Eight Tips for Buying a Used Car
A reader recently wrote in asking for tips about shopping frugally for a used car for her teen driver.
I'm not about to set myself up as an expert in this area, but I'm happy to share how we've navigated the car-buying adventure and what we've learned from the mistakes we've made.
Everyone has different priorities when it comes to cars for teens, but for us, safety and reliability are the two main considerations.
And since we want something that's affordable too, we've generally focused on somewhat high mileage cars from brands like Honda or Toyota. If you buy a car that typically runs for 200K miles or more, it's not a big deal if it already has nearly 100K miles on it.
Also, to be honest, the odds are not super good that a car for a teen is going to last for years and years.
The odds are better that it will get wrecked at some point in the first few years, so when we buy cars for teen use, I'm not expecting the car will be around long enough to die of old age.
It's a bummer, but it's true. And it's better to be realistic about it from the beginning.
Reality - expectations = happiness*. So set your expectations!
*at least in a lot of cases
We've mainly looked at Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas since they're fairly maneuverable, very reliable, get good safety ratings, and are plentiful on the used car market.
The used car market is inherently sketchy, and we got temporarily stuck with a car whose odometer had been rolled back even though we thought we were being careful! We made some mistakes in that purchase, but hey, we learned some good lessons.
Here are some things that helped us weed out the bad cars and find the good ones.
Use Autotrader.com and Carfax.com to search.
Craigslist is also a place you can find tons of cars, but since you don't have to pay to list a car there, you do have to sort through more junky listings.
Autotrader lets you search for just private sellers, and since these sellers have paid to list their cars, they are sometimes more on the up and up.
We found Carfax's website to be helpful too because you can search for cars that are accident-free and that have had only one owner.
Use a VIN check.
There are free online VIN checkers that give you some basic info, and you can use that to weed out the really bad cars.
Once we got serious about a car, we used Carfax to get a full vehicle history report. Since we knew we'd be running multiple VINs, we bought the multicar deal from Carfax. That saved us from several duds.
Ask a lot of questions.
The more you talk to someone, the more you can find out about how legit they are (or not!). Also, some of these questions give you info to double check on Carfax, and that can help you figure out if the seller is honest.
Things we learned to ask:
- Is the title in your name?
- Do you have the title in hand?
- Is there a lien on the title?
- Why are you selling the car?
- How long have you owned the car?
- Has it been in any accidents?
- How many owners has this car had?
- If we like the car, can we take it to a mechanic for a pre-inspection?
Someone could certainly lie in response, but we found that generally speaking, only legitimate, legal sellers were willing to respond to all of these questions.
Some people even balked at the idea of sending over the VIN, which of course threw up a big stop sign for us.
Check the VIN when you see the car.
A seller can send you a fake VIN, which could give you a falsely clean report. So make sure that the VIN you were given is the same one on the windshield of the car you go to see in person.
Take it to a trusted mechanic for a pre-purchase lookover.
Our favorite Honda mechanic does pre-purchase inspections for $40. This inspection can alert you to any problems that you might not be able to see without putting the car up on a lift.
Also, if you're not super car-savvy, it's smart to bring a car-savvy friend or relative with you when you go look at the car.
If the car you're looking at has hidden problems, the seller probably won't even consider letting you get it looked over by a mechanic. So, asking for permission to do a pre-purchase inspection is a great way to weed out sketchy sellers.
Even used car dealerships are sometimes willing to let you take a car for an inspection, so don't be afraid to ask.
Get familiar with pricing on the model you want.
In this internet age, it's so simple to learn what constitutes a fair price. Use Kelley Blue Book and look at what the cars are listed for at dealerships and on sites like craigslist and AutoTrader.
Knowing this will help you negotiate for a fair price from a seller.
Check insurance rates before you buy.
Your insurance company isn't going to want to run quotes for a bajillion cars, but if you ask nicely, they should be willing to give you quotes for a few models you're considering. Usually you just need a VIN when you call.
