Buying a used car can be an extremely stressful and tense situation. The situation is made even more difficult by that pushy salesman who doesn’t understand what “no” means. You can even add more stress by not understanding what to look for when buying a used car. Here are a few tips to reduce the stress and make sure you’re buying a good used car.
When determining if you want to buy a particular car, take a quick walk around it. Notice anything funny? To the untrained eye you probably won’t, but here are a few things that you should keep an eye out for.
Paint Overspray
When a vehicle gets in an accident, the repair shop will repair the damage then repaint the fixed part of the vehicle. Unless the repair shop is really good, you’ll be able to find traces of paint where it shouldn’t be. This tells you that a vehicle has been in an accident, and tells you where the damage was. If you find paint under the hood, it has most likely been in a front end collision. Bad news for the buyer.
Uneven Tire Wear
Tires need to be adjusted when they’re replaced. This is usually done, but in an effort to save money, a car owner might just have the tires replaced without having them aligned or balanced. This shows you what kind of care was taken of the vehicle. Usually you’ll see uneven wear on the inside or outside of the tire. You can look for tread depth in the center and compare it with the tread on the outside of the tire.
Windshield Damage
Most of the time when you buy a vehicle you won’t see obvious windshield damage and cracks. You can take a closer look to see where the vehicle was driven most. If you see a lot of small pits in the windshield and the vehicle has less than 50,000 miles, that tells you that the previous owner drove on the freeway a lot. Small pits are caused by tiny rocks striking the windshield at high speeds, such as when driving at 70 MPH on the freeway. If the vehicle has 50,000 miles or more and the windshield is perfectly clean, it was most likely replaced. It could have been cracked by a rock, or cracked in an accident. Check for paint overspray to rule out an accident.
Oil Leaks
When buying a used car from a car lot or a car dealership, the engine is usually spotless. However, the detail department only cleans the parts of the engine that are visible from the top. That means an oil leak will still be visible from under the car. If you place you’re buying the car from does repairs, ask them to put the vehicle up on the rack so you can look under it. You’ll know right away if the vehicle is leaking oil. Look for fresh oil that looks like it is going to drip. While you’re down there look for coolant leaks as well. The coolant won’t be as dark as the oil and is usually orange, green or yellow in color.
Foul Odors
Unfortunately for the unsuspecting buyer, smells can be covered up for a short time. If you use enough fragrance and clean the carpets the smell will dissipate temporarily. After a few hours or few days you’ll start smelling the odor of something like cigarette smoke. To find out whether or not the car has been smoked in, check the cigarette lighter. If it’s used, the car has been smoked it. If it looks really old and dingy, the vehicle has been smoked in a lot and you should take a second thought. Another common smell is mildew. Musty mildew smells are usually caused by a leak somewhere that is letting in water. If the vehicle has a sunroof, that is usually the culprit. Sunroofs have a water runoff channel that usually runs down the A pillar (where the side of the windshield is attached) of the car. Check for water leaks and smells on the floor board of the front passenger and driver side.
There you have it. Print this out and take it with you to the dealership when you look at that next car and hopefully you can avoid a big financial mistake!
