This is a summary of how
to buy a used car from an individual or private seller (as opposed to a car
dealer). Many of these hints are helpful with a dealer as well.
Steps:
1 Make sure you have a
clear budget and set aside the necessary cash. Unlike a dealer who may help with
financing, a private seller will expect to be paid with cash or check. Ideally,
you should spend less than 30% of your savings on a car. If you don't have the
cash, apply for financing and get approved before approaching a seller.
2 Shortlist cars. Look through auto classifieds, including
Craigslist, AutoTrader, and Cars.com. These should allow you to filter for
private sellers.
3 Look through several
ads from private sellers and analyze the information. The ad will tell you a lot about the car as
well as the person selling it (both in what they say and what they don't). A
descriptive and detailed ad suggests that a car owner is serious about selling
the car and understands how to conduct the process. Moreover, by studying the
car information in detail, you can more easily determine if the car is a
potential good deal and worth an in-person meeting with the seller.
4 Contact the sellers by
email or phone at a reasonable hour in the afternoon or evening. Try not to call too late in the evening or too
early in the morning - they may not be able to talk for long and tell you about
the car.
When calling the seller,
have a list of questions ready. Verify the make, model, year, mileage and
general condition of the vehicle. Ask why the vehicle is being sold. If the
answers to these questions are satisfactory, schedule an appointment. Try to
meet in a safe and reasonably public area.
5 Be on time for your
appointment. If you have to
reschedule, call right away to let the seller know.
In person, do a
walk-around of the car and ask questions. Probe to understand what issues the
seller may have experienced with the car. Make a note of damages in the body
and fluid leaks, if any.
6 Examine the pedals and
drivers' seat for wear.
While odometer tampering is less common than it was, this will give you a good
estimation of how much the car was driven.
7 Check the tires,
especially the front, for wear. If they are worn unevenly, the car may need front end repairs to
the alignment, shocks, tires or tie rods.
With the car off, jiggle
the steering wheel back and forth. There should be less than one inch of play,
and no funny clunking noises. If there are, the car may need a steering rack or
steering gearbox.
For a front wheel drive
car, check the CV Joints (and boots). If they are torn and leaking grease, the
boot or half-shaft might need replacing. This may be the source of sounds. It
will also click when performing a turn to opposite side. Not too expensive a
repair.
8 Check the shocks by
pushing the car down three times and releasing at each wheel. The car should go up, down, and stop. Repeat
for all wheels.
9 Examine under the
rocker panels on the side of the car for rust. Once rust starts, it is extremely difficult and costly to stop
it.
10 Check the coolant
before the test drive,. It should not be
brown. The coolant tank should also not be empty and / or contain any brown
residue or sludge. An empty tank with brown sludge is likely to have a coolant
leak inside the engine (perhaps from a blown gasket or cracked head). That
would be a very expensive repair.
11 Check the floor of
the passenger compartment for soft spots (rust), and the inside of the trunk
for holes.
When starting, the
engine should turn quickly and the car should start easily.
A rough running car can
mean any number of things, from leaky air hoses to plugged fuel filter to old
spark plugs. Don't discount a car just because it runs rough.
When driving the car,
the brakes should not shake, grind or squeal loudly. Some squeaking is normal
for disc brakes. The brake pedal should feel firm but not hard.
An automatic
transmission should shift solidly. If you are unsure about the auto trans,
shift it manually. There should be little lag between moving the shift lever
and gear changes, and the engine RPMs should change quickly.
A manual transmission
should be easy to put into gear, and the clutch should catch close to the
floor.
12 Be sure to try the
reverse gear as well!
13 Make sure all
electric accessories work:
windows, locks, audio system, seats, key-less entry and alarm (if equipped).
14 Check all doors for
locking (manual and auto), windows, open them from the inside, the outside, and
closing.
15 Turn on the heater
(even if it's summer) within moments of turning the car on. How long does it take to provide heat?
