What to look for when buying an older Renault Clio

[Cosmo Cattell]

On Tuesday I’m picking up a 2004 Renault Clio Dynamique 1.6. Its done 65k, apparently runs perfect and has no major faults. Price is £395 due to the fact that it has no M.O.T. Mot history for the last few years is perfect. I’m buying from a garage who have said they know no reason why it would fail an mot and they have great review and testimonials on their website. This has given me a fair amount of confidence in buying the car and risking getting it motd straight after.

All I would like to know is what I should be looking out for when I go to view and test drive the car. I virtually no nothing apart from the basics so a rough guide of how to spot any major potential problem with the car that would mean I shouldn’t buy it would be great. I am happy to pay a little bit should it fail the mot as I think it’s undervalued but probably no more than £200-£300.

Thanks a lot!

[Stuart Masson]

Hi Cosmo. At this price level, there are always a million things that could be a problem on any car, and they are not always visible on a test drive or casual inspection.

The most important thing is to see the car’s service history and have a good, long, hard look at the car’s condition.

You should insist that the car passes an MOT test before you pay for it, otherwise it’s basically a ‘spares and repairs’ car only. If the dealer is not prepared to have the car tested, it’s a bad sign.

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