Top Gear's guide to buying a used supercar

You’ve found yourself in the position to buy your dream car, the one that lived on your bedroom wall, half doodled in exercise books, and in your toy box. It’s a big moment for you, the culmination of years of hard work and effort. However, buying used can come with pitfalls.

For example, each manufacturer’s motors can come with, erm, quirks (yeah, that’s the right word) that can end a supercar dream quicker than an Ariel Atom can go from 0-100mph-0. Also, there’s a chance any particular car was rushed to the finish line on a Friday afternoon by a chap paying more attention to his first pint than your door-inserts-to-be.

To avoid slipping up, and to make sure you get the best you can for your money, here’s Top Gear’s guide to buying your very own used supercar.

This is one of the less exciting bits of buying a used supercar – how far can your budget really go? You need to be realistic and set a hard ceiling on what you’re willing to spend. An extra bit here and there may get you a slightly lower mileage model, or one with jazzier seats, but… how long’s a piece of string? You can easily find yourself perusing things way over budget and taking silly risks to make it work.

Similarly, before committing to your chosen motor, it’s worth checking out the really boring stuff: insurance servicing, tax, and parts. It’s all well and good being able to afford the car, but if you can’t get it insured, will struggle to tax it, need a loan to get it serviced, and wince at the thought of spending used MX-5 money on a new clutch you might want to readjust your targets. It might be worth £50k now, but the bills will still be for a £100k+ car.

Keeping an eye out for a decent specialist to look after your car once you’ve got the keys is wise, too. Having the right spanners attacking it can be a life (and wallet) saver.

Boring, sensible bits out of the way, it’s time to decide what you’re going to be spending your money on. Now, this could be a straight up, easy choice… but it rarely is. You could be a diehard Porschephile, and decide that only ‘a 911’ will do. That’s cool, but which one? And how old do you go? All wheel drive, rear drive? Hard top, soft top? How much power? Which combo of the above will fit in to your life best?

There are so many questions about pretty much every supercar that need answering before you can get properly searching. Once you’ve got your perfect spec and budget locked down, you’ll be in a far better place to peruse the classifieds.

Your future pride and joy was, once upon a time, the forefront of automotive engineering – the pinnacle of decades of hard work and development. Which means there will be weak points and things that, if unchecked, can go bang.

The internet is your friend here. Not only is it full of cat videos and pictures of people in their skimpies, but also buyer's guides for fast, expensive cars. Engineers, owners, and enthusiasts are all on hand to show you the things to look out for. Be a little cautious about your sources for these though – someone who owned a duff car venting on a forum won’t have quite the same weight behind them as someone who’s worked on supercars for 30 years.

Hunting doesn’t mean driving… yet. Get a decent sense of the market – how far will your cash really get you? How often will your spec crop up in the classifieds? A cautious approach, sure, but knowing what you’re looking at going in is better than barrelling in blind.

Depending on budget, your options may be limited, so knowing how quickly cars come on to, and leave the classifieds is smart.

Here’s the number one rule of buying a used supercar: DO NOT BUY THE FIRST ONE YOU SEE. It’s just the worst idea and can end in expensive disaster if you’re unlucky. Drive a few, learn what different examples feel like. Does car A feel like a Friday special? Or is car X the best you’ve driven yet?

Try not to get too overwhelmed by the fact you’re in something special, instead channel your inner critic. All the things you read about need to be checked here. If key elements feel off… you might have found a pup, which means bills.

Ask questions, look at paperwork to make sure it’s had a decent history, and get it health checked independently if you want to be 100 per cent sure.

Think you’ve found ‘the one’? Maths all work? Then, my friend, you can put your money down and live your dream. Have a crack at negotiating on what the dealer/seller can do for you as well. A full tank is a good start – having to immediately fuel up rather than enjoy your new toy rather takes the edge off.

You’ve done it. You’ve got the car of your dreams and have earned the biggest back pat in the known universe. If you’ve not got experience of driving something with silly power firing itself out of the rear wheels you can do one more thing to enhance your enjoyment of it: get some driver training. There are plenty of places you can go to explore your car safely that aren’t Asda car parks after dark, and the better you understand it, the better chance you have of staying out of a hedge if things go a little sideways.

And there you have it, seven easy steps for setting yourself up nicely in your first used supercar. Follow these and you should be A OK. Or you could ignore us and see what happens. It could be fine.

…could.