16 Test the air
conditioning. If you have a meat
thermometer, bring it and put it in the center vent to check the temperature.
50 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty cold.
17 Test drive the car
like you'd normally use it. This
includes freeway and city driving. Keep an eye on the temp.
While parked with the
engine running, turn the steering wheel completely in both directions. A
squealing noise indicates a slipping power steering pump drive belt. While this
may be fixed by an adjustment, overheating from friction may have damaged the
belt and it may need replacing. There should be no growling noise; such a noise
indicates low power steering fluid, easily confirmed by inspecting the
reservoir. Low power steering fluid is likely caused by a leaking power
steering system, which could be a simple hose or clamp, an easily accessible
seal (in an older vehicle), or a damaged steering rack, which can be quite
expensive to replace.
18 Check the auto trans
fluid with the engine running. It should smell sweet and have little particulate matter. Burnt
orange or brown fluid means it hasn't been changed in a long time. A burnt
smell indicates a slipping clutch band, which may require a transmission
rebuild to correct.
With the hood up, let
the car idle with the AC running. Listen and look for the operation of the
cooling fan near the radiator. If there was no overheating, this should be
working fine. Keep your hands clear, as the fan can start and stop without
warning (even if the car is off for a short period after it's hot).
19 Check the oil with
the engine off after the test drive, . Black oil is not necessarily bad, but it shouldn't feel
gritty. Check under the oil cap; it should be clean. White foam under the oil
cap indicates coolant in the oil, and expensive engine repairs.
20 Examine the battery. If it looks old, it probably is, but batteries
are cheap and easy to replace. If the terminals are corroded it could be an
indication of poor maintenance.
21 Check the air filter. Dirty or clean doesn't matter, although if
very dirty it can adversely affect both performance and economy. For a paper
filter make sure there's no oil in it. Also check the air intake on the engine
side of the filter for oil. Oil in the air intake can be a sign of worn piston
rings which means a lot of miles or a lot of abuse.
22 Examine the gaps
between body panels. Uneven gaps indicate
shoddy accident repair.
23 Consider bringing a
small magnet with you. If the body of the car
is steel (some are fiberglass, such as the Corvette, and others such as the
Saturn are heat molded plastic), then a failure of the magnet to stick can
indicate the extensive use of body compound to effect a repair. High quality
repairs, even if bodywork of a damaged panel, generally do not require a lot of
filler. The sound of the panel when lightly tapped with a knuckle can also be
revealing, as can a sighting at a low angle that will reveal ripples if the
paint is shinny. If extensive repairs or damage is confined to an easily
removed panel, your cost of repair may be substantially lower than if inner
supporting panels or primary body structure has been damaged. Proper painting
can be expensive, however, but may be worth the effort for a special interest
vehicle. (As noted above, beware of rust, especially that that comes from
inside to the outside of the panel.)
24 Make an offer if the
car suits you. If you're meeting in a
safe area, have the cash in your hand if possible. If you have cash to offer,
you can often get a better deal than if you need to come back with cash later,
since it saves sellers the hassle of meeting again. Another option is to drive
to your bank and get a cashiers check, though this requires being near your
bank and meeting at certain hours.
25 Get the signed title
from the seller if you conclude the purchase,. Also have the seller fill out a bill of sale, saying that party
A (address, phone) sold the vehicle to party B (address, phone). If you are
stopped by the police on the way home, this paperwork will smooth the way for
you.
The person selling the
car is the best indication that you can have into how the car was driven,
maintained and repaired in the past. Since the odometer, which tells you the
mileage, can not tell you how hard a car was driven or how inadequate the
service history has been you will need to extrapolate this information for
yourself. An ideal seller is a person who has done regular maintenance to the
car and can prove this with receipts and service history. Additionally they
will be receptive to your questions and will appear truthful and honest in the
description of both the positives and the negatives about the car.
From internet
No comments:
Post a Comment