The best and worst places to buy a used car in the UK Bedford News

A new study claims to have uncovered the best places to buy a used car based on dealer quality and value for money.

It also revealed the towns and villages where buyers are most likely to complain about their dealership and pay more for a used vehicle.

According to research, Bolton is the used car capital of the country, with reputable dealers and a reasonable average price, making it the best place to buy a used model.

Blackpool and Canterbury followed closely behind in the Moneybarn ranking. Dealers in both cities received more recommendations, but the cars were more expensive.

To come up with a rating system, the researchers looked at dealer reviews on the Car Dealer Reviews site, ranking each city based on the number of “great” or “terrible” reviews. They then looked at the average price of used examples of Britain’s best-selling car – the Ford Fiesta – to rank cities by value, and combined the two scores.

According to Moneybarn’s calculations, Bolton leads with an overall score of 7.58 out of 10, with 75 percent of customers rating their dealership as excellent and just 14 percent leaving a bad review. Buyers also paid an average of £ 8,635, more than £ 1,000 less than the national average.

Blackpool scored 7.51 and Canterbury, 7.48. Both saw 79% of reviews rate dealers as excellent, but Canterbury scored worse – 12% over Blackpool’s seven, and average prices of £ 11,154 and £ 10,354 kept them behind Bolton.

The research also focused on cities where a dearth of great reviews along with a high number of terrible reviews and high prices was bad news for shoppers.

Cardiff emerged as the worst place to buy a used car, scoring two out of 10. Thirty-eight percent of drivers rated their dealership experience as terrible and with an average price of £ 10,908 for a used Fiesta, the city is more than £ 1000 more than the national average.

Just above, Northampton scored a measly 2.26, with 33% of reviews rated as terrible and an even higher average price of £ 11,588. Birmingham dealers have done even worse, with 41% of reviewers calling them terrible. However, a below-average price of £ 8,342 kept it above the other two locations, leaving it with a ranking of 2.91.

While Bolton was the best city overall, Weston-super-Mare led the rankings for customer satisfaction, with 88.7 percent of drivers giving an excellent rating and just 4.8 percent leaving a bad review. On the opposite end of the scale, in Burton-on-Trent, only 37.5% said their dealership was excellent, while 52.1% left a scathing and terrible rating.

Romford had the cheapest used car offer. The average asking price of £ 5,894 was almost £ 4,000 lower than the national average of £ 9,766 and £ 8,500 lower than at Epsom, where an average price of £ 14,417 earned it the title of l most expensive location.

The study only looked at cities where there were reviews for 20 or more dealers and where there were at least 20 used Fiesta ads listed on Parkers.co.uk.

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