Experts have shared what mistakes Ukrainians make when choosing a car on the secondary market. Given the realities of today, when every penny counts, we find such information especially useful and relevant. It’s important to understand a simple truth. Even if the seller is a friend or relative, it’s worth inspecting and checking everything carefully.
Such caution will preserve good relationships and protect you from risks. After all, there may be issues with the car that the owner is not even aware of. However, there are several dozen other points that, according to CarFinder‘s experience, play a primary role when choosing and purchasing a used car.
Buying a Used Car. Tips and Mistakes
- Critical thinking. Everything the seller tells is nothing more than a desire to sell. Only the facts.
- Mileage. Keep in mind the basic 20-25 thousand per year, multiply by the age of the car. Did it come out half of what the seller promises? Previous information about the past visit to the dealer may be a planned “action” by the seller after adjusting the odometer.
- Analyze. Ask the right questions. Owner or seller by proxy? If the owner – how long. Two weeks?
- Don’t hurry, but don’t delay. Cool cars sell quickly, but that’s no reason to neglect checks. If it’s yours – it will be yours. There are many cars, and money for buying a car is not unlimited.
- Price. The cheapest offer plus the seller’s explanation for the urgent sale is the most common mess you can “get into”. No one wants to get less if you can get more. Everything has an explanation, and usually, the answer is in the hidden nuances with the car.
- American “cutlets”: where without them. Better configurations, more choice, but a completely non-working probability theory: out of 10 chosen options, all 10 may not be worth the attention. If you have enough arguments “made as for yourself”, and airbags restored “factory-style” – advice won’t help, ahead is your own samurai path.
- Flooded cars. Is it better than crashed ones? The answer is “nope”. Of course, the seller will assure you of purely nominal reasons for the car’s write-off by the insurance. Did nothing, dried, washed, and everything works! Wait. The worst thing that can happen with anything that has electronics is moisture. It works today, and tomorrow – not necessarily. During operation, oxides spread, which eventually kill your car. Or your phone, you’ve had this experience, right?
- Check. Ok, let’s assume you and your friend have watched a bunch of videos and consider yourself informed. It’s better than nothing. But: check! Better – to specialists for the specific brand. The primary task will be to find out what happened with the vehicle, whether there were restoration works and their quality. The most common problems: hastily done, sent for sale!
- Check again. You’ll fix the suspension. If you’re unlucky, the engine too. But if the body geometry is violated, restored using donor parts, there is a chance of getting a crooked pumpkin instead of the dream car. It’s important if you don’t want to waste your money senselessly. Ask for photos of damages and check, photos from the repair process – too. They are with everyone, or they don’t want to provide them to you. Why?
- Premium segment. The vast majority of sellers – car business. Before you know it, you’ve already transferred the deposit. You earn money completely differently, and the one next to you, like a “shirt-brother” – by selling cars. Again point 1 – only the facts!
- Car cost. To minimize taxation, the car business uses a scheme with underreporting the real cost of the car in the sale contract. Do you want to be the owner of a 5-year-old BMW X6, which according to documents was purchased for 10 thousand hryvnias? Ask in advance.
- Remote regions. Consider where you will be checking the car. The most common problems occur on Saturday and Sunday when you decided and flew with a friend for the car. Official services are not working, or are completely absent in the sale region. What if the only working service is the seller’s cousin?
- Remember: the lazy ones go twice, the stingy ones pay twice. Don’t neglect the points above, and then you’ll have a chance to become the owner of not an auto-junk, but a normal car that will serve you, and not “strip you down to your underwear”.
- Don’t be afraid to be boring. Ask and demand everything you want to know from the seller. You are not baptizing children with him, not answering direct questions – forget it. There are plenty of romantics, if you’ve already read and prepared the TOP advice from CarFinder – let it not be you :)
- So, what to do, damn it? To begin with, visit the website and CarFinder Instagram!
