Looking for a used car?

There are several ways to look for used cars. One can not specifically say that one way is better than the other way.

This is my take on this subject. The information given here comes from car buying experiences of mine and my friends'. This stuff is put up here for the benefit of newbie grad students looking for a car. I do not claim this to be the guide for buying cars. And if you think that this is the only way one should buy a car, you are mistaken.

• The first step, in my opinion, is to fix up your budget. Preferably a range.
  e.g. $3000 to $4000. You should be now hunting for cars which are somewhere mid-way this range.
  
  
• Fix up the year that would be the cut off. (in 2000 my cutoff was 1990 models) This is purely a matter of choice, but it helps to limit and focus your search.
  
  
• Eliminate manufacturers that you don't want to look at. The criteria is for you to decide.
  e.g. All high end cars like merc, bmw, audi etc. (expensive), OR
  May be you want Japanese cars (reliable, long lasting etc.), OR
  American cars like GM, Chrysler, Ford (luxury), OR
  German cars (rugged) etc.
  It's purely a matter of choice.
  
  
• Cutoff mileage. for me it was 70K. Because 70k onwards used cars start having maintenance problems and 70 to 90 k is the period where you have to put in more money for maintenance. Usually people put this cutoff at 100K.
  
  
• Automatic or Manual (stick shift) or anything.
  
  
• Sale type, dealer, unregistered dealer, private. avoid unregistered dealers, mostly go for private, but if your budget is OK then you can go for proper dealers (you end up paying more but you get a warranty).
  
  
• Start looking at yahoo classifieds , newsday/cars.com and other websites. Get a feel for different makes, different models, and corresponding prices. use the previous criteria to restrict the search.
  
  
• Start reading about different models and other things about the cars. epinions and Google are good sites to find relevant info.
  
  
• After a few days you will start getting a feel of prices for makes, models, mileage, year, features, condition and other things. The main features are, music, ac, heating, power steering, power locks, abs brakes, windows etc. etc.
  
  
• After you have a good feel of the market prices, if you like a car call up the owner and ask him/her about the car, things like what features it has, was there an accident, if there was any problem with the car, if there were any major repairs etc. etc. can be discussed.
  
  
• Checkout the car, ask some experienced driver to drive the car and see if it is worth buying.
  
  
• Check out the valuation for the car at Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.
  
  
• Negotiate a deal, checkout the insurance cost that you have to pay. If you don't have a drivers license yet then you may need to pay a higher insurance. Even for new cars your insurance (just minimal liability) may be more than 1500 bucks for a year. It will increase if the car is older. So consider insurance also while deciding your budget. The only way to reduce this is to get a license and get driving experience. But for that you need a car.
  
  
• If the car is worth buying and you like it, then get a carfax vehicle history report. You can get unlimited checks from carfax for 2 months. You need the VIN number for that. Carfax charges about 20 bucks for unlimited checks (in 2 months) and 15 bucks for a single check. I actually found out that one of the cars which I had almost bought was a rental vehicle and was owned by 3 different rental companies before it was auctioned. You may get very useful info like salvage declaration or accident history or other details.
  
  
• Finally get an auto-critic check done, it will cost you about 150 bucks. It will give you a thorough analysis of your car and its condition.
  
  
• Once you buy a car, and later you find that there is some problem with it, don't worry too much and try to get it fixed. If it requires alot of money then be prepared to lose the car or the money. But if you put in enough time and do a good research and then put in a decent amount of money while buying then may be you won't have to worry about it. On the other hand if you go for a sub-thousand dollar car then chances are that you are draining your money.
  
  
• Be prepared to spend on good car research and get to know different things about cars. This is better than spending time making trips to mechanics and getting to know different things that need to be fixed or replaced.
  
  
• Let people around you know that you are planning to buy a car. You may end up getting a cool deal through your friends. The deal I got was extremely good since it was through friends.

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