what to look at for when buying a secondhand car first time?

Hello so basically I'm looking for a first car at the moment been looking at seat ibiza's and corsa's around 2009plates and above. I was gonna get a 2015 plate fiesta zetec S 1L but I'm not sure on spending that much since the insurance is a bit as well. So I'm limiting the budget to £3k but I'm not sure what I need to look out for because the millage on most of these guys for that price is around 90k+ miles done already.

Is there any other decent cars around that price range?

I've been on autotrader and looked up some of the cars past mot history to see if they were badly damaged in anyway but I dont think thats enough information to go on, I've been doing some research about servicing so I should check the history of that but other than this I'm not sure what else to look out for.
Someone I knew bought a car awhile ago and a week later something was already leaking out of the car so they were having issues already.

Which I'm kinda scared if I buy a car second hand what if I run into issues

If you buy from a dealer, even an independent one, it will come with some sort of guarantee- maybe only 3 or 6 months.
When you have selected a car you can do an HPI check to find out if it has been in a crash, has outstanding finance, that sort of thing.

Take someone experienced with you.

Lots of articles online like this: https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/used-car-inspection-checklist

I don't think I've ever met or heard of anyone who has ever successfully claimed on a warranty from an indy car dealer

I don't think I've ever met or heard of anyone who has ever successfully claimed on a warranty from an indy car dealer

I claimed for some rear shock absorbers but that was it - they weren't interested in the timing chain being looser than a hooker.

what do you mean by indy car dealer?
Like some random car dealership?
I've been trying to look at mainly high reviewed ones on autotrader which looks more trustworthy but idk

wtf really? Is it like this for every dealer or what kind of dealer did you go to?

wtf really? Is it like this for every dealer or what kind of dealer did you go to?

The first question should be whether you need the car or not. Could you keep your existing car if you have one for a bit longer, or live without your own car? I also think that because of the increase in unemployment which will follow the end of furlough next month, used car prices will go down as people seek to get rid of them, especially where there is more than one car in a household.

Yea indy as in just an independent used car place, rather than a Ford showroom with an 'Approved Used' dealer thing (which likely has a stronger warranty but i don't think they often sell cars more than a few years old)

TBH the first car i bought was from an Autotrader 'real' car dealer and i got totally bumped. Can't trust anyone

Even if you are not too car savvy, you will be able to tell a lot from a decent test drive. You're listening/feeling for weird clunks/snapping sounds/tapping/excessive creak. Can it accelerate, shift and brake confidently? Do all the electrics and lights work as expected? They sound small but can either be super easy or super hard to sort (my last car would have cost £300 odd to fix a niggle in the rear lights, £3-sodding-00, either to buy a replacement or have an auto electrician strip it) Deffo have a look/feel under with a torch, some surface rust is 'ok' but you're looking for anything that's being eaten/flaked away (or leaking) the first Corsa I bought was utter swiss cheesed under it, was never allowed back on the road.