What do you look for when buying a used car

NYSpeed Automotive
1

A friend of mine is selling her 02 Toyota 4Runner and was getting frustrated that no one has called to look at it. She has priced it rather high ($1200 over BB) so I think that played into it a lot but she asked me what I though she should do and what I look for when buying a new used car. After finding this, I figured I would see what NYspeed looks for when buying a new used vehicle

When I look for a car there are a few things that are a must for me.

  1. The car must be clean and free from any major defects or blemishes
  1. There MUST be vehicle maintenance history that I can see for at least the past 12 months. Serviced performed at a dealer is definitely a plus.
  1. I do research on the vehicle that Im looking at to see when the next major service needs to happen so that I can factor in the cost of it into the sale price if it needs to be replaced soon. On your truck, you have a timing belt that needs to be replaced every 90k miles at least. While I wouldn’t be worried about that or factor it into the price if I was the buyer, some others might. Also tires come in to consideration too. I don’t know how much tread you have left but usually I use this as a rule of thumb. Most tires have 9/32 of tread on them when new. Tires need to be replace ~3/32 of tread. Thats 6/32 of total wear allowed on a set of tires. Ill price out a set of new, middle of the road tires and factor it in like this:
    -Tires $450 for the set
    -Wear 6/32
    -$450/6= $75 per 1/32 of wear

So if the current tires have 5/32 left on them then I would ask the seller to take $300 off the price of the car because I will have to replace the tires soon in order to pass inspection.

  1. Price. If the seller is asking over blue book, then there better be some perks that go along with it. If a seller is asking 2k over blue book, then I would expect 2k worth of modifications to come with the car weather it be a brush guard or new tires or something along those lines. If its a stock car that the owner has overpriced, usually I will prejudge them thinking that they are unrealistic in what to expect out of the car and usually Ill move on to a different one. However, if the price is like $100 or $200 more than blue book and the seller has written $14600 FIRM and Blue book is $14400, I know I can talk that person down the $200 to blue book. I will NEVER pay more than BB on a stock car if that means anything.
  1. This one is going to sound stupid but…The floor mats must be CLEAN. If a person cant keep their floor mats clean, then they probably cant take care of their vehicle. If you ever go to a used car dealership, they always take the floor mats out and put them in the trunk because it usually makes the car look 100x better since the carpet under the floor mats is almost always new looking.
  1. Last, Ill take the current mileage and divide it buy how old the car is to find out how many miles they average per year. If its over 20k, most of the time Ill pas on it just because it means the vehicle was run hard and in a short period of time. The average is 16k mile per year so you are way under that on your truck =)

If it were me and I was trying to sell the truck, I would price it at or just below BB and let the buyers know that you are firm on your price. If you overprice it, you might be turning off potential buyers because they think you are being unrealistic about the price. Even though it gives them room to negotiate, the starting price might intimidate some. I would also put a For Sale sign in the front window of the truck whenever you leave in parked in a parking lot. If your able to at work, I would park out in front of the salon in the main parking lot somewhere in the middle so that as people are walking to their car, they will pass yours and see the sign. A lot of people aren’t in the market for a car until they see something that they like and it intrigues them. Think about early high school. Some times you weren’t immediately interested in someone until you realized that they were interested in your or they were available. Kind the same thing? I dunno.

I would also put it up on Autotrader because it opens the door for more people to see it. On Craigslist, unless your a pro and know how to search a bunch of cities at once, you will only see the cars that are located on your local list. Some people who are looking for a car like yours might be from Wilmington or Raleigh or Greensboro or even in South Carolina. Putting it on Autotrader opens it up to a much larger market. A lot of people dont know that Craigslist even exist still. They must be living under a rock for the past few years but some dont know I. Autotrader is always the first place I look, no idea why, just what I do I guess.

Im going to put it up on some internet forums for you so that it gets a little more exposure. A lot of guys who have sports cars want SUVs to tow jet skis or Boats or just as a Daily Driver. Not sure if any of the stuff I wrote helps but again, this is just stuff that I do/would do/or am thinking of when buying a car.

