114 rules for choosing a used car

First thing

1. Be specific about your budget. There should be a specific amount that you are willing to spend on a car. There should not be any ranges like 400-450 thousand. You know exactly how much money you have.

2. Leave 15% of this amount for repairs, maintenance and other expenses. Do not think that you will find a car in which you do not have to invest money. This does not happen. Leave 15% and sleep well.

3. Determine for yourself 2-3 models that you will track on ad sites. So you make your life easier and you can find out their sores and all the ins and outs.

4. Choose only those cars that you pull for service. A four-year-old Lada and a 15-year-old Mercedes cost the same, but servicing a Mercedes will be about 2–2.5 times more expensive.

5. Determine the list of options that should definitely be there. The wording like "the package is as rich as possible" will not work.

6. Limit yourself to the year of manufacture and the mileage you can live with. Just don't underestimate the mileage you want. Establish a boundary based on the assumption that a car travels an average of 20,000 km per year.

7. The clearer you understand what kind of car you want (with what engine, gearbox and equipment), the easier it will be to search.

8. Determine the average market value of the vehicle you are looking for. You can calculate it yourself, you can use the built-in functions on popular classified sites.

9. Explore the model you are looking for in forums and social media like Drive2.

10. Before looking for a car, prepare the full amount for it in cash. So that it does not happen that you have found a suitable car, and the money still needs to be ordered or withdrawn from ATMs.

Search ads

11. Subscribe to updates of the models you are interested in in the free classifieds applications and call immediately as soon as a person posted an advertisement.

12. The best cars at competitive prices are bought literally in a few hours, maximum - days, so do not slow down, do not postpone a call and a meeting until the evening or until the weekend.

13. Never get fooled by clearly underpriced ads. No one in their right mind would sell a car too cheap. People who urgently need money sell cars through intermediaries or organizations like "We will buy your car quickly and expensively."

14. Install free browser extensions on your computer to determine how many cars have already been sold by the seller.

15. Never transfer money to anyone as a deposit without a receipt.

16. Don't waste time on ads that have a lot of views: they are fake.

17. Ignore ads with very poor descriptions or few photos.

18. Look for private classifieds first. From dealers, a similar car will almost always be more expensive, and sometimes even in a worse condition.

19. Remember that car dealerships, even official dealerships, are selling broken cars as if nothing had happened.

Although the car dealership is not the same for the car dealership, there are also those among the officials who sell rather than sell.

20."Gray" car dealerships often manipulate contracts, so re-read each sheet when they bring you a document for signing.

21. Remember that there are no credits per hour. At least with normal conditions.

22. You can buy a car from a reseller only as a last resort, if there are no other options and are not foreseen.

23. A car with a clean engine and engine compartment should be checked with double bias. The engine is washed either out of ignorance or to hide some marks and smudges.

24. Look at the meeting point in the ad. Private traders usually indicate the area or street, dealers - only the city.

25. There should be traces of life in the car in the photographs, because, as a rule, private owners drive the car until they sell it.

26. Pay close attention to the little things. Key tags, special floor mats, blackened tires are issued by car dealerships and dealers.

Vehicle inspection

27. Always ask as many questions as possible over the phone.

28. Ask specific things, not general things. For example, when was the last technical inspection, where it was carried out, what was changed, and so on.

29. Memorize or even write down the answers. They will need to be remembered if it comes to inspection.

30. Title must be original if the car is less than eight years old. Why is another story. Just remember this rule so as not to risk it.

31. The car must be sold by the one who is listed as the owner in the TCP. Not a godfather, not a brother, not a matchmaker. As a last resort, the husband can sell the wife's car. Then check the stamp in your passport.

32. Check the VIN on the car and in the vehicle title. Necessarily. Many people forget to do this trivial check, thinking that no one will go to such a blatant and obvious fraud.

33. Ask the seller what you asked on the phone and compare the answers.

Body

34. If you can, then rent a thickness gauge and look on the Internet for the paintwork thickness norms for a specific model.

