How to buy a used car Part 2 — Find and check out a used car

Learn how to find and check out a used car Part 2

In Part 1 of the series I talked about how to identify unreliable cars. Now, let’s talk about how you find and check out a used car

You have 3 options for finding a used car

• Private or dealer used car lots
• Private party sale
• Rental cars

Let’s go over the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Where dealers get their used cars

Dealers get late model (3-4 year old) vehicles from auctions. These are cars that have come off lease and are sold at auction. In a few cases, the cars were leased from the selling dealer and are now on the lot after the lessor ended the lease. But the vast majority of late-model cars on dealer lots were bought at auction.

That means you have to check the vehicle’s history to make sure it’s not a salvaged title. Look at the history on Carfax to see where it went into service. If it’s from an area with recent flooding, be extra careful.

Pros of buying from a dealer

Dealers usually send their used cars in for detailing before selling. So the seats and carpets are often cleaner than vehicles sold by private parties. They also touch up paint scratches and small dents.

Cons of buying a used car from a dealer
You’ll pay more
All used car salespeople lie

What to know about buying from a private party

Private party sellers are usually trying to make more money on their car than the dealer offered them on a trade-in. So they often price the vehicle at full retail. However, if you look up the car’s value on KBB.com, NADA.com, or edmunds.com, you’ll see that private-party selling prices are always lower than retail from a car lot.

If you find the vehicle you want from a private party, print out the private party valuations before you go see the car, because that’s your starting point for negotiation.

Pros of buying from a private party
You’ll most likely pay less than buying the same car from a dealer
Cons of buying from a private party
99.9% of private sellers lie about the condition of their vehicles. Unless the seller has paperwork to back up their claims of regular maintenance, you should assume they’re lying.

What to know about Rental cars

The common wisdom is to avoid buying a rental car. That’s based on the bogus theory that rental cars are abused. Here are the two most important facts about rental cars:

1) Most rental cars are rented by families on vacation or businesses people on business trips.
2) In order to obtain the lowest pricing from the carmakers, rental car companies are required to perform the factory recommended service and document those services. Carmakers are especially sensitive to brand reputation and don’t want the cars they sell to rental companies to fail after they’re sold to the public.

Are rental cars abused?

Not really

Families on vacation don’t burn doughnuts or get into drag races. Generally speaking, they don’t abuse the vehicles they rent. However, they do get into more fender benders because the drivers don’t know the local areas or driving regulations. And, the interiors take more punishment from puking kids.

Business people don’t generally abuse rental vehicles because they don’t want to have to file “at fault” accident claims on the company insurance. They use these vehicles to drive from the airport to the hotel and then to client meetings. Then they return them to the rental lot.

So who abuses rental cars?

Not teenagers since rental car companies won’t rent to anyone below 21.  That leaves bad drivers whose cars are in the body shop. What percentage of rentals are to these drivers? That depends on the rental brand. Enterprise, for example, specializes in providing rental cars to body shops and dealer shops. So you can conclude that those cars are slightly more abused. But that’s just a guess.

Check rental car repair and maintenance records. If the rental company won’t let you look at the accident reports or repair records, don’t buy the vehicle.

Now that you’ve found the car, here’s how to check out a used car

I volunteer on many auto forums and the #1 comment I see about buying a used car is: “I checked out the used car and it looked great. Then it failed and it needs an expensive repair. So here’s my advice:

Check out the car visually

Body condition: Look for signs of prior accidents. Check for scratches, dents, and rust spots. Check the trunk for leakage

Tires: Make sure all the tires are the same brand. Measure the tread depth using a tread depth gauge Look for gouges on the sidewall and tire shoulder areas. Check for dry rot.

Engine: Check for signs of oil leak

Lights: Turn on and check the headlights, tail lights, brake lights, and high beams. This is especially important if the vehicle is equipped with Xenon headlights. They’re very expensive to fix. Also, check under the hood to see if the vehicle has been retrofitted with aftermarket HID or LED headlights. Those are incredibly unreliable and it’s almost impossible to find replacement parts for aftermarket HID headlights,

HVAC: Turn on the blower and make sure it runs at all speeds. Make sure it’s hot. Turn on the AC and make sure it works. Turn on the seat heaters to make sure they work

Accessories: Check the horn, power seats, power mirrors, and power windows. seat heaters,

Check out a used car with a test drive

Drive it. It should start right up. It should idle smoothly. It should accelerate smoothly and without hesitation. It should have a solid feel in turns and on curves. It should shift smoothly.

Negotiate the price

Here’s how to get the best price on a used car

Finally, make sure you get a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) by an independent shop

You may know a bit about cars, but if you don’t inspect it with it up on a lift or you don’t use a scan tool to check for recently cleared codes, you haven’t fully checked out the vehicle.

How to arrange for a PPI

Negotiate the price CONTINGENT on getting a clean bill of health from a reliable repair shop that’s performed a pre-purchase inspection. You have to pay for the inspection and it must include an underbody check, scan tool check, battery and charging system test and a test driver.

Private sellers may object to a PPI because they fear you’ll come back with a laundry list of items that need fixing. So agree on the selling price and a limit on the amount of minor repairs you’re willing to accept.

Arrange for the seller to drop the car off at the shop of your choice and pick it up when they’re done. You may have to pay the seller for the time to do this.

Trust me on this; if you skip the pre-purchase inspection, you’ll be sorry.

©, 2020 Rick Muscoplat