I think that assessment is pretty harsh to be honest. £1000 should be able to buy you a decent set of wheels, i bought my Mondeo for £750 (reduced due to a dent on the front) and i kept that trouble free for 4 years, and it was high mileage when i got it. Most of the cheapies will be cars part exed against something else. But at that end of the budget scale its all about judgement. Dont expect any fancy dealership warranties, it wont happen, check the car over yourself, insist it comes with a 12 month MOT (ive bought cars for £400 which had a 12 month mot for goodness sake), have a good drive in it, try and go the lowest mileage one you can, check that the signs of wear dont indicate clocking etc etc. And something resembling a service history is always ideal.

At this end of the price scale its the car which matters, not the dealer. Chances are the dealer will know very little about the car in question and wont provide any comeback on it, so ignore the dealer and just stay focused on the car. And follow the simple basic rules of car buying which you see on all the guides and you should be fine. And despite the mass scrapping of used cars which drove prices of existing ones up, the fact is if you're not 100%, chances are theres something similair in that price bracket nearby.

Also dont be afraid to check the private ads, in times of economic problems alot of households are putting a new MOT on the second car and selling it off cheap to make some money etc, circumstances change etc. Obviously avoid anything sporty or modified by a private seller, it'll always go wrong, ask them why they're selling it, if its a simple reason like 'lost my job, cant afford it anymore' or something like that then no need to worry i suppose, but if they try and spin you a story then theres probably something they dont want you to know.

Edited by jamie745 on 07/04/2011 at 03:15

Yes, maybe I was a little harsh. Of course you can get something which works for under £1k but it is not a simple task. You have to hunt around - small ads, ebay, private sales - all sorts of places. Unfortunately it is not as simple as turning up at a dealer and just choosing the colour - there is a lot of rubbish about.

Buying a £1k car is much harder than buying a £10k car. Unfortunately it has got a lot harder in the last 2 years since 400,000 mainly decent cheap cars were crushed.