How to buy a used car: a comprehensive guide

Step 1. Determine the budget

The first step is to clearly define the budget limit, so as not to be tempted by more expensive offerings. It is very important not to buy a car with all the money: be sure to set aside 10-15% of the available amount. Immediately after the purchase will have to do maintenance, not to mention the correction of defects that inevitably will.

Step 2. Select a few suitable models

When buying, you should already have a clear understanding of exactly what you need from the machine: a large trunk, a spacious interior, high power, automatic transmission, leather upholstery, or other options. Usually, under the criteria it fits several models of the same manufacturer even. Choose two or three models that match your needs in all respects, and seek only to them.

Having defined the model, learn the thematic forums, read reviews of the owners on the internet and talk with employees of service stations, to determine the typical failure, weak points and cost service.

This will not be sprayed attention to other cars and give more options when choosing, than if you were looking for one specific model. Also you will be able to study in detail the selected machines, find out what modifications are the most successful and what nuances you need to look for when buying.

Step 3. We find out the market value of the car

Next, you specify how much the average asking for the items you need to have an idea on pricing, taking into account age, engine size, transmission type, and other options.

In addition to the banal screening suspicious offers from scammers, it is useful to compare machines and bargaining. Clarify the average price is very simple using the filters on the sites with ads and simple counting on a calculator.

Step 4. We view and analyze ad

We continue to see ads in the search for good options. Our task - to find a few potential options to buy and choose the best.

If you live in a small town, it makes sense to look in the newspapers like "Hand in Hand" and others. In other cases it is enough popular sites "Auto RU», Avito.ru and Drom.ru.

Try to track the new proposals as the best cars usually go away within a couple of days or even a few hours. In order not to miss out on a good car, sign up for notification of interest to you models. Also use mobile applications that allow to keep abreast.

Immediately weed out ads without photos and with dry descriptions: as a rule, they are placed scammers or middlemen. Suspicion should also cause a discrepancy between the machine status in the photo claimed mileage and reduced to the limit price in the ads with closed comments.

How to recognize a reseller

If possible, try to immediately identify who posted the announcement: the real owner or reseller. The latter will be given the following features:

1. Hidden in the photo car number.
2. Pictures from the service center or at the sink.
3. Purified tire to shine.
4. Refusal to talk on the phone and call for a meeting.
5. Alias ​​instead of the name in the ad.

Individually, these details may mean nothing, but when they occur together, it is likely, in front of you is really a professional reseller.

Still in doubt? detailed instruction Layfhakera will calculate an announcement from auto reseller.

Step 5. We communicate with the seller

Finding more ads with the appropriate options, start phoning sellers. Write messages to the post office and post comments below the ad is not worth it, because every minute counts.

Important in communication - to ask specific questions to interviewee could not avoid answering, or to answer vague. This will help to understand whether it is necessary to go to watch a favorite car. Here's what you should be interested in the first place:

1. Who is the owner of the car and on whom it is registered.
2. License plate, VIN-code, the number of TCP.
3. Whether the original PTS and how many people are there recorded.
4. In what service served by car.
5. Is there a service book.
6. When was the last time to change the oil.
7. What other components and spare parts have been replaced.

All answers better to write in a notebook so you do not get confused. If the person behaves adequately, not Julita and agrees on the diagnosis when it is possible to easily make an appointment.

Step 6. We're going to watch cars

Comes the most crucial moment. The meeting is better to go with a partner, it would be good - versed in cars, and in an ideal - a mechanic you trust. Firstly, it is safer, and secondly, one head is good, but two is still better. It is desirable to somewhere to get to know the paint thickness and thickness of the chosen model of car to check if there was any tint of the body.

The first step is to browse documents: PTS vehicle and the seller's passport. If everything is in order and before you the present owner, you can proceed to the inspection. Look for visible signs of damage, the uniformity of the gaps in the body parts, interior condition and the engine compartment, as well as the general state of the machine, the operation of all equipment and options.

If your expectations are not deceived, then we can move on to the test run. Check how to start and run the engine at idle, there are no suspicious noises and knocks.

