Purchasing a Used Vehicle

Purchasing a used car has benefits such as the greatly reduced purchase price and reduced cost of insurance however, the down sides are the car is not new and usually does not come with a warranty leaving the buyer more vulnerable to having vehicle issues. To reduce this risk, there are sever precautions one can take when shopping for a used car.

Portion of Warranty                 

A vehicle normally comes with a three year or 36,000 mile warranty at the time of initial purchase. Purchasing a used vehicle that still has a portion of the warranty left can give the purchaser time to figure out any glitches or problems the vehicle might have.

CPO                                                 

CPO stands for Certified, Pre-Owned vehicles. These vehicles usually have less than 50,000 miles and have been given a multipoint inspection. These vehicles are the absolute best of the used car market as they often come with a no-cost extended warranty.

Look at Service Records

If there are no service records chances are the car was not well maintained. Ideally a complete set of service records will be available to show that there were no unusual problems.  If no service records can be located, have the car looked over by a good mechanic.

VIN

Get the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) off of the plate located on the top of the dashboard and use it to run a CARFAX history report. This report costs about thirty dollars but can save you a ton of money and frustration in the long run.