Buying a Used Automobile

[Tower]

Hi all,

I know there is a technology section, but not really a car section so I'm posting this in the lounge.

I'm a real cheap kind of guy so I'm buying used for my next car. Rather that the othwer guy gets hit with all that depreciation.

I have a basic distrust of the used car salesman and I have a mechanic that I trust explicitly. Is it a difficult thing to get a used car, take it to your mechanic to be sure it's as advertised and take it back to the seller if it's found that the car is a lump of %#$^#?

This will be my third car purchase in my lifetime. I believe in running them right into the ground. My current car has 408,000 km and I'd like to get another car to do at least that.

 

[verbalks]

If you make it a condition of your purchase it should not be a problem. If the sales guy rejects the condition then it better to move on until you find one that will aaccept a pre-purchase inspection.

 

[jaycam]

If you make it a condition of your purchase it should not be a problem. If the sales guy rejects the condition then it better to move on until you find one that will aaccept a pre-purchase inspection.

Right on,,, If they have nothing to hide used car dealers will not have a problem with you taking your car for inspection.

 

[Hard Idle]

Generally speaking I think an independent used car dealer will be more likey to agree than a private seller, for whom this could be a time consuming hassle.

Some of the sellers who have their own service bay invite you to bring your mechanic to examine the car. I suppose most would probably want a deposit to let you actually drive it away for a day.

 

[papasmerf]

first condition of sale is it passes inspection........


Second condition is it has all parts working.........


Third condition of sale is drivable.............


this of course assumes the car is purcased at a dealer........car not drug.

 

[l69norm]

You could import a US used car. I'm told that is where a lot of dealers are bringing in their stock from now.

 

[tboy]

You could import a US used car. I'm told that is where a lot of dealers are bringing in their stock from now.

That's true, but oddly enough, when I purchased a used F150 4 yrs ago, most of the off lease trucks went south....but that was before the strong CDN dollar.

Look at Ebay motors, there's a shit load of savings to be had down south.

As stated, if anyone selling a used vehicle doesn't want or allow you to have it inspected then move on. There's too many vehicles for sale to put up with that shit. I mean, 3 yrs ago there was a car for every man, woman, child and newborn in North America so it's not like they are scarce....

Here's my 2 cents:
1) Buy from a reputable dealer (ie: ford gm chrysler toyota honda etc). Not one of those vacant lot dealers stuck between two pizza places on st clair
2) Get them to throw in a power train warranty. They charge 2 or 3 hundred for them but it only costs them pennies.
3) Honda has a certified used program that (I think) comes with a great factory warranty although you will pay higher for an import than a domestic.
4) Watch out for "curbsiders". Those are people who sell cars for a living but imply that they are private.
5) DON'T buy a used rental car. EVER.
6) Be wary of the off lease type dealers. I know of 3 or 4 ppl who have bought from them and had nothing but headaches (parts falling off, not abiding by the signed contract stipulations etc)

 

[elvis777]

5) DON'T buy a used rental car. EVER.

Sorry tboy. . .my first car was a used rental car from Budget (bought it for under 10g's in the late 80's). . bought it before going to University. . . great car. . .drove it for 5 yrs. . .got 5g's back when I sold it privately

E

 

[Tower]

Great information everyone!

I appreciate the input. The last car I bought from Autotrader.ca I've driven for 10 years in a private sale. Just want to cover the bases as I"m a bit rusty in car purchases and there are a lot of swindlers out there.

 

[peteeey]

Last two cars I bought were used and have had no problem with either. Both were within a couple of years old and were formerly owned by car rental companies.

Both times I went to a "reputable," dealer, as in a new car dealership. Once I came across a used car that was at a lower price than the rest. I told the salesman that I'd buy it if it passed inspection by my mechanic. He gave it to me for a day and I returned it after paying my mechanic (I think) around $80 or $90 for him to look at it and tell me it was a piece of crap.

 

[tboy]

All I can say to Peteey is you've been lucky. I've also heard horror stories about people purchasing cars from rental companies.

Think of it this way: if you own your car, you'll take care of it right? Well, if you are just using it for a week or whatever, and it doesn't belong to anyone you know or care about, will you treat it the same way?

For eg: I was with a group of sales reps out in montreal one spring. We all had rental cars. We went out for a bite and some pool after our meetings. Well we got caught in a late snow storm and there was about 6" on the roads......Driving down one main street at 60 kph the one rep in the front passenger seat looks down at the floor shifter and says: hey, let's see what this does when you put it in race.....and proceeds to do so....after watching the two jets of snow squirt out the front of the car, he shifts it back into D....I said "wtf you doing"?? He says: no worries, we do this all the time. So they drive back to where we left the other 3 rentals and proceeded to play bumper cars in the snow covered lot. (not as bad as jackass, it was only bumper to bumper).

Now these reps (4 in total) rent a different car every week for 50 weeks a year. so that's 200 cars per year. They'd been doing this for 3 - 6 yrs. That's 600 - 1200 cars on average. Now this is only THESE 4 reps. What about the 7,000,000 others? Now not every renter will use the Race mode while travelling at 60 kph but some will do worse.....

 

[papasmerf]

All I can say to Peteey is you've been lucky. I've also heard horror stories about people purchasing cars from rental companies.

Think of it this way: if you own your car, you'll take care of it right? Well, if you are just using it for a week or whatever, and it doesn't belong to anyone you know or care about, will you treat it the same way?

For eg: I was with a group of sales reps out in montreal one spring. We all had rental cars. We went out for a bite and some pool after our meetings. Well we got caught in a late snow storm and there was about 6" on the roads......Driving down one main street at 60 kph the one rep in the front passenger seat looks down at the floor shifter and says: hey, let's see what this does when you put it in race.....and proceeds to do so....after watching the two jets of snow squirt out the front of the car, he shifts it back into D....I said "wtf you doing"?? He says: no worries, we do this all the time. So they drive back to where we left the other 3 rentals and proceeded to play bumper cars in the snow covered lot. (not as bad as jackass, it was only bumper to bumper).

Now these reps (4 in total) rent a different car every week for 50 weeks a year. so that's 200 cars per year. They'd been doing this for 3 - 6 yrs. That's 600 - 1200 cars on average. Now this is only THESE 4 reps. What about the 7,000,000 others? Now not every renter will use the Race mode while travelling at 60 kph but some will do worse.....

Rentals here have factory warranty left and I would advise anyone buying a rental to use it..........I too ride them hard and put em away wet.

 

[gww]

A lot of times you can get former rental/lease from dealer with standard warrenty left for a reasonable $.

I bought a former rental and turned out to be ok at least until it met that buick as it ran a red.. oooops.

Now got a former lease from GM dealer and thank god the standard warrenty was still there. Blew the engine and warrenty covered it 100%. They made me prove I got all of the recommended maintenance done since I bought.it but didn't care what the service was like before I got it. Runs like a charm now.