5 Safety Tips For Buying A Used Car

Buying a used car is often much more cost effective than buying new .

. but the vehicles out there are very much a mixed bag in terms of mechanical soundness, body integrity, pricing, and general safety. If you're buying a used car over a certain age, you very often buy somebody else's problems. Yet, if you simply cant justify spending tens of thousands on a new vehicle, car insurance and maintenance only to see it depreciate like a boulder rolling downhill, simply go through our safety guide.Here we look at the top 5 tips for buying a used car that is safe and sound.

Car size and shape

The minimum recommended size is around 1,300kg, to help keep enough rubber on the road to ensure that at normal driving speeds, you can steer safely out of tight spots. While 4WD or sports utility shapes are often seen as safer, they are also more prone to roll-over crashes. If you are carrying children in the back regularly, think about getting a sedan or wagon rather than a hatch. Otherwise, the safety differences between body shapes are fairly negligible.

Safety technology

When you buy a used car that was manufactured in the past ten years, it is much more likely to have all the neat safety gadgets that make a big difference to your wellbeing in a crash, including:

Anti-lock brakes (ABS)

Electronic stability control or traction control

Airbags

Seatbelt alarms

Check crash data

There are quite a few websites nowadays that publicise the results of crash tests with the model of car you are looking at buying, and offer a safety rating based on those tests. Put in the models you are thinking about before you even go look at any, to help you narrow your search. When you have the specifics of the car you want, you can also look up the VIN number to make sure the car wasn't previously wrecked or written off.

What your mechanic should assess pre-purchase

Getting someone who is very familiar with what they are looking at to go over your prospective new car is a great aid to safety, and may help decrease your car insurance premiums. Your mechanic will usually assess the following components when you ask for a pre-purchase inspection:

Body integrity/rust

Suspension

Tyres

Lights, wipers and gauges

Seatbelts

Radiator

Engine

Clutch or transmission

Make sure that you have car insurance that will cover you before you take any car for a test drive, or before your mechanic does so.

How to get a pre-purchase inspection

There are several usual places that offer pre-purchase inspections:

The automobile club for your state (RACV, RACQ, NRMA, etc)

Your usual mechanic. Make sure you book ahead and ensure the times will work out!

Some car insurance agencies will also do pre-purchase inspections

Safety should be the single most important factor when buying a used car .. otherwise you simply might not be around to drive it.

by:Hugo Shreuder

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