Hi Mauro

Try Leboncoin [region Rhone Alpes] and see what you can find there. Lots of people advertising, mostly private so that you can go and look at the cars for sale in your area.

Good luck!

Whether to go private or dealer is a balance of risk against price.  If you don't know anything about cars or how to buy them you should go to a dealer.  Prices are high but you have all sorts of legal protection.

If you are good with cars, you will get a much better deal buying privately, but you have pretty much no legal protection.  It's up to you to assess what you are buying.  The best buy will usually be a strong car (Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, Mercedes, etc) with a lot of Km's.

If you go to a dealer the optimal purchase will always be a car coming up to 3 years old.  Take a knowledgable friend with you and make them an offer in the last week of the month (when they are trying to hit their quotas).

If you are looking for a old car, please remember that in France the <<control technique>> has to be done every 2 years... so it would be a good idea to buy a car that has passed the CT only a few months ago.... at least the CT was done by an impartial/ unbiased garage....

It is obvius that the car migh have had an accident after the CT so it would be good to have it checked again by a third-party garage...

PS: the garage who sells the car would only say... <<Monsieur, this car is sooooooooooooooo good!>> what else could they say? LOL

The garage can say that the car is "good"; what they cannot legally say in this case is that it has had no accidents.  This is the essential difference between a professional and a private sale.

There's no better option, each option has ups and downs. 

Buying from a private person is usually cheaper, but there's no guarantee. 

Buying from a garage is usually more expensive, but comes with a guarantee.

In the UK you can do something called a HPI/History check on a car before you buy it. You'll find out if the car has been in a accident, if there is finance on it, if the plates have changed, reported stolen, if it's had the MOT (like the French CT).Wonder if France has such a system. That would be a big help

I have sold my car two years ago on glocals. The buyer asked me if I agreed to bring the car to his garage for a check, to be sure that there were no hidden problems. So I did, garage confirmed that the car was in good shape, and confirmed that my sellingprice was fair. The deal was made, both happy.

So I advise you to do the same when you buy from a private person. When the seller refuses a check, than you know that the car may have a problem.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone!!