Bought a Renault Clio 55 plate for daughter as a first car four years ago for about £2k.

It has now done over 100k (30k in her ownership) almost faultlessly. The most recent MOT cost around £250 - the most expensive by a considerable margin since she has had it.

But there is a lot of dross out there when it comes to 10 year old cars. What set this apart is that it drove like a 3 year old car when I tested it (no squeaks, rattles, odd noises, engine and gearbox smooth etc) and had clearly been well looked after.

Would recommend!

You may be better, even though the legal protections are fewer, buying from a genuine private seller. You'd get a newer, lower-mileage car for the same sort of money.

.... and if you buy from an honest private seller you should be able to find out a lot more about the car's history and how reliable it is. You'll get no warranty, but a warranty a dealer gives on a 10-year-old car may not be much use anyway.

Thanks again for the detailed advice about the model, buying options, faults to look for etc.

I'm based in North Wales and to be honest we don't exactly have an abundance of dealers in this area. However, trawling the online sites up to 50 miles from here does reveal a fair number of cars of suitable mileage, model and age, so I've few worries about availability. Also taken on board the advantages of buying privately, though of course I couldn't pay by credit card if we bought the car from a private seller and we don't currently have the funds to cover the transaction any other way; nor do I intend to take out a loan. As for credit card fees, I expect to be buying on one card and balance transferring onto another, so no worries re interest, not for a good while at least, though initially there could of course be a small fee to pay for the transfer.

One thing I'll definitely be doing, IF we buy from a dealer through an online site is to print the advert and make sure the price is clearly shown. There was an occasion about ten years ago when my son was looking for a car, and we found a Rover 25 (yes, I know) in a small, independent garage and paid a deposit by credit card. Unfortunately the balance wasn't shown on the receipt, and when we went back to pay the outstanding money I found that the b*****£ had lobbed an extra £100 on the price, the online advert having been updated with the new figure rather than being removed, as any honourable salesman would do. I had no proof of the old price so was unable to argue my corner, and my son had set his heart on the car, so had to pay the extra. Left a bad taste, I can tell you. As did the fact that the salesman had agreed to meet us at a certain time to complete the sale, but when we got there he was at the local barber having his beard trimmed. He wandered in 20 minutes after we arrived without a word of apology, then proceeded to rip me off, presumably to pay for his next dozen or so beard trims.

And then there was the non functioning front passenger side electric window on that same car, that try as we might we couldn't get the garage to sort out despite all manner of earnest sounding promises. And which we ended up fixing ourselves.

Uncharitable of me it might be, but I can only hope that since then, the garage in question has gone down with all hands.

Edited by argybargy on 03/04/2017 at 10:57

Sadly the bulk of people who buy Renaults do so because they're cheap and they tend not to have much mechanical understanding which is reflected by the abundance of poorly maintained Renault's we see on the roads and on forecourts. As a result used Renaults have a somewhat worse reputation than they really deserve. Buy one new and look after it properly and they'll last well in general.

I think that's true. I used to work with a lad who's Clio left him in the lurch a number of times, but the problems could have been avoidable if he'd only lifted the bonnet occasionally and had it serviced. In the end he traded it in for a Peugeot 307 that was subsequently thrashed and ended up with a blown engine after the head gasket failed, despite me repeatedly telling him to check the car and service it. You can't help some people.

Although Renault have had a few lemons, I think a lot of problems are caused by the type of people that buy them as you say. The Clio seems to be a robust car if serviced properly.