimum trade-in prices: $3150 if you can drive it in the gate, for example. It probably means $3150 has been added into the window price of the cars for sale.

Before you decide on a trade-in, find out how much both cars are worth. Check the ads in newspapers and car sale publications.

Say you want to buy a car with a ticket price of $15,000. The dealer offers you $3000 as a trade-in, so you'll have to pay $12,000. But if you don't do a trade-in, you might still be able to knock $2000 off the asking price - after all, that's under 15 percent. If you then sell your car privately for $4000, you'll be $3000 better off.

Up-selling is the aim

Seen a really good deal on a basic car? Count the seconds before they start talking about flasher models or add-on extras. Sure, air-conditioning is a worthy addition, but another dealer may have a similar model with it already fitted at a better price. Know what you want, and shop around.