Buying Used Auto Parts-pros and Cons

New cars are expensive to buy and a lot of people, in today’s economy, don’t want a car payment and I don’t blame them. So if you buy a used car how much do you want to spend? Spend $9000 to $15000 for a sedan and you should get a car in pretty good working order. But if you can only spend $4000-$7000 and you will likely end up with a car that needs some work. If you spend from $1500-$4000 you will get a car with probably substantial work. But you don’t have to take the car to a dealer and spend $90-$100 per hr. for labor and full retail on parts. If you do take it there that is what you are going to pay and all of a sudden your cheapie car has become very expensive. As an auto Broker for HMBrown here in Colorado, I always steered people away from cars that inexpensive for several reasons. They were expecting much more than they would get and there would almost always be unforeseen repairs that were always needed that I ultimately would have to pay for. We always said that a $3000 car is really a $7000-$10,000 car after all the repairs were made. However, if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and live with some inconveniences, the possibility of being stranded or needing to be towed than you can seve substantially by buying an older used car. I will talk about how to do that in another article but for now let’s just say that you should make sure that you have an inspection completed at about $50 so you know what you are getting into and follow the tips below:

1.       Take the vehicle in for an oil change and filter right away or do it yourself.

2.       Buy the Chilton’s service manual.

3.       Buy a good roadside service plan like Synteks auto Club. For $7.95/mo. you cover lock-outs, out of gas, breakdowns etc. That is cheap insurance www.syntekautoclub.com.

4.       Begin using a good fuel additive like XFT. www.buy.goxft.com

Now let’s assume you’ve got that car and it needs some things. Let’s say the right front window doesn’t roll down. Well you have your handy Chilton’s Service manual which will tell you what to look for-probably the motor or the switch. Now you have to buy the parts-well what part? Be adventurous. How wrong can you be if you buy a USED PART? Now some people would never buy a used part. I can understand the argument perhaps for parts which are safety related-perhaps axles, wheels, brake cylinders, steering lines, fuel pumps things like that. But even then you can choose not to install them if, after inspection, you find them to be unacceptable. Remember by buying a used or rebuilt part you have saved substnatially over a new one and if you put it in yourself you have saved on labor. So what if once in a while you end up having to buy the part twice because one is faulty.

OK so now that you have decided used parts would be OK where do you find them and how do you trust that the seller will give you a part that works.

1.       Ebay- if the seller is highly rated they should be OK.

2.       Usually there are a number of internet warehouses that specialize in particular car models like Landcruisers, Toyotas, Volvos etc. They are easy to find in a Google search for “used car parts” or “used Volvo parts” etc

3.       Local salvage yards typically called “pull and pay” or “pick and pay”. You do have to remove the part from the actual vehicle. It is very important that you know the compatibility of the part with the year and model. For instance a door lock that fits a 1999 Volvo S70 may also fit a 1998 or a 2000. This may not be true about all cars. When you are requesting the part make sure you know which are compatible. Do your research! Almost all the information can be found on the internet. If you can’t find a pull and pay locally you will usually be able to find the part from one of the methods above.

If you are uncomfortable with buying a used or reconditioned part for any area of your vehicle DON’T BUY IT. But there are savings to be had.