35. Check paint thickness at least five locations on each part. That is, the door must be measured at least in the center and in the four corners. The more points of verification, the better.

36. Check the thickness of the paint on the roof and doorways, door pillars.

37. Rent an electronics diagnostic tool if you can. If you cannot, do not be discouraged: you still need to deal with it.

38. Do not buy a car with paintwork thicker than 1,000 microns on the body and more than 400 microns on the structural elements of the body (struts, side members, etc.).

39. Compare shades and tones of paint on adjacent body elements.

40. See if there are any paint smudges.

41. Check the varnish for dust and hair.

42. Look for paint on moldings, chrome parts, seals.

43. Pay attention to the shagreen (unevenness of the coating, like ripples in the water) on the adjacent parts. The reflection must be the same.

44. Look for "spiders" on the body and rust spots. "Spiders" are subtle cracks in the paint.

45. Examine the rapids. Often, tonal transitions during painting are done there so that it is invisible.

46. Peel back the seal, see if there is a different tone of paint.

47. Look at the gaps, they should be the same on the left and right.

48. Inspect the car in good daylight, preferably cloudy weather, from different angles. Any small dent or scratch is a bargaining chip.

49. Inspect the paintwork of the machine very carefully on each element. Microcrackers - recesses no more than a millimeter in size in paint or varnish - indicate that the car was painted.

50. The gaps must be uniform along the entire length. Unless it's the old VAZ "six".

51. Check the labeling and production date of each glass.

52. See if the stampings and moldings fit together on different parts. They are often very difficult to fit after removing the part.

53. Look at the bumper. It should not protrude beyond the body.

54. Look at the headlights and fog lights. They should have the same markings and they should be equally clouded over time.

55. Look under the trunk mat.

There may be paint or damage marks under the rug. There usually no one disguises them.

56. The spare wheel well should be free of water and mold.

57. Look at the welds and spot welds. They must be symmetrical and the same on both sides.

58. Pay attention to tire wear. They should be worn evenly.

59. Look at the side members. There should be no wrinkles, traces of paint, mastic or anything else on them. (If you don't know what spars are, look at the pictures on the Internet - this will be a thousand times clearer than a verbal explanation.)

60. The engine compartment should not be washed, but there should also be no smudges - only traces of normal use.

61. See if paint is knocked off the bolts of the doors, hood, tailgate.

62. Check if the bolts are the same everywhere.

63. See if there is any peeled paint in the doorway. If so, check if there are similar marks on the door itself. If there is, then the door is rubbing against the threshold - this is bad. If not, these are scratches from heels and bags, everything is fine.

64. Pay attention to the fuel filler flap - the paint from the bolts should not be knocked off. The fact is that it is he who is most often used to select paint when repairing a car.

65. Test the shock absorbers by pushing down on the machine from each corner so that it wobbles. There should be only one swing up and down, otherwise the shock absorbers will have to be changed, which is almost always expensive.

Salon

66. Look at how worn out the steering wheel, pedals, gear lever and armrest. This will give you an idea of the actual mileage of the car. And while wear may vary from machine to machine, with practice you can become an expert in this matter.

67. If the steering wheel is in a cover, remove it to assess the actual condition.

68. Sniff. The cabin should not smell of dampness or mold.

There should be no extraneous odors at all.

69. Alert if it smells strongly of fragrance. Most likely, the seller wants to mask some other smell.

70. Check the upholstery under the seat. It must be dry and must not crumble.

71. Raise the floor mats. There should be no streaks on the carpet and under the seats.

72. Look for a dent under the mat from the heel of your right foot. If there is, the mileage is far beyond 200,000 km.

73. Check if the door latches work. If not, the mileage is over 200,000 km.

74. Look at the headliner. It should not be puffy.

75. There should be no gaps on the front panel.

76. Look at the seat belts. They should have plastic restraints for the badge, which is inserted into the lock. If they are not there, most likely the car was in an accident.

