Steering clear of potholes

THE Ten Commandments of buying a car. Rule one: beware of love.

You can buy your next car wisely, or pick up this 1950 Cisitalia-Abarth 204A at auction in Texas next month for several million dollars.

DURING the past 10 years I've emailed almost 600 copies of my columns on how to buy a car. Given that it's spring, the sun is out and a friend has lent me his soft-top V12 E-type while he is overseas, I thought I would just update my tips on how to save yourself thousands of dollars and save myself from doing too much work.

Of course, if you're a sane person you might want to think about not having car at all or, if you are like Irv Gordon, you might just want to keep the car you have. Irv bought his Volvo P1800S for $4150 in 1966. He paid $10 extra for a radio. The still-beautiful red car has done three million miles (4.8 million kilometres) and earned Irv a place in the Guinness World Records book.

It may be that Irv has never worked out how much it costs to run a car. The economists over at Commonwealth Bank say Australians' love of driving comes at a price. They've worked out that Australians pay on average $3854 a year to run and maintain their car.

OK, to summarise the Ten Commandments of car buying (just email me for a copy of the complete article):

1. Beware of love. Falling in love with the car is a recipe for disaster. Just ask me, I've had eight Porsches.

2. New car prices mean nothing. The recommended retail price set by the manufacturer is just a starting price for car dealers.

3. Selling used cars is more profitable for dealers than selling new cars.

4. You'll never get what your trade-in is really worth. By the time the dealer arrives at a price for your trade-in, at least three people will have taken a clip.

5. Beware of any attractive women in a dealership. They will be either selling accessories or finance. Accessories are the most profitable part of the industry. Sometimes the dealer will only make $50-$100 on a new car. The margin on accessories starts at 50 per cent.

6. The most skilful people in a dealership are not the mechanics, but the finance sales people. Finance is a huge profit centre. Two golden rules: check with your bank or building society first before you take the manufacturer's or dealer's finance and never, ever buy a car based on weekly repayments.

7. Even the best car manufacturers make lemons. Manufacturers get off easy in Australia. Many of the luxury German brands hide and deny their problems. Look at dogandlemon.com or at consumerreports.org.

8. You will get more for your car by selling it yourself. The beauty of trading-in to a dealer is you'll get your money now and not have to endure all the tyre-kickers.

9. Servicing and parts are another profit centre. In Australia, you don't have to have your car serviced by the dealer you bought it from to protect your warranty.

10. Two ways to make your current car more valuable: keep the logbook and have your car serviced regularly by a reputable outfit.

Quite frankly, I would ignore all the above advice and head to Austin, Texas, in November when Motostalgia sells the 1950 Cisitalia-Abarth 204A driven by car racing legend Tazio Nuvolari. Given the 1935 Alfa that Nuvolari drove went for more than $9 million recently, I will be bidding driven solely by alcohol and delusions that the car will make me attractive to younger persons of the opposite sex.

[e-mail]