So…you’ve found a good prospect, you don’t have to travel five states away to look at it, the VIN check you ran looks good—no crashes, no being passed from owner to owner, maintenance done looks reasonable, no bizarre mileage history, etc.—so it’s time to go look at the car. (Ladies, one word of warning; be reasonably cautious. Don’t go look at cars at night and be careful about getting into a car with a stranger; most legitimate dealers and sellers have no objection to you test driving a car on your own.)
You’re going to need to check a lot of things on any car you look at. Any dings, dents, evidence of body work? Do all the windows and doors open, does the heater and A/C work—oh, heck, take a list. Here’s a pretty good one:
I used this as a basis for my own list, with a place for “Yes/No” answers and check marks. Make a bunch of copies; you’ll need ‘em.
Second, get on the computer again and check any prospect for recalls. That doesn’t always show up on Autocheck. Note any on your inspection list so you can ask the seller for proof that the work was done.
Third, prepare yourself to resist the sales pitch. Remember, it’s your money on the line here. The sales pitch can come from both dealers and private sellers. (Who are sometimes dealers who just work out of their homes.) Your job is to be polite, but firm. There are honest sellers out there, and, sadly, there are some who will tell you anything to get you to buy the car.
Like the folks who told me over the phone that their Dodge 1500 was in “excellent condition”—and when I pointed out that the truck bed was both rusted and warped, indicating a back end collision, told me they’d meant that the engine was in excellent condition.
Or one non-dealer dealer. “I’m not a dealer, I only sell a few cars a month!” As part of my standard road test, I always found a safe place to, at a slow speed, punch fairly hard on the accelerator. A vehicle with a good automatic transmission should downshift and take off almost instantly. This truck just revved. When I told him this, he swore he’d driven it twenty miles that morning and “It drove just fine.”
Or the guy who, when I pointed out that everything underneath his truck was corroded, said, “Every vehicle shows a little corrosion.” (I took pictures and showed them to my mechanic. His comment? “Looks like it’s been underwater for a month.”)
Or the person who, when I pointed out the green-yellow fluid dripping from the engine, said “Well, every car drips a little coolant.”
Or the salesman at the huge dealership who told me that it was my “lucky” day when I pointed out that the online price of a truck seemed quite a bit low. Yep, low. There was no picture on the online ad; the truck itself, when I was shown it, was being “touched up” by a paint crew. “It’s a mistake on the ad!” said the salesman. “The price should be $12,000, but we’ll give it to you for the $7,900 in the ad!”
I said I’d think about it. I went home and rechecked the ad. There was now a picture of the newly retouched truck (without any mention of the repairs) but the price still read $7,900. IMHO, this was a vehicle that had gotten in a fender-bender—or worse—and they were trying to get rid of it quick.
To properly inspect a car takes time. I suggest you show the owner your inspection list and tell them you need about a half-hour. With any luck, they’ll leave you alone. Some will insist on hovering, but don't let them rush you.
Then inspect the car. Thoroughly. Remember, anything you miss, you’ll end up paying your mechanic to find. Wear clothes that let you bend, kneel and even lie down on the pavement. (A security guard at one dealership found me on the ground looking underneath a car and thought I’d keeled over from the heat.) Bring some hand wipes, because you will get your hands dirty.
Don’t be fooled either, by mere cleanliness. It’s easy to steam clean a filthy engine, scrub up a stained interior and paint over rust and corrosion. Look beneath the seats, behind the seats. Run your fingers inside the seams between doors, in the wheel wells, anywhere you can reach, to check for the roughness left by painting tape.
On the test drive, be just as thorough. Drive the vehicle at appropriate speeds in all the gears, including Reverse. Find a large empty parking lot and turn it in fairly tight circles. Find an empty road, accelerate hard, brake hard. Go out on the freeway and get it up to the speed limit. Check and recheck the gauges as you do this.
Everything should work smoothly. Strange noises, hesitations, indications of strain, rattles, creaks, smoke, overheating, warning lights coming on….you want to make sure you give the vehicle a chance to reveal these problems. Don’t abuse any vehicle…it is, after all, not yours…but don’t drive it two miles and back on a level road and decide it’s fine.
Finally, check the title. Make sure it matches both the vehicle's description and VIN. Most of all, make sure the title is in the seller's name. Because it’s astounding how many people, innocently or not, will try to sell a car they don’t legally own.
(A good idea before you look at your first prospect, is to stop by an office of your state Department of Motor Vehicles. Ask them about your state’s requirements for titling and tax payments. Ask them what the tax rate is on used cars. Ask to see a dealer's license; in most states, only licensed dealers can sell cars without first transferring the title to their name.)
A bill of sale and physical possession of a car doesn't mean that someone legally owns it. Unless it's being sold by a legitimately licensed dealer, a vehicle must be registered in that owners name, on the title.
Sometimes, people honestly don't know this. (Sometimes they do and they don't care.) There was one young man I called, with a Dodge 1500 for sale, who’d rarely driven it, since he was a long-distance truck driver. He had the title certificate he’d been given when he bought it—“They signed it over to me”—but he’d never registered it in his name, because he didn’t have the money to pay the sales tax.
I asked him how long he’d had the truck. “Two years. It’s been sitting in the garage mostly. That's why I want to sell it.” He was genuinely shocked when I told him that legally, he didn’t own the car and therefore, legally, couldn’t sell the car….and that since there’s a $25 per month fee for any delay in registering a vehicle with the state, he now not only owed the sales tax, he owed an additional $600.
He didn’t have $1,200 to transfer the title and pay the fine. Killed that deal.
So…..you’ve found a vehicle that you like. It looks good, you’ve gone through your checklist, it drives fine, the title looks legit. (Make a copy and take it to the DMV if you're not sure.) Call your mechanic. Since most good mechanics are busy, have the number of a back-up mechanic in case yours can’t look at the vehicle immediately. If the vehicle passes your mechanic’s inspection, you make the “buy or pass” decision then.
Hopefully, you’ve saved up enough money to buy for cash or with a small loan and avoid financing charges. Do be aware though, that dealers will often charge various fees that can kick a final price up a few hundred dollars, so allow for that and also allow for the state sales tax.
Be patient, be savvy and don’t let anyone pressure you into a deal. There's always another good prospect just down the road. Good luck!
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