Practice This

It is a second time I am on the hunt for a car. As with my previous purchase this one is used. This is the approach I am taking to find a used car:

• Set your price range
• Research on retail price – KBB
• Have a general understanding what’s available – Craigslist.org
• Research what’s available with local dealers – Bing Maps
• Research on car’s history – Carfax.com
• Research on consumers review – Edmunds.com
• Find local buyers inspection services – Bing.com
• Take into account risks

Let me expand on each one.

Set your price range

The price is only one parameter when choosing a car but it’s probably the most rigid. You can be flexible with car make and features it might have, but you can be only so much flexible with the money you have or when financing it. Set your price lower as much as possible – make some room for stretching yourself up scale. Imagine you hit the right car and its price higher than you set, but you just cannot afford few more bucks. Set very aggressive low limits fro your price.

Research on retail price – KBB

With the goal price in mind research what Kelly Blue Book (KBB) says about the price. Check on suggested retail value – this is what you should expect to hear from a dealer. You could also check on Private Party Value, usually lower. I decided to pursue with dealers – not everyone will go that path. It seems local folks like to buy from private owners, and those who new to the country, like myself, tend to buy from dealers. Do not be distracted by the price on KBB, if your goal price is 10% lower than KBB’s chances you might find such deal. It is hard though.

Have a general understanding what’s available – Craigslist.org

To have some sense what’s going on and potentially find few relevant deals search up the make, model, and car’s year on craigslist.org for your area. You could set price limit and add few keywords like the model name. Then filter those from dealers and then from private owners. Now you should have some sense what’s on the market and its price range. Flip the results pages to the last one – see what offers stay for some time, it might indicate the they set their price too high for what they offer.

Research what’s available with local dealers – Bing Maps

Find local dealers’ listings offered on their sites for pre-owned cars. To find local dealers listings search “Car Dealer” on Bing Maps. It should be your location sensitive. It brings the list of dealers close to your location and also it shows their websites. Now you have nice collection of web sites of local dealers and you can research on what’s available near to you.

Research on car’s history – Carfax.com

Once you found a car on dealers listings and if it does not show the cars carfax (car history) – you need to do a basic research on Carfax.com You do not have to pay for it. Set search criteria for your car and it should show up including the dealer’s name on it. Basically look at the mileage (should not exceed 15K miles/year), must come from private or private lease (go away from rental vehicles), make sure no accidents and etc. There are plenty more criteria to look at, this section only shows how to find free carfax report for your car.

Research on consumers review – Edmunds.com

Research on what people say about the car of your dream. Beyond speaking with friends and colleagues in the halls I found useful to look at customers reviews available on Edmunds.com. Type your car make, model, and year in the search box and chances you will be presented with results that include customers reviews. You will be surprised how many insights are there. Many times the reviews are consistent.

Find local buyers inspection services – Bing.com

Once you reached out to dealer for specific car and you are happy with its carfax, reviews, and the price range – take it to the buyers inspection or pre-purchase inspection. If you check with the make’s dealership it might be pricy to do it with them. Search up for alternatives on Bing. Provide car make your location and “car buyers check” or “car inspection” or “car pre-purchase inspection” or “car PPI” as a search criteria, without the quotes. It should bring you results for local car shops that do it. It is much cheaper too. Remember to research on the shop too.

Take risks into account

Remember, that there is no silver bullet here, one of the mechanics told me it’s a lottery. It is just about systematically reducing the risk. Have in mind those things as potential risks when buying a used car:

• Rental fleet cars usually is a deal breaker, especially if it is a sports car of SUV. Minivans should be less of concern though.
• For SUV 2 wheel drive is usually a deal breaker as you won’t be able to sell it afterwards.
• Dealers that show Autocheck for their listings probably do not want to show carfax for a reason. Research on their cars on Carfax.com.
• When a dealers shows you a printed carfax – pay attention the date it was generated – it might be outdated and missing important recent events with the car.

That’s all experiences I had so far – you have more to add, please do so in the comments section below.