No car is going to be cheap to insure for a teen driver (!), but some are worse than others and that info can sometimes make a decision between two cars a little bit easier.
Make sure you know what paperwork is required.
This varies from state to state, so get the info from your local DMV website once you're ready to purchase a car from a private seller. A car transaction requires a lot of specific paperwork, and you'd hate to be missing one important piece.
Car-savvy readers, what would you add to my list?
Leave a comment and help out other used-car-shopping readers!
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P.S. I hope you never, ever get stuck with a car that has odometer fraud. But if you do, try contacting the seller to ask them to take it back and give you your money back. I was 100% skeptical that it would work with a private seller on craigslist, but it did. And if you find odometer fraud on a car from a dealer, then you definitely should be able to get your money back.
An excellent and informative post, Kristen - thank you! One question: How is a potential buyer alerted to odometer fraud? I'm guessing via Carfax, but I don't want to make an incorrect assumption.
Yeah, I was also unsure of how Kristen realized that the car has odometer fraud after buying it.
This article from Carfax explains it much better than I could! https://www.carfax.com/press/resources/odometer There's a quick little form in that article to pull up service records for any car, using the VIN, and you can check those mileage records against what you see on the odometer on a car.
Excellent! Thank you!
Wow this is an excellent guide to buying a good used car.
We are a one car family. And we own a Toyota Carolla. It's fuel efficient, reasonably priced, and reliable. That's all I need in a car. We bought it new, but our next car will be a used one!
I totally agree with your brand choices! I'm a straight up Toyota person, and hubby is a Honda person, though I'm slowly converting him. The only thing I'd add is to check and make sure the car has been taken in for all of the recall work. Hubby has a Honda Civic that has had a few recalls involving the airbags. I think it involved several model years, so you may just want to double check on that and make sure the previous owner had all of that done.
Since I'm curious as many others are, I'd love it if you'd do a post on odometer fraud--how you knew (going into more detail) and how you got your money back.
Agree. It would really help if you tell us the story. You would be helping others to avoid the pitfalls.
So, we're not entirely sure what happened, but our theory is this: these sellers replaced the whole dashboard system with one that showed lower mileage. Then they must have given us the VIN from the new dashboard, not from the actual car. So, we should have checked to make sure the VIN we checked was the real one. Ugh.
When the mechanic was doing the inspection, he pulled up the service records from the correct VIN, showing the car had 60,000 more miles than the sellers said it had.
With odometer fraud, we couldn't get permanent tags on the car (we had temporary tags), so we were in kind of a pickle. We are very, very lucky that the seller took the car back and that we didn't have to go the laborious route of trying to extract our money from him and involving the police and such.
I'm SO glad to be rid of that car. We had nothing but terrible options in front of us if we'd had to keep it.
So.....check the VIN number in several places on the car? Just from experience, there should be on in the door, on the dash, and maybe the trunk? For sure under the hood, but no same place on every car.
Thank you!
Yep! You can google the model of the car you're looking at to find the VIN locations.
We are in the same boat right now--looking for a car for a teen driver. We are strictly Honda and Toyota people too, and we knew that we would have to get one with high mileage to pay what we could afford. I suggested my husband send out an email at work and ask if anyone had a car they were looking to get rid of. He balked at first, but it worked!! The mom of a friend at work has recently had to stop driving. She had a 2007 Hyundai that she had only driven to church each week, and it has only 32,000 miles on it! It looks almost new! They were willing to sell it to us for less than we were planning to pay and everyone is happy. No, it's not a Honda or a Toyota and it's definitely not a color we would have chosen, but it's a good reliable car from a trusted friend with MANY MANY less miles than we were thinking we could afford. (DH did alllll the research, almost to a fault.!) It will serve our boys well through college. So I guess my advice would be to keep an open mind and be willing to compromise in the right situation. Also, it never hurts to ask around! We would not have looked at a Hyundai but this seems to be a perfect fit. Sometimes, God surprises you in the best way!