77. Check the operation of the air conditioner. It is best to use the paired metal tubes running from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment (one should be cold, the other hot), but you can also simply turn on the air conditioner at maximum speed and at minimum temperature.

78. Check if all warning lamps on the instrument panel come on when the ignition is turned on.

79. The oil pressure and airbag lights must go out separately.

80. After starting the engine, all control lamps should go out (except for the handbrake, if tightened).

Test Drive

81. Check the oil. The level should be between the "minimum" and "maximum" marks. The oil should not be black (especially if the engine is gasoline).

82. The oil should not smell like fumes, there should be no foreign particles, deposits, debris.

83. Start your car. Thick smoke of any color must not come out of the exhaust pipe.

84. If the car is mechanic, check the clutch. If it grasps right away, good. If not, the clutch will have to be changed soon, and this is an additional expense and a reason to bargain.

85. There should be no jerks and jerks on the machine when switching the box from P to R or from R to D and vice versa.

86. There should be no jerks when switching while driving with the gas pedal pressed all the way.

87. The car should not be sideways when driving.

88. The steering wheel should be straight when the car is going straight.

89. Turn off the music and listen to the sounds. Record any sound in your head so that you can later describe it to a professional.

90. Brake hard. The steering wheel should not hit, at the same time, it may be possible to check the operation of the ABS.

Before the purchase

91. Tell the master about all the extraneous sounds that you heard during the test drive when you check in to the service before buying. You should check the suspension and tell you how serious it is. You will have at least a reason to bargain with the seller.

92. If you have not done the electronics diagnostics yourself, check it at the nearest car service.

93. Trade only reasonably.

94. Check the car on the traffic police website.

95. Check the car on the website of the Federal Bailiff Service.

96. Check the car on the website Avtokod.mos.ru if you buy a car in Moscow and the region.

97. Check the car on the basis of the Federal Notary Chamber.

98. You can draw up a sales contract in simple writing with one pen and one handwriting. It is necessary to indicate there the passport data of the buyer and the seller and all data from the TCP. The contract of purchase and sale, drawn up with intermediaries, does not have any additional legal force and guarantee of the purity of the transaction.

99. Indicate the date and time of the transaction in the sales contract. This will save you from paying the previous owner's fines.

100. Clearly state the value of the car and the amount transferred to the seller. If anything, then it is her that will be returned to you through the court.

101. Prescribe a clause stating that the car at the time of drawing up the contract was not sold to someone else, someone else does not have ownership of it, the car is not mortgaged, not arrested and is not a subject of dispute.

102. In total, there should be three copies of the contract (for you, for the seller and for the traffic police).

103. You only need to make changes to the TCP with one pen and one handwriting.

104. Together with PTS and DKP, the seller must give you two sets of keys, including the alarm and anti-theft, STS, diagnostic card.

105. If you gave the money to the seller, and he suddenly asks you to terminate the contract and return the money, check the money in the bank. Often not your money is given back, but fakes.

106. To register a car, you need a vehicle registration certificate, a passport, an old STS, new insurance and a receipt for payment of the state duty. By default, the old numbers are transferred to the new owner.

107. You need to re-register the car for yourself within ten days, otherwise there will be problems.

108. Better to take the seller with you to the traffic police.

109. Check that the same person is in the DCT, PTS and passport.

110. Do not put your signature on the TCP, which already has the signature of the previous owner. There may be problems with registration.

111. Believe only what you have verified yourself, do not trust the sellers.

112. Do not buy a car from a friend, relative, acquaintance without checking. He simply may not know about all the problems, and then you quarrel and stop communicating.

113. If you have a friend who understands cars, don't blindly trust him. Give him at least these rules or check in parallel yourself.

114. You only need to drive into the service for checking a car that suits all other parameters. It makes no sense to spend money on diagnostics of every car. Typically, you only check the car that you ultimately buy. Well, or one more.

Good luck in finding!