Buying a used car can be a daunting process, I have heard of so many stories of buyers being ripped off by car traders. Most of the people I asked would rather buy a car from a private seller or a franchised dealership.

Used car garages do unfortunately receive a lot of bad press; they are in a business where they are selling a product that can break down without any prior warning. Selling used cars is not easy, the stress and issues that arise once a car is sold needs to be dealt with very carefully. In most cases the used car garage does not intentionally sell a problematic vehicle, it is the nature of a used car that it may break down.

In some instances buying from a used car trader is the only suitable method, there are simple checks we can do not just on the car but also the garage. Let’s just assume we buy a used car and it breaks down within 3 months, will the garage deal with me efficiently and help me sort it out or will they shy away from the issue?

Customer service is top priority to me when it comes to buying a used car, I assume the car will not be perfect but as long as the garage has history of being able to deal with such issues I will be able to part with my money. I have a large used car dealer near me in Croydon, when I wanted to buy a new used car I first went online and searched for “second hand cars London” to see what other people are saying about the company. I found quite a few reviews some were vague while others were very detailed and informative.

So as well as doing the normal checks on a used car I would strongly recommend doing some research on the used car garage and always assume that the car may have problems but, how well the garage deals with these problems should be a deciding factor.

The new Audi A6 intends to challenge a lot of technology found in its competitor models, one of these innovations is the new all LED headlights. The A6 will be the first executive saloon in the market to have all LED headlights, an optional extra in exchange for the more familiar halogen or bi-xenon lamps that come as standard.

The Audi A6’s advanced LED headlight units emit a strong white light that is similar to daylight, and use just 40 watts of electricity each, making them yet another important weapon in the battle against energy consumption. The advanced LED units use just four one-chip and five two-chip LEDs to create dipped-beam light, and 24 white LEDs to make up the daytime running lights in each headlight. This keeps power consumption and maintenance down, and gives excellent life span.

All LED headlights are not new in the Audi line-up, the Audi R8 was the first ever production car to feature all-LED headlights and now are becoming common across the Audi range. The advanced all LED headlights will also be available on the new A7 Sportback and Audi A8 luxury saloon.

The all LED headlights are further enhanced by intelligent systems such as adaptive light control and high-beam assist, which give maximum visibility without dazzling other road users. Simply put the adaptive light system adapts the light provided by the headlights to the driving conditions, with different arrangements of light when driving in the city, country roads and on motorways.

The Audi high-beam assistant automatically varies the range and width of the headlight beam between dipped and full according to the road conditions. The system also incorporates an all-weather function that uses the rear view mirror camera to detect the lights of on-coming traffic and adjust the headlight intensity to give optimum visibility in varying conditions without disturbing other road users.

The Audi A6 is now available to order from Audi Bury St Edmunds, prices start from £30,145 for the 2.0 litre TDI model. The all LED headlight upgrade costs an additional £2,710.

Audi have invested in two skis rather than four wheels for the first time after decades of Audi expertise developing quattro models that resolutely hold the road even on snow and ice. The new Audi Carbon Skis is made from the brand's very latest lightweight construction know-how and its famous design and development process which ensures it brings time-honoured Vorsprung durchTechnik innovation to the black run.

The new high-tech skies are being developed for 'series production' and will hopefully be available as early as this coming winter 2011/2012. The experts from Ipswich Audi Concept Design have kept the structure of the skis simple. The outer shell of high-strength carbon fibre encloses layers of aluminium and titanium, and a wood core; each ski will be around 200g lighter than comparable models.

The lightweight carbon fibre has its advantages as it gives outstanding strength, good damping properties and stiffness and at the same time minimising torsion and revolutionising the handling properties of the ski.

Last month during the most famous downhill race in the world, the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbuhel, the first prototypes of the Audi Carbon Ski were tested on the slopes and now are being tested at the World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Wolfgang Egger, Head of Design for the Audi Group said: "Carbon and aluminium are central elements in Audi design - these exclusive materials underscore the outstanding quality of our cars, the design of the ski also intentionally dispenses with unnecessary lines and concentrates fully on the material."

I like to take my time when buying a car, especially when it’s a used one as there is always something wrong with car that can’t be seen. The last car I bought looked perfect from the outside but after driving it around for a month, it started making weird noises and lights started showing up on the instrument cluster.

Since then, I check a car properly inside and out before buying it; I also make sure the car has its service history book and all the necessary paperwork. I prefer to buy my cars from dealers as they come with warranty and I also know there’s less chance of the car being faulty.

I recently visited a few dealers to see if I could find myself a nice car, so far all the used cars in Milton Keynes that I have seen aren’t in great condition and I didn’t like any of them. I will continue to look for a car as I am in no rush as my current one is working fine.

I only started looking for a car because my wife was complaining that she doesn’t like my car and would be very happy if I bought a new one. I’ll do anything to keep my wife happy as she is all I have; and we don’t have any children so it’s been just the two of us for the past 25 years.

I think I’ll take my wife with me the next time I go to see a car, so she can choose the one she likes best.

The VAT increase will affect car dealers but if you’re lucky, there are many dealers that will be sticking to 17.5% for a short while. Now is the time to buy your car but remember to ask around as the official VAT increase was on the 4th January. Some car dealers are still advertising the fact that they are still charging 17.5% which is a bonus for many motorists.
In 2009, the government decreased the standard VAT rate to 15% to help the nation but then raised it back to 17.5% on the 1st January 2010. Fast forward to 2011 it has increased again by 2.5% to fight the economic downturn.

So what affect does this have on the price of cars? The increase in price will be around £375 for an average car that cost £15,000. There are a few reasons you need to quickly know

So what are the reasons to buy a car right now?

You need to order your car and have it delivered way before the VAT increase dates.
You will get very good discount prices for new cars directly from the supplying dealer.

With a strong second hand car market, you can be sure you’ll get a good part exchange price.
Considering the car scrap page scheme is still available in some authorities you’ll be able to trade in your car to turn into scrap metal and get up to £2000 off the price of the car.

Many of the manufacturers are intending to increase their prices with the new registration plates so you might as well get the latest ’59 registration plate’ and get a new car.

Are there other ways to beat the VAT increase?

What Car suggests to order the car so a tax point can be created so that it is liable to 17.5%. This will apply when even the full prices has not been paid. They posed as buyers and some dealers didn’t want to go along with it. Either they were not aware this was possible or just wanted to go along with the 20% increase.