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Avoid Buying A Lemon - Top Tips On Buying A Used Car |
The path to buying a reasonable used car is littered with buyers who didn't follow simple and straightforward advice and ended up with some absolute lemons. There are pitfalls that are easy to avoid once you know about them, and there are also lots of other things that you need to do before parting with your cash for a second hand motor.
The first thing to do is your research!
Find out the average selling price of the vehicle you are after. Bear in mind that condition and mileage can affect the value of the vehicle, as can its involvement in an accident. So do ask "Has this car been in an accident? Is it a reconstructed car?" These are very important questions as the performance, reliability, safety and value of cars can be affected by either of these.
How to finance your car
Very few of us are in a position to be able to pay cash to buy the car of our dreams, so what other alternatives are there? The most common method of buying a used vehicle is by taking out a car loan. The crucial thing to consider when you take out a car loan is how much interest you will pay. Basically, the higher the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) the more you will pay in interest. The percentage APR that you will pay tends to be tied very closely to your credit score; i.e. the higher your credit rating the lower the APR you will have to pay. Of course, loan firms will try to get the highest rate for their products that they can, so as well as shopping around for your car, you should also shop around for your car finance. Also remember that the longer the term of the loan the more you will be paying in interest, make sure you can comfortably afford the monthly payments and have money spare to maintain and run your vehicle.
Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware!
There's an old legal saying that has its basis in Latin when it comes to buying goods - caveat emptor; it means "buyer beware" and the advice still applies today, especially if you are going ahead with a sale from a private individual and not through a garage. Most reputable second hand car dealers offer warranties and guarantees when you buy a used vehicle from them, so if something goes wrong you can go back to the garage. Dealer prices tend to be higher to incorporate those guarantees as well as their profit margin. However, if you buy from a private individual you have limited protection. But, there are a lot of bargains out there and the best thing before you buy from a private individual is to take along a mechanic who can give the car a once-over and put your mind at rest on its mechanical reliability.
Hopefully, you will avoid buying a lemon if you follow our top tips on buying a used car!
Article written by John MacKenzie (used cars)
This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 and is filed under Used Cars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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