I agree to be willing to compromise. Similar to you when we got my last car I was only looking at certain model years because I didn't want it to have too many miles on it. Well I expanded my search when everything I found within those years was too expensive and ended up with a car just a year older with very low miles on it. It still has pretty low miles for the year it is even with us driving it halfway across the country for our move, multiple trips across the country to visit family and monthly trips 2 hours away to the nearest large city for shopping and some medical appointments. It is a wonderful car and if I hadn't looked outside of what I THOUGHT I needed I would have never found it! Bonus it also comes with all of the bells and whistles like navigation, backup camera etc... so it's far far nicer than what I ever could have afforded in the years I was originally looking at!
Having a trusted mechanic do a complete inspection before the sale is the most important thing for me. I'm skeptical of trusting Carfax and other reports because of the limitations of these type services.
My old car had a sketchy odometer. It was very clear looking at the records that numbers had been transposed on the paperwork at some point. The car was fine, the owner upfront and the official paperwork said mileage irregularities. We had an excellent mechanic tell us to buy the car because it was a steal- known odometer issues scare people off. The car died old enough to vote.
That said, without the paper trail we wouldn't have touched it.
I'm a little more skeptical and would check the VIN in multiple places on the car, to ensure that the seller didn't change the dashboard VIN plate. Look for them in the following places:
- driver's side dashboard
- under the hood at the front of the engine
- inside a doorframe, usually driver's side
- front of the car frame, usually near the windshield wiper fluid container
- rear wheel well
- underneath the spare tire
I've heard that cars also have a sorta-kinda-secret VIN plate that a mechanic can get.
We always buy Hondas that are several years old, abd will not buy from a private individual.
We use CarGurus.com
We can search available cars by make, model, year, and mikeage. Everything has a Carfax report.
It also tells you if it's an excellent, good, fair, or poor deal.
So we just go abd see it, and twice have purchased the car we narrowed down in site.
No surprises.
Oh yes, I should have included that site! We used it to search for vehicles as well.
Carguru is a lot of cars that went to auction so can be very sketchy too. I way prefer to buy from owner so I can meet them and see where they live and how they care for things. Junky house means a likely uncared for car.
This is so helpful for people like us who don't have any experience buying cars at all. All the comments above too. I feel like a new lamb. Does Craigslist have a reputation for selling bad cars (by owners/dealers) and should every purchase require a pre-inspection from a mechanic?
With craiglist, you just don't know. There are a lot of sketchy cars on craigslist, but by the same token, we came across two great Civics from people who were really on the up and up...just everyday people selling a car they no longer needed (as opposed to a person who sells multiple shady vehicles).
I mean, you could list an iffy car on Autotrader.com, of course, but since you have to pay to list your car there, people who are looking to make a quick buck are less likely to list their cars there than on craigslist (which is free to list your car).
I think an inspection from a mechanic is a really good idea no matter where you get your used car, though. Just nice to have an independent third party look it over!
This is really helpful! I would just caution that while Carfax provides some helpful info, there is no requirement for accidents/damage to be reported. I think it's still worth looking at, but just because the Carfax says that a car is accident free doesn't mean that it is.
Accidents are reported to carfax via police reports. My car was hit on the door this year and it shows up as having had an accident so it's very hard to hide now. Best friends own a huge body shop and said this is the case.
Thank you for this!
We had major odometer fraud with a car we purchased. We had just moved far from home and family and had little to our name. One of the cars we brought had the transmission go out, so we needed a car ASAP for my husband to get to work. We used almost all of the cash we had to purchase this Corolla that had 100k more miles on it than we thought. We contacted the CL seller who never responded and the name of the person on the title. We never got money back or for justice for what was done. I’m glad you had a positive outcome. We know opt to purchase new when possible (pay cash) and did so, so that we can pass cars onto our boys when they’re old enough. In our case, the seller had doctored the Carfax report they gave us, and we were too naive to think we should get one too. Live and learn!
