Over a third of all used cars change hands through private sales. Prices are lower than at dealerships, but the cars are often not in top retail condition and there's more risk involved.

Your legal rights when buying privately are weak; there's no protection from the Sale of Goods Act that regulates dealers. The only comeback is if the seller misrepresents the car's condition, mileage, number of owners etc. Even if you can prove that, there's the hassle of taking legal action and getting damages.

SEARCHING THE CLASSIFIEDS

Private sale ads appear in local newspapers and magazines like Auto Trader, Exchange & Mart, Friday-Ad and Loot.

Most printed classified ads now also appear online at websites such as autotrader.co.uk, car-ad.co.uk, loot.co.uk and fish4cars.co.uk. Some ads only appear online, for instance at ebaymotors.co.uk and on 101 websites until sold with DesperateSeller.co.uk

Tracking down cars on the major websites is quick thanks to 'search engines' that return cars matching your search parameters: make, model, price, age, mileage, location etc. Some sites let you e-mail the seller directly. And some sites - usually those advertising manufacturers' and big dealers' used car stocks - store details of the cars that you're looking for, then contact you when cars matching your requirements become available.

INTERPRETING THE ADS

Ads placed by traders must carry a (T) symbol. An effective ad describes: model, engine size and badging, age, mileage, colour, key equipment, price and contact details. Space is money in the classifieds, so all this gets condensed into a sort of motor trade shorthand. Use our CAR-SPEAK PHRASEBOOK to help you translate!