Second Hand Cars: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
When it comes to buying second hand cars, there’s a lot of chaff. Unfortunately, buying a used car always comes with an element of risk; and that risk is in the unknown. You can never truly know the history of the car you’re eyeing up, and you can never really know how it drives until you’ve had a fair few trips behind the wheel. That being said, there’s certainly warning signs that should seriously make you reconsider driving away in the car you’ve come to see. What are they I hear you ask? Well…
1. Mother Nature has borrowed it
If one of the previous owners appears to have been Mother Nature, run a country mile. What do I mean by this? If a car has been left standing for a while, it first becomes susceptible to the elements, and then to the slow strangulation of Mother Nature’s inescapable viney tendrils. The first thing to go is the tires, then normally a window cracks, and finally an army of squirrels/mice/rats/stray cats move in (though not all at once – it would be carnage) to lay claim to the seat stuffing and glove box. Although the car can be cleaned and the broken bits replaced, there will always be evidence in a car that’s been left standing for a long period of time, and this never does the car any good.
2. The car has been modified
If the car doesn’t look or sound right to you, there’s a good chance it’s been modified. This is especially true if the current owner is a young twenty-something hooded chap that won’t meet your eyes when you talk; beware the boy racer and his toy. Anything that’s been lowered, tinted, stripped, or just plain covered in stickers is not worth investing in; you don’t know how it’s been treated or what modifications have been made that could compromise safety and reliability.
3. There’s oil on the drive
If there’s a shiny rainbow puddle on the tarmac/concrete underneath the bonnet of the vehicle, odds are it wasn’t painted there purposely by the seller. Leaking oil demonstrates two things: that there is a problem with the car, and that the owner can’t be bothered to fix it. This should immediately cause alarm bells to ring.
4. There are brush strokes in the paint work
Cars cannot be painted with the same stuff you use to paint your bedroom. If your potential vehicle-to-be has thick, wavy brushstrokes down the sides and over the bonnet, you’re most likely buying a wreck. Painting a car in this way can be an indicator of three things – either the owner is too ignorant to know how to carry out proper car maintenance (in which case you should wonder about the rest of the vehicle); the owner is too lazy/poor to afford a proper respray (again, what does this mean for the rest of the car); or the owner has something to hide – rust, graffiti, scratches etc. Don’t throw your money away – even if the car is a pretty color.
Don’t be afraid by what I’ve said here; there are great deals out there on second hand cars, and if you trust your instinct and use a bit of common sense, you can find yourself a lovely little runner for a great bargain. However, even if you think you can’t afford it, car dealerships today offer some unbelievable deals on new cars, and the potential to haggle on price these days is huge.
Even if you have bad credit, financing packages are still available to help you through businesses such as Carmax Finance. They can help to create an affordable repayment plan so that you can get a step closer to owning a vehicle. No squirrels; no nitro turbo injectors; no oil incontinence; and no amateur automotive artists!
Category: Car Purchase