We are in SC and in the middle of shopping for a used car. I mentioned this to my grandma, who lives in FL, and she said to make sure the vehicle wasn't from Florida. She said a lot of vehicles got flooded in the hurricanes and have been shipped north to try to pass them off on unsuspecting purchasers. As I looked online I found several big dealers offering vehicles "as is" for very good prices, claiming "we have too many vehicles to inspect ourselves so you're purchasing it as is." Sure enough at least one vehicle was from Florida. Another friend said to watch out for vehicles finding their way North from Texas.
Great post. Can you describe the process for taking the car to a mechanic for inspection? Did you leave a deposit with the seller? Did the seller take the car to the mechanic and you paid the mechanic? What does the mechanic typically cover in the inspection?
Thanks!
I've left my DL....I had a photo on my phone if I happened to get stopped, which DID happen once.
When I explained what I was doing, the police were fine.
Another good thing to check for is water/flood damage. Besides mold & mildew issues inside, water damage can cause long term mechanical problems.
Check the interior of the car - carpets, seats etc. They should be in similar condition to the exterior. When we looked at used cars for our son there were a bunch that had been restored after being flooded. The interiors were in almost new condition, while the exteriors looked like 10-12 years old in decent shape. Ironically they were selling at the blue book cost.
We ended up buying a car from a friend's mother. I agree with Kristen, shopping for used cars stinks.
I'm going to add:
Unless you know your way around cars, avoid vehicles with salvage titles. If you don't know what that means, then run even faster. They are legion on Craigslist, which is something to be aware of.
I have owned salvage title cars and know of several people back home who buy, fix and sell them. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the car after it's been fixed! All a salvage title means is that a car was repaired after an insurance company totalled it. That SOUNDS really bad, but it just means that the insurance company decided it would cost more than the car is worth to pay a shop to fix it so they'd rather pay the owner for the value of the car. Many vehicles can be repaired for less than the insurance estimate, especially if you are a mechanic or auto body technician and know what you are doing. Every single car I've ever owned has had a salvage title. They all have run beautifully and were terrific cars. My last one was a Honda Accord that at over 100,000 miles is still going strong (my parents now own it and it is one of their daily driver cars). My current is a Subaru Tribeca that is the nicest car I've ever owned, has no mechanical defects and looks pretty good to boot! There is absolutely nothing wrong with this car! As long as you have it looked over by a mechanic (which is always a good idea when buying any used car) there is no reason to be scared away from a salvage title. Some states even require the vehicle to go through a thorough inspection for the title to be provided, including having to prove that it car is repaired. Honestly, some vehicles are totalled for hail damage! If you know what you are doing auto body-wise, you can easily fix that damage and re-sell the car. Those types of cars tend to have NO mechanical damage whatsoever, it's simply the cost of paying someone else to repair all of the dents is more than the insurance company has decided the car is worth.
But you can't get insurance for salvage titled vehicles.
That varies by state....
In addition to the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, I would also put in a vote for used Mazda3 cars for budget-conscious drivers. They come in hatchback or sedan models (which are the same except for the shape). I have a 2005 hatchback that I bought used around 2010. Driven every day, including long commutes at times, it has 115,000 miles on it and is still going strong. It is completely reliable, and other than oil changes, new tires, rear shock absorbers, and new battery, I haven't spent a penny on it. Great fuel economy, and the hatchback has good cargo capacity. The back seat can fit 2 adults pretty comfortably.
Thank you, Kristin! We will definitely be referencing this helpful post!
Fabulous post! I haven't bought a used car in my adult life - but I have some horror stories from my teenage years: "Oh... it just overheats occasionally" - car had a cracked block. "Now, be sure to change the oil regularly" - found out after it threw a rod that someone had driven it without any oil in it. OY!
For the moment I'm still happily driving my 1990 Honda Civic which I received as a college graduation present - and my goal is to keep her running until such time as gasoline powered cars become obsolete. Since she has less than $90K miles on her I think I'm doing pretty well. But if and when the time comes, I'll definitely be referring to these tips.
