Private Sellers

Most consumers will hunt the small ads in their local free papers for bargain used cars, or maybe internet ads on popular sites such as PistonHeads or AutoTrader.  The majority of these adverts will be for private sales.

Once you have found a car you would like to see it is time to make contact with the seller.  Beware of adverts only offering a mobile or email.  Always try to make contact via land line.  Tell the seller you are interested in the car he has for sale, if he says which car he maybe a dealer so beware.  Arrange to meet at the sellers address and take someone with you for security & company.

When you go to view the car you should consider the following tips.  Buying used privately you are not protected legally.  There is no part exchange, no warranty and no come back if things go wrong.

• Research the car you are buying.  What is standard equipment? Known problem areas? Used Prices? Sites such as Parker’s are very helpful in these areas.
• Don’t view a car in darkness or bad weather (e.g. Rain)
• When meeting the seller at his home ask to use his toilet, this will confirm if it is his address or just an empty house he has pulled onto the driveway of to sell the car.
• Inspect the car in a logical manner noting any defects that can be used later when negotiating price.  Start with the externals, bodywork, wheels, tyres, brakes before moving inside then finally onto engine bay.
• Check the paperwork.  Check the registration document details against the owners name & address (ask to see their drivers licence to confirm), Vehicle registration mark, vehicle identification number.
• Check the service history.  Is the service book stamped up to date and have checks been carried out in a regularly manner in line with mileage and age?  When was the cambelt changed?  When was the air con recharged?
• Look at body panels closely.  Mismatch in colour or over spray onto other panels/trim could indicate the car has been resprayed.  Has it been in a accident?
• If you are happy with what you see take the car for a test drive, minimum 5miles to get the car warmed up.  Try different types of road, low speed, high speed, bends and straights.  Make sure you try all the gears, buttons, lights, pedals and leavers.  Listen for any strange sounds, look for any warning lights on the dash, and smell for any strange odours.
• If the test drive satifys you I would always encourage and independant vehicle inspection from a company like The AA.  This entails one of their mechanics checking the vehicle over to various levels (depending on purchased test) and providing a written report.  Prices start from £135 but it could save you spending hundreds if you buy a car with a fault that could have been picked up.  You should also carry out a data check.  This will tell such things as if there is oustanding finance on the car, if the car is stolen or if it has been written off by an insurance company.
• Your inspection has come back good so now it’s time to negotiate price.  We mentioned earlier looking for defects, now time to use to your advantage.  Every scuffed alloy knock £30 of the asking price.  Every dent £50 off and so on.  Once you and the seller have agreed on a price it is time to settle up.  Here is a handy receipt you should both fill in and keep as a record of the sale.

Buying a new car is the second biggest purchase in your life after a home.  Normally I would not recommend buying new due to depreciation, but to be fair to my future guide on buying used cars this guide must be written.  Now unless you are fortunate enough to have liquid cash lying around you are likely to be buying your new car with some finance.  The question is what type of finance?  This guide aims to explain the various types available and whats best.

Hire Purchase Most dealers will offer this as an option for purchasing a car.  A finance company offering the HP will own the car and the consumer will buy it from them over a set period of time.  The consumer will need to put down a deposit of 10-20% but this means lower monthly repayments over financing the whole car.  The consumer will not own the car until the HP company has been repaid in full, and during this period the car can not be sold.

Personal Contract Purchase The consumer agrees to lease the car for a set period of time, for a set mileage.  For example 3 years at no more than 10,000 miles a year.  If you go over the set mileage the you may end up being charged.  The consumer pays a fixed monthly sum over the lease period. Service, maintenance and repair are included in the monthly payments.  Compared to HP the monthly payments are low, but you will never own the car unless at the end of the term you agree to pay the guaranteed future value.  This is calculated at the start of the term and is fixed.  If the actual value of the car at the end of the term is less than the GFV then as a consumer you loose out, if it’s worth more you can use the difference as the deposit on your next car.  If you don’t want the car at the end of the term you can simply hand the keys back and walk away.

Unsecured Loan A Consumer will borrow money from a bank, building society or finance company based on their income and what they can afford to repay.  The annual percentage rate (APR) and monthly payments are fixed, and the loan is paid back over a fixed term.  As the loan is not secured on the car you own the car from day one and can sell it at any time, but you must pay off the loan within the agreed term.  If you do repay the loan early there may be an early repayment charge.  Some companies offer flexible loans allowing you to take payment breaks without incurring a fee.

Secured Loan A Consumer will borrow money from a bank, building society or finance company and the money will be secured against an item of value i.e. the new car or the consumers house.  The annual percentage rate (APR) and monthly payments are fixed, and the loan is paid back over a fixed term.  Usually the monthly payments for a secured loan are less, you can also have longer repayment terms.  If the loan is secured on your car, you must repay the loan before you are able to sell the car.

