Shopping for a second hand car is both an exciting and challenging experience. With the prices of petrol these days, there are many things to consider in doing such an endeavour but if you are patient and are a little creative, you may even get a good deal with some cars. Here are some tips that can help you make the decision:

- Look for deals in police lots, auto repair shops and junk yards. If you are handy with your hands and like to work with cars and engines, then you can get good deals in such areas. These places offer the best deals on some cars but need a lot of repair work. There are even some luxury SUV's that may sell you off cars at 10% of their value. If you have the patience to have it repaired, or repair most of it yourself, then you can even get a better deal but remember you have to allot time for parts to be purchased. Some brands do take some time to find replacement parts. You may also be able to scrounge around the junk yard and pick up some of the pieces yourself. For cars that have been impounded and abandoned in the police yard, there are some good deals there. Just make sure that these vehicles are not stolen, which is easy to do by having the police check their records. Some stations even have biddings for abandoned cars which should be interesting because you can go low on a bid for a car and may even get it. Just make sure you repair the dents in those second hand cars. In some areas, there are dent repair shops which give you great deals if you are buying your vehicle there, and you can find these dent repair shops at the Internet. You can even email them and ask more or less for quotes and estimates provided you give them a picture of the repair work needed.

- Think about conversion to LPG. You may spend an extra thousand pounds or so in converting your gas engine to LPG but with the prices of petrol these days, you may recover your investment in a year or two. The other important thing is that it is environmentally friendly as well if you convert to LPG. This is true most especially for SUV's and big engine cars. Find a reputable LPG conversion company to do the job.