BTW - does anybody know if there are special recommendations when buying a used hybrid? I've heard that the batteries have a limited lifespan and can cost more than the car is worth.
I drove my 1990 Honda Civic that I got used as a teenager until it had 400K miles and I was 30 with a baby! I still miss that car. 🙂
I'm chuckling because I just realized that I wrote $90K as if it was money rather than miles. Hmmm... I wonder if that's some sort of a subconscious slip... that car has saved me serious money of the years! 🙂
I was just shopping for hybrids. New hybrids I was looking at (Toyota Prius and Kia Niro) both had lifetime warranties on the batteries. I don't know if those dealers honor the lifetime warranties on used hybrids.
I ended up not getting a hybrid. My husband pointed out that they averaged about $5000 more for used or new ones compared to conventional vehicles and it would be hard to save that much money even over the long term that I use my cars (20 years!). I still wanted to do it for the environmental issues, but battery disposal is a consideration. In the end I chose a compact car that gets very good gas mileage--I got a Kia Forte S and so far I'm averaging around 36 MPG driving around town in "Eco" mode.
My husband has a Kia Sportage he bought 5 years ago and he is very pleased with it. Absolutely no problems. I was a Toyota Corolla driver all these years, but the Kia I bought has an equally good rating. We buy new because we use the vehicles for so long and I don't have to worry about other people's problems or misdeeds. My 17 year old will "inherit" the 18 year old Corolla and should be able to drive it for many years to come. Our 25 year old is driving my husband's old car which is about 15 years old at this point. It should last to see her through the remaining 3 years of medical school, then she can afford to replace it.
Those are all really good points. I drive soooo little these days (seriously, I think I'm just over 200 miles for the year to date) that it really would be hard for me to justify the expense of any new car if the need should arise. Since there's no earthly way I'd ever make back that sort of money on a hybrid, it's probably not even worth thinking about. Maybe I should just give up and take taxis if and when my car eventually dies.
I wonder if the battery thing is only an issue for older hybrids. There was some story all over the local news a while back about a woman who had an older hybrid that for some reason having to do with the batteries couldn't pass the emissions test. It wasn't that the car emitted too much, it was something to do with the check engine light maybe? Well anyhow, I guess I'll cross those bridges if and when I get to them.
I would add to not necessarily rule out a car that's been in an accident. Often times they've been repaired really well and that means the car may have a bunch of newer parts on it. Say the car is 10 years old but was in an accident 2 years ago. Those parts that were replaced are only 2 years old and therefore should wear better for the long term.
Every car I've ever owned was totalled by an insurance company before I got it. I/my dad would find it at auction, buy it and then fix it up (let's be real, my dad did the fixing and with the last one even he didn't do much of the fixing beyond paint repair, his friend who helped us with the auction did all of the rest). They have all been fantastic cars. My old Honda Accord is still doing very well and is now my parents car. They will probably drive it forever! My current car, a Subaru Tribeca, is nicer than anything I could have bought new. It is the nicest car I've ever owned and it honestly nicer than most people's cars I know. It also runs perfectly and has zero problems. All of this make me not want to rule out a car that's been in an accident. Have it looked over and as long as it was repaired correctly it could be even better than one that hasn't been in an accident.
Great article! One question I always ask when making a purchase like this is: “is there anything else I should know about?” It’s a great open-ended question that opens the door for an issue someone might not otherwise disclose, like: “well, this house did flood 3 years ago during that big rain”, or “the AC has a slow Freon leak and has to be filled at the beginning of every summer”. Usually, it’s the things they kinda hope you don’t specifically ask about, but will fess up to when asked. Of course, it only works for people that are basically honest.
