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| HOME | UK | BUYING GUIDES |

UK Buying Guides

Want advice on how to buy a car? Check out these resources.

Some buying guides include data - such as reviews and safety test results - on older cars (not just this year's models). Bolded text saying "This buying guide includes information on both new and older cars" in a review indicates that the buying guide on the site contains information on both new and older cars.

Car Buyers Guide - The AA
http://www.theaa.com/cbg/home.jsp

This well written and organized guide is very helpful for the shopper about to embark on the purchase of a new or used car. There is a wealth of information here available to all for free.

Start your selection process using either the Select Make and Search combination or using the Help me choose link. Once you've finished selecting your car by one of these two methods you'll see a ton of information about it including reviews, model summary, emissions and more.

The site also gives a very comprehensive overview of the whole car buying process from start to finish under the Motoring Advice tab. Here you'll find a vast number of articles on everything from European Driving to Fuels & Environment. There's a search box in the top right hand corner of the page - if you can't find the specific information you are looking for give it a try.

Home - What Car? Helping you buy better
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/

This site is one of the best overall resources on the UK automotive scene. You can go about finding information on your car of choice by a variety of methods. If you know which make and model you are looking to find out more about enter it into the Find A Review area in the top left hand area of the main page (note that you can look for reviews on new or used cars).

Information on individual cars is quite complete with specifications and links to test drives, reliability tests and safety data (although these are not always as recent as one would like). The WhatCar? rating system is shown throughout and you can quickly get a first impression of a car from glancing at the WhatCar? ratings.

You can access a car comparison tool from the Find a Review box on the main page and there is plenty of good information in the news section. The Advice & Tips section has a long list of tips for saving money and streamlining either your buying or selling process. If you are buying a new or used car checking out the resources at What Car? Online should be one of your first steps.

Car reviews, news and photos from Channel4.com from 4Car
http://www.channel4.com/4car/

Unfortunately there is no longer a comprehensive guide to the car buying process available on this site. However there is lots of good information although it is scattered all over the site.

Probably the best place to start is the Car Finder (underneath the RESEARCH A CAR heading in the column on the left). Use the rather bare bones "Advanced Search" to create a list of cars that suit your criteria. Once you have a list of cars click on the vehicle name to see specs, images, pricing information and a lengthy review (although the latter may not be available on all models and makes).

There's lots of other good stuff on the site including news, video test drives, information on buying used, a jargon buster and much more. There is a good search tool (upper right hand corner) and interesting forums that hum with recent postings.

Car reviews, road tests and news on the latest new and used cars | MSN Cars UK
http://cars.uk.msn.com/default.aspx

A well-organized site that allows you to select a specific vehicle and see extensive information about it as well as comparing it across other years from the same manufacturer or with a different vehicle altogether. Although strong in terms of information, including road tests, on new cars a lot of the other tools I would like to see are missing - there is no 'help me choose' tool nor is there an overall comprehensive buying guide on offer. To get started looking at a specific vehicle simply enter your make and model choice in the Find a car box in the top left hand corner.

The Advice & Information link offers some good articles and the message boards are lively (although they seem to be hampered by not having any advanced features like the ability to search using keywords). There are good section on green motoring, buying used and car insurance. A car comparison tool is available under the Car Research link. There is a search feature for the site in the upper middle region of the main page.

Overall this is a good site that could be much better with the addition of some tools and more extensive documentation to help the new car shopper.

Buy a Car, Deals on New Cars - drivethedeal.com
http://www.drivethedeal.com/

This site is listed here but its full review is in the Price Guide category. This site is such a valuable resource for the new car shopper that I decided to list it in this category so that those of you shopping for a new car wouldn't miss it.

You owe it to yourself to check this site out to make sure you are getting the best price on the car you are shopping for. I used this site and came up with a price for a Ford Focus that was only £45 more than the best price from PriceCheck and from £170-£600 cheaper than the other Top 5 sites. To read the review of how the site works go to our review on the Price Guide page.

Auto Express - New & Used Car Reviews and News
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/

This is a fairly good site but, like others in this category, it is lacking that all important comprehensive "all in one" guide that will take you through all the steps in buying a new or used car from choosing the right vehicle to performing an inspection before taking delivery of your purchase.

There is an extensive collection of car reviews - find a specific review using the Search Car Reviews tool in the top left hand corner of the main page - but these reviews, which previously contained specs and other hard data, now seems to be mainly anecdotal in nature. Note that this Search Car Reviews tool can also be used just to search the site - simply put your search term in the box and click on the red GO button.

There is an interesting news section, lively forums and some interesting information in both the PRODUCTS and VIDEOS section. There is a good car comparison tool under the COMPARE CARS heading but unfortunately no help me choose tool is available.

BBC Top Gear
http://www.topgear.com/

This site has been revamped and has - is in my opinion - deteriorated from its former usefulness. There is no longer a buying guide section but at least the CAR REVIEWS section still exists. To find a specific review simply click on the CAR REVIEWS heading and then select your make and model combination. The reviews are good and very complete.

Other than reviews the site is somewhat limited. The buyer's guide is gone and the emphasis now seems to be much more on being a cool and trendy website than providing helpful information. The car chooser is really rather insulting with a grand total of 12 criteria to choose from and a slider bar for setting your price.

It is a shame that this previously fair site is now rather laddish in approach and style (plus the black background and white text is hard on the eyes).

Auto Trader UK - Buy & Sell New & Used Cars
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/

Unfortunately there is no longer a comprehensive 'Buyer's Guide' on this site - instead click on the Buying tab on the far left of the page and then choose which of the headings (What car to buy, Where to buy a car etc) will contain information of interest to you. Earlier I had found a car comparison tool and a 'help me choose' tool but these seem to be gone. There is some good information here but it is scattered all over the site rather than being gathered in a logical pattern. There are vehicle reviews but not a huge number and the car you are interested in may very well not have a recent review.

car source uk - used cars - mercedes, bmw, range rover, ferrari, porsche, volkswagen, vw, audi
http://www.carsource.co.uk/

This is a below average research resource that could use a little improvement in planning its website - information is here it's just not as easy to find as it should be.

To find information on new cars go to the New car guide (under the new cars heading). Select your make, model and range. You'll get an extensive anecdotal review (which is maddeningly chopped up into too small pieces that load incredibly slowly) and facts at a glance. You'll also see links to photos, safety recalls, manufacturer news and user reviews.

The photos link is a bit of a joke with a single photo of a car and no 360 degree views. There is some specification information included in the facts at a glance section at the end of the review but it is far from complete. There are no tools on this site - comparison or help me choose tools for example. There are definitely better research sites available.

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