2

depends on what it’s going to be used for. When i bought the trans am i merely looked at 83 pictures of the thing. Car was in Missouri while i was here. I could see some blemishes and whatnot in the pcitures but this did not deter me as the BB value on the car was $21,000 and he was asking $13,000. So to find the car for the price i got i knew it would be far from immaculate. The interior was somewhat dirty but cleaned up damned good after i got it home (thanks Chuck). Basically for it’s mileage it had normal wear and tear and this is a car i was willing to restore. He told me everything that was wrong with the vehicle was very honest and all worked out well.

Your write up is damned good for when looking at a used car. You nail many very important points people don’t think about. Alot of people look at used cars simply for the curb appeal and forget what they are really getting themselves into. Good tips you got there :tup:

3

Also, when I’m buying a used car, I like to print up ads of very similar cars to compare prices with. If the mileage, options, location, and condition of the car is nearly identical, this can be a good negotiating tool to take to an owner or dealership if they’ve priced it high.

4

I do not agree with the blue book part, people are more than willing to pay slightly over blue book for the right car, ie color combination is extremely rare, hard to find model of rim that only came standard on X amount of cars that year.

and also the amount of mileage aspect of your write up, a car driven 100,000 miles, with 75% highway is most likely in better condition than a 50,000 mile car that is 75% stop and go.

5
  1. Last, Ill take the current mileage and divide it buy how old the car is to find out how many miles they average per year. If its over 20k, most of the time Ill pas on it just because it means the vehicle was run hard and in a short period of time. The average is 16k mile per year so you are way under that on your truck =)
    ]

That guy is fucking retarded, I would rather buy a car that has 20k a year then 16k a year if the total miles are the same. The 20k/year car probably has a better chance of being highway.
’
anyway his logic blows, what board did you take this from I want to go flame him.

6

While I agree 100% with you on this, I really dont think a Toyota 4Runner is going to have to many “rare” options or rims. On “specialty” car I could see that but not on something like a 4Runner

How do you know if they are really highway miles though? There is now way to prove it, Its the sellers word and we all know how strong that usually is…

7

I’m against blue book pricing. Typically I will just research the hell out of the vehicle, check ebay, autotrader, craigslist, friends and forums and gauge interest on the average selling price for features/color combos/mods/etc. (just as Thom said).

One big thing I’ll just join a car specific forum, and look up common issues that go and make sure that maintenence has been done and if not, how much the cost is.

8

you can tell by maintenance performed at certain intervals, ie brakes every month vs once a year, etc…

9

Isn’t this a shitty time to buy a car? Right after the holidays and all…

I bought my eclipse used and I looked for a warranty still, good tires, low mileage and of course price.

I also made sure the interior didn’t have any rips/smoke holes etc.

10

that article never ones mentions “true market value” which is what similar cars are selling for. TMV can often differ from blue book which is more of a marketing tool at this point.

depending on if you are buying or selling you can play both TMV and BB against the seller/buyer since the two number differ very often.

and dirty floor mats… come on, I expect that in the car buyers guide edition of “better housewives monthly”.

11

I check BB, Edmunds TMV, and autotrader to get a feel for price. Then I make sure it’s clean, drives right, no weird noises, and look over things like tires and brakes to see if anything going to need replacing soon.

Bottom line is that buying a car from a private individual is risky so in my mind price/presentation is going to be most important to most buyers.

12

I run a carfax and look for signs of a rental company buyback. I would never buy a used rental because I know how most people treat rentals.

I look at things like seatbelt wear, gas/brake pedal wear, scuff marks on the seat from the driver getting in an out. I then compare that against what the owner and the odometer is telling me. AKA, a car with 35k highway miles should much less wear on all these items than a car with 35k of in town commuting miles.

I check any fluids I can easily access, and air filter. If I find something that looks bad I walk away because it means the person hasn’t kept up on basic maintenance and I definitely don’t want that car.

If it’s a truck I look at the hitch. I prefer if it doesn’t have one, but if it does the owner better be able to show me some little trailer he tows. If he’s got a 2+" hitch ball and tries to tell me he only pulls a little motorcycle trailer, again, I walk away. I don’t want someone’s old tow mule because I know how few people due the proper regular flushing of trans fluid that a regular tow vehicle requires for long trans life.