Now I explained the 4 most common methods for financing your next new car which is best?  I would certainly rule out PCP if you are planning to hang onto the car.  At the end of the term in most cases you will end up paying anywhere upto 20% more than the market value for the car, as the dealers GFV is usually set in their favour.  So in my opinion PCP is one most expensive finance options.

HP is usually open to most consumers but as such it attracts high APR’s which may not be suitable for your circumstances.  HP is particularly attractive to those consumers who get turned down for secured and unsecured loans.  Once again in the long run HP will cost the consumer more than other finance options.

Unsecured and secured loans from banks or building societies are in my opinion the best way to finance a new car.  Simply apply for the money take it to the dealer and pay the cash.  This makes you a Cash Buyer and as such puts you in a strong negotiating position.  You then simply repay the loan over a fixed term at a fixed rate using monthly payments.  Remember to hunt around for the best rates though, typically 5-8% APR from the high street lenders.  Don’t be enticed by the dealer offering unsecured and secured loans, the rates will be high and you won’t be able to negotiate much on the price.

To start you need to have an understanding of the different types of mortgage available.  It is important to remember though, depending on your particular financial status you may be restricted on what products are available to you from lenders.  Once you have chosen your type of mortgage you can look at the different products available.

Repayment.  This is the traditional type of mortgage and the only type that guarantees you will own your home (assuming you keep up with the repayments).  The mortgage debt is split over a number years, usually 25.  Each month you make a payment you are paying off interest and capital.  In the first few years you are going to be primarily paying off the interest, but as the term shortens then more and more capital will be paid off.  The repayments continue until the debt is repaid.

Interest Only.  As the name suggests you are simply repaying the interest on the mortgage debt over the agreed term.  Then at the end of the term you will need to pay the capital back to the lender.  If you are unable to do this then the lender will probably reposses your property.  This is why it is important to have a method to pay of the capital at the end of the term and don’t just rely on winning the Lottery!  Methods that are available are, Endowment, ISA’s or Pension Plans.  Endowments are stock market based investments, which were very popular in the 1980’s and 1990’s when oversized mobiles, Shoulder pads, red trouser braces and whale tail Porsche 911’s were all the rage.  Then it went BANG!  Endowments are now considered very bad and like red trouser braces & shoulder pads should be avoided at all costs!  It is possible to cash in a pension plan to repay debt, but once again not a good idea.  Overall if this is the route you want to take then setup an ISA to repay the capital.  This is a tax free investment that is ideal for saving.  More info on ISA’s in our savings section.

So by now you should have chosen which type of mortgage you would like.  It now gets complicated with the numerous products available.  As previoulsy stated depending on your financial status not all of these products will be available to you.  In our next article we will look at some of the best products currently available and what a mortgage really costs…

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).  In a LCD TV, liquid crystals are sandwiched between two transparent electrodes and two polarizing filters. Two grids of electrodes (one is horizontally aligned and another is vertically aligned) contact either side of the crystals. The job of this network of electrodes is to access each pixel of the crystal layer and control the electric flow.

A backlight device made of fluorescent lamps diffused by a white panel, passes through the liquid crystals. This white panel ensures that the entire surface of the screen gets uniform brightness. The front panel of LCD is made up of a grid of wires which are in contact with each pixel of the screen and activate it separately.  Some manufacturers have now opted to use LED instead of fluorescent lamps.  This has resulted in thinner, lighter more energy efficient TV’s.

With in network of crystals, each molecule functions like a gate to open or close the passage of light through them depending on the voltage of the current. To produce bright display, the voltage is kept low while for dark details the voltage is increased. By nature, liquid crystals always allow a smaller amount of light to pass through them making the pure black levels somewhat impossible.

Pros

• Slim profile
• Lighter and less bulky than rear-projection televisions
• Can be viewed from almost any angle, upto 170 degrees
• Less expensive than Plasma
• LED Backlit versions are very energy efficient, Light and slim

Cons

• Some models do not perform well with fast moving footage due to slow response times.
• Colours sometimes appear washed out.
• Generally do not come in sizes larger than 46 inches

Some top rated LCD TV’s from Sony, Samsung (LED Backlit) and Panasonic

Plasma.  Plasma screens are made up of tiny red, green and blue pixels which sit in front of Xenon & Neon gas filled chambers.  At the front of each chamber are phosphors, and at the rear an electrical source.  The electrical source ionises the gases which excite the phosphors which generate the light through the pixels giving you a picture made up from all the pixels.

