Today I will tell you about my five rules that I adhere to when buying a used car.
Before you go to inspect a used car, you should first find an advertisement for its sale. This is much easier to do now than it was five years ago. There are a sufficient number of sites with ads on the Internet, where you can not only find a car, but also immediately study its history thoroughly.
Rule # 1. Talking to the seller on the phone
In a conversation with a used car dealer, I:
- To begin with, I say hello and ask the seller if he is engaged in the resale of cars. Such a trick was suggested to me by a familiar auto-picker, its meaning is that from such a question many not quite experienced "outbid" is sometimes lost, simply not expecting such impudence from a potential buyer.
- I learn from him such standard things as: "why are you selling a car?"; "do you directly own the car?"; "tell us about the sores of your car" and stuff like that.
- I ask you to tell the current owner about the technical part of the car, I ask him in detail what "consumables" were replaced and on what mileage it was done. When placing the car on a lift, the information received from the seller must be double-checked. If the seller is as honest with you as possible, he will not withhold anything from you.
Rule # 2. A personal meeting
I come to inspect the car.
- I agree in advance about a meeting place with the seller during the day, during the daytime. Never inspect the car in the evening / at night, when it is raining / snowing.
- I don't go to the deal alone.
- Before starting the inspection, you need to make sure that the owner of the car is legally clean, check it for the presence of legal / tax arrears. The check can be carried out on the website of the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP). It would be better to refuse to buy a car from the debtor.
- I check the car itself against the traffic police databases, the presence of outstanding fines and accidents.
If the seller does not have any debts and the car is legally clean and has no fines, then I proceed to inspect the car.
Rule # 3. Initial vehicle inspection
- First of all, when examining, I pay attention to the gaps between the body elements, all sorts of scuffs, dents, the presence of painted elements.
- I look at the state of the optics of the car. On "shabby" cars, the optics are usually dull.
- I look at the code and year of manufacture on all glasses, compare the data with the year of manufacture of the car.
- If the car was slightly tinted, then this is not at all scary. Much worse - boiled body elements of a car.
- To check for color or putty, I use a thickness gauge, checking the thickness of the paintwork around the entire perimeter of the body. It will be most important to do this on car racks and thresholds, since it is in these places that welding is most often tried on. You should also not bypass the check of the spot welding spots in the door arch under the rubber gasket. The factory welding points are round and are at the same distance from each other, at this point the intervention of a private welder is most noticeable.
Rule # 4. Car service
- When buying a used car, a car service is an extremely obligatory process.
- At the car service, please connect a scanner to the car. If on it you see that in the ECU block all the errors of the car are erased, then in front of you there is a car with twisted mileage.
- Diagnostics of the technical part of the car will show what investments in this car will be required.
- We do engine diagnostics. With the help of an endoscope, we check the condition of the sleeves in the pistons.
If the technical part of the car suits you completely, then move on.
Rule # 5. Paperwork
Next, you need to draw up a sales contract (DCT). It can be drawn up either independently together with the seller, or you can resort to the help of specialists who will also certify this document to you, but this, accordingly, will cost money. The sales contract is drawn up without any concealment. The contract specifies the exact date of drawing up the contract, as well as the exact amount of money that was given for the car. Only in this case, upon termination of the monetary policy, you will have a chance to get your money back in full.
