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Advise & Resources
We are occasionally asked for help or advice on buying a car in the U.S., so we wanted to make this information to be available on our Web site as well.
First, you need to know that the used car dealer business in this country is not known for its honesty. The dealers are all pressured by competition to use some very common tricks to make cars look/run just well enough to sell, when hidden underlying problems still exist. One common example is when they repressurize a leaking air conditioning system so that the cold air works for long enough for them to sell the car, but they don't fix the leak. A month or two later you might find out that you'll need to spend several hundred dollars to fix the air conditioner. There are many other (more critical) examples as well. One friend of mine bought a car from a dealer. and the car had a leaking fuel line that could easily have caught fire. All the dealer wanted to do was patch the line instead of replacing it - which would be very dangerous.
For this reason, and because it's generally much cheaper for the same vehicles, I recommend buying from individuals rather than dealers. The down side of this is that you will need to do a lot more driving around to where the sellers live, unless you find just the right thing on your first try. You'll need someone with availability to drive you around to look at, and test drive, cars. That said, you can do a lot of research online to save yourself a lot of time driving around to look in person. You need to be prepared to spend a good bit of time online doing research. Really, I suggest doing the same research even when working with a dealer, and I would especially not skip step #7 below for either one.
Here's the steps & Web addresses where I would start your search & research...
1. Three sites I use to look for cars advertised for sale (especially by individuals) are...
http://craigslist.org
http://autotrader.com
http://cars.com
All three of these sites are free to use. Dealers advertise on them too, but they are easy to identify. Also beware of scammers (cheaters) who post very appealing cars at cheap prices just to get people to send them email messages or to get them into a money scam. If they don't give a working phone number to call, I just skip them. Generally you want the lowest mileage possible for the price. If mileage is not listed, then it's most likely not a good selling point for them, but that may be worth verifying with a phone call.
2. Next, for each car you find interesting, I would look at some consumer reviews of that make/year/model of car. For that I like to use Edmunds.com. Usually the easiest way to find the right page on their site is to do a Google.com search for something like "edmunds consumer review 1995 buick regal" (replace 1995 Buick Regal with the car's year, make, and model) and it should be the first page listed. It will usually give a numeric rating and list lots of consumer comments. Read them for a general sense of whether this is a reliable vehicle over time, and maybe what the common complaints are. For example, if a lot of people post saying that the transmission doesn't last very long, then you'll want to make sure it's already been replaced on the car you're considering.
3. Call the seller and ask some questions. How many owners has it had? Has it ever been crashed? What condition is it in (interior/exterior cosmetic and mechanical)? Are there any specific problems that have not been fixed? Why are they selling it? How long have they owned it? What major repairs have they done to it? If not listed in the ad, you definitely need to know the make (Honda), model (Accord), year (2005), trim package (LX) mileage (98,000), and the VIN number (explained in step 5 below).
4. Look up the suggested value for the car, based on what you know about the options and condition. For this I use http://kbb.com (also free). This is a generally accepted valuation tool that everyone is familiar with. You'll hear people refer to it as the "Blue Book" value of a car. Even the dealers use this. If the advertisement has enough info, you might be able to do this step even before calling the seller, just to give you an idea of whether they are asking close to the right amount.
5. If the car still seems desirable, I would get a history report on that exact car. To do that, I use http://autocheck.com. This service costs $44.99 for one month of usage to look up as many cars by VIN number as you want and get a report of the history of that car. SPEND THIS MONEY - it can prevent a big mistake. (VIN stands for Vehicle Identification Number.) Every car has a unique VIN, which is stamped on a metal plate attached to the dash on the driver's side. It's usually easiest to read through the windshield while standing beside the car on the driver's side. Some of the advertisements will list the VIN. If not, just ask for it when you call the owner. They will almost always understand why you're asking. The history will show things like how many owners it has had, whether it's been in any accidents that were reported to police or insurance (most significant accidents are), and what parts of the country the car has been owned in. That last one may sound insignificant, but it's actually important. Cars that live in northern states where it snows a lot are exposed to a large amount of salt that is used to melt snow and ice on the roads. As a result, northern cars tend to have much more rust in the body and engine parts that eats away at the metal. When I lived in Michigan for a while, people would drive to southern states to buy used cars for this very reason.
6. Make an appointment with the owner to go look at, and test drive, the car. Ask them if they have any maintenance records, and ask them where they usually have the car serviced. This is all to get an idea of how well they have maintained the car. (You can also call their mechanic to see what history they have on record.)
7. If everything still checks out, the final step I recommend is to ask the owner if you can take the car to your mechanic to have it checked. I highly recommend Champion Auto on High Point Rd (near Merritt Dr, in the same building with Advance Auto Parts). Their phone number is 854-1133. I would call ahead to make sure they are available to take a look when you bring it in. If they charge you something for this service, it will be minimal and well worth it. If an owner refuses to let you get the car checked, I would be suspicious of what they are trying to hide. It's usually not a problem if you give them your contact info.
8. Negotiate price based on everything you've learned. Have the mechanic give you a free estimate of the repairs needed, so you can show that to the seller in the negotiation process. Rarely would a seller not come down on a price by at least 5-10%.
Hope this helps you - happy hunting!