I look at the panel gaps and paint very closely, checking to see if the vehicle has been in an accident. Rarely is a vehicle ever 100% perfect so I can usually spot something that tips me off to a prior accident.

While checking this I feel the engine to see if it’s warm. It wouldn’t be the first time someone warmed up a car prior to a buyer test driving it to hide a starting issue or cold engine knock.

Test drive is pretty basic. No redline but I will get on it at least once. Check for shakes, wobbles, pulling left or right, wind noise that shouldn’t be there (another sign of a previous accident), exhaust sounds, consistant braking, steering/suspension slop.

If the car is for me I always bring a “car buddy” to watch for these things as well since emotion can lead a buyer to overlook some things.

I then take any non deal breakers I’ve found and use them to work on the price. Before I get there I’ll already have a fair price in mind based on what I’ve seen similar vehicles sell for, KBB, eBay, dealers and private sales. When I’m searching for cars I usually give a pretty wide margain on the price criteria on places like autotrader because I’m not concerned with what someone’s asking, just what they’re going to get. My GTO I found on autotrader in NC and never would have found it had I been searching in the dollar range I was willing to pay since the dealer had it listed 3.5k over what I was looking to spend. Once the dealer and I spent a lot of time talking, having him send more pictures etc, I told him flat out what I was willing to pay. He said he’d talk to the manager, called me back and we closed the deal. Lots of people will ask a higher price than they know they’ll get hoping to get some of that extra through negotiation. Also, they know that a lot of used car buyers simply won’t pay asking price, even if that price is a steal. Some buyers just feel that if you put that price on it you’re obviously willing to take a little less.

That BMW I helped a co-worker sell is a good example of listing a little high. When I posted it on here I said 2k firm knowing I was selling to people who knew what it was worth. When I listed it on Craigslist I put it at 2250. The guy that bought it felt like he got somewhere in the negotiation by getting my co-worker down to 2k, when in reality he pretty much paid just what my co-worker was asking.

13

i look for condoms and shit stains, usually a good sign of abuse

14

neh, if your gettin a car from a stealership you will get a better deal in the cold months because traffic is slow. The sship is more likely to discount car/ throw free shit in…

good luck.

know what your looking for before you look… (if that makes sense)

Things that DONT matter when looking

-what kelly fuckin blue book says
-highway/not highway miles
-if the car is dirty or not (personal stuff everywhere) keep in mind when your the owner you will treat the car different.

Things that matter

-1st owner
-carfax (kinda) only matters if the owner has no clue about the history of the car.

  • DONT GO EXCITED LOOK DEPRESSED LOL
    -bring a tech and a scanner

from experience when purchasing a car from a PP, dont talk much just look for things you know about, and bring a scanner (this scares people) and when your done make a superlowball offer, (when dealing with the public its best to not try to justify your offer because 95% of the time they dont have a fuckin clue what your talking about) just say the car did not meet my expectations; and if that fails walk away slowly, if seller is desperate he wont let you leave without some wiggle room, and if you do this you will drive away with a nice car for less then that god fuckin dammit horrible fuckin piece of shit kelly fuckin blue book RAWR… lol…

GOOD LUCK :tup:

15

I would also look where the car was driven. If the car has low miles, but is from NYC i’ll pass. While it may have 1/2 the miles, they are all stop and go which means way more wear.

I also would check all the fluids. Make sure there isn’t any sign of leakage anywhere. MAke sure there is no ticking, thumping or anything of that matter.

I always go to some cheap store such as big lots and put a set of brand new black floor mats in my cars along with a vanilla air freshener.

I sold many cars by doing that. People will notice and since 95% of people are materialistic and judge everything by looks a good first impression is key.

Oh winter is the best time to buy cars, as summer is the best time to buy trucks. I do it like clockwork. You will save way more money that way.

16

wow, I got a few cars to sell you if you trust what Carfax tells you, you do know not every accident is reported, therefore giving you a false sense of security. This is coming straight from people that work for carfax.

17

Shit, when I bought the car off of Jack I didn’t even see the car in person before I handed over the check.

18

the only reason i like carfax is to check # of owners etc… i dont trust it for accident damange… i let my eyes do that

19

my man stealing the words outta my mouth :tup:

=)