Better ride away, to be dispersed well, evaluate the performance of the suspension and brakes, check the absence of jerks during gear changes and steering heartbeat. Let the seller leads, and you watch carefully what is happening. On the way back behind the wheel and was asked to evaluate all of the driver's seat.

How to determine whether the machine is not bits

If you are not an expert, then do it pretty difficult. However, there are few true signs, indicating problems with the geometry of the body and involved in an accident. Here are some of them:

1. Glasses have different markings or year of release.
2. The gaps in the doors and body are different and are not parallel.
3. The front bumper is not a single scratch and dent, inevitable from the stones on the road.
4. One Headlight turbid (the original), and the second - transparent (recently replaced).
5. Bolt-on door hinges and the bonnet ripped off paint.
6. Painting under the door seal is different from the main body color.
7. The crack on a windshield is not in the form of webs (like a stone) and without apparent center.

How to determine the actual mileage

Unscrupulous sellers like not only to conceal the accident, but also to twist mileage in order to sell more expensive cars. So do not blindly believe the odometer readings.

1. Just count. On average, private transport passes for the year 15-20 thousand kilometers. For five years the actual mileage will be about 100 thousand.
2. Check the brake discs. If they have the edge in the 2-3 mm, then run about 100 thousand kilometers. If they are new, then, it was recently replaced and the car was already a clearly more than 100 thousand.
3. Look at the wheel. Traces of wear on it appear to five years in use, or when the range of passes for 150-200 thousand kilometers.
4. Check the pads on the pedals. If they erased to metal or, alternatively, replaced, it speaks about the run of 300,000.
5. Look at the driver's seat. Fabric without consequences withstand about 100-130 thousand kilometers, the skin condition begins to deteriorate after 200 thousand. At the same time most affected closest to the door support roller, although it often gets, and the arm.

By the way, the character of abrasions on the steering wheel tells about the conditions: wear in the 9 o'clock position shows frequent trips to long distances, around 9, and 3:00 - on the preferred driving through the city, and frayed around the rim may be a sign Taxi.

Step 7. Making the diagnosis when

If the car you after a careful examination is still like it and want to buy it, Craps diagnosis in auto repair. Conventional cars can drive on any stations that are trusted. If the car is technically complicated, it is better to choose a specialized, profile service, whose staff will be able to check everything properly.

Usually look only suspension, but it is useful to check out all the body parts with the help of the gauge LCP, and also remove the protection and plastic items on the bottom, to assess the state of the thresholds and spars. In addition, it is necessary to diagnose the engine and perform measurements of compression in each cylinder, as well as check out the electrics. You can still ask the masters to check the engine number and body with the documents.

In general, it is better to perform a comprehensive review of all the possible problems and get a list of faults, which can then be traded. So you probably whacks spent on diagnosis and the money will have an idea of ​​the work that will have to spend in the first maintenance.

Step 8. effect a deal

All the nuances settled, you have agreed with the seller on the final price, and it remains only to make a deal. This is done with the help of an ordinary contract of sale drawn up by hand or on a printed form, which introduced the passport data of the seller and the buyer. Also, the seller must give you PTSD, registration certificate of the car and, of course, the car keys.

Making sure that everything you need on hand, you can pay the seller in cash or put the agreed amount on the bill and go.

Finally ask to see again how the alarm, check all the keys and - preferably - immediately replace the batteries in them.

Step 9. We put the car on account of

There remains a final touch, and you become the legal owner of her new car. To put a car registration in the traffic police will need the following documents:

1. A contract of sale, which indicated passport data seller and the buyer (suitable even compiled by hand).
2. PTS.
3. Certificate of car registration.
4. Insurance policy.

With all of this you need to come to any branch of the traffic police of the country and re-register the car in his name. Removal from the register and other preliminary action by the new rules are not required. If there is no queue, then the whole procedure takes less than an hour.

See also:

• 115 rules of used car choice →
• 14 tips on how to choose a used car →
• How to sell a car: a comprehensive guide →