Current Events > what to look for in a used car?

(+) Yeah! (+)

things to avoid
things that are good
red flags
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Good tread on the tires
Good brake pads
No weird noises from the engine compartment
No weird stains in the seats
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Beveren_Rabbit posted...

things to avoid
things that are good
red flags

Depends on the car, I'm gonna assume this is a used car from a dealer lot, probably 3-5 years old.

Look first for wear and tear. Seats and carpets should all be intact, no noticeable blemishes on the exterior paint from collision or sun damage. Check if the headlamps are fogged. Try all the lights and if it has a touchscreen or something similar, give that a try. Make sure the steering wheel, gear lever, and handbrake all look to be in good condition. Fiddle with all the buttons and knobs, make sure they all still feel tactile and working. If someone abused their car, chances are they'd take it out on those pieces.

If that all looks good, look at the consumables. Tires, break pads, oil level, etc. This can clue you in as to how well it was maintained. If there are odd tires, that is, they are not all at the same tread level or from the same manufacturer, then that indicates it had either a puncture or a collision relatively recently.

When you take it for a test drive, tool around in the parking lot a bit. Is the engine making any weird noise? Does the steering make a sound when you crank the wheel all the way left or right? Does it go from a dead stop okay or does it hesitate at all? On the road, get a feel for the suspension and keep and ear out for noises. You can always test the radio when you get back to the dealership.

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Get underneath it with a UV light, this will help you identify if there are any loose seals where any amount of fluid is coming through. Also look at the level of rust if you're in a state where salt damage is a thing, a little bit of surface rust is meaningless but if the frame is rusted through just walk, the car is worthless.

The maintenance history is extremely important, you can run the VIN to check for crashes and warranty work, but it might not tell you things like if the timing belt has been replaced, so hopefully that's documented. Sometimes the shop will put these stickers right in the engine bay. The manual will tell you how often the timing belt needs to be replaced, typically intervals of 60 - 120k miles, and if the vehicle has missed its interval by 25% or more, I would walk away cuz that's gonna cost you at least $1100 extra right away and if it breaks while the car is running the next revolution will total your engine most of the time. If the person doesn't know anything about the maintenance history, assume it hasn't been done and walk away.

If you're buying from an individual, you should always take the vehicle to a trusted mechanic and spend $75 to get a diagnostic run on all the vital systems. If you're purchasing from a dealer some mechanics won't feel comfortable with looking at it.

Like the above poster said, drive it, drive it at all the speeds you're planning to drive it at if you owned it, take it on the highway, drive it slow through the parking lot. Brake quickly at all speeds, if it has a four wheel drive system test that out (better if there's actually snow about). Try the A/C and heater on every possible setting.

The biggest red flag is anyone that's evasive about the maintenance history or if buying from a private seller, someone who won't let you drive the vehicle. You just walk if you're not allowed to drive it, fuck them.
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Is there is a certain year cut-off ? Like... if a car was made before a certain year you shouldn't accept it?
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American made,from the 80s, at least 100k miles, sounds like a gun going off

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show me the carfax!
...does that work?


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HBOSS posted...

show me the carfax!
...does that work?

jeremy spoke in class today
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Beveren_Rabbit posted...

Is there is a certain year cut-off ? Like... if a car was made before a certain year you shouldn't accept it?

Not necessarily, this is all down to the particular year of a given model. Anything that's 2+ years old is going to have extensive documentation of people's problems or lack thereof. For example, when they first updated the Toyota Tacoma body in the 2013 model year, people were having continuous problems with them even before 100k miles, when most years before that it was very common to hear of people putting 300k+ before needing any major non-routine repairs.

I would cap it tho, about as far back as I'd go would be maybe 15 years, because you will hit some diminishing returns where the money you save isn't worth possible additional repairs. Newer cars tend to have a lot more safety features as well, which should always be considered. There are always exceptions, sometimes a car has just been taken care of and is in immaculate condition, but most people treat their vehicles like shit, skip oil changes, don't replace vital parts until they break, don't give it adequate time to move the fluid through before putting it into gear, putting it in drive from reverse before its fully stopped and vice versa. You should Google the model year of a given vehicle and see what people have to say about it, people online are really enthusiastic about talking about their cars and can provide some great insight into how reliable something might be.
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