In this simple used car buying guide you will discover three really important factors you will have to consider before buying your vehicles in order to make the right choice.
This article is primarily written for first time buyers who have no previous car buying experience, but if you have owned a vehicle before - the ideas that I am going to share will be just as useful for you too.
Intelligence gathering.
The most important thing you need to do when buying a used car is to simply do your homework and gather a lot of information that will help you to make the right decision.
I am guessing that you already have an idea about what kind of a car you would like to buy.
What you should do now is to visit all of the major websites you can get information about this vehicle.
Visit websites like eBay or Craigslist to get an idea of what is the market value of the car that you are planning to buy.
Make sure that you check the differences in price between older and newer versions and try to estimate how quickly does the vehicle that you are planning to buy loses it's value.
Another great way to learn about the car that you are planning to buy is to simply find a forum on the Internet that is dedicated for the owners of that specific car make.
For example if you are planing to buy Ford Fiesta then go to Google and type in a phrase like "Ford Fiesta forum" and you will get hundreds if not thousands of different places you can visit to gather information about your future purchase.
Make sure that you try to identify what are the most common problems the owners of that specific vehicle experience, look at the questions they ask and what kind of topics they discuss.
Also make sure that you create an account and ask questions by yourself.
I know that this does not sound sexy, but the fact is that you can never do too much research when it comes to buying a used car.
Try to estimate the cost of ownership.
Now once you have gathered enough information about the vehicle that you are planning to buy then try to estimate the cost of ownership.
A lot of first time car buyers do not realize this, but the cost of ownership can be as high if not higher than the actual cost of car.
I know that this sound absurd, but do the math an you will realize that things like fuel costs, insurance costs and maintenance costs really add up.
Take the car for a test drive.
Doing research is one thing, but getting into a car and actually driving it is completely different.
Visit as many different car dealerships and ask for as many test drives as you possibly can.
Before you will spend your money on the car you first of all want to feel it and know whether you will like it or not.