Revealed: The best areas in the UK to buy a second-hand car

Looking to buy a second-hand car? You might want to avoid shopping around in certain areas and head over to Gravesend, Kent instead.

According to car experts at Moneybarn, Gravesend is one of the best places in the UK to buy a second-hand car, but what other areas make up the top 10?

From Manchester to Essex

When considering customer reviews and the average price to buy a used car (using the UK’s most common car, the Ford Fiesta), Gravesend in Kent came out as the best place to buy a used car, with an overall score of 9.12.

It was followed by Bradford in West Yorkshire, which scored 8.23.

70% of car reviews in Bradford were excellent – a 5% increase over last year, while Bradford also has the lowest average price when buying a used car. The city improved on its ranking after having come 18^th in 2021.

At number three was Basildon in Essex, where 85.9% of second-hand car reviews were excellent. The town also has the lowest proportion of ‘terrible’ reviews on the list.

Following the top three were Manchester in fourth place, Nottingham in fifth and Harlow, Essex in sixth.

Eastleigh, Hampshire took seventh place, followed by Barnsley, South Yorkshire at eighth, Hull in ninth and Leeds in tenth place.

The bottom three

We now know the best areas to buy a second-hand car, but what about the worst areas?

Moneybarn found that the area with the worst car dealerships was Keighley, where over half (53.8%) of reviews were deemed ‘terrible’.

Fareham in Portsmouth had around 50% of its dealers reviewed as terrible, and was the poorest performer in the South West, while Poole in Dorset completed the bottom three, with 48.7% of reviews for car dealerships in the area being rated ‘terrible’.

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