A guide to buying your first used family car

Start with a realistic budget, then add a cushion

Before you fall in love with a tidy hatchback on a forecourt, do the sums properly. Your budget isn't just the sticker price — it's the price plus insurance, road tax, fuel, and a first service. Set a purchase figure and then put aside a few hundred pounds as a contingency fund. A used family car almost always throws up something in the first six months, whether that's a new battery, a pair of tyres or a brake disc.

If you're buying with finance, get an agreement in principle from your bank or building society before you go shopping. Knowing your limit stops you being talked into a car that stretches you every month for the next four years. As a rough guide, aim for something where the monthly cost sits comfortably below a figure you'd barely notice leaving your account.

It also pays to check insurance groups before you view the car, not after. Two nearly identical models of the same age can differ by hundreds of pounds a year depending on trim level, engine size and even alloy wheels. A quick online quote with the registration number takes five minutes and could save you a great deal of aggravation.

Work out what your family actually needs

Family cars aren't one thing. A family of four with a pushchair and a dog has different requirements from a couple with one teenager. Think about your real week, not your ideal one.

• Boot space: measure your folded pushchair before you shop. Saloon boots with a narrow opening can be surprisingly useless even when the litre figure looks generous.
• Rear space: if you have child seats, check that two can fit side by side and that the Isofix anchor points are easy to reach — some are buried under stiff seat padding.
• Doors: five doors are far easier with small children than three, and sliding rear doors on some MPVs are a gift in tight car parks.
• Running costs: a small petrol engine is usually kinder than a diesel for short school runs and town traffic, where diesel particulate filters can clog on repeated short journeys.

Interrogate the paperwork before you view the car

Paperwork tells you more about a used car than any amount of shiny tyre dressing. Ask for the V5C registration document and check the keeper history — a car with six owners in eight years is rarely a bargain. Make sure the name and address on the document match the person selling it, and that the serial number hasn't been tampered with.

Service history is the single best indicator of how a car has been treated. Look for a fully stamped book or a folder of invoices showing regular oil and filter changes, and at least one cambelt change if the car uses a belt and it's due. An interrupted history isn't automatically a deal-breaker, but it should be reflected in the price.

Then check the MOT record online using the government service. You can see every advisory from every test, which is gold dust — a note about corroded brake pipes three years ago tells you what to inspect closely today. Repeated advisories for the same item suggest a previous owner who only fixed what was absolutely necessary.

Inspect the car in daylight, when it's cold and dry

Never view a car in the rain or after dark. Water hides scratches, dents and paint mismatch, and a warm engine masks starting problems. Ask the seller not to start the car before you arrive so you can witness a genuine cold start.

• Tyres: check all four for tread depth and, more importantly, for uneven wear. Scalloped edges point to worn suspension or poor alignment.
• Body panels: run a magnet or your fingers along panel gaps. Inconsistent gaps or overspray on rubber seals suggest accident repair.
• Interior: lift the boot floor and check for damp or a musty smell. Wet carpets after rain often mean blocked drainage channels or leaking seals.
• Underneath: look for fresh underseal, which can be used to disguise corrosion. Surface rust on a subframe is common; flaking, crusty metal is not.
• Fluids: milky oil or a bubbling coolant reservoir are walking-away signals.

Test drive it properly on several kinds of road

A five-minute loop around the block proves almost nothing. Ask for at least twenty minutes and insist on a route that includes a stretch of dual carriageway or motorway, some rough B roads and a few speed bumps.

On the motorway, feel for vibration through the steering wheel at 60–70mph, which can mean wheel balancing or, worse, a bent component. On rougher roads, listen for clonks over bumps — worn drop links and bushes are common and affordable, but a knocking from the suspension struts is a bigger job. Over speed bumps, check the car doesn't bottom out or squeak excessively.

Also test the things you'll use daily: the air conditioning should blow genuinely cold within a minute, every electric window should work, and the infotainment and parking sensors should all function. Try a three-point turn and a tight parking manoeuvre to check the steering feels consistent and the clutch bites cleanly.

Finally, ask the seller to let you start the car from cold a second time if you can, or at least check the temperature gauge settles in the middle rather than creeping upwards in traffic.

Before you hand over any money

Commission an independent history check to confirm the car isn't recorded as stolen, written off or still on finance — an outstanding loan can mean the car is legally repossessed from you later. Pay by bank transfer to the registered keeper's account, never in cash to someone whose name doesn't match the V5C. Get a signed receipt listing the date, price, mileage and both parties' details, and keep it with the paperwork.

Arrange insurance to start the moment you drive away, and don't forget to tax it in your name before the first journey. Do that, and your first used family car should be a sensible, dependable companion rather than a costly lesson.