When you ’re on the prowl for a used car , there are a fewessential whole tone you should followbefore you ever get close enough for atest cause . Once you ’ve find a strong contender and snagged the VIN number , your next move is to find out everything you could about the vehicle ’s history to verify it ’s not a rolling money endocarp . The prosperous way to do that is to order up a completeCarfax story , which will set you back $ 40 .
There are some areas of a car ’s story that will always be obvious – for example , a salvage history or a severe accident that disabled the vehicle should always justify the big of violent flag . But there are other , great red flags of far great grandness obliterate within the minutiae of the report , and they ’re almost always look out on . Here ’s how to grasp deeply to find tiniest of cue .
Beware frequent changes in ownership
Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars to corrupt a car , only to unload it within one year ? What if two , three , or four multitude did the very same thing to the same car ? If you attend at the bottom of a Carfax report and see that multiple owner have bought and sell the railroad car within a short dyad of time , you ’re dealing with what ’s know in the industry as a " hot Irish potato . "
A red-hot potato almost always has some type of expensive or challenging fix issue . stay put away from these vehicle as if they have a red hot tailpipe spewing out oil and weed .
Make sure the car recently passed emissions testing
In metropolitan field that need emissions testing , a substantial portion of patronage - ins ca n’t pass the test . That ’s where things commence to get dicey . well-nigh everywhere in the US , it ’s 100 % illegal for a monger to sell you a car that does n’t have a current emissions record – but that does n’t always hold true for owners . If you see multiple failed emissions test on a Carfax study , or if the most late emission test is well over a yr old , verify you ask about this before you waste any more fourth dimension .
Surprisingly , this red flag can also be a brightgreenflag if you live in a place that does n’t take emissions testing . In some rural counties , these cars can and often are bought at a hearty price reduction . Keep that in mind if you live in an area where emissions tryout are n’t necessitate .
Check if the car has lived in wet or coastal areas
Most folks completely disregard where the car has lived for most of its life-time – information which is usually listed on the yearly registration replenishment and in the service account . Do n’t be one of those people . Even if the car has a squeaky clean Carfax chronicle , you always have to vex about the potential problem of rust . Does that auto come from the land of white streets , or near a beach area ? Salt , whether used on the snow or just part of the coastal environs , can really demolish your car ’s undercarriage . Carfax will also sometimes flag sure used cars registered in areas that experience hurricanes or stern implosion therapy .
Use the records to carefully vet the seller
There survive a set of fraud - seeking souls sometimes referred to ascurbstoners , and they sell a lot of cars with red flags aplenty through Craigslist . To figure out if someone ’s who they say they are – and that they ’re really selling that car – you fundamentally have to cross - try out them as if they were on visitation . After you ’ve studied the Carfax history , call them up and score ‘em with some fundamentals : " How long have you possess it , " and , " Where have you had fixture and sustentation done , " are easily verified spot of information . If their data does n’t match yours , you just saved yourself – and your cant account – from one of the nastiest realities of used car buying .
Remember , scammers really are everywhere .
Avoid a ticking time bomb by ensuring all long-term maintenance is up to date
Some cars require a lot of pricey servicing at a very specific mileage or long time , and many sellers will attempt to avoid those goodish maintenance fee and instead pass a bucket of expenses off to the next owner . While Carfax history tend to be very good at get over a car ’s maintenance criminal record , not every dealership or independent store works with Carfax . So when you inquire about this – and it is important that you demand – check that to get the specifics of where the employment was done and verify it by contacting that repair adroitness directly .
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FLICKR/DANIEL OINES
Oren Aks/Thrillist/Carfax.com
Flickr/Dhruvaraj S
Flickr/Marcel Andre Briefs
