There may be a lot of things going on in your mind when you’re trying to buy a used car. I’ve covered some of the areas for you so that you can reap benefits by reading them.
I’ve shared how to inspect the interior & exterior of a used car.
I’ve shared how to inspect the engine of a used car.
I’ve shared how to inspect a car in the parking lot without having the owner around, from outside.
I’ve shared how to test drive a used car and what to look in that.
When you see a car having a “For Sale” sign, you will call the owner.
When you’re talking to the owner on the phone, ask him that you called him for inquiring about the car he wants to sell. Don’t specify the car model.
If he’s a dealer, then he will definitely ask you which car are you talking about. If he’s an owner he won’t ask such a thing because he just has only 1 car to sell.
It’s important to know who is selling the car, as a broker will handle this more professionally while an owner will handle this personally as it’s not a business to him.
Ask the owner about the car’s condition and politely tell him to be honest if it has any problems in it. Ask him why he’s selling the car in the first place.
These questions are really important and meant to be asked beforehand. Ask them whether you can go for a test drive with it or not. If you can’t take it for a test drive then don’t waste your time on it. Without a test drive don’t ever purchase a used car.
You can bring some tools with you for inspection.
- OBD2 Scanner – It lets you scan the vehicle and tells you about all possible errors in it.
- Magnet – You can place the magnet in different parts of the car to check whether there’s any filler material in it or not.
- Flashlight – You can take a flashlight with you to check the engine area which is not visible otherwise.
- Paper Towel or Tissue – You can take a paper towel to check the quality of the engine oil or transmission oil.
- Paper – You can take a piece of paper to write down all this necessary information so that you don’t forget any of it.
You also need to check the resell value of the car. You know all the necessary information like year, model, and mileage. Just insert all of them into a website and the website will give you a trade-in value.
With every car, there comes a VIN. VIN is basically a vehicle identification number. When you put VIN on the website, it will give you some more data that you can use in your favor.
Like whether the car has any theft record or whether it has any total loss records. This is the kind of information that you can get absolutely free if you run the VIN on the website.
While meeting the owner for the first time, try to meet somewhere where there are people nearby. It can be a parking lot where there’s room for movement, also there are other people.
