I have always bought my second hand cars from auctions in the past. I wouldn’t say that this has been a disaster for me, but I do have to say that it is a hit and miss way to buy. You tend to get a pretty cheap price for what you are buying, but you also run the risk of buying an absolute dog! You never get the chance to test drive the car, all you see is it being driven past you in the lot! I’ve probably averaged one good one and then one bad one, and I actually quite enjoy buying this way, but now that I have a bit more cash, it would be nice to land something that is a bit smarter, and gives me a bit more confidence in terms of it not falling to pieces!

I decided to have a look online for some 2nd hand cars and I immediately came across something that I thought looked to be the perfect buy. It was a golf tdi which had less than 100,000 miles on the clock for less than £2000! Full service history and it was only eight years old.

I was pleased to be able to buy something that should at least in theory offer me a decent driving experience and good reliability too. Of course this time I would be able to test drive the car and actually know, for the first time ever, what the car would be like to drive before I bought it!