We sold our car to a colleague (for his nephew) who was worried about flooded cars from hurricanes being on the market. He was very happy to be able to avoid all that given that he's seen us driving the car for at least a decade. We were happy to not have to sell via Craigslist. So he paid less than it was worth on bluebook and we sold for more than what the dealer would have given us and we were both happy. He did have a mechanic check it out and it turned out to be in better shape than we'd thought. They drove it up from the South to the upper midwest with no problem.
Oh yes! Buying from someone you know is so fabulous. We bought Joshua's first Civic from our neighbor down the street and it was SO EASY.
Always ask to see the maintenance records. No maintenance records could very well mean a car that has been poorly maintained and for me would be a red flag not to buy it.
Also always make sure you get all of the keys, and hopefully the original keys. Some cars have valet keys as well as regular keys. Check what comes with the model you are buying. It may be worth the peace of mind to change the locks if buying from a stranger and you are unsure if there are additional keys floating around that will open the car.
Some state DMV departments can catch odometer fraud if when changing ownership the current odometer reading is less than what was on the previous title. If your state doesn't require it during a sale already, get the owner to sign a bill of sale that has the odometer reading on it and states it is accurate. If the owner won't sign it, then that is a red flag.
Not all accidents are reported to the police and there are many people that like to work on cars as a hobby or side business. Thus, accident damage can seemingly be repaired but not by a professional and it won't show up on a carfax report. I looked at a car once that had clean reports but upon closer inspection it had frame damage.
Also you need to know what the mechanic actually checks when you get an inspection. I took a car I was selling to a mechanic at an automotive repair place that the buyer had picked. He opened the hood and just looked at the engine for a minute pulling only the oil dip stick out once. He then proclaimed the car was great and the buyer should get it! I was amazed he did so little to check an older car and that the buyer was apparently happy with that short assessment!
Ha, that's funny about your buyer. But when you are the seller, you totally do not argue the point with someone who happily wants to buy your car!
Our mechanic put the car up on lifts and inspected it thoroughly, and showed us some potential issues while it was on the lift. Definitely more than an oil dip stick check.
Very informative! I wish I had waited to buy until I saw your post. We just bought a used car from a small dealership through USAA car buying service because we previously had a good experience and thought it would be less risky than buying privately. We left the lot after we were promised the breaks would get fixed, detailing and a spare key would also be provided at that time. We felt pretty good about it at first; however, so far no signs of plates, keys or even a phone call to confirm it would still happen. We were told several days in a row that the owner took the day off and now I feel that we may have not gotten the best deal after all. I should have known when they insisted on having us sign the arbitration part of the contract.
We use USAA for a lot of things and you should be able to go back to them if it turns out to not be what you were expecting. We have had them for almost 30 years and have always found them to be easy to work with, whether it was a teenage accident, my aging dad's accident or using their home buying service.
Thanks, Deb. I have contacted USAA and explained the situation. They were very helpful and have followed up several times since then to ensure that we received proper service.
Thanks for an awesome post! We are a 1 vehicle family. I'll definitely keep this in my back pocket for we need a replacement or 2nd vehicle. I really appreciate your thoroughness and the great tips from fellow readers.
We have purchased and sold all our cars through Craigslist and have never had any issues. We always use kbb to check what the fair owner sales prices should be, run a report from Carfax, do a test drive with the owner, ask lots of questions, and get it checked out with a mechanic. We typically look for low mileage (around 100k), one owner (older adults/seniors are the best because they usually don't drive as much), and already have the pink slip/title in hand. Great list!
I agree that a teen car is not going to last as long as you think it will, so it's okay to buy one that may not last as long. However, I do think that buying a car as a college junior or graduate means you should look for longevity, as you will be a more experienced driver. My little brother has been wanting to get his first car, so these tips will help him find a good one.
I really like your tip to see if the VIN number that you are given is the same as the VIN number that is on the car. My wife and I are trying to find a used car for our son, and we would prefer to have a car that hasn't been in an accident. I will be sure to tell my wife that we need to pay close attention to the real VIN number to confirm that the car hasn't been in an accident.
I love the list of questions you offered! Very helpful