Advice on buying car.New or second hand ?

[Kenny]

I am moving to Ierapetra first week of September and plan to buy a small car once I get my paperwook sorted out.

Bearing in mind the high accident rate in Crete and also that most people seem to insure their cars for third party fire and theft because of the higher cost of insurance rather than fully comprehensive,is it wise to buy a new car or better to buy second hand ? Ken.

[filippos]

Second hand cars here are generally not particularly good value because they hold their price very well. Cretans aren't usually into the British habit of "must have the latest model/new registration" or whatever. Often, a vehicle that's replaced is passed down to a child, on to a younger sibling or retained for uses for which they wouldn't want to use a new car. As a result relatively small numbers come on to the market and prices stay high. Typically, Cretans change their cars about as often as British families move house. Asking prices for, say, a two years old small car, are frequently not that far short of the price when new.

Most used car sales are private as there are relatively few second-hand dealers and those tend to concentrate on high value vehicles like BMW 4x4s, Mercedes etc. that they can buy (often) in Germany at comparatively low prices that allow them to sell profitably in Greece even after allowing for transportation and high re-registration costs.

Comprehensive insurance is not necessarily all that expensive (we insured a (Peugeot 206 GTi 2000cc for about €860) but I'm told the problems can arise if you need to make a claim as the insurers try to avoid meeting the costs.

Repair costs can be quite cheap, too. When our car was about a month old one door sill was scored about half an inch deep x 1" wide x about 2.5 ft long. I couldn't see where it was repaired and, even allowing for the special colour, metallic paint the cost was €88. Since then, however, I haven't bothered about the various scratches and dents caused by careless drivers in (mainly) supermarket car parks.

I've adopted the attitude of most of the Cretans I know; a car is a means of getting from A to B. Provided any damage doesn't interfere with the movement of the vehicle, who cares about the odd scratch or dent?

Filippos.

[Hudson]

Since then, however, I haven't bothered about the various scratches and dents caused by careless drivers in (mainly) supermarket car parks.
Filippos.

Oddly, and happily, after eight months my car has received fewer marks whilst in car parks than any car I had in the UK.


It has, however, plenty of tiny scratches caused by encounters with roadside shrubs whilst trying to gain that extra ctmr or two to avoid a sideswipe. Even these disappear when the car is cleaned - so they are visible most of the time!

[Retired in Crete]

I'm told the problems can arise if you need to make a claim as the insurers try to avoid meeting the costs.
Filippos.

Yesterday (Saturday) I collected the cash, not a cheque, from our insurance broker for my window which was broken by a garage. (See the thread "A Greek car insurance tale".)

This was nine days after submitting the claim! In the UK I never got any claim paid in under six weeks and then it always included deductions for something. I never ever recieved the full amount of the claim. Here it was paid in full.

I consider car insurance here to be expensive but I have to remember that the accident rate here is 5 time that of the UK. In the UK I paid about £155 to insure a 3 year old BMW (2 litre 3 Series). Here I pay 700 Euro for a little Citroen! Both fully comp.

John

[filippos]

Oddly, and happily, after eight months my car has received fewer marks whilst in car parks than any car I had in the UK.

Judging by the height/position/type of most of the bumps and scrapes on our car the most likely culprits are "bull bars" as fitted to a wide range of agrotika and 4x4s (very common around us). Perhaps those attract a certain type of driver.

(The supermarkets referred to previously are the local IN.KAs with tight spaces and room restricted by the random abandonment of vehicles rather than the Champions and Lidls which appear to have more spacious parks with less need to manoeuvre out of spaces).

We also have the "avoidance" scratches that disappear about twice a year when the car gets washed!

Filippos.

[filippos]

Yesterday (Saturday) I collected the cash, not a cheque, from our insurance broker for my window which was broken by a garage. (See the thread "A Greek car insurance tale".)

Good news, John. One question. What is a cheque?

I'm told the problems can arise if you need to make a claim as the insurers try to avoid meeting the costs.
Filippos.

This is what I've been told by Greek friends. Perhaps there's a difference between relatively small and major claims. Fortunately, I've never had to test the system by claiming here and, I suppose, experience will vary from company to company. I certainly didn't bother for the small cost of the repair of the minor damage I described - which was self-inflicted through pulling off the road to park and not noticing the lump of concrete lurking in the long grass/weeds.

Filippos.

[Hudson]

(The supermarkets referred to previously are the local IN.KAs with tight spaces and room restricted by the random abandonment of vehicles rather than the Champions and Lidls which appear to have more spacious parks with less need to manoeuvre out of spaces).

Filippos.

Excuse my ignorance but could you explain IN.KAs?

As to Champion and Lidl's having nicely marked, wide, parking bays - what has that got to do with skillfully parking a car across two or even three bays. Is it true that the white line should either go under the CENTRE of the vehicle or that the near or off-side wheels should be parked on it?

[jeansy]

When I first came here I bought a 3 yr old hyundia accent from a car hire firm for 5000 eu part ex'd it for a mitsubushi 4x4 18 mnths later and got back what I paid for it, yes it now has one or two marks from people opening doors against it but no major dramas, as for insuranc my fullr comp covers everything and includes breakdown and recovery. The cost is on par with the uk and they even gave me some no claim discount from my old UK policy so bring out your no claim details, also most insurers will then give you discount on house insurance as well

[margarita]

Excuse my ignorance but could you explain IN.KAs?

IN.KA. is the name of a chain of supermarkets here. I can't remember which Greek words the letters stand for, but I believe it's the Greek equivalent of the Consumers' Association.


margarita

[filippos]

... As to Champion and Lidl's having nicely marked, wide, parking bays - what has that got to do with skillfully parking a car across two or even three bays. Is it true that the white line should either go under the CENTRE of the vehicle or that the near or off-side wheels should be parked on it?

Nothing whatsoever but, generally, there are wide aisles between the rows of parking spaces so there's normally enough room for a vehicle to be driven more or less straight out of whatever space(s) it has occupied.

Our local IN.KA has about 10 spaces (the emulsion paint that indicated the slots wore off after about two days). These face a steel fence which is about two car lengths from the front of the store which is OK until someone parks right in front of the store which reduces the manoeuvering room to about 1/2 a car length. The "bull bar" clad 4 x 4 is reversed from its space - probably into the side of the vehicle outside the store front - with a bit too much lock so the bars scrape the side of an adjacent vehicle.

The 4 x 4 driver, if he/she is unlucky, can also take out the rear lights on the car on the other side with a neat sideswipe (unlucky as that will scrape their own paint). After that a couple of forward/backward moves, limited by banging the vehicles around them, gets them clear. This is usually accompanied by blaming the drivers of the other vehicles for parking too close beside them - notwithstanding the fact that they were the last to arrive and squeezed into a space that only allowed exit from their vehicle by clouting those on either side as the doors were forced open.

Filippos.

PS IN.KA supermarkets are not huge. What we refer to as our local 'big' IN.KA is about 20% the size of a typical Lidl or Champion.

[Kenny]

Great info,thanks everyone.Seems like best bet is to buy new,insure fully comp and hope that the company will pay up if I have a serious prang and avoid parking in IN.KA,s car parks

Of course I could just change tack,not buy a car and with the money I save I could well afford taxis and buses with some change left over

Are there any x-pats living in Crete who don't buy a car and manage well without ?
Ken.

[jeansy]

All depends on where you live, if you want access to shops, docs etc you will need a vehicle, buses are good and regular taxis so so a car will make life a little easier wait till you get here and see how you get on.