Different types of cars will likely be advertised through different mediums; more niche examples can be found on user groups or more specialist sites like Pistonheads.

Everyday cars will appear more on the usual suspects like Autotrader and eBay.

If you're looking for something cheap, chances are you'll find more on Gumtree.

​

The thing to factor in here is advertising costs; if someone has a particularly special and / or expensive car, they probably won't mind paying a bit more to advertised in the right places. If someone is selling something sub £500, it's a large % of the cars value to advertise on Autotrader for example, so somewhere that's free to advertise will probably be the favourite.

None of these are 'rules'; if you want something, search everywhere, but bear these things in mind.

​

Another point to note is there are good and bad times of year to be car hunting. The market slows down around Christmas and New Year as most people aren't thinking about changing their cars then.This means that the sellers that are trying to probably aren't receiving floods of calls. This can be a good time to grab a bargain as negotiating power is on your side. However, it does mean that there aren't as many to choose from.

The same principal applies to convertible or sports cars; people start thinking of buying these for a bit of summer fun, so prices are higher then. If you can find one advertised during winter months, again you'll likely get it for a better price.