Ride – December Issue
Cathy Droz and Melanie Droz Shawcroft
Q: Dear Boomer and X,
I’ve been shopping for a used car, and I think I’ve found the perfect vehicle. It drives great, looks new and the price is right. The owner says he bought it from a dealer just last year and has hardly driven it. What should I do?
Joy Lanza
Boca Raton, Florida
A: Dear Joy,
Some people feel that buying a used car might be taking on someone else’s headaches, but if you follow some simple steps, you should feel good about your decision. However, it doesn’t mean you should take a mechanics’ course or spend a day with Mario Andretti to conduct a thorough appraisal.
If you found a car you like and it meets your basic requirements, have a local mechanic you trust perform the appropriate checks, which may cost you approximately $75.00. After that, we suggest you check the vehicle’s history through a company like CarFax or Consumer Guide. For about $15.00, you will find the complete history of the car you want to purchase by utilizing its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), which is comparable to a human’s DNA. You want to be sure it hasn’t been in an accident, had the odometer rolled back and that the information on the title matches what you’ve been told. Any of these would influence what you would offer the seller or have you walk away from that vehicle.
In order for you to avoid spending $75.00 each time you like a car, check out some of these items on your own: do a walk around, look for dents or uneven paint or ripples, open and close all the doors and the trunk, test the lights, controls, heater and A/C, open the hood and look for any leak spray on the underside of the hood lining, run the engine, listen for noises, and check the transmission fluid (does it smell burned, look brown, not pink?).
There are over 100 things to check on your own, so use your common sense. Once you feel good about your choice, consult a mechanic, check the VIN and, for about $100.00, you can feel good about your gently used vehicle choice.
Boomer and X
Archives
Car Care for the Smart Driver, November 2007
Ride, November 2007 (9.5 MB)
Ride, October 2007 (7.4 MB)
Ride, September 2007 (6.4 MB)
Ride, August 2007 (5.3 MB)
You Are So Full of… Nitrogen, June 2007
Car Care for the Smart Driver, May 2007
Car Care for the Smart Driver, Picking an Auto Repair Shop - April 2007
Boomer and X - Two generations of women offer car-care advice to readers each month. This Mother Daughter team of Cathy and Melanie Droz are automotive journalists and manufacturers “test drivers.” Boomer shares years of knowledge and experience while our generation “X” contributes and shares a trendier, more-technically hip solution to automotive questions.
Send your questions to Boomerand X@GPPPS.com
