ALT-1 Buying used Cars
So you decided to own a car of your own. You don’t want to feel heart pain when you bang your first ride or simply, just want to save the earth. You screened all the used cars for sale online (or offline) and ready to make the purchase.
In front of you, is the car you’ve chosen online (or offline) to buy. You stare at that car and the car stare back at you so, what do you do before you agree to this car deal? You have to question your way out, that is, shooting questions to the used car dealer or whoever’s selling the car to you. You don’t have to be Socrates to be able to dig out some truths behind the history of the car. Here are some of them:
Firstly, ask the dealer the price he/she is selling. This is just a confirmation of the selling price being advertised in case of any hidden charges or some “change of mind” stunts. If this basic frontline agreement is not met, you can turn around and walk away. No deal.
Secondly, ask whether the used car has gotten into accident before. Yes yes, I know it is silly to go “straight up into the lion’s lair”. At this stage, asking this question will be beneficial in the later stages of this process.
Thirdly, it is better to ask if the used car you are interested in buying, can be test-driven. Just like buying new cars, you got to know if the used car of interest suits you in terms of primarily, driving comfort. Besides the primary reason of test driving, there are a number of other pretty important reasons to doing this – to test for technical defects such as exceptionally noisy engine, brakes, steering or even air conditioning. It will be advantageous if the used car can be test driven but try to push for one if the dealer is reluctant to do so......orthere is anything the dealer is hiding. Unless there is a super good reason to disallow test driving, otherwise always ask for one.
Fourthly, ask whether if trade-ins are welcome. This only applies to people who already owned a car and would like to change to another one (or to some who struck gold, upgrade to higher ends. Haha!). Price is always the number one factor to eventually affect the decision to buy or not to buy. Trade-ins usually help to lower further the selling price offer, making it a good or even a more good deal opportunity to grab.
Finally, the mileage of the used car must be asked. The longer it has travelled, the more problems there will be in terms of reliability, wear and tear. This does not mean that “Oh! It has travelled this much! I’m not buying, not buying, not buying!” Service records, pricing and warranty of the used car are just some of the factors that tie to this mileage factor.
Getting a used car is not that difficult at all. It is all about doing your homework, developing a questioning strategy and asking your way out of this used car jungle that still has unscrupulous and dishonest used car dealers. Keep an open mind to things happening throughout the process and once any doubts, clear it. Good luck.
