A Few Tips on Buying a Used Car
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We knew we wanted a used car so we knew we needed to do some research so we could decide on what kind would work best for our needs and budget. Since we really had no idea what we were doing, or where to start, we hopped online to try and see if we could find anything helpful there.
That is when we came across Cars.com!
We found that Cars.com has a ton of helpful information.
They have 5 main categories on their site:
Cars for Sale: Find the right price, dealer, & advice.
Sell Your Car:
Videos and Reviews:
So here is summary of our experience buying a used car and just few tips!
Do Your Research
Once we found a car in our area that we were interested in we plugged it into the research area. It showed us a ton of helpful information like how much they usually go for, the star rating, safety rating, the likes and dislikes, performance and so much more. They even had pictures and video of the car which was very helpful so we knew more of what to expect and look for when we went to look at the car.
Since the car we wanted was a few hours away from our house we made sure to collect all the information we could.
Once we arrived to see the car we realized the owner wasn't there and they had someone else there to show us around and to sell it to us. Unfortunately this guy knew NOTHING about the car or if anything was wrong with it. So luckily we did our research so we were able to test things out and knew about all the different features and so on. It was an extremely stressful situation but since we did a lot of research before hand we felt more confident and showed the guy we were knowledgeable. Of course with used cars there is usually always something wrong with it,or will be soon and not having the owner there was concerning because we didn't know about any major issues.
Test Everything
Did you know that if someone is selling a used car in the winter it could mean that the AC is broken? Or if they are selling it in the summer the heater might be broken? This is why you need to make sure you test those things out because when seasons change you might be in for a big bill. Also if the car you are looking at has different heating/cooling options for either side of the car, make sure you test those out as well. The car we were looking at had some of these issues. The drivers side heated up fine but the passenger side didn't, but it wasn't consistent. Also when you drive it pay attention to the sounds the car makes. If anything sounds off do your research! Even a review someone wrote about that car model could explain why it would make that certain sound.
Call Repair Shops and Ask Questions
We did notice a few things that needed fixed, or were concerning so we found phone numbers of some repair shops through the service and repair tab and called them to get estimates on fixing those issues so if we bought the car we would know how much those repairs would cost, somewhat. This helped a ton and we let the seller know about the costs and because of this we were able to get several hundred dollars off of the price!
Overall no matter what you do, when you buy a used car there are always surprises but Cars.com sure helped make things easier!