Pros

• Slim profile
• Lighter and less bulky than rear-projection televisions
• Achieves better colour reproduction than LCDs, Upto 68 billion Colours
• Produces deep, true blacks allowing for superior contrast ratios
• Faster response times make Plasmas ideal for fast motion video
• Can be viewed from almost any angle, upto 170 degrees

Cons

• Susceptible to Screen burn-in and image retention (however newer models have built-in technologies to prevent this such as pixel shifting)
• Susceptible to “large area flicker”
• Generally do not come in sizes smaller than 32 inches
• Susceptible to reflection glare in bright rooms
• Heavier than LCD due to the requirement of a glass screen to hold the gases
• Damage to the glass screen can be permanent and far more difficult to repair than an LCD

Some top rated Plasma TV’s from Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung.

Others…

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode).  Put simply is a LED covered by an emissive electroluminescent layer composed of a film of organic compounds.  The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple “printing” process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colours.

OLED TV’s do not require a backlight and as such require less energy and can also be made thinner & lighter than ever before.  The technology is still very new and currently there are only a handful of screens on the market.  An example is the SonyXEL1.

These items are relatively easy to sell on for cash with typical values as £40 for a working sat nav or mobile phone.  There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself from a being a victim of crime.

Be aware of your surroundings.  Using your brand new all singing and dancing mobile that’s lights up like a Christmas tree in a crowded pub is going to draw attention to yourself.  Be discreet, consider using the vibrate function rather than a loud ring tone.  People will be unaware of where your phone is as they will not hear it ring.  If you do need to use your phone try to use in an area where people can not monitor what phone it is, where you are keeping it etc…  When paying for items try not to flash your cash around, and do not draw attention to where you keep your money.  If paying by card always remember to hide your pin and hide the card number from prying eyes.

Store items out of sight.  It may be common sense but do not leave items in view particularly in your vehicle.  Also be aware when exiting your vehicle people may be watching and may see you placing your laptop in the boot.  If you use a satellite navigation system be aware criminals will look for suction marks on the windscreen for evidence of a satellite navigation system.  These can be removed by using baby wipes.  Or consider investing in satellite navigation system holder that attached to air vents and does not leave suction marks, but remember to remove the holder and satellite navigation system when you leave the vehicle.  Criminals will often target vehicles left for long periods of time such as airport car parks and theme park car parks.  Remove all valuable items as they will break and enter checking glove boxes, under seats and in the boot.  Some people leave glove boxes open to prove no valuable items have been left there.

Don’t give things away.  Most modern satellite navigation system devices have a location for you to store your home address allowing for quick navigation home.  I would encourage you not to enter this information as this gives the criminal the advantage of a possibly unoccupied address to break and enter, especially if they have stolen the satellite navigation system from a car left in the airport car park.  Ask neighbours you trust to keep an eye on your house while you are away.  Cancel the milk and papers.  Set timers on lights.  Ask a friend to park their car in your drive occasionally.

How secure is your home?  When assessing the risk to your home pretend you are a burglar.  Think outside of the box of ways to break into a house.  Are all your windows lockable? Remember to remove the keys from the lock.  Use curtains to distort the view of what you have inside.  Letter boxes can be entry points, consider fitting a box to stop fishing devices (used for key thefts) or small hands reaching in to open doors.

Finally the best advice is make sure you have insurance to cover your home contents, car and car contents, and contents away from home.  Also consider registering your high risk items on UK National Property Register.  This is used by the Police and partner agencies to re-unite stolen property with their owners.

In an emergency always dial 999

An emergency is defined as:

• Someone’s life is in danger;
• Someone is at risk of violence, or property is about to be damaged;
• A serious offence is in progress;
• A suspect is at the scene or an early arrest is likely;
• Serious disruption to the public is likely
• Very serious crime (e.g. Rape, GBH)

If you have information on a crime you can call anonymously CrimeStoppers 0800 555 111

Your body is very clever at telling you are dehydrated by using colour.  Using the chart below have a look at your urine next time you go to the toilet.  If it is a similar colour to the top 3 circles you are hydrated and doing fine, if it is similar colour to the bottom 3 circles you are de-hydrated and need more water!  Remember such drinks as Tea and Cola are Diuretics and will force excretion of liquid from the body.  If your urine is any other colour such as red then seek medical advice…

Excessive muscle relaxation in throat.   One of the largest causes is alcohol as it is a muscle relaxant, also some sleeping pills may cause this too.  The aging process does take it’s toll on muscles too.

Excessive throat tissue.  A common area for fat build up on people who are overweight is around the throat area, this can restrict the airway causing snoring.

Nasal Airways obstructed.  People with colds, sinus infections or allergy sufferers can all have obstructed airways.  Nasal polyps can also be present and your GP can deal with these.

