Luis Duran

USED CAR CHECK LIST

Make Model Year
Millages Registration Num.
Engine Num. VIN

Car´s body approve

d
No Observations
approved
Rust or accident damage
Doors (lock and unlock) from inside and outside
Windows (open and closed) check edges
Trunk (open and closed)
Hood (open and closed)
Paintwork
Tires (same brand, look similar, how old?)
Oil or fluids leaks (look under the car)
Interior body
Engine (clean, dirty?)
Engine oil
Radiator
Radiator coolant (should be clean)
Battery (year)
Inside the Car
Carpet (look under)
Seats (try to adjust them and change position)
Seat belts (not frayed or faded)
Interior light (doors)
Dashboard lights
Radio
AC (cooler)
AC (heater)
Washer
Power receptacle (try it)
Jack and tool kit (included) ask
Lights (ask the seller to operate while you look)
Intermittent
Headlights (high and low)
Turn signals
Brake lights
Reverse lights
License plate light
Driving the car
Transmission (try P_R_P_D_R)
Brakes (brake strongly at 30mph)
Steering (try the wheel without hand)
Engine (listen when accelerate)
Suspension (listen when over bumps)
Luis Duran
This is a short blog I prepared after my experience of one month buying a used car. I´m not an expert in
cars, however, I believe the time I spent researching on how to buy I used car paid me back. I got a
Mitsubishi lancer 2002, 98,000 miles, 4c for US$ 3700 in very good conditions exterior and interior. I
finished so exhausted and happy after getting the car that I though, I could share my findings with other
potential buyers in the web. Keep in mind that common sense and following your intuition are also
important in this task. LEAVE COMMENTS and RATE 

General Rules
RULE 1 Never buy a vehicle without test driving it
RULE 2 If the vehicle does not start, idle or run well, don’t believe the excuse that “it only needs
a tune-up” If that’s all it needed, it would have been fixed already
RULE 3 Never buy a vehicle even if it looks perfect to you. Unless you are an expert on cars (that I don’t
think you are since you are reading this post) even if the vehicle passed the check list above, the next
step is to take it to a professional inspection. Remember: you are not and expert in cars.
RULE 4 Never buy a car without checking the history of the car using Autofax or Autocheck. (In my
opinion Autocheck is much better and less expensive). I found some really bad, refurbished,
reassembled car, that looks good but were a bad lemon. Autocheck showed me the facts.

EXPLANATION OF THE CHECK LIST

I prepared the used car check list after reviewing the most popular used car check lists on Internet. (See
references at the end of the document). The main goal of the list is to have a SINGLE EASY paper to have
in your hand the day you are making the inspection of the used car you want to buy. That is why the list
doesn’t have long explanations (as the other lists you will find online have) regarding every step you
have to check. Nonetheless, I strongly recommend reading those lists too, because they explain how to
check some important stuff. Indeed, you should know how to check the suggest issues in the list before
the day of your appointment with the seller. You can practice with your friend´s car. Trust me, it doesn’t
matter whether is with a dealer or a private seller, both of them will be very impressive on how you do
everything if you use the list properly. But more important, the list will pay you back since you can ask
for a discount every time you find some minor troubles while checking the car. At least that happened to
me. From my own experience I got very positive results following the list.

The list doesn’t excuse you from making your own research and learning how the time consuming task
of buying a used car works.

Suggestions before buying a used car:

 Limit your search. Two or three brands, a maximum of miles and an average price. For
instance, my limit search was:
- Make: Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi (because their low gas consumption)
- Year: 1999 and up
- Miles: less than 150,000
- Miles per gallon: 28 and up
- Price: 3000 – 4300
- Doors: 4 doors. I believe 2 doors cars are for fancy, rich or selfish people. Or for
persons with the three qualities together. Just kidding!!! I just know that trying
to get in the back of a car with only two doors is the most uncomfortable
experience ever. I don’t want to my friends having that bad experience. I want to
give confortable rides.
Luis Duran

 A dealer or private seller?

a) Dealer
( + ) Less time consuming
Warranty after buying the car
( - ) Cars are US$ around 1000 and 2000 more expensive than the same cars
buying them from a private seller
b) Private seller
( + ) Less expensive, major possibilities of getting a very good deal
( - ) time consuming. You have to get the experience of experts before buying the
car. That means more money and more time.

 Which webpage?
 In my opinion cars.com, ebay and others dot com companies, are good if you
have a budget higher than US$ 5000. For less than that, in those pages you will
only get reassemble cars, or cars with very (very) high miles. Trust me; I spent
hours and hours looking in those pages. Of course, there are some exceptions.
 Craiglist. Although it has all the scammers and the insecurity of being cheated by
an immoral seller, if you take the appropriate steps, is the best way.

