Buying a used car is already a risky business in itself. Here, you will be buying a car being sold by the owner even without knowing the real reasons why he is selling it. While you might find a genuine seller who will tell you the condition of the car before selling, many others will want to cover all the faults of their used car in shiny paint, just to rip you off. Worse still, you might land a scam, and by the time you realize it, you’ve already lost your money. So why not learn how to avoid car scams when buying used? This article highlights the tips that are necessary for one to stay safe from the tricks of the scammers.
Check vehicle history
Before paying for a used car dealers in San Diego, you have to make sure that you have gathered as much information about it as possible. Things like the number of people who have ever owned it, the actual mileage the car has traveled, its title, its ID and many other things that one should know about the vehicle. And this is not as hard as many would want to imagine. There are very useful sites such as Carfax, Auto Check and others that can help you gather all this information in an instant. Also, the sites will enable you to know that the number of reported accidents which the car you want to buy has been involved in. All these information is extremely useful when deciding whether to buy the used car or not.
Request for the seller’s ID
In most cases, scammers sell cash for cars that actually don’t belong to them. These cars might have been stolen from somewhere else, and thus the seller wants to dispose it off as soon as possible. You should not be surprised to find a nice car being sold so cheaply, and the seller is not willing to bargain so much, it might be because he has stolen it from another person and wanted to do away with it so fast. To avoid this case, you should be keen to ensure that the person selling the car is the actual owner of the used car. Avoid instances where the seller is just a proxy of the actual owner. If you realize that the seller is a proxy, the most prudent thing to do is walk away, as you might be scammed in the process.
Get it in writing
There are times when used cars dealers promise you a lot of things like free delivery, repairs and so on. While there are those that will stick to their promises, others will just forget them the moment you pay for the used car. For this reason, it is recommended that you document any kind of promises or agreements that you make with the seller of the used car.
Also, it will save you from a lot of unwanted stress if you check to ensure that the buyer’s guide is posted on the used vehicle that is for sale. Note the guide is a requirement in many countries, and most specifically, for the Federal Trade Commission. The reason why the buyer’s guide is so critical is in its purpose itself. It was made mandatory to protect buyers from fraudsters. You should be very skeptical if you realize that the car doesn’t have the poster.
On the poster, you should be able to get information regarding the car under sale. Things like how much the dealer will contribute to repairs, how the car is being sold; with or without a warranty and many other things should be listed on the post.
Check to ensure the warranty is useful
There are instances when the cost of the extended warranty you get from the used cars dealer is so high. This will only help increase the price of the used car, as you will have so little to save given that you will need to do some repairs on the car as well as pay for the extended warranty. It is this reason that experts will advise you to be very skeptical about those warranties, as you might find them not so useful to you. It will be more convenient for you to buy another warranty yourself than go for the extended one which might be useless in the end.
In some cases, dealers will offer you service contracts as a form of extended warranty. This type of arrangement can only work if you live close to the dealership, but it will be a different case if you live miles away. Remember that in the case of this kind of arrangement, you can only have the car serviced at the dealership, and not any other place, unless o your cost.
When you want to buy a used car, you should be so keen to ensure that you don’t become a victim of some of these common used car scams. By understanding what the law requires, and by learning about previous scams either via the internet or from friends, you can be able to make an informed decision when buying a used car.
Author Bio:-
Lisa Mitchell is a San Diego based Auto Financing blogger with many year of experience covered with Car sell/buy in San Diego, Financing and trading Autos. She has started her carrier from Auto City in 2010. Auto City only offers the highest-quality used cars for sale at extremely competitive prices. That special combination of quality and affordability adds up to one thing – real value to you, the customer.
