A private affair

I've never bought a car privately - our two previous cars and our current one were all bought from dealers. Only the second, a rather good looking 1994 Mazda 323F, was sold privately, so I'm rather new to the whole business of buying cars from complete strangers.


As I've been looking for my 406 Coupé, I've assumed that I'd be looking for a car from a dealer. Most of the cars on Autotrader are from dealers, and the £500 penalty I've added in my scoring system has ensured that only trade sales were likely to get a look in.


Until now. A quick surf before bedtime has revealed that a car that I saw a few weeks ago, a silver 2000 (X) 2.0 SE has dropped from £3699 to £3199, and has acquired an 'ono' to boot. This is now firmly top of my list, £200 ahead of the pack.


So - do I understand the additional risks of buying privately? I'd certainly be getting a full independent inspection, which is likely to cost £150-£200. The cost of this is already factored into the scoring system. A bit of negotiating might also get me back vaguely in line with my budget, which would be attractive.


It's probably a moot point, as the newly-reduced Coupé is likely to attract a lot more attention - or maybe al the attention it's already had has been put off by some hideous flaw. Time will tell.