subject: How To Look For Best Used Cars [print this page] Well folks, we arent going to tell you how to find a used car because thats easy and you dont need us for that. Just roam around the town and you will find a lot of used cars and some of them will be for sale for sure. We will be guiding you on how to judge the condition of a used car that will be very helpful for you if youre looking forward for buying one.
Heres your guide to how to find a good used car for yourself:
Lets start off with general factors that you must keep in mind before buying any used car. Well, if you find a used car for sale, look for the mileage it has done. Generally a car run more than ten thousand kilometers (10,000) is supposed to have problems. Therefore, while buying a used car, make sure the car is not run more than that. Next make sure the car is having a local number that would make sure that the car has been mostly in your city.
Walk around the car and notice a few things from its body and appearances. Just have one tap on the car body, if it is making a bulky and echoic and less metallic sound then it means the paint is good. If not, it means either the car has a bad paint job or chemicals like protein etcetera were used to clean up the paint and bring the chrome back. By using these chemicals the paint grows thin. You can always judge whether the car has had a paint job or not, no matter how good but for that you have to have a lot of experience and an eye of an expert. A repaint is not a bad thing but repaint includes the possibility that the car might have had an accident and got repaired.
Ask the dealer to open up hatch back and doors and hood for you. Look through spaces and holes for rusted metal. A good car is not supposed to have a rusted body. Slide your hands under the curves of different portions of your potential ride, you must not find oil or sticky surfaces because that defines cleanliness of the car. Look for welding marks on joints etcetera.
Sit in the car and show that you are trying to get the feel of it but what you will be actually looking for is the firmness and smooth operability of the stuff. Now its time to take the car for a test drive and notice a few other things. Listen to the engine noise. It must make a knocking sound like coughing or literally knocking sound. If it does that means you will have to get some engine repairs after buying the car and that will add some more expenditure.
Turn the steering to complete left or right and make sure there is no ticking in steering. If there is any ticking that means the axle ends have worn out. Again this will be cost over cost at the end. Feel every paddle, make sure they go smooth. Switch gears a lot and make sure gears dont get stuck on any up and down. Listen to any rattling or crocking noise coming from any part of the car. If no such sound there that means the car parts are also in a good condition. Try every button and make sure it works.
When you come back from the ride put your finger in the silencer pipe of the car. If you find oil it means that the engine is not burning the fuel properly and engine needs major work. If you find this never go for that car or negotiate the price. Because with this fault the engines repair cost is going to be of a new engine. Put your hand on the hood and make sure that its not too hot because if the car does that the wiring will soon be burnt and you will then need to spend more money on the car. Look at the tires and make sure the ridges on tires are not worn out because if they are you will have to replace tires after buying the car.
Then there are some add-ons that make the price of a car go up or down like presence of alloy rims, glare coating of glasses etc. If there are any custom side skirts or bumpers added, they must be for the specific model of the car because otherwise parts have to be loaded by drilling extra holes in the body. This concludes all.
After that ask for documents and make sure they are genuine and legitimate. Then negotiate the price of the car with faults cut down the estimated repair cost from the actual price. If no faults then were good.
p.s. There is another way doing it all very easily. Have a trusty automobile engineer friend with you. He will do all the above and you will just have to shake hands with the dealer.
