Buying used cars...?

Question

May i ask the experiences car buyers, mechanics, dealers, "What are the most important factors you should look for when you want to purchase an used car?"

-Mileages

-Engines

-Prices...

-Model, Years the car was produced..

-What else?

Answer 1

- I will first define what I need, what I want, and what I can afford...

- I use MSN auto to review for the car information to drill down to a few models that I like.

- Use autotrader.com to find what is the price are selling around my area. Like myself, I was looking at Honda Pilot, but I found Acura MDX is a even better deal as of the currect market that makes it affordable to me.

- Then, heavily research on the couple models you are most likely to buy. MSN auto review to look at people leave a bad feedback to see if that problem will be a serious one if many people reports same problem. Most likely, you can also find forums that is assoicated with the car to see how people says about the car. (Like my goal is Pilot or MDX, reading the review and found MDX 01/02 model has transmission problem many people complaints, 03 fixed but still some people says it is bad. )

- Search online with craigslist and autotrader, see and test drive them to get the best deal.

The year/milage affects the price. I used KBB.com private party price to see if a car is overpriced, and autotrader.com to see what is the market price around the area.

(If the price is same, of course less mile is better, the newer the model is better. but as I only drove about 4000 miles per year for the last 4 year, I perfer higher milage newer model. If you drive more than 20k miles, I think lower milage with older model is better.)

At buying, I did www.autocheck.com for car history, and ask a mechanic to look at the bottom of the car.

There is a website called www.carbuyingtips.com I found their information is helpful.

Answer 2

Take it to a trusted mechanic and get it checked out before you buy any used car.  Dealership or private sale.  If getting it from a dealership, you may want to look into getting some kind of warranty or extended warranty.  "As is" may be asking for trouble.