Good used car sellers in Canberra?

The wife and I are very late getting a car, never a thought of the bank of mum and dad and don't want to get a loan either, so we're looking at Facebook and all these late 90s/mid-00s hatchback cars for a couple thousand bucks look nice, but dad advises me that you're better off going through a dealer..

Only the cheapest prices at dealers are around 10k, and the cars on sale aren't as varied or cool.. I want a retro vw golf, not a 2011 skoda soccer mum vehicle.. at least that's what I've seen so far

Anyway, does anyone know a place where we can get an interesting range of cars for that kind of cost, but which is reputable? VW, Suzuki, whathaveyou... Lemme know!

Thanks a bunch