The title of this article might have been a bit confusing “Cheap Used Cars – What to Look For So You Don’t Get Cheap Used Cars?” Are you wondering “huh?” As a car buyer on a budget, you are looking for a cheap or an affordably priced car. Cheap in price is fine, but cheap in quality isn’t. After all, you need a dependable vehicle that can get you to and from work, among other places.
So how you can get a cheap car without actually getting a cheap car?
Test Drive and Inspect – It is always recommended (whether you are buying cheap used cars or brand new cars) that you inspect and test drive the vehicle. This is without a doubt, the best way to ensure you don’t get a bad quality car. Test driving is easy, but what if you don’t know about cars? Should you skip the inspection? No. If you must pay a few dollars to have a mechanic quickly look over the vehicle or take a friend or family member along with you to do the quick look-over inside and out.
Read Reviews – As stated above, you want to be on the lookout for car owners who misrepresent the vehicles they are trying to sell. Some sellers make their vehicles seem a heck of a lot better than they actually are and the new buyer is left holding the bag. On that same note, some issues aren’t even the vehicle owner’s fault. Say you read reviews for a vehicle you like and notice a theme among customers – the car rusts too easily. Rust happening in one or two vehicles (especially in northern states) is normal, but it should not be a complaint made across the board by hundreds or thousands of car owners.
Read Recall Information – This is another issue where the vehicle owner might not actually be misrepresenting the vehicle because they might not actually know the vehicle was the subject of a recall. This is common when cheap used cars constantly change owners. The good news about recalls is if you can prove you are the car owner, they recall should be fixed and likely free of charge. On that same note, recalls do cause you to consider the overall quality of the vehicle and this is a factor you should take into consideration.
Price and Quality – If you didn’t already know the Kelley Blue Book website is a must-visit for buyers looking for cheap used cars. You plug in information about a car and then can get the recommended value for trade-ins and for sale by owner vehicles. As stated above, some sellers will misrepresent their vehicles to make them see like a better deal. That is why it is recommended that you do research on the Kelley Blue Book website ahead of time. Say you setup a meeting to test drive a car, you should have the basics (make, model, year, and mileage). Plug this information in, but two three different searches based on different conditions – excellent, good, and fair. So say that car buyer lied and the car is more fair than good, you know have an estimated value that you can toss back at them for an offer.
