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Hi Ram,

Should be fine. Kia has a good operation here with plenty of dealers so parts shouldn't be a problem and the car will only be finishing its original manufacturer's warranty this year. As long as it has a full service history you should be fine. 

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Hi Maike,

The process of importing a car into the UK is a lot easier and cheaper than it is in Ireland. If the car is quite old you probably won't have to pay any import fees on it in fact, you'll just have to get it MOT'ed and pay a small fee for the new registration.

But, buying the car in Ireland will represent much worse value than buying in the UK. Not only will you find fewer cars to choose from (the Freelander was always a much bigger seller in the UK than in Ireland),  but the Irish cars will probably be more expensive. I think you would be better off transferring your money to Sterling (using a low-cost service such as Transferwise) and shopping in the UK.

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Hi Noel,

Not bad actually – comfy and hugely economical, but check it carefully for electrical faults and clonking suspension, not to mention any possibility of diesel particulate filter failure. And don’t dare buy it if it doesn’t have a full service history.

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Hi Robert,

It's all down to the history, really, which at least is the one thing you can really investigate before buying a car at auction. Look through to see if it has a full service history and if those services were done on time. If there's a good thick sheaf of receipts, stamped service books, previous NCT or DOE results and more with the car, and if it looks clean and straight when you have a poke around underneath, then it should be a good buy.

One word of caution though - while Nissans tend to be rugged and reliable cars, pickups can be hard working and often abused company machines. Again, check the history to see if the previous owner was a private individual or a company.

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Hi Evaldas,

Timing belts are often referred to as tooted belts, it's not a new thing, though I am surprised that it was called that in the service history instead of cambelt or timing belt. For peace of mind, call the garage that made that remark and confirm that they do indeed mean the timing belt. I'd be 99% certain they do.

Warranties don't usually cover serviceable items such as the timing belt.

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Hi Marie,

It's just what it says - a check-over. There's no way a car would need an actual service at just 1,000km, but it's a good idea for a dealer to have a car back in at that point just to make sure all is well with both car and customer, and gives them a chance to quickly rectify any issues that may not have been caught at either the factory or in the pre-delivery inspection.

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Hi Amrinder,

There was a recall for 2.2-litre Mazda6 diesels to replace a stretching timing chain, so check to see if that work has been carried out and don't buy a car that hasn't had the work done. Any car with a full (and preferably Mazda main dealer) service history should be fine though.

However, the DPF issue is down to your driving - if you're not putting in the miles, the DPF can't get hot enough to clean itself out and that's when you get problems, so don't go for one of these cars (or any diesel, really) if you're only doing low mileage and short hops.

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Hi Trevor,

The mileage is high, but it's all down to how the car has been driven and looked after. If it has done mostly motorway miles, and has been serviced properly and to schedule, then it should be fine. If there are any gaps in the service history, walk away - plenty more out there to choose from.

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Hi Mark,

Suzukis are reliable cars, by and large, so I'd say lots and lots of miles, but it's impossible to generalise. It all depends on what kind of condition the individual car is in and how well it's been looked after. Any car that's been serviced to schedule and cared for properly will do mega-miles easily.

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Hi Stan,

That's quite specific and we don't offer a car finding service I'm afraid, but we'd highly recommend spending some time refining searches on Carzone.ie.

Best of luck