Used Car Buying Tips
My Blog has dozens/hundreds of tips to make buying a used car/truck less painful, less dangerous, and more satisfying . I’m going to give a general overview of these tips I cover. Let’s cover THE most important tips:
Set a budget
Do research about the car/truck
Get a Blue Book price
Shop smart
Get a CarFax [...]
Setting a Budget
Buying a used car can easily turn into an impulse purchase – this is NOT how to buy a great used car. Come up with the cash or find out your FICO score and determine what monthly payments you can afford.
Don’t forget the sales tax – that’s easily 7% or more and the [...]
Do Research on the car/truck
The Internet is full of research material – way too much of it. Luckily for you I’ve distilled all that into a few places that give you all the facts you need. Bookmark these websites for fast research. Do some general research first and then drill down to the facts you [...]
Blue Book Prices
Kelley Blue Book (KBB) is what everyone means when they say “Blue Book”. However the car dealers look at NADA Guides. What’s the difference? Well what’s the difference between a GM and a Ford? It’s in the eye of the beholder. You, however, must look at both KBB and NADA to come up [...]
Used Car Extended Warranties
How lucky do you feel?
If a used car has less than 140,000 miles you can get extended warranty protection; it’s not cheap but it will cover the major things that can go wrong for and additional 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
The company I recommend is SmartAutoWarranty.com which is owned [...]
Paperwork
Here is a list of the paperwork involved in buying a used car:
Safety Inspection
Emission Inspection
Proof of Insurance
Title
Bill of Sale
Shop Smart
Sometimes you need to buy a replacement car in a day or so and sometimes you have months to buy a car – either way there is a smart way to buy a used car. If you buy a used car from a dealer will they be around 30 days from now? Car dealerships [...]
Get a CarFax Report on the car
CarFax is your guiding light in the process of buying a used car. EVERY car, since 1965, has a VIN and that VIN identifies the car in CarFax. EVERY TIME the car was brought into a dealer or mechanic for maintenance or repair that visit appears in CarFax.
EVERY major [...]
