When I bought my first used car, I didn’t know anything. I had a few hundred dollars, and I thought getting a car was so cool. I was pretty naive back then, and I assumed that if something went wrong I would be able to fix it on my own. Although I was good with tools and with figuring out how things worked, I had no experience with cars. I had a few friends who were tinkerers, but that was about it. I certainly had never heard of a car buyers guide, and so I was completely uneducated about used car sales. The guy completely skinned me!
It was only a month later I started having trouble with the Voyager. If I had taken the time to research the vehicle and read a complete car buyers guide, I would have learned due to the mileage and age of the vehicle, I was facing possible engine compression problems as well as transmission trouble. Even seemingly simple tasks like replacing a starter are compounded by the fact you have to remove the engine block in order to replace the part. Talk about expensive and unnecessary.
Due to all of this, I have become a big fan of car buyers guides. I have not purchased any other used car before reading up on it in this handy reference book. I also have a friend who is an auto dealer and always ask his advice on which models to invest in before I buy. I don’t buy from him since he lives so far away, but his advice is very valuable to me.
Even if the car seems to be in good shape, if it is from a model that is viewed as unreliable, you probably shouldn’t purchase it. A car buyers guide might hint at which models are awful, but a good mechanic will spell it out for you. Even more important, they will make you look more knowledgeable when you are going to used car sales. If you go in knowing what you want and what you don’t, you are less likely to be taken advantage of.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.