Top Ten Things to Avoid When Buying a Car: Used and Non-mechanical

You are looking for a decent car that’s going to last you a long time and work for you fairly decently right.           Well here it is.

1. Smoking engine- While this may seem that its a “minor” problem it is always deeper. Unless you plan on completely rebuilding or replacing the engine never but it. It will become a money pit and you will never get the money you spent back out of it e.g. you spend $2000 on it, it’ll probably sell for $1000

2. Severely scratched rear wheel panel/ 10% tread or less- Once again “minor” problem right? No, unless this car has lived a completely rural lifestyle on dirt roads this is a huge indicator of other problems to come. Basically it means this “kid” beat the living hell out of the car and raced it around, and small scratches are not going to be the only problem. This car may be misaligned, broken transmission (especially if manual), or even have other underlying mechanical problems that just aren’t worth fixing on a used car.

3. Popping out of gear- When you take the car for a test drive make sure you try ALL the gears out at different speeds to check if it slips. If it is slipping it could mean a minor fix-it or a completely new transmission at a minimum price of $1500.

4. Bubbling paint on corners- Basically either means the car has been repainted and while the car may look good otherwise it will quickly have rust showing and need repair and new paint, costing a minimum of $900 for a barely decent paint job at a shop. It could also mean the cars on the braking point of showing the layers of rust it has and a while after you buy it its going to look horrible and be un-repairable.

5. Rust- A problem that no matter how much money you pour into the car it’ll never go away. Its ok if it has a small spot of rust, but if it is in allot of spots its going to not be only on the surface but also underneath.

6. The Seller Hides Information from you- If he hides ANYTHING from you do not deal with the seller. Of course little things can be forgotten but in general if he is willing to hide one major issue with you why not another?

7. Too eager to sell- If your seller seems to want to sell the car at any price go and check if it has any leans on it or is currently stolen. Make him produce a bill of sale and the $100 you spend on checking on it will be well worth the assurance you didn’t buy a stolen vehicle.

8. Extremely dirty interior- If the interior is dirty what is the chance the owner took care of the rest of the car? Often while not always, it shows undo care and negligence.

9. Car seems to swerve a little bit no matter what- This is a very possible indicator of problems with the cars suspension or axle and are both costly fixes.

10. Too many Modifications- The car seems to have every toy from under glow lighting to kickers to new steering wheels. This does not mean the car is safe because often people will either redirect power or remove something important damaging the usefulness of the car.

Thanks for reading my basic guide, This is my first guide and I’m open to suggestions for new guides, how to improve my guides and overall comments either complementary or constructive.

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