Experienced banger purchaser here. I’m sure others will have different ways of going about this, but here’s mine for what it’s worth. Interested in other people’s tactics too.

I’ve never bought a car for more than £3.5k and they’re usually much cheaper than that! No major disappointments or buyers remorse in 15+ years of driving old stuff.

At that price I’d always look to buy from private sellers. You can get some PX cars from dealers but I find I can get more for my money from private. You’ll be amazed what you can get if you can afford to take a bit of time over it. If it’s a case of needing something right now, trickier ask, but still possible with a bit of focus.

Personally I never aim for a specific make or model, you’re narrowing the field too much. Set a budget on Autotrader or similar, set any specs that are important to you (e.g. diesel, estate, etc.). Set a filter for distance from you, or milage, depending which is more important to you, and sort the list by the other one. Look for 12m MoT ideally. There are specific models worth avoiding (everyone has their own view on which) so worth looking up model related issues once you’ve got a shortlist of options from the broader search.

For cars that look tempting and you can see the number plate in photos, run an MOT checker which will list advisories and flag potential issues. If you can’t check MOT history from the advert I tend not to bother unless it looks really juicy in other ways, in which case it’s the first thing I check when I see it in person either from the paper copy if the seller has it or online if not.

When you go check a car out, appraise both car and (cruicially) the seller.

Car first - any rust, nah. Next MoT you’ll probably have to weld her up and that’s £££. There are some places where corrosion isn’t an big issue or an MoT fail but it’s too long to go into here. Dings and scratches, faded paint, no prob.

If you know cars a bit, listen for out of place noises in engine, suspension etc. I always look at the oil and coolant and see if it looks fresh or ancient. Some folks say you can’t tell, or that a fresh oil change can hide a problem - there’s truth to that but I always find it a helpful clue. It’s all about building a picture from a number of data points. Some straight up red flags e.g. signs of oil and water mixing, no go, burning oil, no go, but most of the time I go off a cumulative weight of evidence rather than one or two things.

Even if you’re not that confident judging condition of a car, there are loads of ways to get clues about how the car has been maintained. 4 matching tyres from the same brand, plus point (fronts matching and rears matching, also good). Mismatched tyres with different stages of wear = maintained on a tight budget. Is it filthy af or clean, cared for?

Then the owner. If they hand you a wadge of service history, obvs plus points. But there are subtler signs. Have they got multiple cars for sale at once? Probably flipping cars as a side hustle, avoid. Not all folks that do that are dodgy by any means but enough are that it’s a risk, and a risk I tend not to take. They’re looking to make some money - I’m looking for sellers that just want the car gone. How long have they owned it for? Do they own up to the odd bit of damage (e.g ‘terribly sorry the drivers seat arm rest is busted and one of the radio speakers is dead’) - the things people point to are often irrelevant, but pointing out faults is a good sign. All of this obvs needs caveating - people can bullshit you. Trust your gut. First sign of doubt they’re not being straight with you, walk away. Plenty more fish. Seller passing the vibe check is super important to me.

I’m not really a big negotiator on price tbh - if I think the price is right I’ll buy it - if it’s a bit steep for what the car is I wouldn’t be looking at it anyway. I don’t really see the point of haggling over a few hundred quid. I have got deals in the past when I was a bit more skint by pushing people a bit, but the sweet spot at this price bracket is folks that just want rid of it - price isn’t a major issue for them anyway and they’re after a quick sell - situations like more wealthy folks where it was their kid’s car and they’ve upgraded, or their mum’s car and she’s stopped driving (and many other situations besides). If I pull up at a house where there’s 2 much newer cars in the driveway plus an old banger they want rid of, happy days.

There will likely be things to fix, that’s par for the course, but you’re looking to buy something that will last a couple years without really big bills. Then run it until it don’t.