 TIP on Craigslist:
a) Limit the search.
When you are looking for the cars decide whether you will look for dealers or
private sellers or both. Click in only by dealers or only by only by owner. After
comparing the offers of dealers and owners I decided to only used the last one
and set up the search price between 3000 – 4300.

b) Update and refresh your browser

If you are planning to buy the car using Craigslist or any other web provider keep
in mind that good deals run away faster than you think. I contacted a lot of
sellers that even after 20 or 10 minutes of publishing their ads they said to me
someone already asked them to go to see the car. The point is that you should
keep an eye in your browser because good deals stay only for less than an hour
before someone ask to go to see the car. For the car I finally bought I found the
ad on Craigslist while I was in a bar on Friday night, 1pm. I was with my Iphone
keeping an eye and updating columbus.craigslist.org/cto/ every 30 minutes or
so. I know it sounds insane, but trust me, it paid me back. Most of the time
sellers only compromised to meet with the first person who contacts them.

 Some main questions before meeting with the seller

All the time when I was texting the sellers, these were my main questions, very short
and, based in my research.
a) What are the miles per gallon?
b) Any accident in the past?
c) Is this the lowest price you can offer?
Luis Duran
Do not ever think that the price the seller post is its lowest price, even if they say
“not negotiable”. You don’t lose anything by asking and trying to negotiate. In my case,
because I ask for fewer prices and because the mechanic detected an important issue in
the car I bought, I got a reduction of 300 dollars from the original price.

 What to bring when visiting the buyer?

a) Print the list I prepared, feel free to modifying it, or adding or deleting some
stuffs you think are not important to you. Make your own list based in other lists.
b) A pen
c) Two or three napkins for checking the oil. And a small plastic bag for putting the
napkin in your pocket after using it. Don’t through the napkin in the floor.
d) A spotlight for looking inside of the engine and other parts. Probably you won’t
find anything important since you are not an expert on cars. But, detecting a
leaking or an oxidized part only required common sense.
e) A device that you could connect in the power receptacle
f) A magnet. It helps you to detect fake parts in the external body of the car.

 How to dress? Ok, don’t laugh at me because of the question, first, just think about it. In
a world where marketing and image is everything (or at least, very important) don’t you
think the way you dress is going to be important for the impression you will give to the
seller. So, in my opinion, you should dress like a potential buyer, with a cloth that could
transmit security and confidence.

 Best day and month to purchase a car?

a) During the beginning and the start of spring of the academic university year.
Most of the people don’t know that during the beginning and end of spring
quarter hundreds of international students graduate and have to come back to
their countries. During that time they will try to sell as fast as they can their cars.
In fact, the good deal I got with the Mitsubishi was with an international student.

These only apply to dealers.

b) Sundays afternoon is the best day to get the most from the dealer if you know
how to negotiate. Sunday is the last day of their week and they will try to get a
sell as hard as they can since they get their payment by the percent of their
weekly sell.
c) End of the Month. Just as dealers have yearly quotas, they have monthly ones.
“It is true that a lot of manufacturers offer dealers volume bonus incentives,”
Toprak confirms. “They will say if you sell 20 Camrys this month we’ll give you
$500.”
d) End of model year. Take in mind that car’s model year doesn't always
correspond with the calendar year (there are 2011 models on sale just three
months into 2010).
e) End of the Calendar Year. According to TrueCar’s data, the absolute best day to
buy a car will be December 26. On that day, they predict dealers will offer new
cars at an average of 6.85 percent below MSRP. The second best day to buy is
November 26, the day after Thanksgiving, when dealers will discount cars by
Luis Duran
6.76 percent. In fact, six of the 10 best days to buy a new car all year fall within
the months of October, November and December.

 Take the car to the mechanic.

If the car passes your check list, and you really like it, take it to the mechanic. Logically,
since the seller won´t give you the car to take it with you and check it, invite the seller to
go with you to the mechanic.

Good luck buying your car, use common sense, make your own research and take the car to a
mechanic before buying it. Don’t get a lemon!!!

PEACE.

REFERENCES:

http://autos.msn.com/advice/articles/aischecklist.aspx
http://www.keepandshare.com/htm/lists/free_checklist_for_a_used_car.php
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/18-tip-checklist-test-driving-a-used-car-1.aspx
http://www.samarins.com/check/simplecheck.html