mechanical inspection

I'm buying a used car at a dealership, do I still need to do a mechanical inspection?

     Yes, often dealerships avoid doing expensive repairs on used cars. They might fix up a few things here and there, but generally, you will have to double check major components to make sure that the used car is in a good condition. If the vehicle is being sold AS-IS, it is HIGHLY recommended that you inspect it very thoroughly or get a mechanic to do it for you.

I don't know much about used cars, can I do a checkup myself?

     Certainly! Just follow our step-by-step guide as we evaluate each component of used cars in-depth. Of course it would always be safer to take the car to a professional mechanic, however, with proper knowledge you will be able to evaluate what kind of overall condition used cars you're looking at are in by yourself.

What are steps should I take before going to the dealership to ensure that the car I'm interested in is hasn't been in an accident?

     Good question. The easiest and one of the most relied on methods is to do a CARFAX VIN number check and see if the car has been in any accident, how many owners it has had, whether or not there was a detected odometer tampering and whether or not the car is a lemon. This information is quite valuable and you will be able to use it later in negotiation process.

     When you run your VIN check, and it comes out clean, it is important to still see and evaluate the car for yourself as much as you possibly can. Sometimes information about accidents and odometer rollbacks doesn't make it to CARFAX, however, VIN check is still worth purchasing as an additional precaution. After all, there are thousands of hard earned dollars at stake.

     When looking at used cars at the dealerships, make sure you're there on a bright sunny day so that you could see any defects in the car you're considering to buy. Some defects are nearly invisible on a rainy day and could result in disappointment the next day.

Should I negotiate with the salesman first or inspect the car first?

     There are a couple of ways to go about this, first one is you inspect the car before starting to talk about your intentions to buy. Your goal is to find as many things as you could possibly find wrong with the car, so that you would be able to get the negotiation leverage with used cars salesman. 

     Another one is that you express your desire to buy the car before you look it over, and pretend you're willing to accept their price and terms, then find everything that's wrong with the car and look sad/disappointed and propose they lower the price based on all flaws you can find with it.

What if I found something wrong with the car, but I can't tell whether it's serious or not?

     At this point you probably will want to consult a mechanic, however, almost each serious defect can be identified by either looks, smell, noise or feel. 

     Sometimes you might hear a knock, but not sure where it comes from, or feel vibration and not sure what the nature of the vibration is. In this case you can either get the car checked out by a professional mechanic (usually if the symptom is something random or hard to pinpoint, they might have hard time figuring out what's wrong, too), or simply avoid the car altogether. If, after reading this guide, you feel like you can't pinpoint the problem or simply not sure what the problem is, then you might try test driving some other cars.

A word of caution about used cars salesmen and their strategies:

     Sometimes a salesman will start assuring you that the used car you're looking at has been evaluated by a professional mechanic at the dealership. Whether what he tells you is true or not, do not listen to what he tells you, rather carefully continue your inspection of each component. Some used cars salesmen might use this assurance strategy to sell you an inferior quality car, especially if the car has been on the lot for a long time. We've had personal experience with the salesman using some very deceptive tactics (more on that in negotiation section) to draw us away from doing a careful mechanical inspection (sure enough, the car turned out to be a complete junk).

I'm still a little unsure...

     It's ok, cars are complex machines and sometimes are puzzle to even mechanics themselves. What we can recommend doing is researching a specific make/model/year combination of used cars you're intending to buy and see what the most commonly reported problems associated with them are, then pay close attention to those areas during your inspection (that doesn't mean neglect other areas, though!). For information on common used cars problems we usually use Carpoint.

     Cars can be intimidating at first due to sheer volume of things you have to pay attention to, however, the knowledge you will gain from this guide will be your step-by-step guide out there, so that you can become aware of problems before you buy that used car.