Best way to help snoring is, moderate your alcohol intake especially before bed, loose weight and if you are still getting problems consult with your GP (and buy your partner some ear plugs or sleep on the couch, or even the garage if it’s that loud!).

These are what the top watch brands say about the men who wear them…

Breitling. The Breitling oozes engineering professionalism but don’t worry if you can’t put spare wheel on your Bentley. Wear a Breitling and your friends will think you build monster V12 engines in your garage that powers it. Breitling worked with the aviation industry in the early 20th century, inventing the circular slide rule chrono-meter and supplying pilots worldwide. That makes this brand for plane and car enthusiasts, master engineers, astronauts and of course Antony Worral-Thomson.

Cartier. This brand is for the dinner party host prefers to make their own hollandaise sauce rather than popping down to M&S. The Inventor Jacques Cartier lived life to excess even famously daring to combine steel and gold in a watch in 1978, so outrageous it worked! Then for art in 1983 the artist César proceeded to crush fake Cartier’s with a steamroller. True Style!

Omega. The Omega brands emit a very understated confidence dating back to the early jetsetters of Cannes, Marbella, Monaco and Rio. It is an excellent choice for top executives and James Bond alike. Omega has been the time keeper for many Olympic Games and also the only watch that has been worn on the Moon.

RADO. This brand is a bit of a left side punt for well educated pros. RADO has it’s own niche by combining such items as black Titanium bracelets with Liquid gold LCD’s. Just watch out if you have hairy arms as the bracelets are unforgiving. Best for combining with your black suit while you sip martinis in an exquisite wine bar up town.

Rolex. The daddy of all flash watches, what more can I say? Lottery winners and millionaire business men love a bit of Rolex. It is a statement that the wearer is quite happy with their amassed pile of dosh and is very willing to tell you all about it. But it’s quite alright you see as Rolex invented the very first perpetual movement in it’s waterproof oyster case. This separates Rolex into a different league in the watch world, remaining completely independent of other watch makers. Buy a fake and you will regret it, buy a real one and you will have many friends and admirers.

Seiko. A Seiko watch is the Lucozade of watches, projecting energy into its wearer who could be a personal trainer, martial arts instructor or even “The Man Who Knows”. (Yes I wear a Seiko!). As a brand Seiko is obsessed with quartz technology; and it also seems they have an obsession with bright orange second hands on jet-black dials if their Sportura range is anything to go by! Seiko watches belong to the future, but the best thing is we have them today…

TAG Heuer. A typical TAG wearer is a pair of safe hands who likes to travel fast, but be aware they may do something risky at any point! TAG has always been closely linked to motorsport, in fact it is the sponsor of a major Formula 1 team. And who can forget the classic Monaco Chronograph as worn by Steve McQueen in the film “Le Mans”. Get a TAG and you can imagine your Ford Focus is a Formula 1 car, just don’t send your speeding fines to me.

What you need to remember though is the right equipment.  For home steak cooking a cast iron stove top griddle pan is the only thing that will come close to giving restaurant results at home.  Make sure the pan is hot by using a very hot grill, you need to leave it at least 5 minutes before adding the steak.  The steak should have been out of the fridge for 30 minutes to 45 minutes, and dried using kitchen towel.  Whilst cooking the steak don’t move it round the pan, it should only move when you turn it.

Always cook the steak to the rare stage on both sides, then complete the rest of the cooking time after turning the heat down low.

Fillet or T-Bone (1inch to 1.5 inches thick)

• Rare:  2-3 minutes each side.
• Medium Rare:  3 Minutes each side.
• Medium:  3.5-4 Minutes each side.
• Well Done:  4.5-5 Minutes each side.

Sirloin, Rump or Rib Eye (0.75 inches to 1 inch thick)

• Rare:  1-2 minutes each side.
• Medium Rare:  2-2.5 Minutes each side.
• Medium:  2.5-3 Minutes each side.
• Well Done:  3-4 Minutes each side.

Good smart casual is all about mixing tailored pieces with more relaxed items.  This is usually managed by wearing one thing with a defined collar, whether that be tailored coat or jacket, or simply a shirt.  This outfit by Next is a perfect example of smart casual and is made up of the following:

Black Moleskin Single Breasted Jacket £75

Grey Cotton V-Neck With Mock Shirt £28

Grey Vintage Jeans £32

And should be finished off with a pair of Panel Lace-Up’s £35

This look is not thrown together and all the elements complement each other perfectly.  The slightest bit of scruffiness could unbalance the whole outfit.  If the jumper was removed and a tie added to the shirt then the outfit would become too smart to be casual.

Bad smart casual is when a man mixes inappropiate items in a manner where he couldn’t care less.  Wearing trainers with your work shirt, tie and trousers topped off with a North Face jacket is not what this look is about…